Baton Rouge State Times Advocate, February 24, 1967 Our blog post yesterday discussed a memo that Garrison staffer Tom Bethell sent to Sylvia Meagher. Dick Billings confirmed to Bethell that Andrew Sciambra said nothing about an assassination party when he reported to Garrison after coming back from Baton Rouge. After the preliminary hearing in March 1967, writer James Phelan visited Russo in Baton Rouge and asked him about his first interview with Sciambra. Here is an excerpt from Tom Bethell's diary about this meeting: Matt Herron, photographer for the Black Star agency in NY, worked with Jim Phelan on the Saturday Evening Post article about the New Orleans investigation. I knew Matt quite well before working on this case and saw him this afternoon at his home, 315 Pine St. There were quite a few people present. He told me that he was favorably disposed towards the investigation, and wants to see it succeed. He thinks there was a conspiracy and is a friend of and thinks along the same lines as Vincent Salandria. He volunteered the following information regarding Jim Phelan and Perry Russo. Phelan interviewed Perry Russo in Baton Rouge after the Preliminary Hearing. Also present at this meeting was Russo's room-mate and Matt Herron. Phelan asked Russo twice during this interview if it was true that he, Russo, had not mentioned a meeting between Shaw, Ferrie and Oswald until he came to New Orleans. According to Matt Herron, Russo agreed that he did not mention such a meeting until his arrival in N.O. Herron seemed to remember Russo saying something like "I guess not" in response to Phelan saying was it not true that the meeting didn't come up until he was questioned in New Orleans. Matt Herron also said to me, "I think you've got the wrong man, Tom." He was referring to Clay Shaw, and the group of people with him seemed to be unanimous in believing that Shaw was innocent. Here is an excerpt from Phelan's article, "Rush to Judgment in New Orleans", from the Saturday Evening Post: After the judges ruled that Shaw should stand trial, I called Garrison. "Something bothers me," I said. I told him there wasn't a thing in Sciambra's first report about a party, a plot or a "Bertrand." Garrison seemed surprised; apparently he had never read the report. "I'll get Moo out here and have him explain it," he said. There were four of us in Garrison's study when I questioned Sciambra -- Garrison, Sciambra, a private investigator named William Gurvich, who is assisting Garrison on his probe, and myself. I asked Sciambra why his report on his first interview with Russo said nothing about an assassination plot. Sciambra said I didn't know what I was talking about. I told him I had read his report carefully and knew exactly what was in it. "Maybe," he said, shifting his story, "I forgot to put it in." "But you reported specifically that Russo said he had seen Shaw only twice, not three times," I persisted. Sciambra said he had been "awfully busy with a half dozen other things and had to sandwich in the report and might have forgotten" to include everything. I said it seemed incredible that he would uncover testimony that might solve the crime of the century and then forget to report it. "You made notes when you first talked to Russo," I said. "Your original notes would show whether he mentioned an assassination plot." Sciambra said he had burned his notes. Andrew Sciambra claimed he burned his notes! How propitious. Sciambra confirmed this at the Clay Shaw trial. Here is an excerpt from his testimony from February 12, 1969: Sylvia Meagher wrote a short memo showing Jim Garrison's hypocrisy: By the way, Garrison claim about the secret message about Oswald from the CIA is wrong. Here is a paragraph from a letter that Sylvia Meagher sent to M.S. Arnoni, the publisher of The Minority of One: Andrew Sciambra had no choice but to claim that he burned his notes. He knew that they would show that Russo had not mentioned an assassination party. That memory would come later - and only after being hypnotized three times and also interviewed while under the influence of sodium pentothal. Previous Relevant Blog Posts Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part One Russo went to the press before he was interviewed by Sciambra. Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Two James Phelan wrote a memo about the contradictions in Perry Russo's story. Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Three An interview with Perry Russo from 1971. Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Four Tom Bethell sends a memo to Sylvia Meagher about Dick Billings and Andrew Sciambra.

