McMaster Shows Himself Another Puppet By Denying, Spinning Trump's Latest Intel Transgression

Trump divulged highly classified intel to Lavrov (L) and Kislyak last week.

"We can't have someone in the Oval Office who doesn't understand the words 'confidential' or 'classified'." - Donald Trump in campaign speech last year, in regard to Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information on a private server.

The banner headline for The Washington Post story released last night read:

'Trump Revealed Highly Classified Information To Russian Diplomats'

Ought to send chills down the spines of all true American patriots, not the paper type who wave their little flags, chant "USA! USA!" but can't even recite three of the Bill of Rights, or name the branches of government - but the real patriots. That is, those who know their leaders are not laws unto themselves and must be held to account.

The lead story in the Post reported on Monday that Trump shared details of intelligence gathered about an Isis threat that had been closely guarded within the United States government and among close US allies. The report stated that while Trump did not describe the specific sources or methods used to gather the intelligence, he provided highly classified details, apparently connected to an Isis plot related to the use of laptops on board passenger aircraft.

Naturally the lying, spinning Trump did not take kindly to these revelations and so dispatched his pressured toadies to try to spin them all the way (at the same time it was reported that Sean Spicer, Sara Huckabee Sanders and Steve Bannon went on a screaming binge in one room as the TVs  played the snafu over and over.)

Then there was none other than the new head of the NSC, H.R. McMaster, who we all expected to be the "adult in the room" keeping the POTUS steady on his daily political 'potty' training.  But once again, that fell through, the evidence being H.R. had to go out in front of the press and channel Sara "Huckster" Sanders, morphing into yet another coverup spinner of misinformation. In his blustering denial McMaster blathered:

"The story that came out tonight as reported is false.... At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly,..”

But this was not the point and McMaster damned well knows it. The point was in Trump failing to adhere to specific talking points (always prepared before contact with foreign diplomats) and going off script, blabbering, bragging about the intel he gets then divulging classified information. This did not concern sources and methods, which the WaPo article clearly pointed out.  But that doesn't matter, the information embodied critical intelligence.  The Russians are smart enough to be able to 'reverse engineer' what was given them to ascertain the location of the source and likely the identity of the "code word source".


McMaster obfuscating and spinning last night.  He's no longer the "adult" in the room but another sycophant and stooge.

McMaster then, by his willing duplicity, made Arlen Specter of  'Magic Bullet' Warren Commission fame look the very picture of decorum and probity by comparison.  While Specter tried to feed us the bunkum that one bullet made 7 wounds  and escaped virtually unscathed, McMaster tried to feed us the 'Magic Intel' bunkum.  That is,  POTUS-leaked intel information prepared by an ally (and not to be disclosed without said ally's consent) was not a real misfire at all, and will cause no lasting damage.

Why such a big deal? Because Trump, in a spasm of boastful egomania,  blabbed what was classified beyond even Top Secret, e.g. (SCI  or 'secret compartmentalized information')  via an information-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government. This according to  current and former U.S. intelligence officials, specifically that what Trump did was violate a sharing agreement with a key ally.  As Ned Price, former CIA analyst pointed out in an interview last night:

"There is a core assumption that undergirds our intelligence the world over.  This includes our sharing relationships with friends, allies and even at times with adversaries. And that is, we will share with you if you will share with us, with a reciprocal understanding that we will safeguard each other's information. And there is not to be onward passage of that information without explicit consent of the country that gave us that information. So, if the details reported are true, President Trump betrayed that core premise under which all our intelligence are forged.....This will infuriate the ally that gave us the information but a much greater threat is that countries around the world will think more than once about sharing information with us."

Former CIA deputy director Mike Morrell also pointed out this morning (CBS) that Trump's disclosure puts the source at risk if the Russians are able to figure out who it is.  Morrell also pointed out it was McMaster's job to get Trump to pay attention to the nature of critical intelligence (in his prep briefing book) and what may be disclosed in contacts with foreign agents or personae and what cannot.  Morrell was even more direct in terms of Trump's first words of boasting on the intel: "Once the President started going down this road it was H.R. McMaster's responsibility to redirect the conversation."

All of which portrays an eye-popping Trumpian transgression even for mealy mouthed sycophants like McMaster or Rex Tillerson to try and spin -  who may insist Trump (as President) had the "right" to do it.  But no executive order delivers such right, since as I noted previously, executive orders aren't provided for under the constitution.  Oh, and no President is himself above the law, meaning above the oath by which he swore to defend the Constitution.

