Jefferson Morley seems to be a tad upset. My blog post on his Evelyn Lincoln article hit a nerve. When troll Fred Litwin starts croaking, you know something significant has turned up that worries the anxious and isolated defenders of the lone gunman theory. But what is revealing is that Morley now has a remarkable ability -- he can both honestly quote me and then distort the same quote in the same paragraph! Check this out: (Anyone that is except Fred Litwin. He writes of Li

Playwright Ernest Kearney stopped by to discuss conspiracy theories, and the influence of two books, Virtues of the Mind by Linda Zagzebski and The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, on his worldview. Others topics discussed are a critique of the documentary The Assassination and Mrs. Paine , The Jim Garrison/Clay Shaw case, and the books Rush to Judgement by Mark Lane and Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History . This episode also contains never before seen footage of Fred Litw

It was great fun discussing the single-bullet theory with Dr. Martin Kelly, Fred James, Scott Maudsley, and Nick Nalli . Previous Episodes of On the Trail of Delusion : Episode 1 My first guest was Robert Reynolds who is an expert on the JFK assassination files . Episode 2 Robert A. Wagner discusses his new book, JFK Assassinated . Episode 3 Gerald Posner discusses the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories. Episode 4 Dr. Martin J. Kelly, Jr. discusses conspiracy theories

Evelyn Lincoln, JFK, and his son. Jefferson Morley's latest Substack post is a complete nothingburger! Her unpublished memoir, entitled "I Was There,” was written in the 1980s. It recounts stories from the first two books with additional observations and informed opinions. The manuscript includes an 11-page “Addenda,” published here for the first time, summing up Lincoln’s responses about the two most frequent questions she fielded: about JFK’s private life and his public dea

J. C. Price and Mark Lane in a scene from Rush to Judgment. J. C. Price was a witness to the JFK assassination, and here is his affidavit to the Sheriff's department : Price heard a total of five shots, and then "as much as five minutes later another one." Note that Price was quite far away -- on the roof of the Terminal Annex Bldg. in Dealey Plaza, over two hundred yards away from the railroad yards. The Terminal Annex Federal Building is the white building on the far right.

Mark Lane with Charles Brehm Here is an article from the November 27, 1966 issue of the Dallas Morning News: Money Quote However, several of the persons quoted by Lane to support his premise -- that the panel was "blinded by the fear of what they might see" in a more thorough investigation -- think Lane might have rushed to publication to make "a dirty dollar" faster than he accuses the Warren panel of having rushed to judgment. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Mark Lane Mark

Pauline Kael reviewed Executive Action and The French Connection in the New Yorker : THE other new assassination film—”Executive Action,” a fictionalization of how President Kennedy might have been the victim of a large-scale right-wing plot—is so graceless it’s beyond using even as a demonstration of ineptitude. The failures of “The French Conspiracy” are the result of commercialization and so are instructive; the failures of “Executive Action” might be the result of sleep

Leonard Maltin's review of Executive Action : Hat tip: Matthew Kordelski. Ad for Executive Action in the Boston Globe : March 27, 1974 Previous Relevant Blog Post Executive Action: "A Shabby Fiction about JFK" The New York Times reviews Executive Action. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Mark Lane Mark Lane and Warren Reynolds Lane cuts out a few of Reynolds' answers. Mark Lane and Napoleon Daniels Sylvia Meagher was incensed at Lane's inclusion of this story in his film. Mark

My friend Eric Dezenhall has written a superb essay on conspiracy theories. Smart people believe conspiracy theories not because they suddenly become stupid but because the human brain is wired to process resonant plots. Neural pathways cannot accommodate randomness or mystery. It’s simply too distressing to believe we are hurtling through space, subject to forces beyond our control. This is why religion flourishes, not to mention Hollywood. Then there is the issue of pleasur

New York Times, November 25, 1973 Money Quotes: However, even to people who are prepared to accept some sort of conspiracy, including myself, this manner of fiction simply isn't good enough. In spite of the rather pious, unexciting, low-keyed professionalism with which "Executive Action" has been put together, it is fiction of a gross and shabby order. Because it cannot say that this is true, the only point of the film is to raise the question of possibility. Having done that

