Oliver Stone Wants The Files

 

Image source Warner Bros./Everett Collection

Oliver Stone posts an open letter to Marco Rubio.

From Kennedy and King:

“Based on the work of researcher, author and Canadian lawyer Andrew Iler, Oliver Stone tells Acting Archivist Marco Rubio that there must be oversight on compliance with the JFK Records Act to ensure that all records are released in accordance with the law.”

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/oliver-stone-does-not-give-up-he-wants-those-files

 

Thank You Readers! Milestone of 1,000,000+ Views Reached

On this day of September 13, 2025 I want to thank all of you faithful readers who have taken their time to view my blogging efforts here on Oswald’s Mother, a blog I started in 2008 for the purpose of JFK assassination research.  Yes, a long time to get to this number since I don’t promote it except for posting a link for new posts on social media. It has been greatly helped greatly by Blogspot translating the posts into other languages and the continued support of all of you readers around the world! 

I think this shows a testament to how deeply people worldwide are affected by, and interested in the death of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy more than 60 years ago.  It is still viewed by many as a conspiracy and I hold this view.  It’s clear to me it was a Deep State hit.  Kennedy followed his own council and most presidents are not allowed to by the deep bureaucratic state that lives eternally in the Federal government.  Just watch Glen Beck’s encounter with George Bush Jr. to grasp how restricted presidential decision thinking can be. It makes any acting president a figurehead to a much larger empire in the shadows.

As comedian George Carlin said in his routine on assassinations, the assassin targets the leader who promotes and teaches peace and love.  As they say, all great humor is rooted in truth and Carlin shared that truth.  John Kennedy was one of those men as was his brother Robert, Martin Luther King and many others in history.  Charlie Kirk’s name should be added to this list as well although there is much to be sorted out.  I hope there are the no loose ends left over forever hanging, unresolved even though that is generally the case with these trauma based events.

Doing this blog has been a fascinating journey with many unexpected turns along the way.  I never did find out who placed a medium sized gopher tortoise in the back of the seat in my locked pickup truck.  I was fortunate it was not something worse—such as a rattlesnake.  It’s a mild form of harassment.  Just a subtle way of letting me know if they wanted me they could get me. This was just one of many instances such as people contacting me attempting to draw me into situations that would damage my credibility.  Fortunately, I pulled back in time.

And once again a big shout out to all of the government and military agencies that have visited the site over the years.  Name the .gov or .mil and they most likely have paid a visit.  Yes, that includes even the spooks at Langley. 

The research never ends.  Press on all!

I appreciate you.

The Pass Through Shot

 

ARRB testimony destroys the lone gunman theory.

Latest post a Substack.

The ARRB operated from 1994 to 1998.  Their mission is to compile documents from government agencies, declassify documents and take testimony under oath from witnesses.  It was an important project to bring some transparency to JFK assassination research even though it uncovered additional mysteries.  Such as autopsy photographer John Stringer stating the film he was reviewing, which were supposed to be the originals he shot in 1963, were of a totally different brand name of than what he used.  Meaning the transparencies were duplicates and not the original archived film he shot.  What happened here?  It’s never been resolved. 

Full article here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/georgebailey/p/the-pass-through-shot

Ancient Aliens & JFK by Mike Bara

 

Mike Bara may be knowledgable regarding NASA and Ancient Aliens but he doesn’t know Beans about the Kennedy assassination.

If you have ever watched Ancient Aliens on the History Channel you’ve seen Mike Bara along with other experts giving their opinions on how aliens arrived on earth in the far away past and advanced human evolution and technology.  It makes for entertaining television and the show makes it apparent that sometime in ancient human history there is evidence of what appears to be high technology and engineering being used at a time when civilization was supposed to be in a primitive state.  So the Star People came and gave us free advice on how to climb down from the trees and into the savanna.   

Bara is a retired engineer and has written numerous books on this subject and NASA space programs.  Most of his books bears the “Ancient Aliens” title (here, there and everywhere!).  He hosts a 6 day a week channel on Youtube and is a conspiratorialist with some reservations.  For example he is a supporter of the Apollo Moon landings but he swerves into the John Kennedy Jr. conspiracy that he faked his death to escape being murdered by the Deep State (a popular theory among the Q followers).  To someday reappear like the Second Coming of Jesus.  And do what precisely?  So Bara is reasonable and then sometimes not.

Mike Bara’s main thesis in this work is that President Kennedy had knowledge of contact with Aliens and was planning to share this knowledge with the Soviets as a peace entreaty.  This in turn sent the President on a collation course with the Deep State and ended his life.  Farfetched to say the least.

It is interesting that while Bara does conclude there was a conspiracy in the death of JFK and resorts to using the same old tired arguments of the Lone Nut crowd. Which in turn, harkens from the easily discredited Warren Commission Report. Bara follows the well trodden path of Oswald being a good marksman to the Magic Bullet Theory. I shall explore this in greater detail below and show why he is wrong on all of these matters.

MJ-12 Documents

One of the controversial issues in UFO research is the release of alleged documents about the MJ-12 group.  One day in 1984 a UFO researcher Jaimie Shandera checked the mail and found a package containing a set of microfilm documents from an anonymous source.  The Majestic 12 legend was born and launched thousands of arguments both pro and con.  Now that the dust has settled down a bit, the MJ-12 docs are considered a hoax. (For more on this you can check out Seamas Coogan’s Magnus Opus, JFK and the Majestic Papers: The History of a Hoax.  LINK)

Mike Bara seems reluctant to let it go.  As he said on page 38, “I am less concerned with the question of authenticity than I am with the content.”  He should be!  He ponders what if the documents have traces of truth in them (the 12 members were real men at least) and then precedes thru the chapter to discuss connections to the documents as if they were real.  Such as he does on page 42 when he suggests that JFK knew of aliens. “But if Kennedy was taken out of the loop on what MJ-12 knew, how then was he even aware of an alien presence?”  Bara wants to believe, regardless.  Most of chapter 2 flows like this and the rest of the book will feature similar confusing episodes.  

Nevertheless, Bara’s reasoning that JFK was aware of aliens wanting to share this with a Cold War enemy ultimately set in motion his death, is totally absurd.  Kennedy had a multitude of enemies that hated him worse than speculating about flying saucers.

  

The Magic Bullet Theory one more time…

Also known as the “Magic Bullshit Theory” was developed when the Warren Commission discovered they had more bullets flying in Dealey Plaza than Oswald could have fired.  So their lawyers created the fiction of one bullet wounding two men.  The problem was the shooter was firing from a high elevation while Kennedy’s wounds were low to high for the single bullet to allegedly traverse his body and hit Governor Connelly, besides the trajectory angles being incorrect.  It was a political solution to the problem.  There could only be one gunman.

But there is much wrong with it and too much to go into here and Bara’s response to it is no different than what a standard Warren Report defender would say.  Probably the most complete rebuttal comes from the testimony collected by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) in 1996.  Namely the testimony under oath of four autopsy witnesses.  They were FBI special agents James Sibert and Francis O’Neill, and autopsy technicians James Jenner and Paul O’Conner.  All four men testify witnessing at the autopsy the sounding probe (flexible aluminum rod—used to trace bullets through bodies) inserted into Kennedy’s back.  The probe went a few inches in and downward.  It was not a pass-through.  So there is no exiting bullet through Kennedy’s throat.  Bara has shown in his sloppy research that he knows nothing about this and does great disservice to his readers by ignoring this important fact. 

