The Murder of John Kennedy: A Citizen's Lessons

      "Treason doth never prosper; here's the reason: for if it prosper, none dare call it treason." -- John Harington.

       Several important historical lessons can be drawn from the murder, in 1963, of President John Kennedy.  Here is the first and perhaps most important lesson, for people who want to learn from history:

       First lesson:  Don't trust the historians, especially the court historians.

       

       The great majority of historians who have written about this crime have simply followed the flawed conclusion of the Warren Commission, a group of political insiders who were appointed by President Lyndon Johnson for the express purpose of protecting the "national security" of the United States.  Their conclusion was that Lee Harvey Oswald acted completely alone.

       As the central thesis of the Warren Report has completely unraveled in subsequent years, the historians, with few exceptions, have simply closed ranks and refused to acknowledge contradictory factual evidence whenever and wherever it has emerged.  Even if the historians can be forgiven for following the government line in the early days after the murder, it is difficult to excuse the willful blindness they have demonstrated in the decades that have followed.  It is even more difficult to excuse their vicious hostility towards anyone who seriously questions the official story line.  Is not history a quest for truth -- an attempt to ascertain the true facts, and the true meaning, of what happened?  Only to a few.

       Corollary to the first lesson: the popular American media, including newsprint, broadcast, and publishing industry, all function as court historians.  Don't trust the popular media.

       This is not meant as a direct slam against all reporters and writers: some of them have considerable integrity.   But the stubborn realities they face are these: . . . Life is too busy . . . media people are too busy . . . media people like to keep their jobs . . . most reporters and investigators are not themselves the gatekeepers . . . it is easy to follow other, safer priorities . . . it is somewhere between hard and impossible to fight the establishment on its own media turf . . .  etc.

       But however it is, at the end of the day you can't afford to put much faith in the institutional media.

       Intermission:

       I am going to pause in my argument to say this:  I am not in this essay going to try to make the case for who killed President Kennedy, or why, or how, and here are the reasons why I am not:

       First of all, many if not most of the readers of this blog will already know a great deal about the who-why-and-how of that particular crime.  I need not review it for them.

       Secondly, the evidence is too voluminous for me to summarize here.  I cannot begin to do it here, and I shall not try.

       Thirdly, I don't feel like dealing with either a libel lawyer or government agents.  I am not a reporter; I am not a private investigator; and I am not in law enforcement; and I do not have access to their sources.  I will defer to the courageous men and women who have spent many years addressing the matter, and publishing their findings against very effective opposition.  If this whole business is new to you, you can begin your research by tracking down information provided by Fletcher Prouty, Mark Lane, and Jim Marrs.  They will, in turn, lead you to cast your net wider as you seek to understand this strange, complex event.   Your own due diligence will be very rewarding and convincing to you personally.

       Suffice it to say, it was not Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.  It was probably not Lee Harvey Oswald at all.

       Now let's go back to the main line of thought. 

       Second lesson:  Don't trust the professional experts; ask for the real experts. 

       The problem with the professional experts is not that they are experts; it is that they are professional.  They are experts for money, and that is a very dangerous kind of expertise.  For one thing, it only gets paid for answers; and the temptation is, if you don't have real answers, you make them up.  Or you check with the people who are paying you for the answers.  Happens in courts of law all the time.  Happens in business all the time.  Happens in Congress all the time.  Happens in science plenty often.   Hey, it can even happen in church, can't it?   

       The real experts to trust on anything important are the intelligent little people who consider themselves amateurs.  They may "love the truth;" or they may be simply curious.  It's okay; trust them.  But this leads me directly to the next thing.

       Second corollary:  Even with the real experts, be careful.  

       Be careful, because these amateur investigators are not omniscient.  They have made more progress than you or I, but they don't know nearly everything.  They are working on a very difficult puzzle; or even only part of the puzzle.  They are working on very incomplete information; they make mistakes.  In the words of Ronald Reagan, "Trust, but verify."

       And be careful, because there really is a very sophisticated "national security" establishment.  They do actually employ disinformation specialists.  They pretend to be truth-seekers, but they mix fact with fiction in order to discredit the real investigators.  So that when exposed to unpleasant facts, you or I will be expected to join in with a sneer, "They're all just conspiracy theories."     

       Which leads right up to the third lesson.

       Third lesson:  Never trust the national security establishment -- never.

