Venerable mag talks with Jefferson Morley of JFK Facts about what's next, the CIA's tracking of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the continued resonance of the JFK case
On January 23rd, President Donald Trump came forward and finally made good on a promise he made many years ago, back in 2017. At that time he said he was looking forward to declassifying the last of the classified John F. Kennedy assassination documents. And, in fact, by law that is what he should have done. Because the originating legislation, the John F. Kennedy Records Collection Act, stated that all records that had been deferred should be declassified by October 2017. The only person who could stop it was the president.
Therefore, everyone expected this to happen and the media even picked up on the story. But Trump was visited by the CIA and FBI on that day. It was Mike Pompeo of the former that carried the water and put out the fire in Trump. Trump now gave the agencies a six month window to do what he should have done on that day. When that extension expired, incredibly, he then gave them another three years to do the job.
The far window of that 3 year time line leaked over into the Joe Biden presidency. As Andrew Iler has proven, Biden was even worse than Trump on this issue. Not only did he release less documents, he actually denuded the JFK Act. He more or less restored the process to something like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) hearings. (See the Andrew Iler/Mark Adamcyk story of July 21, 2023 at Kennedys and King). Yet, the whole point of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) was that it switched the FOIA burden of proof. Now the agency had to show why a document should not be declassified. With the document in the open, right in front of all parties.
******
And here is the the first of six parts, this is very useful especially for those new to the sprawling triple homicides under discussion - JFK, Patrolman Jefferson Davis Tippit, and Lee Harvey Oswald, all three within less than 48 hours in Dallas, Texas, November 22-24, 1963.
“Because if you understand that event, you understand so much more about the world, the power-political world from which it came. And we’ve always had this confusion, this blind spot at the heart of our own history, our own sense of history was like, “What was that?” And because the government has no credible explanation and the whole thing is surrounded by mad conspiracy theories and disinformation and stupid apologetics, it’s a sore point.”
Jeff’s summary hits the nail exactly on the head. For so many of the investigators this truth telling (hopefully) comes late. For the rest of us, these are exciting times!
Apparently, almost getting your head blown off in front of a microphone brought Trump to see the light. That seems to be the reason for his executive order to declassify the “assassination” files.
As far as the dismantling of USAID, I wonder if Senator Rand Paul would be more effective than the likes of Musk.
Paul has generated a festivus document yearly to expose w, f, and abuse.
Plus he is smarter than Elon who apparently can’t parent much because he’s too impatient.
Actually, Musk is almost like a part of the Department of Defense, Space x Starlink Contracts etc etc.
I understand from Catherine Austin Fitts former HUD Secretary that the lion’s share of the missing trillions lies in the black budget Defense Department.
Who’s going to look for waste, fraud and abuse there? Private Contractors that work out of underground bases, area 51, Skunkworks, Pine Gap and all the rest have had a blank check for decades. Fitts claimed that HUD was nothing more than a slush fund for the black budget projects. Peace
"the lion’s share of the missing trillions lies in the black budget Defense Department"
Of course it does. I don't know why this isn't obvious to any thinking person. That's why the Pentagon has failed every audit and always will fail an audit.
Unfortunately, even the money from government black budgets is not enough to pay for all of the wars, empire building, and surveillance by the deep state. It has to steal more.
Ukraine sells half the weapons we send them. The CIA doesn't know? Of course they do. They are in on the scam. As the president of Mexico asked recently, where do the Mexican drug cartels get their American-made grenade launchers?
There is an easy way to stop the coverups and other shenanigans. Send pink slips to everyone in the CIA and other intelligence agencies and make them re-apply for their jobs. Then ask them what they did at work. Trump has the balls to do something this outrageous. Firing people is a good way to demoralize them and make them give up.
I'm not so sure. Firing Dulles certainty didn't demoralize him or influence him to give up. The whole system needs to be restructured and sterilized to the point that the need for such agencies is drastically reduced (in my humble opinion).
I'm not sure either, but I don't think anyone now has the cult-figure like status that Dulles had during his tenure. Dulles was a Hoover-like character who had the undying loyalty of his subordinates. My guess is that CIA employees are more devoted to their paychecks than to the CIA director now.