New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 15, 1971 Jim Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw for conspiracy to kill JFK and for perjury forced Shaw to sell his house and to go back to work. This article speaks to the demeanor of Clay Shaw and his regard in the city of New Orleans: New Orleans States-Item, December 16, 1971 Money quote: This week Clay Shaw stood before the reporters and the television cameras and let it be known that he's once again a major positive force in this community. And he stood with his honor unblemished. It's not a bad article, but the newspapers could have done a lot better. The two daily newspapers, the Times-Picayune and the States-Item only denounced Garrison when Shaw was acquitted. Previous Relevant Blog Posts Clay Shaw's Lawyers Faced an Unfair Fight! A memo written by Shaw's trial attorney, Irvin Dymond, on the difficulties he faced going to trial. Clay Shaw's Civil Rights Complaint A letter that Shaw's attorneys sent to the Department of Justice. When will Oliver Stone Admit he was Wrong about Clay Shaw? We are still waiting. The Persecution of Clay Shaw An important article from Look Magazine. When Shaw was Arrested, What Serious Evidence did Garrison have that he Conspired to Kill JFK? The challenge is still open. When Tommy Lee Jones met Jim Garrison... Garrison instructed Tommy Lee Jones how to play Clay Shaw in the film JFK. Sylvia Meagher and Jim Garrison, Part One Sylvia Meagher writes Clay Shaw and he replies with a lengthy letter.

A tweet with two excerpts from RFK Jr.'s interview with Joe Rogan: Here is a transcript of the first segment from above: RFK Jr.: Wi-Fi radiation does all kinds of bad things including causing cancer. Joe Rogan: Wi-Fi radiation causes cancer? RFK Jr.: Yeah, from your cellphone. There are cellphone tumors. You know, I am representing hundreds of people who have cellphone tumors behind the ear. It's always on the ear that you favor with your cellphone. And, you know, we have the science. So, if anybody lets us in front of a jury, it will be over. Joe Rogan: What is the number? Because a lot of people use cell phones. RFK Jr.: There is a lot of people with it -- they are glioblastomas -- that's the kind of cancers that they get. Cancer is not the worst thing, they also, you know, it opens up, Wi-Fi radiation opens up your blood-brain barrier. Here is a transcript of the second segment from above: Joe Rogan: So, what do you think Wi-Fi is doing to us, since it is everywhere, since everybody is experiencing it, including you? What do you think it is doing to us? RFK Jr.: I think it degrades your mitochondria, and it opens your blood-brain barrier. Joe Rogan: Do you see anything online that it can open your blood-brain barrier? Jamie: I don't know about how, but I ... Joe Rogan: But it does? Jamie: I found an article, I was trying to find the validity of it, but it has a statement on here ... Joe Rogan: [reading]... damages the blood-brain barrier. Radio-frequency radiation exposure has been shown to affect the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, as well as altering the expression of micro-RNA within the brain, which researchers state could lead to adverse effects such as neuro-degenerative disease. Whoa! How come we don't know that? Jamie: There's a doctor that did a study and said and expanded on research in China and published an article here, but I was looking around ... RFK Jr.: They call it leaky brain. Joe Rogan: The findings were followed by suppression, misinformation, and a shutdown of government-funded research in the United States. RFK Jr.: Yes, it's the same, the same play. Joe Rogan: Oh, we got to get rid of Wi-Fi. What the fuck, Jamie? The implication is clear - if RFK Jr., God forbid, gets elected as president, it's the end of Wi-Fi. So, save your ethernet cables. Read the whole Twitter string about RFK Jr.'s appearance on Rogan. Here is an article on "leaky brain." And an article on Wi-Fi and cancer. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on RFK Jr. Did RFK Jr. Tell Tony Muhammad that the CDC is Killing Black and Latino Boys? RFK Jr. has a disturbing relationship with the Nation of Islam. RFK Jr. is Taking Precautions to Avoid being Assassinated Besides being paranoid, RFK Jr. is naive about the world in which we live. Russian Propaganda Outlets are Pushing RFK Jr. Putin knows which candidate to back. RFK Jr. Misquotes JFK He can't even quote his uncle properly. RFK Jr. on the JFK Assassination and Jim Garrison He gets the Garrison story all wrong. RFK Jr.'s JFK Assassination Guru Promotes Crackpot Theories RFK Jr.'s favorite JFK assassination book is full of crackpot theories. RFK Jr. Continues with JFK Assassination Nuttiness! Just when you thought he couldn't get any nuttier.