What makes it even more scandalous, is that this latest Trump fuck up -the only appropriate word to use- is about the fourth in a week. This includes firing James Comey and threatening him with release of "tapes" - means intelligence gathering allies will be even less likely now to share highly critical information with us. Why would they when we have such a jackass, blabbering resident, and also howling dog puppets to try to cover his tracks - none of whom can evidently be trusted.  As the WaPo report noted:

"The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State."

I mean imagine the implications here! This dumbass fool who promised to get rid of Isis during his campaign actually divulges classified content that could have assisted in ultimately (with allies' cooperation) bringing them down.   The same bombastic birdbrain yelped constantly during the '16 campaign that "no one should be in the Oval Office who doesn't understand the words 'confidential' or 'classified'."

Imagine then what would have happened to Hillary had she been President and blabbed such confidential material to foreign actors and especially those deemed to be high level adversaries. Hell, the hearings that would have ensued would have made Benghazi look like a  Disney cartoon, plus the articles of impeachment would already be getting drafted.

Of course, none of this may matter in the long run because right now Trump regards himself as "the law" and so do his puppets. Just two days ago, UN ambassador Nikki Haley opining on the Comey firing asserted without a blush: "He  is the CEO of the country. He can fire anyone he wishes!"  Yeah, well Nikki, first let me inform you that we have no "CEOs" running the nation. We have Presidents who preside at the behest and will of the PEOPLE not the other way around. Also, our nation is not a goddamned corporation based on a corporate charter, but a federal union of states operating under a Constitution. And just because Trump thinks he can "fire anyone he wants" doesn't mean it's necessarily "constitutional" if done for nefarious motives, say to snuff an investigation.

For almost anyone in government, discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal, and as one commentator put it last night - if Trump were an ordinary citizen he'd be tried for treason.  But as our "President" Trump automatically was granted a (temporary)  'get out of jail free' card his sycophants think they can twist facts any which way they want. . Thus, the latter insist that by occupying said office Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law.  

Let me rephrase that for better perspective: Trump can impulsively blab away specialized classified content  (SCI) to foreign adversaries, realize later what he did was unlawful or treason - then, invoking his office, retroactively "declassify" the SCI already divulged. Neat trick,  eh?

Cutting through all the discharged crap and spin, here's the central point that bears emphasis as numerous talking heads attempt to dilute or diminish Trump's latest transgression:  According to U.S. Intelligence sources, Trump actually revealed the city in Islamic state held territory where the U.S. intelligence partner detected the threat.  As Morrell said this morning, this level of specificity is "what the Russians will go to school on" i.e. to find out more. That source then is now imperiled as well its ongoing intel, because a blabbermouth blowhard without the slightest sense of propriety saw fit to divulge intelligence to a foreign adversary. At the very least, this reckless moron needs to be impeached, and as soon as possible. He is a liability to the nation, to its intelligence services and to all our global partners invested in securing a better world.

See also this link which suggests he may have to be removed for his own good under the 25th amendment:

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/kali-holloway/72836/the-video-that-suggests-trump-is-suffering-from-alzheimers

Excerpt:

“I'm not saying that Donald Trump has dementia,” Joe Scarborough said during a recent segment on Trump’s mental state, “but my mother has dementia. She lives in the moment. She forgets what she said a day ago, a week ago. We can't have presidents that do that."

Frequently Asked Questions on the JFK Assassination (Pt. 5):The Bullets, Wounds

What is the single bullet  theory'?

The single bullet theory, of which the 'magic bullet' is the centerpiece, was the brainchild of (then) Warren Commission Assistant Counsel Arlen Specter. It is the  logical outcome if one has constrained the number of bullets to  three, and only three, as the Warren Commission did.

Thus, by process of elimination:

 - The bullet that sprayed bystander James Tague is eliminated forthwith

  - The fatal head shot, is eliminated

That leaves one bullet to make the remaining wounds in both Kennedy and John Connally, to wit[1]

"this one bullet  hit the President in the back, exited through his throat, passed through  Connally's body, breaking a rib, then shattered a bone in his wrist, and finally entered his left thigh".