Still from Rush to Judgment with Warren Reynolds and Mark Lane. There is a segment in Rush to Judgment in which Penn Jones tells the story of Warren Reynolds. Here is an excerpt from a transcrip t: (1:52:59) Mark Lane : Can you give us one instance of a witness who died a strange death? Penn Jones : Well, let's take the case of Betty Mooney MacDonald, one of Jack Ruby's strippers, A fellow named Warren Reynolds saw a man running from the scene of the Tippit slaying. Shortly

Still from Rush to Judgmen t with Napoleon Daniels and Mark Lane. Napoleon Daniels was a Dallas police officer who claimed that he saw officer Roy Vaughn allow Jack Ruby to walk down the Main Street ramp. Vaughn called Daniels at home on the Monday morning after the assassination : But Daniels said in an affidavit on November 29, 1963 that he did see a man enter through the ramp : A couple of things to note. Daniels writes that the person going down the ramp came from the d

Charles Brehm at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office on November 22, 1963. Charles Brehm and his son were witnesses to the JFK assassination, Here is the FBI report : Brehm told the FBI that the "shots came from one of two buildings back at the corner of Elm and Houston Streets." Here is the Charles Brehm segment from the film Rush to Judgment : (1:04:20) Mark Lane : Mr. Brehm, where were you on November 22 1963? Charles Brehm : I had taken my five year old son downtown to se

Marguerite Oswald and Mark Lane A ridiculous theory from Marguerite Oswald : If Marguerite was alive today, she could be on Tucker Carlson's show and she would be quite a hit among the antisemitic crowd. Was Israel Behind the JFK Assassination? Tucker Carlson Again ... on the JFK Assassination Tucker says the CIA and another country assassinated JFK. Previous Relevant Blog Posts Marguerite Oswald Sends a Telegram to Jim Garrison Garrison got her upset. Garrison Investigators

Here is an excerpt of G. Robert Blakey's book, Fatal Hour : Here is what the HSCA Final Report said : Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Mark Lane George Lardner on Mark Lane Mark Lane and the HSCA. When Mort Sahl Kicked Mark Lane Out of his House An interesting anecdote from Mort Sahl's book, Heartland. Should We Blame Mark Lane? Some ads for Lane's film Rush to Judgment. In Defense of the Warren Commission A Garry Wills opinion piece on Mark Lane. Victor Navasky Reviews Mark L

Hat tip: Hideji Okina, who is a terrific JFK assassination researcher in Japan. The Moorman photograph Josiah Thompson wonders in his book, Six Seconds in Dallas , if the gunman behind the fence appears in the Moorman photograph: (pages 128 - 129) "Looking right down at the barrel of that gun." Really? Talk about wanting to please. Holland also told Thompson that Kennedy was hit in the head by two shots, something he had never mentioned before. Here is what the HSCA said abo

S. M. Holland and Mark Lane in a scene from Rush to Judgment. There are some serious inconsistencies with S.M. Holland's statements and testimony about his supposed sighting of "smoke" on the grassy knoll. Here is his statement to the Sheriff's Department : Holland says that "I heard what I thought for the moment was a fire cracker and he slumped over and I looked over toward the arcade and trees and saw a puff of smoke," and then he heard three more shots. The only puff of

During Life Magazine's investigation of the JFK assassination in 1966, Holland McCombs decided to do a test and see if it was possible to see smoke from a rifle on the grassy knoll. Here is their report: Here is the text: Last week end we sent out a crew of four hunters to perform and witness. They were Carol and Roy Lutz, and Bill and Lucilla Dahnke. They carried to a nearby ranch a 32-20 rifle, a 30-30, an Army M-1, A Texas Ranger 38, a Beretta Automatic Pistol, a 22 Target

George Davis was another one of the railroad men who watched the motorcade on November 22nd from the triple overpass. Here is his FBI report : In 1966, Life Magazine briefly started investigating the JFK assassination and they looked into the issue of smoke on the grassy knoll. As part of their investigation, Holland McCombs, one of their reporters, interviewed George Davis: Davis says that "one of the policemen that was riding in the rear of the President's car on the motorc

Here is an excerpt from a transcript : S. M. Holland : The President slumped over forward like that and he tried to raise his hand up. Governor Connally, sitting in front of him on the right side of the car, tried to turn to his right, and he was sitting so close to the door, he couldn't make it that way. And he turned back like that with his arm out, to the left. And about that time the second shot was fired. It knocked him over forward, and he slumped to the right, and I gu