Why on earth is he meeting with the Nation of Islam? The linked clip is from the Millions for Justice march on October 10, 2015: Here is an excerpt from a transcript: (starting at 0:51) Tony Muhammad: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, I bear witness, that there is no God but Allah who came to us in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, we thank him for raising from among us, the most honorable Elijah Muhammad. We are deeply indebted to him, that he would give us a leader, teacher and champion today in the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. It is in their names that I greet you, my beautiful family, in the greeting words of peace. Assalamu Alaykum. Brothers and sisters, I'm here to bring to you some vital information that has happened to our community. And it has not been brought to the attention of black people throughout America. Four months ago, Bobby Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, met with me in Los Angeles to give me some shocking and revealing and I mean, terrible information on what's going on at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. It has been brought to our attention that the senior lead scientist for the Center of Disease Control has admitted that the NMRA [sic: mRNA] vaccines and many of the vaccine shots have been genetically modified to attack Black and Latino boys. I don't think you heard me. We are living in a wicked time, where we are dealing with a spiritual wickedness in high places, and the pharmaceutical industry along with the American Medical Association have found a way like Pharaoh did, doing the children of Israel when it was time for them to make an exit. Pharaoh said, let us kill all boy babies, two and under. And so now they are trying to force vaccines on baby boys, at least 80 shots, before they are three years old. So, this is what Minister Farrakhan said we're going to do: On the 24th and the 25th of this month, 25,000 of us are going to march on the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, and we're gonna say not another Tuskegee on our watch. We be damned if we gonna stand around and let somebody else pump us up with viruses. It's time for us to stand up. So, take this information down as I exit, go to cdctruth.org. And on the 24th and 25th, if you're in Alabama, in Georgia, in South Carolina, in Tennessee, we need you in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan will be leading us to march against the Center for Disease Control. Thank you and look up more information on this heinous act by government. Assalamu Alaykum. It's hard to believe that that is what RFK Jr. actually told Tony Muhammad. But Louis Farrakhan sent out this tweet in 2015: Here is a town hall that the Nation of Islam held on vaccines to which RFK Jr. was expected to Skype in: Safe vaccines now! Friday protest and town hall meeting highlight links between autism, tainted vaccines and children WHO, WHAT & WHEN: Nation of Islam Student Minister Tony Muhammad, who is on a national speaking tour, families and producers of a movie raising concerns about vaccine safety and links between autism and unsafe vaccines will hold a Friday morning protest outside CDC headquarters in Atlanta. An evening town hall meeting that will include the participation of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam and close a day focused on this important topic. The protest begins at 7 a.m. EST and will end with an 11 a.m. EST press conference. Families of different racial and ethnic groups whose children have suffered from autism and believe their plight is linked to unsafe vaccines will participate. Scientists and doctors worried about the problem will also participate. An evening town hall meeting, beginning at 7 p.m. EST, will premiere the film, “Vaxxed,” which focuses on tainted vaccines, autism and an alleged CDC cover-up of research showing links between such vaccines and autism in Black boys. Families and parents of children dealing with autism cut across racial and economic lines as loved ones struggle to get answers, action and help. Town hall participants and protestors will come from across the country. The protest and town hall meeting will include those associated with the movie “Vaxxed,” including Dr. Timothy Wakefield; Dr. Brian Hooker; and Del Bigtree, executive producer of the film and an investigative journalist. Robert F. Kennedy, who has been active in the vaccine safety movement, will be Skyped into the town hall. The documentary will be shown at the Sheraton Hotel, located downtown at 165 Courtland St., NE. RFK Jr. has no business running for President. He's already doing enough damage. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on RFK Jr. RFK Jr. is Taking Precautions to Avoid being Assassinated Besides being paranoid, RFK Jr. is naive about the world in which we live. Russian Propaganda Outlets are Pushing RFK Jr. Putin knows which candidate to back. RFK Jr. Misquotes JFK He can't even quote his uncle properly. RFK Jr. on the JFK Assassination and Jim Garrison He gets the Garrison story all wrong. RFK Jr.'s JFK Assassination Guru Promotes Crackpot Theories RFK Jr.'s favorite JFK assassination book is full of crackpot theories. RFK Jr. Continues with JFK Assassination Nuttiness! Just when you thought he couldn't get any nuttier.