The problem is that it doesn't add up, and any critical thinker examining the placement and geometry can see that. Let's begin by examining the sleight of hand by which the  back wound bullet was altered to a base of neck wound, thereby also creating the basis for the "magic bullet" fiction. The Warren Commission diagram is shown below:

The upper inclined blue arrow shows the trajectory of the bullet that would be needed in order to account for BOTH the JFK neck wound AND the back wound. The problem here is twofold: first, the throat wound was described by Parkland surgeon Malcolm Perry (who should know his business given having to deal with multiple Dallasites' gunshot wounds at Parkland) as an ENTRY wound..

The neck wound placement (from Perry) is shown in the collage below along with the JFK back wound.  Also included is the Zapruder film frame showing the instant JFK grabs at his neck, signifying the bullet impact.



                        

Second, the Warrenites realized that the placement wouldn't work to account for all 7 wounds in JFK  and John Connally (the angle wasn't right- shooter would've had to have been firing from street level) so had to reset the placement higher - changing it to the light yellow trajectory. This was compliments of Gerald Ford as indicated in the notes below, 

wherein he altered the wording from the original autopsy report.  The initial draft of the report had  stated:

"A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder to the right of the spine."

Ford altered it to read:

"A bullet had entered the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine."
 
The underhanded alteration and its impact was also noted in a later NY Times blurb:

Clearly, Ford wanted the document to conform with the single bullet myth and would stoop to altering an official document on record to attain the goal.  

The problem for Ford and the Warrenites is one of basic anatomy. The original autopsy sheet, including the placement and description of the back wound, was signed and verified by Admiral George Gregory Burkley, personal physician to the president who directed the autopsy at Bethesda. He verified the back wound placement on November 24th (as shown on the right side of Fig.2). That death certificate revealed the back wound to be, in the Admiral's own words, at the president's "third thoracic vertebra.”  The neck has seven CERVICAL vertebrae, and this observed and verified wound was described as three THORACIC vertebrae lower than the neck itself.

The final report then read: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of his spine." Ford insisted this was “a small change, …intended to clarify meaning, not alter history”. But alter history is exactly what it did! For by altering the original autopsy report, Ford and his cohorts succeeded in conferring a measure of validity on Specter’s single bullet theory. This is despite the fact that analysis of the resulting trajectory doesn’t even conform to basic laws of Newtonian dynamics!

Anyway, after negotiating this tortuous passage as described earlier - including hitting a number of bones, the bullet (designated Commission Exhibit 399, or 'CE399' for short) is alleged to have emerged on John Connally's stretcher (ibid.).  The key to the success of the "theory",  has been the 'success' in explaining away the near pristine condition of the bullet. (And incidentally, it did not even have microscopic traces of blood on it, though it was very slightly deformed.) The array of images shown below of several bullets will help to fix ideas:

WC Exhibit CE 399, or "the magic bullet" is shown as Entry (A)  which purportedly did all this damage.  (B) is a test bullet, one of several fired by Joseph Dolce into the wrists of cadavers to compare the degree of damage sustained with that of the WC Exhibit. The bullet (C) is the one actually taken off the floor at Parkland. What gives here? Answer: too many bullets for too many wounds!

Dolce, consultant in wound ballistics to the Army, has stated he was given one hundred,  6.5mm bullets, by the Warren Commission, to fire at cadavers. (Documentary, 'The Single Bullet Theory' video). In no case,  he went on, did any of the bullets come out pristine. In fact, all showed  significant deformity. In his own words (ibid.):


"No, it (CE399) could NOT have caused all the wounds. Our experiments here show beyond any doubt that merely shooting a wrist deforms the  bullet drastically. In every instance, the front or tip of the bullet was smashed. It's impossible for a bullet to strike a bone, even at low  velocity and still come out with a perfectly normal tip."


So, in fraudulently altering the bullet placement in the record, neither Ford or Specter gained a thing, though they did manage to hoodwink millions of Americans for decades because few people actually looked into the matter, and next, Ford's chicanery wasn't exposed until decades later after the JFK Records Act was passed in 1992. (The Ford editing documents, on which the Times snippet was based, were made public by the Assassination Records Review Board.)

So why is the "magic bullet" still accepted despite its obvious fallacious basis? Probably because it's the only meager thread the Warrenites have to hang their BS  on, and they still hope most Americans will just accept their word (argument from authority - a major fallacy) as opposed to investigating it themselves. (They're betting most people don't have the energy or skill to independently investigate)


What about the kill shot?