Likewise for his handling for the CE-399 the so called “pristine” bullet found on Connelly’s stretcher and was alleged to have passed through two men breaking bones along the way.  Of course it is not pristine and shows marked flattening on one side.  Bara believes this bullet could have done all the damage it did, especially to Connelly breaking three ribs and fracturing the radial bone in the wrist and still remain largely undeformed.    

As I stated in one of my posts regarding this issue:  “The Warren Commission in 1964 tasked ballistic experts doctors Dolce and Light to conduct tests on cadavers using Oswald’s rifle at the U. S. Army Edgewood Arsenal.  As Dr. Dolce stated in an interview in 1986, each of the ten test fired bullets were in his words, “markably deformed.”  Dr. Dolce was not called to give testimony to the Warren Commission and his findings were buried in a report, published in March of 1965, that was classified “confidential” for 8 years before being placed in the NARA.”

Mostly likely CD-399 was a low velocity bullet with not enough grains in the shell hence the shallow impact.  It’s the one that fell out. Bara while writing of the magical properties of CD-399, failed to mention the numerous bullet fragments found in Governor Connelly’s body and also in the interior of the limousine.  One fragment he carried in his left thigh for the rest of his life.  As can be plainly seen, CD-399 is not fragmented.

Officer Tippit as Badge Man

This has to be the most unfortunate part of the book.  In my study of the Tippet killing I have never found anything that suggests he was the grassy knoll shooter.  Bara hangs his theory on the scant evidence of a Jack White digital reinterpretation of the Mary Moorman photo.  The famous Badge Man image cloaked in shadows on the grassy knoll.  There are various versions of this online and they all have one thing in common.  They are blurry.  Yet somehow Mike Bara finds enough data in the image to confidently state it was Tippit there and he was firing the fatal shot.

Due to Tippit’s movements and behavior that day, Tippit did not have the time to arrive in Dealey Plaza in order to assassinate the President.  He would need to be there early, at least by noon.  The President was killed at 12:30.  At noon Tippit was called to Hodge’s SuperMart to arrest a woman for shoplifting.  He was 7 miles away from Dealey Plaza at that point.  He would need to drive the woman back to headquarters to be booked, wasting valuable time if he was going to be an assassin.  No witnesses saw him in the Dealey Plaza location.

Some have suggested that Tippit may have been involved in the outer edges of the conspiracy.  His actions on the 22nd were peculiar as documented by Myers, Armstrong, McBride etc.  Tippit that morning was racing here and there.  At one point he rushed into the Tiptop record store and made a frantic call to someone who never picked up.  Whatever it was he did not display the actions of a normal police officer on patrol.  He was acting nervous and agitated.  Was his job to meet up with Oswald and take him out?  That seems far more plausible than looking at a blurry Photoshopped image and coming to a conclusion.

Officer J. D. Tippit as Badge Man is another poorly researched area of Bara’s book and a huge insult to the Tippit family.  All Bara has is a blurry picture.  Even the minimal facts I have presented here are not in Bara’s book.  Whatever Tippit’s involvement was that fateful day, he does not deserve this.

Conclusion

Overall, the Kennedy assassination chapters in Ancient Aliens & JFK are flawed.  The rest, including the secret space program, moon landings, etc, are competently researched and presented.  Sometimes as a researcher you can get into fire fighter mode.  So much incorrect information flows around the subject you are researching that the need arises to stamp it out.  It’s a constant process of reeducating and setting the record straight.  Mike Bara’s book is an example of that.  Obviously, this is not a serious look into who JFK’s killer was or other aspects of the assassination. The absurd notion that JFK had inside info on Aliens and what they are doing on earth is a joke. Bara is trading on the Ancient Aliens TV show name for traction.  It’s a pot boiler.  Reader beware.

Notes

p.100, Oswald was court martialed twice in the Marines.  Not three times as Bara wrote.

p.103, James Jesus Angleton was Associate Deputy Director of Operations for Counterintelligence.  Not the Deputy Director of the CIA as Bara states.  This error implies Angleton was #2 at the CIA.  He was not.

p.107, Bara calls Oswald a good marksman.  He was starting out but faded.  His first marksman test was excellent.  His score was lowered in the second test and barely qualified in the third test.  After the Marines during the Russia phase, when Oswald went hunting with friends he was loaned the shotgun—for obvious reasons. 

A reviewer on Amazon S. Harris, charged that some pages and at least one whole chapter of Ancient Aliens & JFK, are cut and pasted from Bara’s other books such as Dark Mission and Who Mourns For Apollo.  As Harris said  “Self-plagiarism is no crime…” yes, just the habit of a lazy writer.  As I said previously, a pot boiler. (Highly recommended you read the review on Amazon.  The reviewer points to other factual errors not mentioned in my review.)

Researcher Jones Harris once told me his theory that the grassy knoll shooter was Roscoe White.  Roscoe was former military intelligence.  He was seen walking around Dealey Plaza wearing a Dallas police officers uniform but not wearing the required hat.  But he wasn’t officially a police officer.  He wouldn’t attend police training till early December of 1963.  He was working for them as a clerk at this time.  As told to me by Harris, only those people that had completed training would be allowed to wear the uniform of the Dallas police department.  Could Roscoe White be Badge Man?  I suppose it makes for a better story to pin the crime on a more well known man rather than one who is not.

Sources

Why Officer Tippit Stopped His Killer by Jack Myers.  A very detailed and accurate account on the Tippit murder and Tippit’s movements the day of the assassination.

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/why-officer-tippit-stopped-his-killer

John Armstrong’s detailed account of the movements of J. D. Tippit on 11/22/63.

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/harvey-lee-and-tippit-a-new-look-at-the-tippit-shooting

JFK and the Majestic Papers: The History of a Hoax, Introduction by Seamas Coogan.  All nine articles are listed on this page.

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/jfk-and-the-majestic-papers-the-history-of-a-hoax-introduction

Briefer account here by Philip Coppens:

https://www.eyeofthepsychic.com/majestic12/

Book.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1939149991/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lee H. Oswald’s Name Missing From SSDI

As pointed out to me by researcher John Armstrong, after doing a search, found that Lee H. Oswald’s name is not listed in the Social Security Death Index. The index is the public list of deceased persons who have been removed from the SSA records and their numbers retired. Yet the man accused of murdering the president of the United States is not listed.  Why? 

It’s another long list of anomalies associated with this man so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  It reminds me of when his widow Marina applied for her survivor’s benefits and the SSA only acknowledged two years, 1962-1963.  Yes, Oswald had worked part time jobs from a teenager, put three years in the Marines, and was employed over two years in the Soviet Union.  All ignored.  

Oswald’s birth certificate has never been released either.  Not the real one.  The “Declaration of Birth” released by the FBI in the late 1970’s is a fraud.  That type only issued by the state of Louisiana for people born at home, without an attending physician.  Oswald was born in a city hospital attended to by a Dr. Mancuso.  His mother sold her house to him.  I would say that birth certificate is a fraud.

Never the less, you can try it out for yourself HERE.

Double Vision

I’ve written often on the theory that Lee Oswald was impersonated. At first, I thought this was a fringe element of JFK assassination research. Really wacky. However, some many phases and events in Oswald’s life are so perplexing and in some circumstances, downright weird, that two Oswalds can be the only explanation to suss out the high strangeness of Oswald’s life.