Thank god. The deep state is out to get him: During an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he takes "precautions" to avoid being assassinated like his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy. RFK Jr. told Rogan that he suspects the CIA was involved in his uncle's death. “He realized very early on that the purpose of the CIA and the intelligence apparatus was to create a constant pipeline of new wars for the military industrial complex,” he said. He went on to say that his uncle was “at war” with the intelligence community in regards to foreign policy. This article is based upon an appearance by RFK Jr. on the Joe Rogan show: Here is a transcript of this segment of the show: RFK Jr.: My uncle John Kennedy, you know, did that he, he refused to go to war. So, he was surrounded by the military industrial complex and he learned very early that an intelligence apparatus, that he realised early on that the purpose of the CIA and the intelligence apparatus was to create a constant pipeline of new wars for the military industrial complex. The day, three days before he took the oath of office, Eisenhower, who was the outgoing president, gave what is probably the most important speech in American history, which was, you know, where he warned against the military industrial complex. I was at my uncle's inauguration, I was in Washington that day, you know, a six year old boy, I was sitting on the stands behind, in front of him, during his inauguration. And he understood that. And two months later, the military and intelligence came to him and said, we got it, we got it, invade Cuba. And he was like, I'm not going to into Cuba, and I'm not gonna let the military and they said, Well, we got all these Cubans trained, and they're gonna go attack Castro. And he said, well, we can't, the US government can't be doing that, we can't be attacking. I don't like what Castro was doing down there. But it's not the United States' job to dictate what kind of governments other countries have. And they said, well, as soon as they land, there's gonna be a big revolution, everybody's gonna rise up, and they're gonna overthrow Castro. And he said, well, you can't use the US military. And they ended up bringing those guys over with United Fruit boats. And in the middle of the night, they came to him and said, they're getting wiped out on the beach, and you need to send in the military in a day. And he said, we're not going to do it. And he stomped out of that meeting. And he realized they had been lying to him, and trying to trick him. And he said, I want to take the CIA and shatter it into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. And, and then, you know, for the next thousand days of his presidency, he was at war. With his military, and intelligence apparatus. They tried to get him to go into Laos, he said no. They tried to get him to go into Vietnam with the combat troops. They said, we need 250,000 combat troops. He refused. Everybody around him wanted him to go into Vietnam. He sent 16,000 military advisors, that's fewer people than he sent to get James Meredith into Ole Miss in Jackson, Mississippi, to get one black man into school. He sent fewer into Vietnam. They weren't allowed to fight, many of them did, they violated the rules of engagement. In October of 1963, he heard that some of his Green Berets had been killed over there. And he said, I want a total casualty list from Vietnam. And his aid came to him and said, 75 Americans have died. He said, that's too many. And he signed that day, a national security order ordering all troops out of Vietnam, US troops. The first thousand over the next month, and then the rest by the beginning of 1965. And, and then, a month later, he was killed. So, but what his view was, is that he believed that the view of Americans should, abroad should not be, you know, a soldier with a gun. It should be a Peace Corps volunteer building, you know, wells, and it should be USAID helping poor people, and it should be Alliance for Progress building middle class. And that's what he did. And he just started the Kennedy milk program to give nutrition to poor kids all over the world. As a result of that, in Africa today, they're more statues to John Kennedy, more boulevards named after him, more hospitals, schools, universities, avenues, in all the major cities named after him than any other president. And that is that, the Chinese have taken that template and done the same thing now. And they are, you know, all these countries that were supposedly allied with us, are now realigned with the Chinese and they're switching to their currency because the Chinese are not there to kill people. They're there to build roads, to build universities, to build colleges. And it turns