The Warrenite version of the head shot - the kill shot - is that it entered from the rear, because, of course, they have the assassin to the rear (in the Texas School Book Depository).  The image is shown below along with the frame from the Zapruder film showing the head shot (Z-313):

The noticeable backward motion of JFK's head in the film is attributed to the reaction of a forward spray out - in what has been called the 'jet effect". (Similar to the well known rocket effect, where fuel leaves the exhaust under pressure and the rocket moves in the opposite direction).

The problem, of course, is that this doesn't comport with Jackie's motion over the limo trunk - as shown in the lower left graphic. The fact she is moving over the limo trunk to the REAR, and her WC testimony (supported by recently released audiotape testimony from 1964) was she was attempting to retrieve a skull fragment (likely the missing occipital bone reported by the Parkland drs.) means that  the shot had to have come from the FRONT. This would be in the grassy knoll area.  This is further supported by the actual autopsy photos which belie the corrupted Warren versions, e.g.

Photo specialist Robert Groden ('The Killing of a President') has indicated that the fake photo image was likely taken after the rear of the head was reconstructed using mortician' plaster.

Again, we are confronted by blatant efforts to conceal the actual wound so as not to diverge from the dogma and presumption that Oswald did it, firing from the rear. Under no circumstances could the c-word be allowed to rear its head. The American people had to be mollified and quieted that it was just a lone deranged nut, and god forbid they know their own government had a hand in it!

Can all bullets and fragments be linked to the Mannlicher-Carcano?

Clearly, they cannot - and even CE399 is in doubt, and as shown above, the 'heritage' of that bullet is very much in doubt. On the assumption that CE399 is from the alleged Oswald rifle, the key is whether the fragments recovered (e.g. in the limo) could be matched to CE399 by composition.  By incredibly favorable happenstance, a test NAA  (Neutron Activation Analysis) was performed which has the capacity to make such distinctions in chemical composition to within 2 or 3 parts per billion.

But in NAA, any deviation, no matter how minute – confirms a difference in composition. That’s because the Neutron Activation Analysis results is an 'all or nothing' test result proposition. Thus, Hoover's reference to 'minor variations' was in an unwitting declaration that there were conclusive variations hence fragments found and tested disclosed different bullets, by composition. This may have been one reason why the NAA test results were suppressed so long.

So how many bullets were fired in all, or can be accounted for?

What we've already exposed is that there had to have been at least four different shots and putatively from 3 different locations (The Dal-Tex building provides a better angle for the back shot than the TSBD). Let's enumerate them thus far:

1) The upper back wound - fired from the Dal-Tex bldg.?

2) Throat wound - fired from the front (GK)

3) Head wound - fired from the GK.

4) Connally wounds (rib, wrist)  - fired from the TSBD

In fact, if we add the shot that chipped off a piece of pavement, and sprayed James Tague - we reach five bullets. If we also add the bullet that left a dent in the frame of the limo we get to six. See e.g.

Of course, the pavement that had been pock marked was painted over, then removed and taken to FBI HQ while the limo itself was ordered dispatched to Ohio and disassembled.

Anyone smell any rats here?  And yet the Warren Commission poppycock is all you can be expected to hear for the next week - as we approach the 50th anniversary of this sad and tragic event.

Go to any media presentation, say like CBS' "As It Happened" tomorrow night, as well as their 60 Minutes special Sunday, and all you will see and hear is Bob Schieffer or other tools-fools  trotting out the "Oswald did it" , pro-Warren bunkum. Ditto for ABC, NBC and the other corporate mouthpieces of propaganda.

But savvy, critical thinking Americans know better, and after fifty years of this BS they aren't buying any more.

Next: The Warren Commission Rifle Tests and Oswald's Marksmanship.

---

[1] J.P. Duffy and V.L. Ricci: 1992, ' The Assassination of John F. Kennedy', Thunder's Mouth Press, p. 434.

“Beware Conspiracy Theorists?” No – Beware Those Who Are Part of the Unspeakable!

Media personality Michael Smerconish in his Op-ed in today’s Denver Post, advises one and all (based on his header) to ”Beware Conspiracy Theorists”. We are supposed to be the bane of national existence, sowing paranoia with our every blog post, and hey – we are little different from the generic nuts who fret over UN helicopters and FEMA concentration camps. In this way, lumped in with whackjobs, all manner of conspiracies are instantly consigned to the dumpster of history.