It’s quite evident that there is a coverup in the JFK assassination from documents that remain sealed to the odd disappearances and deaths of witnesses. As at least one researcher has told me, the doppelgängers present a good reason for a coverup. The government had little problem telling the public that Abraham Lincoln was killed as a direct result of a conspiracy. Why this president?

There is no way to maintain order in a civil society if a government admits that a national leader has been slain and the accused assassin has a double on the loose. On the other hand, what a great way to run such an operation. Have one man develop a legend–making appearances in public places to create a personality type, especially an unlikable, undesirable one. In the meantime, set up his double to take the fall. And the arrested Oswald said such a thing before he was silenced–"I’m just the patsy.”

It all looks like fringe research till you read the June, 1960 memo that FBI Director Hoover sent the Department of State asking for more information regarding Lee Oswald possibly being impersonated. You can rest assured that Hoover sensed something wasn’t right with a former Marine defecting to the Soviet Union and he was developing leads on him early on. Ultimately, he knew the most about Oswald outside of the traditional rings of power and the intelligence agencies. (That memo also shows that Hoover lied immediately following the assassination of JFK when he said for the public record that Lee Oswald was somebody the FBI knew little about. And the FBI agents were showing up everywhere Oswald had worked or went to school in less than 24 hours collecting documents on him. Didn’t take them long did it? And many of those records quickly disappeared.)

There are many instances of Lee Oswald possibly being impersonated but what follows is a few of the many examples of a likely doppelgänger in play.

Arrival in New Orleans, 1963

Lee Oswald arrives in New Orleans supposedly in search of work but as will develop over that summer, he will pursue marxist political operations which will land him in jail resulting in a TV interview and a radio debate which will further build the public legend of a leftwing agitator, one of the forerunners of many more to follow in the decade of the 1960’s.

When Oswald turns up on April 24, he stays with his aunt and uncle, Lillian and Charles Murret. Lillian is his mother’s younger sister. 

Lee starts doing something peculiar. He starts researching Oswalds in the phone directory seeking to get in touch with his father’s brothers. He’s particularly interested in Harvey, the source of his middle name. He eventually makes contact with Hazel Oswald, the widow of William, one of his father’s other brothers. She informs him that all of his uncles are deceased. He then travels to meet her and she gives him a large, framed picture of his father, Robert Sr.

There are several odd things about this story. First, why doesn’t Lee know his uncles are all gone? All he has to do is ask his aunt Lillian. She’s a life-long resident of New Orleans and would probably know if any of the Oswalds were alive since her sister married into the Oswald family. It’s a common thing most people know, regarding families, both blood and by marriage. If anything, he could have called his mother to find out. Even his brothers, Robert and John Pic, might have known.

Apparently, Lee didn’t want anybody in his family to know that he was looking up Oswald family members that by all counts, he should have known were dead.

Maybe because this is the wrongLee, an impostor arriving in New Orleans with a sketchy history of the Oswald family. If he asked anybody in the know, for example his mother or his aunt, he may have been met with, “You don’t know that your uncles are all gone?” Although one would assume that in an operation utilizing doubles, they would both be well briefed in family matters such as this. It’s reminiscent of Marguerite Oswald giving a host of wrong answers when questioned by probation officer John Caro in 1953 regarding Lee being truant from school in New York.

Eventually, he meets up with Hazel Oswald who gives him a large, framed picture of their father, Robert Sr. It should be noted that this picture is not found in Oswald’s possessions after the assassination. Robert Oswald ends up with it. Interesting, because Robert maintains that he never had any contact with Lee after the 1962 Thanksgiving gathering (see below) until the day of the assassination. So how did he get it?

Here’s a bit of trivia. William Oswald had a son, also named William. Researcher John Armstrong discovered that William was working as a salesman at the Reilly Coffee company at the very same time Lee was working there (p. 554). It’s unknown what interaction Lee had with this cousin or if William helped Lee get the job there. He is supposed to have seen an ad for a job, applied, interviewed, hired, and went to work the following day. This would be his only job in New Orleans. At least for this version of Lee Oswald.

Thanksgiving Day, 1962

This was the last time all three brothers were together.  They met at Robert and Vada’s home and all of the   brothers had their wives and children present.  Home movies were made which can be easily found online.  Oddly, their mother Marguerite was not invited.  Robert later said in his Warren Commission testimony that her name never came up during the course of the gathering, although John Pic said she was mentioned by Lee.  Some family huh?

Of all the brother’s there, John Pic, the son from Marguerite’s first marriage, noticed the most changes in Lee.  John found Lee to look different than the 10 year old boy he had last seen (actually, in his WC testimony he got Lee’s age off by 2 years).  Seeing a difference would be understandable given that length of time, but there were other more adult features John did not see.  For example, their cousin Marilyn Murret had told him that Lee had developed a bull neck since joining the Marines.  The bull neck Lee can be seen from his Marine pictures.  John did not notice Lee’s neck being any bigger.  When questioned by Commission attorney Jenner, John testified Lee's eyes looked different, sunken in.  When shown the picture of Lee at the Bronx zoo in 1953, John said that it wasn’t Lee in the picture.  And lastly, he was upset that Lee referred to him as a “half-brother,” which of course he was, but Lee had never alluded to him in such a manner in the past or ever introduced him to anybody as a half-brother.

One thing researcher John Armstrong once told me that he had interviewed Rachael Oswald.  He asked her about what interaction she had over the years with her uncle Robert.  None, she said.  Perhaps Oswald’s daughters are fathered by an impostor?  In his actions and statements Robert seems to know more than he ever let on.  He is not approachable by researchers so we can never know for certain what he really knows. 

The Mexico City Trip

I don’t intend to take a trip down that confusing rabbit trail.  But it’s a path littered with references to Oswald being impersonated, and that’s long before he actually gets to Mexico City and is impersonated on the phone calls to the Russian Embassy and the Cuban Consulate  office there.

One instance is when Oswald arrives back in Dallas after his Magical Mystery Tour to Mexico, which was on October 3, 1963.  Simultaneously, four library books he allegedly checked out on September 19, in New Orleans, are returned to the library that day of October 3rd.  Those books were, Goldfinger and Moonraker, by Ian Fleming; Age and Essence and New World by Aldous Huxley.  It’s likely that he did not take the books with him on the Mexico City trip as Oswald would have to make a side trip to New Orleans after his return from Mexico, to deliver the borrowed books.  The apartment on 4905 Magazine Street, as stated by the manager, was cleared out leaving nothing behind.  Did Oswald know somebody in New Orleans to deliver the books to the Library?  And why on October 3rd, the very day that he arrives in Dallas?  Basically, Oswald couldn’t have done it.  Somebody else did.  And who? (p. 597)

There is the famous Sylvia Odio incident where she claims two Hispanic men and one gringo showed up at her sister’s apartment in Dallas either on September 26 or 27 seeking financial help from her father, imprisoned in Cuba, for running operations against Castro (i.e., assassination of the Cuban leader).  The gringo identified himself as Leon Oswald.  But on the day of the assassination, after Oswald’s arrest, Odio identified Lee Oswald as the “Leon Oswald” at her door.  (Her sister also identified Lee Oswald as well, although she was never interviewed by the FBI.) However, Oswald was on the bus in Mexico at this time.  Her testimony was discounted by the Warren Commission, using two ne'er-do-wells who later recanted their statements that they were ever at the apartment.