out, that people like that a lot more. And you know, we should be projecting economic power around the globe and not military power, it will make us much stronger. Joe Rogan: But what do you think happens when you get into office? Like if you're talking about your uncle who was assassinated and you believe the intelligence agencies were part of that. What happens to you? RFK Jr.: Well, I gotta be careful. You know, I'm aware of that and I, you know, I, I'm aware of the, of that danger. And, you know, I don't live in fear of it, you know at all, but I'm not stupid about it, and I take precautions. So, who is protecting RFK Jr.? Perhaps the Nation of Islam? RFK Jr. is a revisionist politician. Like Oliver Stone and James DiEugenio, he has an idealized view of JFK as a president who was going to bring world peace, establish detente with the Soviet Union and Cuba, and usher in a new era of harmony and joy. It's a nice fantasy, but that's exactly what it is. The truth is that we don't know what JFK would have done if he hadn't been assassinated. His record until that day in November was one of a cold warrior who was obsessed with Cuba and Fidel Castro. No matter how you spin it, JFK approved the Bay of Pigs operation, and much of the blame for the debacle can be laid at his feet. The quotation about scattering the CIA to the winds is ahistorical -- he might have said it, but we only have the word of an unnamed source, a few years after his assassination. I am sure that there are a lot of public facilities named after JFK. But guess which American president is really loved in Africa? George W. Bush. PEPFAR, his health initiative to combat HIV and AIDS, saved millions of lives. What galls me the most about RFK Jr. is his naivete about China. China isn't just building roads and universities. The Belt and Road program has led to many problems for countries around the world. Western critics blame Chinese abuse of their power for Zambia’s economic woes. Indeed, Chinese labor standards have come under fire for creating poor conditions for African workers. As of 2010, Zambian wages cost China just “0.093 percent of gross income” and health regulations have been criticized for threatening workers with longer hours and greater exposure to “acid … noxious fumes and dust” than what is allowed by Zambian law. The root of these problems appears to be China’s ignorance of international standards of practice, but China’s unchallenged power clearly underlies the neglect of labor rights. A concerning corollary of this control appeared in the 2006 Chambishi riots, where Zambian workers protested a 2005 mining explosion that killed 46 workers in a CNMC mine. Instead of recognizing Zambian demands for improved safety measures and healthcare, Chinese managers shot six protestors. The failure to provide potable water, higher wages, and protective equipment against silicosis stings particularly strongly considering China’s willingness to spend US$350 million on the new Chambishi Copper Smelter with computerized technology (HRW). China’s unjust treatment of local workers reveals how China profits off of Zambian suffering. The major problem is that China practices a perverse form of capitalism. There are no labor laws, no environmental laws, and of course, no rule of law. Most of its large businesses are state-owned enterprises. Their goal is not profit, but to serve the state. And all of them have significant Communist Party of China members on their management and boards - to ensure the interests of the party is front and center. We just saw an example of this in Canada: What is also disturbing is that RFK Jr. doesn't seem to be aware of what the Chinese government has done to the Uighurs in East Turkestan; what the Chinese government has done to Hong Kong; what the Chinese government has done to Tibet; and the fact that the Chinese government is sponsoring Vladimir Putin's obscene war in Ukraine. Just where does he think Russia is selling its oil and other commodities? It's bad enough to have a conspiracy theorist running for President. The United States doesn't need a conspiratorial naïf running for office. But if he's looking for a running mate, well, I can't think of one better suited for him than Oliver Stone. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on RFK Jr. Russian Propaganda Outlets are Pushing RFK Jr. Putin knows which candidate to back. RFK Jr. Misquotes JFK He can't even quote his uncle properly. RFK Jr. on the JFK Assassination and Jim Garrison He gets the Garrison story all wrong. RFK Jr.'s JFK Assassination Guru Promotes Crackpot Theories RFK Jr.'s favorite JFK assassination book is full of crackpot theories. RFK Jr. Continues with JFK Assassination Nuttiness! Just when you thought he couldn't get any nuttier.