But based on accumulated documents, I choose to believe something different: That REAL conspiracies DO exist and have occurred, and hiding them doesn’t help the citizens or the nation. Author Michael Parenti (The Dirty Truth) makes no bones about the fact that “most people suffer from conspiracy phobia” and “they treat anyone who investigates conspiracy as a conspiracy buff or oddball”. He also has a problem with the term “conspiracy theory” since it permits the critics and skeptics to have their intellectual cake and eat it. If the claimed conspiracy hasn’t been validated to their satisfaction, it’s merely a theory (which they erroneously equate with speculation), but if it was validated, as in Watergate, then ‘Voila!’ it’s no longer theory but an actuality! But this is essential nonsense. As Parenti observes, it means that “conspiracy can never be proven and if proven it can’t be conspiracy”.

But we know that real, bona fide conspiracies have indeed occurred and been validated. In the Watergate conspiracy, Nixon and his cronies virtually handed the evidence to investigating committees and prosecutors on a 'silver platter' since they’d taped everything! Every word and every plan or scheme was recorded, from targeting McGovern supporters using the IRS, to illegal wiretaps of those on the “enemies' list” to breaking and entering into Daniel Ellsberg’s place In the BCCI conspiracy, the machinations of a criminal bank were almost kept hidden as tens of thousands lost their money around the world and the bank funded terrorist activities. In the Iran –Contra conspiracy, Reaganites sold Israeli Hawk and TOW missiles to Iran and funneled the money from sales into Nicaragua to support the Rightist “Contras’. In the 'Operation Northwoods' conspiracy, the plot was exposed before a clique of U.S. generals could unleash terror attacks on Americans and blame Castro, to start a war in 1962.

So why not also a conspiracy to murder a popular President? Especially when that President altered his stance from being a cold-warrior to a leader committed to peace – to the extent of banning nuclear weapons tests and disciplining run amuck generals who wanted to launch a nuclear war. But as author James Douglass has noted ( JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters), too many in the media and in government have sought to protect those who killed Kennedy and prevent the truth from disclosure. .

In Douglass’ words:.

“Our collective denial of the obvious, in the setting up of Oswald and his transparent silencing by Ruby, made possible the Dallas cover-up. The success of the cover-up was the indispensable foundation for the murders of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy by the same forces at work in our government – and ourselves:

Hope for change in the world was targeted and killed four times over. The cover-up of all four murders, each leading into the next, was based – first of all –on denial. Not the government’s but our own- and the unspeakable was not far away.” .

Nevertheless, it appears those like Michael Smerconish are quite happy to go on killing hope for change in the world multiple times over, as they seek to dissuade the citizen from examining the facts of the conspiracy behind the Kennedy assassination. Smerconish begins his sarcastic attack by singling out Jesse Ventura’s book: They Killed Our President: 63 Reasons to Believe There Was A Conspiracy to Assassinate JFK. So Smerconish gets Ventura in an interview and asks the question: “Who is ‘they’?” Ventura, honest as he is, responds that he doesn’t know. The ‘they’ employed was generic, and could apply to any of the conceivable forces – or all – that had it in for Kennedy, but especially his national security state. Besides, Ventura could have told Smerconish if he really knew who ‘they’ were he likely wouldn’t be alive to say so! As per Richard Charnin’s excellent graphical proof of conspiracy based on the death of witnesses at the times of the two main investigations, see. e.g.

http://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/jfk-witness-deaths-graphical-proof-of-a-conspiracy/

So really, Smerky, if ANYONE did know who ‘they’ were, they are long since dead and buried. Smerconish then goes on to cite the infamous Katzenbach memo – which read in its intro and first section:

”"It is important that all facts surrounding President Kennedy's assassination be made public in a way which will satisfy people in the United States and abroad that all the facts have been told and that a statement to this effect be made now.

1. The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin, that he did not have confederates who are still at large; and that the evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial.

He spuriously claims that (1) alone “sounds ominous” but when the whole is taken in context, not so much! Katzenbach was merely “anticipating that 50 years later guys like Ventura would seek to prosper by spinning yarns”, but fails to observe that Katzenbach himself never seriously believed anyone would challenge the words, or Warren Report in a serious way since LBJ had sealed all the records at least until 2037 when most of those who care would likely have died. It was only the passage of the 'JFK Records Act' in 1992 that averted this national travesty!