Then there is Antonio Veciana of Alpha 66, the anti-Castro group financed by the CIA.  Veciana’s story is famous in JFK lore as it accounts for a witness sighting of Lee Oswald with a major intel operative.  Veciana was in Dallas for the purpose of meeting with his CIA case officer Maurice Bishop (i.e., David Atlee Phillips as ID’d by E. Howard Hunt) in Dallas.  Before he gets there, he see’s Bishop/Phillips chatting with a young man of whom he is not introduced to.  Later, he’ll see this young man on the news charged with the death of a president and a police officer.  This sighting occurred in late summer/early fall, at a time when Oswald was supposed to be nowhere near Dallas.  In fact, not in Dallas anytime in the entire month of September.  But there are many witnesses who can account for Oswald in Dallas/Irving throughout the summer of 1963 such as Cliff Shasteen, the barber that saw Lee Oswald come to shop in Irving numerous times that summer. 

Other Sightings

Oswald, or Oswald #2, or even a #3 was leaving tracks all over the place.  In John Armstrong’s Harvey and Lee, he makes mention of an undercover agent, Roy Frankhauser.  Frankhauser claims to have met Michael and Ruth Paine in 1960 as all three were allegedly infiltrating The Socialist Workers Party.  He claims to have met Lee Oswald in New York city during the week of September 16th, as he and Ruth escorted Lee to an exposition hosted by David Rockefeller (p. 597).  He also claimed that Ruth Paine was Oswald’s “babysitter.”

Also on September 16, somebody in Hubertus, Wisconsin, left a Lee Harvey Oswald signature in a restaurant registry.  Then on the 24th somebody left an Oswald signature at a nightclub 30 miles outside of Milwaukee.  That day, President Kennedy spoke in Ashland, Wisconsin.  Was this to promote a legend of Oswald stalking Kennedy?  If so, this fiction was not used later (p. 595).

Even earlier that summer, on July 26, a Lee Oswald signed the guest ledger at the Atomic Energy Museum at Oak Ridge, Tennessee (p. 551).  This Oswald left dual addresses of Dallas and USSR.  How’s that for a cheap plant?

As you can see, the operators run threads all over the place from New York, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and back to Texas again.  They run a line of alternate scenarios that might be used later, or not, as the situation develops.  Most likely these are not actual physical impersonators at work, but instead, operatives trained in how to replicate Oswald’s signature.  Then send them out marking up guest books, building the legend.  The only real fault with this method is that it leaves a trail; Oswald signatures in diverse places where they should not be, at the wrong dates, making little sense, adding a flare of mystery to the whole shebang.  Meanwhile, Lee Oswald is being monitored and used in ways he probably had no knowledge of.

The poor rube.

Sources

All page numbers relate to John Armstrong’s Harvey and Lee.

Oswald and Paine Weekend Timeline, October-November, 1963

You can learn a lot from studying timelines in a case, any case. It allows for a linear approach to events that’s similar to standing on the highest mountain and looking down. Everything regarding unfolding events is made clearer.

So what follows is the timeline of Lee Oswald’s weekends at Ruth Paine’s home from October to the last weekend before the assassination. It was chosen as there were so many sightings of Oswald at various locations, mainly the shooting range, on the weekends when Ruth Paine is maintaining that Lee was at her house on those days except for the last weekend before the assassination when he stayed at the rooming house. Perhaps she was not lying at all, if there is an impersonator in play. Warren Commission lawyers knew there were problems in Ruth’s testimony as so many people were seeing Lee at the SportsDrome Rifle Range when he wasn’t supposed to have been there. Eventually, they just had to let it all be.

Please note that on those days or weekends that Ruth Paine maintains that Lee was at her house, he is not supposed to be seen anywhere else, especially at night. Yet witnesses reported seeing Oswald at various locations from Dallas to New Orleans.

October 6 - Sunday (p. 713)

At Ruth Paine’s home all day Sunday. Spent the nights of the 4th, 5th and 6th at the Paine home. (According to her Testimony.)

Activities for Saturday unknown but he did write a letter to The Worker stating he had attended an ACLU meeting the evening of the 5th. 

Mrs. Lovell Penn reports seeing men shoot in her pasture. She is worried about her cows getting shot. She warns them and gets a nasty reply from one of the men. She threatens to call the police if they do not stop shooting. Later, Mrs. Penn ID’s Lee Oswald as the man that was rude to her in her pasture.

October 12-13 - Saturday and Sunday (p. 722-723)

At Ruth Paine’s home.

Oswald spent the weekend at Paine’s home. Not seen elsewhere.

October 18-19-20 - Friday, Saturday and Sunday (p. 730)

At Ruth Paine’s home. (According to her Testimony.)

October 18. According to Wesley Frasier, drove Lee Oswald to Paine's home for his birthday that evening.

October 19. Doorman for The Count of Two Sisters Restaurant in New Orleans, Leander D’Avy, reports seeing Lee Oswald, David Ferrie, his boss Gene Davis, and four other unidentified men in the storeroom, converted to an apartment. NOTE: Gene Davis is an FBI informant starting in October of 1961.

October 20. At the Paine home. Not seen elsewhere. Daughter Rachael was born at 10:41 PM that night. He was not present at the hospital for the birth.

October 26-27 - Saturday and Sunday (p. 736)

At Ruth Paine’s home both days. (According to her Testimony.)

First known trip by Lee Oswald to the SportsDrome Rifle Range. Arrives at dusk and seen by employe Malcom Price. Seen driving himself to the range. Also noticed by the owner, Floyd Davis.

October 27. Seen at the Paine home in the yard by a neighbor.

November 2-3 - Saturday and Sunday (p. 744)

At Ruth Paine’s home. (According to her Testimony.)

Lee Oswald is seen test driving a red Mercury at the Downtown Lincoln-Mercury Dealership. Later that day seen at Morgan’s Gun Shop in Fort Worth.

Spent Sunday, November 3, at the Paine Home. Not seen elsewhere.

November 9-10 - Saturday and Sunday (p. 758-763)

At Ruth Paine’s home, both days. (According to her Testimony.)

Saturday seen shooting a rifle at the SportsDrome Rifle Range.

Sunday, test fired rifle at the SportsDrome Rifle Range and seen by Malcom Price and Garland Slack. Later, witnessed by Harvey Wade at the Carousel Club at 11 PM that night. Oswald was seen with two unidentified men.

November 16-17 - Saturday and Sunday (p. 770-773)

Lee Oswald spent the last weekend before the assassination at the rooming house on Beckley street in Dallas. Oswald was not seen anywhere on Saturday.

November 17, Sunday. Seen at the SportsDrome Rifle Range, noticed by Dr. Homer Wood and teenage son, Sterling. Later, Garland Slack complains to the owner that Oswald shot at his target. Afterward, seen at Jack’s Bar in Dallas by witness Vern Davis.

Returns to the Paine home on Thursday, the 21st, for the final night. 

Sources

Harvey and Lee by John Armstrong. All page numbers referenced are from his book.

Ruth Paine Warren Commission testimony HERE.

New article on Jack Ruby

Researcher John Armstrong has a written a major piece on the life and background of Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald.  It's long but worth the read.