In the obscene war against Ukraine, Oliver Stone is on the Russian side: Here is a transcript of this short excerpt of an interview: Oliver Stone: And once you get into a war situation in this Ukraine, you have so much propaganda, from, especially from the western side, it's so one-sided that everything becomes an anti-Russian issue. Obviously, they're the stronger country. They're winning the war. They're actually kicking ass. But uh we don't know that. In the west, we have no realization of what's really going on, because there's been no military honesty. It's a completely corrupt process in the United States. You have to run everything through the White House because the White House is fighting the war, and they're telling you the Russians are evil and brutal and all this stuff. But it's not fair because we're not getting the truth. And the American people are blind. They're like led by, like sheep to a conclusion. This is part of a larger interview on Afshin Rattansi's Going Underground which is carried on RT - a Russian propaganda outlet. The segment on the war starts at 22;45. Later in the interview (at about 24:50) Oliver Stone says that the war in Ukraine is a "civil war." So, the Russians are "kicking ass" in a civil war? Oliver Stone: Well, how come we can't get both sides? How come we can't hear your show in England or in America? We can't even hear it. It's ridiculous. You have the right to speak. You're an intelligent man. RT was a good network. And it doesn't mean you have to buy everything they say. But they did a good job. They got cameramen to those places, and they continue to be good. And there's other outlets that should be promoted and allowed. But you can't say anything, apparently, in the United States. It's really -- I'm speaking to you because you're in Dubai, What you're trying to make - yes, they're going to exaggerate everything possible against the Russians, including that happens, nuclear, anything will be built up into some sensational event, although there is, in fact, no actual threat. What's happened with the dam is fascinating. You know, nobody's claimed it. But it's clearly motivated, the motive for doing it is Ukrainian, Ukrainian motive is to wreck. They're losing badly, they want to wreck the land before the Russians take Kherson. The Russians are predicted to take that area because it's a Russian, basically a Russian-speaking area, Russian ethnic. So, no one's ever pointed out, it seems to me, successfully to the American people and the European people, especially the European people, but this is a civil war. This is not like a normal war. This is between Russian and Ukrainian -- the Ukrainians have been vicious against, since 2014, the Russian ethnic population, Vicious. Killing. I've heard on various reports from 5,000 to 7,000, plus wounded. There's been almost 14,000 people affected, in that spirit. While they signed the Minsk Agreement, the Ukrainians, they didn't honor it for six or eight years. The U. S. came into Ukraine, took it over, financed everything, we're financing the government, and built up the army to this level where it could attack and take back the Donbas and Luhansk. Where do you even start? Is he not aware of the brutal Russian missiles which have hammered apartment buildings and hospitals? Here is a meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee: Previous Blog Posts on Oliver Stone's Politics Oliver Stone says that "Putin is a great leader for his country Oliver Stone is now in Alex Jones Territory! Oliver Stone: Putin is a rational, calm, thoughtful man: the United States is a Doberman... Has Oliver Stone Gone Mad? Oliver Stone Said Vladimir Putin is "very bright" and "wise" Oliver Stone's 'Bromance' with Vladimir Putin Oliver Stone Blames the United States for Putin's Invasion of Ukraine Celebrities Who Have Been