       They live to deceive; it is what they are paid to do, full time.   Your state of confusion, and mine, is their life's work.  They dream up violent incidents.  They hire agents provocateurs.  They pit people against each other.  You doubt this?  Start studying the history of "COINTELPRO."  Or google on  "operation gladio italian president."  If you are close to my age, prepare to have your view of history greatly rearranged.  Greatly.  Rearranged.  

       Think beyond the acronyms you have heard of -- CIA, DIA, FBI, NRO, NSA, TSA, KGB, GRU, MI5, MI6. What of the acronyms you haven't heard of?  What about the people who don't need acronyms?

       Do not trust them.  They have a great deal to hide -- intrigues, betrayals, insurrections, wars, cabals, horrible weapons, treacheries, treasons, murders, entrapments, double- and triple-crosses, assassinations, coups d'etat.  They simply cannot afford to suddenly "admit all," or "come clean."  Not in this lifetime.

       Fourth lesson:  Do not trust either the bureacrats, or the elected politicians.  

       Your average bureaucrat or elected politician is actually a decent, honorable person, contrary to the usual criticism we heap upon them.  But before long, they find that the system is stacked against honesty, accountability, and good work.   They find that there is a real but shadowy cabal that uses government operations to mask enormous theft and fraud.  It is out to control its turf, and keep its scam going.  

       It makes sure that both the civil servants and the elected politicians know enough to become frustrated and frightened; it wants them to know that it is there and it is dangerous.  It wants them to learn to be cautious.  They have every reason and right to respond this way, because they have learned the fifth lesson.

       Fifth lesson:  There are some really, really bad dudes out there, and they are organized.

       And they are very, very well connected.  And they are not your basic drug dealer, mafia punk, or corrupt businessman, the favorite bad-guys of Hollywood.  They take down presidents and generals; they frighten CIA chiefs.  They bypass "national security."  No joke.  Do your own homework and see if I exaggerate.  Study, for example, the life and death of William Colby.

       So, if the politicians and the bureaucrats are afraid of these guys, who is going to expose them?  This leads us directly to the following corollary.

  

       Corollary to the fifth lesson: It is best to stop ridiculing the truth-seekers, and start paying attention to what they are saying.

       The people who seek the truth tend to find it.  The people who ridicule them prefer lies -- I think that this mindset is dangerous.  There will always be people who care more about the truth than you or I do; and know more.  Let's admit that we need to learn, and pay attention to what they are telling us.

       This helps us understand the somewhat paradoxical sixth lesson.

       Sixth lesson:  Learn to trust people; the lower they are on any totem pole, the better.

       There are good people everywhere.  Smart; honest; friendly.  Trust them; listen to them; learn from them; help them.   People, as people, can often be trusted, even when people as institutional people cannot.

       And even trust your elected politicians, at whatever level, over the wizards behind the curtain who seek to control them.  The guys in the limelight often have some sense of public accountability; the wizards most certainly do not.  Of course, that is just my opinion.

       Just my opinion supported by the facts of history.  The higher you go in any hierarchical system, the more you are likely to run into power centers that attract killers and traitors -- real blood-on-the-floor types.  It is the rule, not the exception, in America.  Since when?  Since always.

       We are living in very serious times. In terms of personal danger, I think we are just about equivalent to Germany in late 1940. I acknowledge that there are some differences; but there are similarities.

       Germany in late 1940 and America in late 2010 are this far alike: 
    -- each has had militarism for several years; 
    -- there has been some serious bloodshed, but beyond our frontiers; 
    -- we freshly remember the cowardly, terroristic attack of the "enemy" several years on the national symbols in our capital city;
    -- the war has been serious, but things have died down a little;
    -- there is a small but serious proxy war on the edge of the empire that is not going well; this fuels a desire for a new military lunge to re-establish prestige; 
    -- there is a well-established, growing Gestapo, that is going out of its way to incite fear in law-abiding citizens; 
    -- we think we are fighting for our very survival against people who are out to destroy us; 
    -- our citizenry have been well conditioned to trust anything that appeals to a sense of national superiority and exceptionalism.  
    -- we are still sure that we are the greatest and the goodest; and we know that we deserve to succeed.

       Seventh lesson:  We are being pushed toward war by elements firmly lodged within our national government, as we were at the time of President Kennedy's death.

       Don't assume that you or those you love are going to get through this unscathed.

       But we may hope and pray that we shall.  Develop your own loving, caring, friendly, intelligent, helpful network.  We are all around each other.  

       Seek peace, and pursue it.  Do not be seduced by any call to war.  I guarantee that if it comes, it will be fought against the wrong people for the wrong reason.  That's easy: it already is.

  

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       Comments welcome, pro and con.