LINK:  http://harveyandlee.net/Ruby/Ruby.html

Bill Simpich's Final Chapter Posted

From the Marry Ferrell web site:

“The concluding chapter of Bill Simpich's new book State Secret: Wiretapping in Mexico City, Double Agents, and the Framing of Lee Oswald is now available for reading online here at MFF.”

This is the 7th and final chapter in Bill Simpich's online book involving the Mexico City operations.  It’s a recommended and detailed accounting of this phase of Oswald’s life just before the assassination.

Link here:
http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/State_Secret_Conclusion


You can start here at the beginning with the Preface to start reading all 7 chapters:
http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/State_Secret_Preface

John Armstrong Site Refresh

John Armstrong, author of Harvey and Lee: How The CIA Framed Oswald,  has done a make-over of his web site with new information.  The book Harvey and Lee is also available through this site.

LINK

The Oswald Avatar

Avatar |ˈavəˌtär|  noun
Computing an icon or figure representing a particular person in computer games, Internet forums, etc.; an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea.

For some time now I have been noticing a lot of strange things going on in the JFK case.  While the event has its share of coincidences, anomalies, and synchronicities, there are some very peculiar things going on that require further investigation.  Some of these things are near paranormal in strangeness.  While Lee Oswald will always be a bit of an enigma, with his mysterious ways, desiring to be called "Lee" to one group of friends and "Harvey" to another, he drifts in and out of various locales with such ease as if he's a ghost looking for an empty house to dwell in.  There are dozens of witnesses to testify to this.  He has an ability to be in two places at once, either by sight or by scribbles in obscure documents.

Maybe the current scientific model for reality is flawed, or maybe we are just being played by a very devious and clever Intelligence establishment.  There are a lot of strange things going on here that are hard to catalog or make sense of.  There are of course, rational explanations for many of these events but some are so peculiar it's as if a prankster has been set loose to toy with our senses. 

November 20, 1963
Just two days before the association of John F. Kennedy, there was a flurry of activity.  Some of it is quite odd.  The first incident is Oswald in the Dobbs House Restaurant having a nasty fit because his eggs were not cooked right.  In attendance was officer J. D. Tippet, who Oswald allegedly murders two days later.  There are lots of theories as to why Tippet was there but the real clincher here is that Oswald's work records indicate he never took any time off that morning (a pattern to be repeated constantly).  He was supposed to be filling book orders by 10:30 AM, not having a mid-morning breakfast and yelling at waitresses.  This has never been resolved other than to use the incident as evidence of Oswald being impersonated, besides having a personality of a jerk. 

The scene shifts later in the day when Ralph Yates picks up a hitchhiker carrying a long package.  When the young man enters his truck, he says the package is a set of curtain rods.  In a few days Lee Oswald will do the same thing, carry a package, about 4 feet long, and will tell coworker Wesley Fraser that the contents are curtain rods.  As Yates drives across downtown Dallas with his passenger the hitchhiker asks Yates if a sniper could shoot someone, such as the President, from one of the tall buildings.  Yates thinks so and says one must need a rifle with scope.  "Like this one?" the hitchhiker asks as he whips out a picture of a man holding a rifle (no scope) with a pistol on his hip.  Yates will tell FBI agents that the man in the picture resembled the hitchhiker (but apparently not Oswald).  The young man will ask if the parade route has been changed and Yates will tell him it hasn't.  Yates will drop the young man off with his package in hand at a stop light on Elm street, the same street where the assassination will take place.  Yates watches him walk north to Houston street, which will be the main parade route.

This is quite a story!  It plays out like a precognitive dream.  This hitchhiker character is foreshadowing the actual event.  He mimics Oswald's curtain rod story, complete with a backyard style photo of himself holding a rifle and a holstered handgun, such as Oswald has already done, to be revealed to the world later on the cover of Life magazine.  He brings up the subject of assassination of the President and inquires about the parade route changes.  He is then dropped off on a street that the President will be assassinated on.  He is not Oswald.  He doesn't resemble him and besides, he is asking about things Oswald would already know. The hitchhiker is a living Avatar for a day that lies in the near future.  Or maybe he's not living at all–at least not in the sense that we are. 

Since I've never ran an assassination operation, or any clandestine business before I have no idea if this is normal operating procedure or not.  To put someone in play such as this, mimicking the real shooter, or patsy, by use of a misdirection ploy would be clever if not mysterious.  What are the odds that it will accomplish anything?  Perhaps it was only meant to confuse.  No law enforcement investigator ever bit on Yates' story.  And besides, it's too peculiar anyway. 

Are there other patterns of this?  Yes there are.  The so-called Chicago plot where months earlier, Kennedy's motorcade was scheduled to pass through a high-rise section of Chicago until a disgruntled ex-Marine was arrested and found to have a large batch of firearms in the trunk of his car.  The former Marine, Thomas Vallee, had a job in a warehouse on the parade route, which featured a 90 degree turn just like the one on Elm street in Dallas.  No charges were ever filed and he was let go.  However, Kennedy's trip there was canceled.  Like Oswald, he never went around making threats against the President's life and of course, fit the description of a loner. (Talbot, p. 242)

Thomas Vallee then becomes another typecast Oswald figure, another synchronicity in a long line of them.

Stanley, North Dakota
The North Dakota story is probably one of the weirdest associated with Lee Oswald.  I documented it in an earlier post, And Then Harvey Rode Into The Trailer Park.  It has many creepy elements to it and is thoroughly documented by John Armstrong in his book, Harvey and Lee. 

The basic story is that in the summer of 1953 in the oil boom town of Stanley, North Dakota, William Timmer and neighborhood pals met up with a scruffy kid from New York named Harvey Oswald.  The lad told tall tales of street gangs and razor fights.   Naturally they were all impressed with him.  He was peculiar in ways, showing off Marxist literature and seemed to have an aversion to being seen by adults and would promptly scoot off on his junky bike when encountering them.

At one point that summer, this Harvey character expressed to Timmer that he planned on killing the president of the United States one day.  Timmer later told his mother about this and she told him never to be around this boy again.  After that summer, Timmer never saw Harvey Oswald again, until years later, when he saw him in the news arrested for the death of a President and police officer.

This Oswald is another archetype.  Another Oswald at the wrong place and at the wrong time because under the official account he was living with his mother in New York city in the summer of 1953.  His mother's  employment records from the Lady Orva Hosiery store show her working there that summer.  Besides, it is curious as to why they would even be in North Dakota to begin with as there are no connections for them there–no family or employment opportunities. 

The image of a teenage Oswald forecasting his future mission to be an assassin, as if he is predestined and looking forward to it, adds a certain creepiness to the story.  Why would any kid, or for that matter, any person have this as a future goal in life?  It's as if we are being visited with a meme. He's the Oswald we are supposed to be acquainted with.  The unlikeable outsider, one with peculiar habits, a social misfit with delusions of grandeur, complete with communist handbills.

And to add more fat to the fire, Lee Oswald, after he defects to the Soviet Union gives a series of interviews.  He gave one to Aline Mosby, of UPI, who wrote about his time in North Dakota.  The article was widely circulated on the wire services.  But he wasn't supposed to be there!  This discrepancy was dealt with by the Warren Commission by publishing her typewritten notes which listed New Orleans for this time period (CE 1385).  However, in her handwritten notes she has "N. Dakota" jotted down.  Mosby's untyped notes were hidden for years and finally released by the FBI in a document dump in 1978. (Armstrong, p. 270) 

There is a real predicament here with William Timmer's story.  He's not the only witness, so was his mother.  And she wrote a letter to none other than LBJ documenting their Oswald encounter in 1953.  It was filed away like a lot of things are.  Unfortunately, his school chums are untraceable, if any are still living to back up the story.  But the story is out there hanging heavy.  It could be real or part of somebody's imagination. 