So, to Smerconish's arguments, I reply: Codswallop! To the critical thinker, the above enumerated first point of the memo provides enough evidence to disclose the true purpose of any ''official' investigation: to arrive at a preconceived and pre-accepted conclusion, that was politically and socially expedient. This was as opposed to the outcome of an open-ended, genuine investigation. This also goes under the rubric of a fundamental logical no-no called: 'Affirming the consequent' - i.e. affirming ab initio that which you need to prove. Taking the shortcut - avoiding the process, more: ensuring the outcome of the process blends with one's own 'truth'. A much more acceptable version for public consumption or to put it in blunt terms: expeditious political PR.

Smerconish ends his whiff effort at smacking “conspiracy theorists” in the JFK case by appealing to Arlen Specter, who he avers was “so passionate for the truth about the Warren Commission that he intended to maintain an active speaking schedule during the 50th anniversary year – to defend his conclusions from years ago.” We shall miss the voice of the “passionate” Mr. Specter, but it’s perhaps better he isn’t adding to all the existing noise and deception ….or the unspeakable…especially with that insane “magic bullet” fairy tale he fabricated. As I showed in my previous post (on Joe Klein's BS), it was Specter's own yarn that propelled the Warrenites to lie, debase and distort the evidence to find for one lone gunman – including to do with the autopsy – and I cited examples in that last post and in the one taking Larry Sabato to task.

I have not read Ventura’s book, I admit. He may be closer to the truth or not. But I again recommend to all serious readers, who really want to know why Kennedy was killed, to get hold of James Douglass’ book and make it your best friend for the next month. In that way, you will assure you won’t be part of the unspeakable.

Joe Klein Loses It: Blames Baby Boomers for "Current Political Mess" in 'TIME' Tirade

Neolib hack Joe Klein, in his latest TIME column ("Apocalypse Now", Oct. 21, p. 18) goes even further off the deep edge of pseudo-journalistic lunacy than he did back in the spring. Recall at that time, Klein put those of  us who challenged Obama on the Chained CPI issue (for Social Security) in the same "extremist" league as the NRA - which had recently mounted a counter-legislative initiative to shoot down a weak gun control law.  Klein had responded to a letter by Howard Dean’s brother who had sent out a letter headed ‘Disgusted’ with the subtitle: ‘President Obama’s Budget Has Left me Disgusted’. I had asked at the time if Klein was nuts or just plain stupid.


Now he's one-upped that display of stupidity with his latest broadside against the Boomers. He actually puts them in the same class as the Tea Party, if one can believe it, using the dubious basis that both were into "street theater, bombast and showtime" and yeah - we were "every bit of solipsistic" as the Tea Baggers. Jeebus! So Klein actually gets paid good money to write this bollocks?  In fact, we were a damned sight more educated than the Tea Bag crowd, and far more idealistic. We didn't carry "Don't Tread on Me" signs and wear funny hats but we did actually mount enough large demonstrations to be one major agent that brought an end to the illegal Vietnam war.

As for "solipsistic", uh, no, Joe! We went out into the world to express and manifest our idealism, such as volunteering as Peace Corps volunteers to actually help vulnerable, developing nations set up agricultural projects, effective health assistance and educational consolidation. We didn't march into streets bearing real loaded guns because we didn't approve of a health care law, or try to shut the fuckin' government down!

Klein, to his minimal credit does admit:

"I am not saying the baby boom generation caused the government shutdown, but we've presided over an era during which public trust in government has been demolished. We've allowed the influence of concentrated money to corrupt our democracy."

But Klein has the wrong bad guys. In fact, I can show it was the government itself - at the time just after the Kennedy assassination (the pivotal event from which most polls disclose trust seriously  plummeted) that incepted the most profound public cynicism and distrust in the government. This government was mainly dominated by the "greatest generation" and it was they - the likes of LBJ, Earl Warren, Arlen Specter, Gerald Ford, David Belin et al who by their dastardly cover up of the crime of the century - led to our current political morass and descent. The concentrated money? JFK had plans and proposals to limit that influence, but the gangster state didn't want it and murdered him. The cover up in the wake ensured no one would be any the wiser, but most of the American people were and saw beyond the façade

But specific  examples are needed to show this. And there's no better place to start than the lies,  deceits, and shenanigans of the Warren Commission itself. Perhaps no other judicial confection or whitewash has done more to irreparably damage public trust in government than this politically-appointed entity whose job was to cover up the real actors in the assassination of one of the most beloved presidents - who also threatened the establishment.

