Arriving Too Soon to a Theater Near You

            In recent remarks to the National Broadcasting Company, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his dissatisfaction with the official stories of President Kennedy’s assassination.  On Sunday, November 10, 2013, N.B.C.’s David Gregory asked Kerry to elaborate on his statement that, “To this day, I have serious doubts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.”  Understandably reluctant to be labelled a conspiracy theorist, Kerry refused to be drawn out; but it was still a telling exchange: 

            Kerry:  No.  I just have a point of view.  And I’m not going to get into that.  It’s — you know, it’s not something that I think needs to be commented on, and certainly not at this time.

            Gregory:  Do you think the conspiracy theories — his involvement with Russia, motivation from the Soviet Union or Cuba — are valid at some level?

            Unfortunately, but somewhat predictably, Gregory asked about foreign motivation for the murder.  Apparently, he is unaware that all of the crimes committed in support of the lone assassin story were perpetrated by domestic entities. 

            In 1963, murder of the President was not a federal offense; jurisdiction for the assassination rested in Texas.  Consequently, the removal of Kennedy’s body from Dallas was a crime.  The Russians didn’t do that; the Secret Service did.  The autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, where the prosectors were ordered to remain silent on pain of court martial, was a crime; but the Navy did that, not the Cubans.  Gangsters didn’t make up the story about alleged assassin Lee Oswald going to Mexico City in September of 1963; the C.I.A. did that.  Those crimes, and many more, were committed to protect Kennedy’s killers. 

            In a nutshell, the official history of the crime goes like this.  “We’re innocent; it was that guy over there with the $3 rifle.”[1]  Millions of people found that claim to be ridiculous; so, a dozen years later, the perpetrators changed their alibi.  “We’re innocent, but we think the mob might have been involved.”

            The Warren Commission was an accessory after the fact to the murder of J.F.K.  The House Select Committee on Assassinations was an accessory after the fact to two murders — John Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King.

            The Commission and Committee stories are fairy tales.  Yet, some people who discounted the first story nevertheless bought the second version!  Author and syndicated radio and tv host Thom Hartmann is one of those people.  On November 12, 2013, Hartmann appeared with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! and briefly discussed the assassination:

            Hartmann:  Yeah, yeah.  The — with virtual certainty, I can say that, you know, it was the mob who killed Jack Kennedy.  At that — in that context, I mean, there was involvement of others within our government and whatnot, but principally it was the mob…

             “[O]thers within our government and whatnot” were involved, but organized crime killed the President.  Hartmann is virtually certain of that. 

            He can’t explain the Magic Bullet Theory or the Magic Ammunition Clip Theory.  He doesn’t know where the spent shells found in the Texas School Book Depository went.  He can’t explain why x-rays of the President’s skull don’t show an entrance wound in the back of Kennedy’s head.  He can’t explain any details of the crime.  But he is virtually certain that gangsters did it.  His book, Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination, is being made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

                        Goodman:  And when is the movie coming out?

                        Hartmann:  We’ll see.  Hopefully next year.

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[1]  That’s not a joke.  The Mannlicher-Carcano rifle supposedly used in the shooting sold for three bucks wholesale.  “Oswald” bought it retail for twelve and change.