The Fair Haired Boy
Under the official dogma Lee Oswald was not supposed to drive a car.  He supposedly didn't know how and Ruth Paine told the Warren commission she was giving him lessons a week before the assassination.  However, Oswald was seen driving a car numerous times.  He was driving a car to the Sports Dome firing range practically every time he went there.  And, he was seen driving a car to his many visits to the Shasteen barbershop in Irving, Texas. 

In one of the more unexpected stories involving Oswald, he was seen on his last trip to Shasteen's accompanied by a blonde, teenage boy (Armstrong, p.757). Cliff Shasteen saw them coming in but didn't stay as he was leaving to watch a local football game.  Later he was told by one of the barbers that Oswald had inquired about him and where he was going.  A little too nosey. 

The teenage boy is an odd one.  Nobody saw him before and it's unknown why he accompanied Oswald in the first place.  Oswald was never known to associate with other people's children.  The boy visits the barbershop one last time, alone, and then vanishes from the scene (pg. 778).  It should be noted that during his last visit, the boy speaks up about current events and lays down his thoughts for the ills of the world and that would be capitalist greed.  When asked where he came up with the line of reasoning, he has no response.  Another budding marxist here?  After all, Lee is supposed to have started his marxist interests as a young teen as well.  Or just another synchronicity?

~O~

For whatever reason a motif is set in action.  It’s not something that only pertains to the assassination of JFK.  One can see many of these archetypes appearing around other events both normal and paranormal.  Like many things surrounding the Kennedy assassination, we will never know for sure.



Sources
And Then Harvey Rode Into The Trailer Park
http://oswaldsmother.blogspot.com/2011/03/and-then-harvey-rode-into-trailer-park.html

Talbot, David, Brothers, p. 242
Armstrong, John, Harvey and Lee, pps. 270, 757, 778

7 Of The Worst JFK Books

There are so many bad books on the JFK assassination it wasn’t hard picking the eight.  What follows is a mix of different styles and angles, with Family of Secrets selected for its JFK section.  For the most part the books listed here mostly feature the pro-government account. Why?  Because the government’s official story is flawed and those authors ignore that fact for a variety of reasons only known to them. In some instances, such as Gerald Posner’s Case Closed, the book is deceptive in its narrative and deeply flawed in its accounting of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. 

#7 The Interloper by Peter Savodnik
Apparently rushed out for the 50th year anniversary of JFK’s death,  this dreck of a book by Peter Savodnik is awful in so many ways I could almost make it #1 on the list.  For a guy that traveled the world doing research there is literally nothing new in this book but another reframing of Oswald as the hapless, disgruntled loser with delusions of grandeur. Made even worse are the many mistakes in the book, such as Savodnik stating that Lee and mother lived in Manhattan for 6 weeks.  Not only did they never live there, but the address listed is one they never lived at.  They actually lived in the Bronx for over a year.  Even more importantly, the author totally ignored the CIA/ONI false defector program to the Soviet Union.  It’s a well documented piece of the story and the author can’t bare to mention it at all.  Logically, he can’t because it disrupts his fiction of Oswald being a misguided loner hoping desperately to fit in.  Certainly not worth a purchase for the same old song and dance in a different package.

#6 Oswald’s Tale by Norman Mailer 
As I have said in the past, the trouble with books by Norman Mailer is there is too much of Norman Mailer in them.   A man who was truly a legend in his own mind, Mailer is another man that started out a conspiracy believer to later throw in the towel and side with the status quo.  With an ego so huge that hardly any books can bear the weight of it, the great man of American Letters tackles the character of Oswald in his usual infuriating way.  Infuriating, meaning at certain junctures he injects metaphors better suited for fiction.  He refers to Oswald as a ghost, the First Ghost he says.  Oh brother, I cringe.

Unfortunately, it’s all the same old song and dance with the same old tired conclusions.   Mailer makes a valiant attempt in trying to peer into the soul and consciousness of Lee H. Oswald despite his lack of psychiatric credentials.  Mailer offers his reader the standard account of the shiftless, troubled loser with delusions of grandeur dreaming of making his mark on history.  However, there is one stumbling block Mailer trips over as many others have before him–that stumbling block is motive.  There basically isn’t one and everybody knows it.  Oswald never expressed any dislike or ill will towards Kennedy.  So Mailer will have to put on his Dr. Phil hat and soldier on with the delusions of grandeur profile.  And like Bugliosi, Posner, and O’Reilly, he ignores the controversial events of Oswald’s life, including what if he was being impersonated, what if he was a possible government operative, and what was going on with the Mexico city trip? He instead opts for the standard accounting, albeit with literary flourishes that only an author like Norman Mailer can type up. 

#5 Blood, Money & Power by Barr McClellan
Barr McClellan’s book covering the LBJ did-it-theory.  There have been many written on this angle, and this one is among the worst. McClellan states up front that we can never know the exact details for the conspiracy hatched between Johnson and his attorney Edward Clark.  So he tells his readers that he will make use of “historical fiction” for those parts.  Isn’t that special?  This is the main reason one should never use this book as a source. Unfortunately, many LBJ conspiracy authors do. 

Lyndon Johnson is indeed a character worth considering in conspiracy as he was one of the most conspiratorial men that ever lived.  A supreme manipulator of people and events he was a master of everything that crossed his path.  He did so many bad things in his life, and was such a disreputable character totally devoid of scruples that it boggles the mind in regards to what he got away with.  Or for that matter, how he could live with himself. (Apparently not an easy thing with his psychotic breaks covered up as “exhaustion.”) If there was ever an unindicted criminal running loose it was LBJ.  But karma works and it all came grinding to a halt when the Marines landed in Vietnam.  Knee deep in big muddy and Big Fool says to push on, sang Pete Seeger.  A classic case of having the chickens come home to roost.  Oh boy, did they ever!

Barr McClellan’s account is pairing of Lyndon Johnson with his co-conspirator attorney Edward Clark, the only man the author says that Johnson ever trusted.  The duo starts their alliance early on in the careers of each with Clark being instrumental in keeping Johnson out of his various predicaments, especially the major vote rigging in the 1948 senate race.  McClellan gets hired by the Clark law firm so his intent here is to provide the reader with inside information on how it all went down.  But as stated above, some of this narrative is going to be made up by the author since he doesn’t have access to all the facts.  He claims he is told cryptic statements from law firm partners, John Coates and Don Thomas, about how Clark arranged the assassination of Kennedy.  Well, that would let LBJ largely off the hook if he is not scheming too.  If it happened this way, boy, did the CIA and other enemies get lucky.