Let's examine in detail Warren Commissioner Gerald Ford's own specific role in upending history by concealing the truth. This is visible in the draft shown below wherein he altered key words, sentences to mislead on the bullet to Kennedy's back:


The initial draft of the report had  stated:


"A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder to the right of the spine."

Ford altered it to read:

"A bullet had entered the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine."


A comparison of the above, deliberate change (referencing a wound in the back of the neck)  to the photograph below from the autopsy,  shows clearly Ford sought to lie, since the bullet hole had clearly been marked in the back. Ford intentionally wanted the document to conform with the single bullet myth! Ford is one part of the thousands of reasons the public came to mistrust government in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. Because if we couldn't trust government to perform this task, the faithful and judicious investigation of the slaughter of a sitting president, then it wasn't worth diddly spit or squat. And if it lied in its investigation-  to cover up the truth, then it couldn't be trusted!

Actual photo from Kennedy autopsy (but with rear of skull cosmetically replaced by mortician's plaster)  shows Ford is an inveterate liar.


Worse for Ford,  assassination eye-witnesses, including at least one Secret Service Agent in Dealey Plaza and several FBI agents (present at the Bethesda autopsy), placed the president's back wound exactly where the mute testimony of the president's jacket and shirt (and the above photo)  showed: six inches below the collar line.

The original autopsy sheet, including the placement and description of the back wound, was signed and verified by Admiral George Gregory Burkley, personal physician to the president who directed the autopsy at Bethesda. He verified the back wound placement on November 24th. That death certificate revealed the back wound to be, in the Admiral's own words, at the president's "third thoracic vertebra.”  The neck has seven CERVICAL vertebrae, and this observed and verified wound was described as three THORACIC vertebrae lower than the neck itself.

Let’s bear in mind that it was Gerry Ford  (who was no baby boomer!)  who originally suggested that the panel change its initial description of the bullet wound in Kennedy's back to place it higher up in his body. He knew, as did the others (including Arlen Specter, the author of the single bullet malarkey) that such changes were needed to make it fly and "disprove" conspiracy. Oh me, oh my, perish the thought of any conspiracy! We couldn't have the American people believe we were just another Banana Republic!

The final report then read: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of his spine." Ford insisted this was “a small change, …intended to clarify meaning, not alter history”. But alter history is exactly what it did! For by altering the original autopsy report, Ford and his cohorts succeeded in conferring a measure of validity on Specter’s single bullet theory. This is despite the fact that analysis of the resulting trajectory doesn’t even conform to basic laws of Newtonian dynamics! Alas the only mention ever made of this perfidy was in the back pages of The New York Times nearly 33 years after the event.(See below)

But the change - though described as "ever so slight" in terms of wording, altered the whole basis for the Warren Conclusion! The Ford editing documents, on which the Times snippet was based, were made public by the Assassination Records Review Board. This agency had been set up by Congress (under the JFK Records Act) to compile all available evidence in the Nov. 22, 1963, murder. The documents had been part of the personal files of the late J. Lee Rankin, the Warren Commission's general counsel. If not for The JFK Records Act, we’d have never known about Gerald R. Ford’s tampering with the autopsy report in order to force it to show what he wanted, as opposed to the truth needed.


It’s sad to think that yet another of our sitting Presidents had a hand in deforming history, but the evidence is there and it’s not pretty! A year later, Ford produced his  own whitewash book Portrait of the Assassin, which was one of the most noisome put–up jobs ever, attempting to single out Lee Harvey Oswald as the sole perpetrator. But what would you expect of a lying scumball and one of those I blame for destroying public trust.

Which, by the way, he compounded when he pardoned Richard Milhous Nixon in 1974 - allowing the scumball who defiled the Constitution to walk free without impeachment - and doing it under the obvious nonsense of "preserving our national unity" when instead, it emboldened others to pursue even more arcane conspiracies and treachery  - such as the Iran -Contra conspiracy of Reagan.

Trust? Baby Boomers responsible for destroying public trust? Take your head out of your ass, Klein, and look at the numerous examples of how our own esteemed public "servants" spat upon their duty to truth, the Constitution and law and then tell me about destroying public trust.

