Why do we still not have all the JFK assassination files?

Einar@lemm.ee to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 207 points –
Why We Still Don’t Have the JFK Assassination Files
politico.com

What are your thoughts?

41

We basically do. The reality is that it's just not sexy or exciting. All we're really missing are files that could be related to ongoing investigations of criminal organizations.

Historian Sean Munger has a pretty good video essay on this, but it's honestly a bit of a letdown.

https://youtu.be/DC8tO16xdrY?si=WJO5hB__bWmzdbDF

https://youtu.be/Ptt1ti63IiE?si=idQodDcYYAt0X4pa

Just responding with an additional video essay on JFKs assassination, and all the facts we know, specifically about the schoolbook depository.

Lemmino does great video essays with great animations/visuals

https://youtu.be/5u7euN1HTuU?si=MmzC4uRrQGHOCj-k

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Because the government classifies things when they're simply embarrassing. It doesn't need to rise to "national security threat" for the USA to feel the need to quash the ability of citizenry to talk about it. Even if it's not all that bad and simply embarrassing. They are way too cavalier about using classification powers because they don't want their dirty laundry aired.

What's left to release is probably a lot less exciting than people think.

As with a large portion of conspiracies, the conspiracy was almost certainly the cover up of incompetence

Incompetence and conspiracy, name a more iconic duo.

When I was younger, I believed there was a good chance that it was an inside job - the CIA, specifically. This was the only conspiracy theory I ever took seriously.

Now, my beliefs are much closer to yours.

Certain missing police tapes are a good example. Why can they keep the school tapes from the people? Surely the suspect is dead.

Or it could be some crazy ass conspiracy shit. It's all speculation til we see the goods.

Because the secret service accidentally shot the president in the back of the head, and it’s really embarrassing to admit that.

Still the mist sensible answer.

*edit: Most. Most. Sigh.

Back of the head still doesn't explain his head snapping back or the fact that the wound on the back of his head is visibly larger than the one on the front, indicating that it's an exit wound. I'm not saying his own dudes definitely didn't shoot him, but without speculating as to who fired the shit there's a lot of evidence that it came from the front.

The secret service was just starting to use AR-15 pattern rifles, chambered in .223.

You can see an agent with an AR-15 falling over when the motorcade accelerated, around the time JFK’s head exploded.

The only wound that jfk had that had bullet fragmentation was the headshot, despite the .30 caliber carcano rounds that Oswald was firing being very capable of punching straight through a head, and in fact passed cleanly through jfk’s spine and ribs without deforming or splintering.

The Autopsy report mentions how the bullet entered from the occipital lobe at the back of the skull, and fragmented, causing an exit wound by the ear.

.223 rounds commonly splinter when impacting bones, as they are fairly small and don’t maintain much momentum when they hit hard surfaces.

Honestly? I think that what happened is some weird fucker who was on the radar of at least two TLA agencies was local when someone shot the president and both of those agencies immediately went "we can never let anyone found out how utterly incompetent we are, we need to cause enough smoke, dust and bullshit that even if someone reaches the right conclusion about what happened everyone else will have plenty of reason to disbelieve it." I think they executed the easiest coverup in the world because part of their goal was to make sure everyone knew there was a coverup, just not what they were covering up or on behalf of whom. Was Oswald a patsy? Maybe. If he wasn't he made a lot of really bad decisions in the moment leading up to the first shot being fired, then redeemed himself with some shooting that was so heroically accurate and well-drilled that it bordered on impossible with the gear and positioning he had. Did a bunch of people panic and start trying to ratfuck the investigation? Absolutely. Will they wait until everyone involved's great grandchildren are in the dirt before they tell us one honest word about this? Also yes.

I went to a lecture with a dude who was a government contractor at Kodak. His job for years was analyzing the Zapruder film. He literally held it in his hands. It was an interesting discussion, but there’s basically nothing inconsistent or weird about it. No splicing, no unexpected cuts, etc

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Hey. Remember when the wife of a Watergate mastermind was on a plane? And also on that plane just happened to be a network news reporter covering Watergate? And that plane crashed? And the Nixon led inquiry didn't find anything wrong?
And remember when that Watergate mastermind confessed to the Kennedy assassination on his deathbed?
Crazy coincidence, huh?

No I remember none of that.

The Wikipedia article about the flight is a fascinating read. I don’t get where it says an Watergate investigating journalist was on board, but ok.

I see why it is fodder for conspiracy theorizing, but as always it’s also not the smoking gun one can make it seem to be, if one presents only a few selected factoids.