The actual details of the assassination are a mixture of fact, fiction, and nonsense.  In this scenario, Oswald is paired with another shooter, one Malcolm Wallace.  McClellan alleges he is LBJ’s personal hit-man and there is some truth to that.  Wallace was arrested for the murder of a local golf pro and told a detective he had to return to Washington as he worked for LBJ.  Later, he got off with a slap on the wrist, never serving any time for the homicide.  Even in terms of Texas law that was a blatant misuse of justice.  Anyway, according to McClellan, Wallace sneaks in the school book building and makes his way to the sixth floor to team up with Oswald.  Here things get out of kilter. McClellan has Oswald taking the first shot that misses, but strangely, not the one you might think.  Meanwhile, Mac Wallace shoots and hits Kennedy in the back, with the bullet passing through to break up and incredibly, send a fragment to wound James Tague standing on Commerce street.  Wow, more crazy physics than the Magic Bullet Theory!   Oswald’s second shot hits Gov. Connelly in the back causing all of his injuries.

But he’s not done yet!  McClellan has an anonymous character named “Junior” available from the grassy knoll for the kill shot.  Not much on this guy other than Junior is supposed to be a crack shot.  He pulls the trigger and the assassination is completed.  Junior disappears into history, or rather, into McClellan’s fantasy world. Malcolm Wallace sneaks out wearing a dark suit and flashes his Secret Service credentials to anybody nearby in another make-believe incident.  And Oswald, well, we all know what happens to him. 

So there you have the essentials of this awful book.  Presenting stories as history, complete with invented dialog, is absurd and the real facts get lost in the clutter.  So much is left out, particularly Oswald’s life and the employment of Jack Ruby to silence him.  It’s all LBJ and his crooked lawyer and few others have a play in this, especially the usual suspects–Mob, CIA, Russians, Cubans, and so on.  So few people are involved, there’s hardly a plot to muster up.   And the bit about Mac Wallace’s bullet disintegrating resulting in Tague’s wounding is weird and not supported by any facts or any other research.  McClellan doesn’t cite anything on this improbable happening for proof.  And Junior?  Could he be one of the good ole’ boys working down at the local Jiffy Lube?

To think what Barr McClellan could have written on LBJ’s involvement, if any, in the assassination.  He was given the opportunity to be employed by Johnson’s law film but apparently, did not have enough access to properly research the subject.  When it comes down to it, he’s really out of the loop.  He does mention one tantalizing thing–the top floor of the law firm is where the files of the clients are stored.  And way in the back, under a special lock, are all the files pertaining to Lyndon Baines Johnson.  Oh, what a treasure trove lies concealed there!

#4 Ultimate Sacrifice by Lamar Waldron
I feel sort of sorry for Lamar Waldron. He’s sort of a Don Quixote figure in the annals of JFK research.  Like Quixote, he suffers from serious lapses of judgement in both professional and personal life.  Billed as the “Ultimate JFK Historian” Waldron has co-authored several books on the JFK assassination from the “Mob did it” angle making him the leading authority.  His books are filled with unnamed sources, questionable scholarship, and poor citing of references.  Probably his most remarkable claim, along with co-author Thom Hartmann, is of an alleged second planned invasion of Cuba set for December 1st, 1963 called “C-Day.”  This C-Day plot is not alluded to by any other researchers and there isn’t any documentation that I know that has been cited on this. It’s a bunch of hokum.  David Talbot, author of Brothers, asked Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara if he was aware of such an event and he said he was not. 

One troublesome area of Waldron’s version of the Kennedy assassination is the notion that JFK and Bobby were deeply involved in this Cuban plot; either turn Castro by peaceful means or send in people to knock him off.  So if they are in league with the anti-Castro Cubans and the Mob to accomplish this, then why would they murder JFK a few days before the invasion?  It doesn't make sense.  The proof for this and other scenarios is flimsy at best.

For Lamar Waldron, the Mob is responsible for many conspiracies from the JFK assassination to Watergate.  While many have documented a lot of CIA machinations, they always get a pass from Waldron. His recent book on Nixon and Watergate, the Mob pops up again to ensnare Nixon, although Nixon is supposed to be good buddies with them going back years. 

Picking on the Mob does have its advantages.  For example, Lamar Waldron gets very good reviews for his books in the mainstream media while virtually all conspiracy authors of JFK books get largely ignored.  As we know from the Church Committee hearings the CIA spent millions of dollars–under the table money–to buy off editors and writers in mainstream media outlets.  No wonder Waldron gets such high praise.  The CIA will never get their dirty linens exposed. 

In the end, Lamar Waldron blows a lot of smoke with his Mob fantasies not to mention creating cooked up scenarios that are inadequately documented.

#3 Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly
I remember the days when Bill O’Reilly was a reporter for Inside Edition and did some hard hitting pieces on the JFK assassination.  I wish the old Bill O’Reilly that looked into this case with a critical eye would have returned here for an encore.  Sadly, that’s a thing of the past.  Now being a major media figure on FOX he’s gone to the dark side of the Force.  Do they have some pictures on this guy?  Anyway, this book, co-authored with Martin Dugard (who probably did all the work) is another rehashing of the assassination from the Warren Commission perspective of a lone gunman and no conspiracy.  It follows the standard path of Poser and Bugliosi which is to cherry pick the evidence and in O’Reilly/Dugard’s exposition, ignore everything that has happened since the Warren Report was issued in 1964. That would include Ramsey Report, the Rockefeller Commission, Jim Garrison’s investigation and trial of Clay Shaw, the Church Committee hearings, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) investigation in the late 1970’s, the late 90‘s Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) release of files and sworn witness testimony, and the other released documents gained from FOIA requests made by independent researchers.  I should also add the 26 volumes of Warren Commission hearings and collected evidence as well since documents there contradict the final report.  Of course, the lone nut gang must take this path to make sure the lone gunman theory appears viable.  They treat the Warren Report as if it’s a holy document; the Word of God comes down from the mountain top, above reproach.

It’s really a bad book because it is agenda driven and leaves out any evidence that points to a conspiracy, or for that matter, anything that gives us insight to a different Lee Oswald than what we’ve been told. Talk about beating a dead horse, O’Reilly/Dugard even have Oswald proclaimed as a “crack shot” for heaven’s sake!  Even a first grader knows that’s a joke.

It’s a huge bestseller mainly because Bill O’Reilly used his position on a top rated cable news show to send it to the top of the charts, otherwise this empty suit of a JFK book would be in the discount bin with Reclaiming History and Case Closed.  It will probably be the best selling t​ome ever for the official government sanctioned account.  But that will be its only claim to fame. 

#2 Reclaiming History by Vince Bugliosi

Vince Bugliosi, the man who single handedly changed the image of peaceful, harmless hippies into demonic, zoned-out crazies, tries his hand at Warren Commission defense in this 1,600+ page tome. Weighing in at around 5 pounds don’t drop it on your foot–I did and it hurt! Commonly referred to as a door-stop, it certainly fulfills this purpose. As far as reframing Oswald for John Kennedy’s murder it serves that purpose as well, though Bugliosi has to pull a host of clever lawyer tricks out of his hat and constantly move the goalposts around to score his points. The Straw Men get the hell beat out of them forcing these fellows to wish they were made of stronger stuff. The book starts out reasonably well but it’s not long before the nasty Bugliosi shows up to insult and ridicule critics of the official story in every way imaginable. So obsessed with lampooning critics as “conspiracy theorists” at times he goes off the rails and starts accusing people of conspiracy theory who don’t even invent theories. People such as Dr. David Mantik who simply went to the National Archives and discovered that some of the x-rays of JFK were apparent frauds. That is not a theory but a fact. Never mind, Dr. Mantik is labeled a theorist anyway.