Some further thoughts from another historian who has specialized in the case:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-156137275
[Opening extract}
Trump and the JFK Files:
The Meaning of his Executive Order
James Anthony DiEugenio
Jan 30, 2025
On January 23rd, President Donald Trump came forward and finally made good on a promise he made many years ago, back in 2017. At that time he said he was looking forward to declassifying the last of the classified John F. Kennedy assassination documents. And, in fact, by law that is what he should have done. Because the originating legislation, the John F. Kennedy Records Collection Act, stated that all records that had been deferred should be declassified by October 2017. The only person who could stop it was the president.
Therefore, everyone expected this to happen and the media even picked up on the story. But Trump was visited by the CIA and FBI on that day. It was Mike Pompeo of the former that carried the water and put out the fire in Trump. Trump now gave the agencies a six month window to do what he should have done on that day. When that extension expired, incredibly, he then gave them another three years to do the job.
The far window of that 3 year time line leaked over into the Joe Biden presidency. As Andrew Iler has proven, Biden was even worse than Trump on this issue. Not only did he release less documents, he actually denuded the JFK Act. He more or less restored the process to something like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) hearings. (See the Andrew Iler/Mark Adamcyk story of July 21, 2023 at Kennedys and King). Yet, the whole point of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) was that it switched the FOIA burden of proof. Now the agency had to show why a document should not be declassified. With the document in the open, right in front of all parties.
******
And here is the the first of six parts, this is very useful especially for those new to the sprawling triple homicides under discussion - JFK, Patrolman Jefferson Davis Tippit, and Lee Harvey Oswald, all three within less than 48 hours in Dallas, Texas, November 22-24, 1963.
https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/part-1-of-6-no-motive-plus-the-silenced-witnesses
“Because if you understand that event, you understand so much more about the world, the power-political world from which it came. And we’ve always had this confusion, this blind spot at the heart of our own history, our own sense of history was like, “What was that?” And because the government has no credible explanation and the whole thing is surrounded by mad conspiracy theories and disinformation and stupid apologetics, it’s a sore point.”
Jeff’s summary hits the nail exactly on the head. For so many of the investigators this truth telling (hopefully) comes late. For the rest of us, these are exciting times!
Apparently, almost getting your head blown off in front of a microphone brought Trump to see the light. That seems to be the reason for his executive order to declassify the “assassination” files.
As far as the dismantling of USAID, I wonder if Senator Rand Paul would be more effective than the likes of Musk.
Paul has generated a festivus document yearly to expose w, f, and abuse.
Plus he is smarter than Elon who apparently can’t parent much because he’s too impatient.
Actually, Musk is almost like a part of the Department of Defense, Space x Starlink Contracts etc etc.
I understand from Catherine Austin Fitts former HUD Secretary that the lion’s share of the missing trillions lies in the black budget Defense Department.
Who’s going to look for waste, fraud and abuse there? Private Contractors that work out of underground bases, area 51, Skunkworks, Pine Gap and all the rest have had a blank check for decades. Fitts claimed that HUD was nothing more than a slush fund for the black budget projects. Peace
"the lion’s share of the missing trillions lies in the black budget Defense Department"
Of course it does. I don't know why this isn't obvious to any thinking person. That's why the Pentagon has failed every audit and always will fail an audit.
Unfortunately, even the money from government black budgets is not enough to pay for all of the wars, empire building, and surveillance by the deep state. It has to steal more.
Ukraine sells half the weapons we send them. The CIA doesn't know? Of course they do. They are in on the scam. As the president of Mexico asked recently, where do the Mexican drug cartels get their American-made grenade launchers?
https://youtu.be/q94JNTu8Bjc?si=gC6YyGhnbgCKQcyL
The CIA intentionally hires people who think like criminals, i.e. sociopaths and psychopaths.
How the CIA uses USAID and similar agencies to control the narratives people receive both here and abroad:
https://youtu.be/4wNJQQWMqgE?si=i8QEBMt4B0KEXqeP
There is an easy way to stop the coverups and other shenanigans. Send pink slips to everyone in the CIA and other intelligence agencies and make them re-apply for their jobs. Then ask them what they did at work. Trump has the balls to do something this outrageous. Firing people is a good way to demoralize them and make them give up.
I'm not so sure. Firing Dulles certainty didn't demoralize him or influence him to give up. The whole system needs to be restructured and sterilized to the point that the need for such agencies is drastically reduced (in my humble opinion).
I'm not sure either, but I don't think anyone now has the cult-figure like status that Dulles had during his tenure. Dulles was a Hoover-like character who had the undying loyalty of his subordinates. My guess is that CIA employees are more devoted to their paychecks than to the CIA director now.