The actual original description of the back wound placement was described thusly:

"in the upper right posterior thorax just above the upper border of the scapula there is a 7 x 4 millimeter oval wound. This wound is measure to be 14 cm from the tip of the right acromion process and 14 cm below the tip of the right mastoid process."

Which conforms to the location shown in the autopsy image. (
This wound placement - as described in the autopsy report reference (above) and shown in the photograph, is also clearly deduced by reference to the detailed anatomical diagrams in Gray's Anatomy.) 

 

All of the above, mean that the position reported by the Warren Commission (and engineered by Gerald Ford's alterations)  was intended  to mislead the public  as to the placement of this crucial wound, so as not to undermine the entire underpinning of the single bullet theory. It was this poppycock and malarkey on which Oswald's guilt was predicated along with the other deceptions, including fake FPCC (Fair Play for Cuba Committee) handbills as reported by John Newman (Oswald and the CIA)

Worse, it discloses that the autopsists themselves may have been complicit, i.e. lied, to make the single bullet theory work. This claim is reinforced by the fact that on their original Autopsy Body Chart, they did correctly identify the location - not in the base of the neck (as their WC  testimony averred) but six inches lower (as depicted in the diagram  above). Thus, either they falsified the facts in their testimony, or the Warren Commission itself did, to make them compatible with their single bullet nonsense. Added cogency comes from knowing that one of the Warren-appointed autopsists, Dr. J.J. Humes, burned his original autopsy notes[1].  Humes was also the only one who claimed to have detected a bullet wound in the rear of JFK’s head

As for John Connally, he is clearly hit at two different times, around Z236, where he is seen dropping his right shoulder and puffing out his cheeks[2], and still with Stetson in right hand (so no wrist bullet could have entered by then) . Later, at about Z328, when the hat is no longer held (since the wrist has been hit). Connally's wife, Nellie, the lone limo survivor - also bears this out in a diary retrieved from that fateful day, in which she pointedly notes two shots - separately to her husband and JFK (prior to the fatal head shot)[3]

This totally refutes the Warren Commission's egregious 'magic bullet'  theory. While Mrs. Connally still accepts their 'lone gunman' conclusion, this diverges logically from her own observations of 2 separate bullets - since if one disposes of the 2-for-1 shot compression, a de facto 'minimal' conspiracy scenario materializes - as there are now too many shots in the allowed time frame. This was the reason the Warrenites needed the artifice of the  'single / magic bullet' theory to begin with.

 

In effect, if one rejects the Warren Commission's 'magic bullet' theory they also (logically) must reject its 'lone gunman' conclusion, whether they realize that or not.

Reinforcing this is the fact that, had Gov. Connally been hit at frame 230 (as single bullet adherents posit) he would have had to continue holding his heavy white Stetson for about another second and a half,  AFTER being shot in the right wrist. Anatomically, this is nonsense. Close examination of the key frames discloses he firmly retains his grip on his Stetson between right thumb and forefinger.

It is the ulnar nerve which permits this apposition. But any bullet fired  into the wrist (i.e. at Z-230) would have severed that nerve, making any  grasp of his Stetson totally impossible. Hence, lone nut adherents are asking that we subscribe to a physically impossible situation.

As for the usual lone nut rejoinder that he 'suffered a delayed reaction'. this is also nonsense. Stretching the laws of physical, anatomical nature just as violently as the single bullet lunacy tortures the Newtonian laws of physics into deformed caricatures. These caricatures become subservient to political agendas rather than natural laws.

The honest inquirer is left to ask: Why are these biological/neurological and mechanical laws being so desperately convoluted and deformed? To serve a politically expedient solution and a contrived whitewash that seeks to dismiss the real evidence and replace it with a plausible sounding substitute which is totally fictitious .

If Joe Klein really wants to know the exact point at which public trust in government dissipated let him re-examine the follies and fraud of the Warren Commission and its Report which deliberately lied to the American people regarding the slaughter of a sitting president - and which offal and decay has carried forward to our present because it's never been honestly addressed.  Until this festering wound on the body politic is finally examined rigorously and honestly, with the motives of the assassination courageously exposed, the corruption in our system will only get worse. You don't survive a gangrenous wound by ignoring it, or "looking beyond it" (as Larry Sabato suggested in his recent CBS Early show interview) but by confronting it, dealing with it and hopefully healing it!

 

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[1] High Treason, p. 73.

[2] Groden, op. cit., p. 27.

[3] TODAY show interview, aired November 19, 1998.