The trouble with Bugliosi’s arguments is they look good at first till you start digging deeper. A good example, goal post shifting is when he states that if there is a shooter on the grassy knoll his angle is off, meaning his shot would pass through Kennedy’s head from ear to ear–not from front to back. This seems logical. However, the only way he accomplishes this is by placing the shooter at the wrong place behind the picket fence to begin with. He has to do this since he has dumped all witness testimony, over 50 witnesses, who heard shots coming from the knoll. All nice and tidy tricks till you ponder it. 

As many have said, Reclaiming History is a prosecutorial brief. “Oswald is guilty as sin,” begins the esteemed prosecutor. And that indeed, is all this book is ever going to be. It’ll never be an objective investigation into what happened or the possibility that Oswald was innocent. History in this book is a backdrop to the linear path to Oswald’s guilt. There is no drama to take place here as Bugliosi has let his reader know what the end result will be. He tries to convince the reader that the Magic Bullet Theory really does make sense. That the Zapruder film really does show Kennedy shot from the back, despite what your lying eyes tell you. And if you don’t believe him, you aren’t very bright. The contrary evidence and witness testimony has to be dumped to make all of this plausible. However, the members of the Lone Nut crowd all do this. Anything that looks suspicious is just coincidence or a fluke. 

Reclaiming History is a book to fool the people that haven’t studied the Kennedy assassination in any depth. I have the sense that Vincent Bugliosi is a devious character. He was sued for slander in the early 1970’s and had to pay a $12,500 settlement to his former milkman. Bugliosi used the powers of his office to stalk the guy, get his unlisted phone number, and generally badmouth him all over. Why? Because he thought the milkman was shagging his wife. Whoa there! So if you want to believe anything this peculiar man has to say, it’s up to you.

Vince Bugliosi, the man who single handedly changed the image of peaceful, harmless hippies into demonic, zoned-out crazies, tries his hand at Warren Commission defense in this 1,600+ page tome. Weighing in at around 5 pounds don’t drop it on your foot–I did and it hurt! Commonly referred to as a door-stop, it certainly fulfills this purpose. As far as reframing Oswald for John Kennedy’s murder it serves that purpose as well, though Bugliosi has to pull a host of clever lawyer tricks out of his hat and constantly move the goal posts around to score his points. The Straw Men get the hell beat out of them forcing these fellows to wish they were made of stronger stuff. The book starts out reasonably well but it’s not long before the nasty Bugliosi shows up to insult and ridicule critics of the official story in every way imaginable. So obsessed with lampooning critics as “conspiracy theorists” at times he goes off the rails and starts accusing people of conspiracy theory who don’t even invent theories. People such as Dr. David Mantik who simply went to the National Archives and discovered that some of the x-rays of JFK were apparent frauds. That is not a theory but a fact. Never mind, Dr. Mantik is labeled a theorist anyway.

The trouble with Bugliosi’s arguments is they look good at first till you start digging deeper. A good example, goal post shifting is when he states that if there is a shooter on the grassy knoll his angle is off, meaning his shot would pass through Kennedy’s head from ear to ear–not from front to back. This seems logical. However, the only way he accomplishes this is by placing the shooter at the wrong place behind the picket fence to begin with. He has to do this since he has dumped all witness testimony, over 50 witnesses, who heard shots coming from the knoll. All nice and tidy trick till you ponder it. 

As many have said, Reclaiming History is a prosecutorial brief. “Oswald is guilty as sin,” begins the esteemed prosecutor. And that indeed, is all this book is ever going to be. It’ll never be an objective investigation into what happened or the possibility that Oswald was innocent. History in this book is a backdrop to the linear path to Oswald’s guilt. There is no drama to take place here as Bugliosi has let his reader know what the end result will be. He tries to convince the reader that the Magic Bullet Theory really does make sense. That the Zapruder film really does show Kennedy shot from the back, despite what your lying eyes tell you. And if you don’t believe him, you aren’t very bright. The contrary evidence and witness testimony has to be dumped to make all of this plausible. However, the members of the Lone Nut crowd all do this. Anything that looks suspicious is just coincidence or a fluke. 

Reclaiming History is a book to fool the people that haven’t studied the Kennedy assassination in any depth. I have the sense that Vincent Bugliosi is a devious character. He was sued for slander in the early 1970’s and had to pay a $12,500 settlement to his former milkman. Bugliosi used the powers of his office to stalk the guy, get his unlisted phone number, and generally badmouth him all over. Why? Because he thought the milkman was shagging his wife. Whoa there! So if you want to believe anything this peculiar man has to say, it’s up to you.

Vinc​ent​ Bugliosi RIP, 1934-2015

#1 Case Closed by Gerald Posner 
They seem to promote guys like Gerald Posner every decade.  He was the 90’s poster boy for Warren Commission defense.  Vincent Bugliosi was picked for the role in the first decade of the 21st century.  Bill O’Reilly gets the honor for the second decade.  Posner still has his boyish looks all these years later though his face has been resharpened so many times he’s developed that plastic look of an android.  Looks aside, his book takes the Numero Uno slot as the worst book ever in JFK assassination literature.  Why?  ​L​et me count the ways.

Posner had no background in JFK research and it shows.  Like the others that have followed, Posner uses the same sleight of hand tricks to insure Oswald’s guilt. (Yes, he’s another lawyer.)  He omits facts, has easily proven errors in evidence and logic, and generally makes stuff up.  There are wrong dates, erroneous names, even geographical locations are misapplied.  His book is in effect, an attempt to discredit everybody or anything that reeks of conspiracy in the case.  And with a lap dog press he got away with it for a while till the Internet appeared to unveil the trickery.

One of Posner’s worst acts is to claim interviews with people that later state they never spoke to him, such as star witness James Tague who Posner has three citations on.  Tague said he never met or spoke to him.  Tague was one of many people that have come forward outing Posner on bogus interview claims.

Basically, Posner is a hack, brought on board with promises of unprecedented access to CIA files.  The CIA being the duplicitous bunch they are, used him for a foil.  One silly flub was when Posner stated on a cable TV documentary that he had documents proving that Oswald and David Ferrie were not in the CAP together at the same time.  He states the same thing in his book as well.  Then later a picture emerged of both of them at a CAP outdoor meeting.  Oops!  Posner was fooled about Ferrie getting kicked out of the CAP in the mid 1950‘s, ignoring that Ferrie started his own branch in another town which apparently the 14 year-old Oswald joined.  Actually, Posner’s mistakes got so bad even Bugliosi had to take him to task in his book for numerous errors. 

One more thing.  Posner resorts to using computer aided studies conducted by Failure Analysis Associates, to prove the lone bullet theory.  He makes it appear he commissioned the firm to do this work for him.  FAA in turn, refutes any of these claims. It was actually data created for the American Bar Association's mock trial of Oswald, and both sides used it.  Oh, and by the way, Oswald was not convicted in the mock trial.

In later years Posner got in trouble for plagiarism and had to hire an attorney  (Mark Lane of all people!).  None of this is surprising considering Posner’s machinations committed in Case Closed.  It all finally caught up with him.  Karma is a lady not to be trifled with.


And there you have it.  My eight of the worst JFK assassination books of all time.  I could have enlarged greatly, such as JFK and UFOs and so on but decided to pass on wading through that cesspool.  I’ll update the list in the future should I find books that are even more offensive than the ones listed here.  There probably are.