Friendly with Putin Oliver Stone Says Vladimir Putin Fell into an American Trap The Day Vladimir Putin Fooled Oliver Stone with a Doctored Video Oliver Stone Watches Dr. Strangelove with Vladimir Putin Oliver Stone is Vladimir Putin's Mouthpiece Oliver Stone Says that Putin was Provoked... Will Oliver Stone Blame Kazakhstan Unrest on the United States? Is Oliver Stone Becoming a Lackey for China? Oliver Stone said the CIA may have injected cancer into Hugo Chavez's rectum... Oliver Stone Sides with Cuba's 'Repressive Dictatorship Two Views on Oliver Stone's Love Affair with Nazarbayev... Oliver Stone Fêtes Another Dictator Relevant Links on Oliver Stone's Politics Oliver Stone's Disgraceful Tribute to Hugo Chavez Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? Oliver Stone defends himself After Calling Russian Anti-LGBTQ Law ‘Sensible’ Hollywood Movie Director Oliver Stone praises Putin for Syria intervention on trip to Saudi Arabia Oliver Stone: Jewish Control of the Media is Preventing Free Holocaust Debate Oliver Stone's Latest Dictator Suckup Oliver Stone’s Latest Piece of Pro-Putin Propaganda May Be His Most Shameless Move Yet ‘The Putin Interviews’: Oliver Stone’s Wildly Irresponsible Love Letter to Vladimir Putin Has Oliver Stone Ever met a Dictator He Doesn't Admire? Oliver Stone's 'Empathy' for Hitler Iran's Fajr Film Festival grabs headlines with Oliver Stone Don't miss the Viewer's Guide to JFK: Destiny Betrayed and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass. Over the past several months, I have shown in multiple blog posts how Oliver Stone's documentary series, JFK Revisited and JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers. In fact, despite months of work, there are still many more misleading segments that need to be addressed. It's no wonder that the fact checkers of Netflix nixed the airing of the films. There is a choice between four hours of tendentious nonsense (JFK: Destiny Betrayed) and two hours (JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass). As a handy guide for viewers, here are all those posts in order of their appearance in JFK: Destiny Betrayed and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, preceded by some general critiques. The Viewer's Guide has now been updated to include the sources from my new book, Oliver Stone's Film-Flam: The Demagogue of Dealey Plaza.

Kerry Thornley was still awaiting trial on his perjury charges. He sent an update to Sylvia Meagher, and noted that the Berkeley Barb had run an article about how Garrison's preoccupation with the JFK assassination had led to a miscarriage of justice: Here is the article from the Berkeley Barb that Thornley discussed in the last paragraph of the above letter: Here is an article about the case from The Oregonian: Here is an article from the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate about the case: Garrison's lack of attention to the D. A.'s office was noticed, and the New Orleans States-Item called him the Phantom DA. In addition, Assistant District Attorney William Alford resigned in 1971 because he felt Garrison wasn't doing his job. Here is Thornley's next letter to Meagher:: Here is Sylvia Meagher's reply: Previous Relevant Blog Posts Kerry Thornley writes Sylvia Meagher Correspondence from 1968 Was Kerry Thornley the Second Oswald? Jim Garrison actually believed that Thornley was impersonating Oswald. Was Thornley the Second Oswald? Yes, Again! Garrison's notations on a memo about Thornley. Exclusive: Jim Garrison Tells the HSCA that Kerry Thornley Impersonated Lee Harvey Oswald... Link and commentary about Jim Garrison's interview with the HSCA. Did Kerry Thornley Lie About Oswald's Height? Garrison was obsessed with Thornley's testimony about Oswald's height. Was Kerry Thornley a Spook? Conspiracy theorists have made up a story about Thornley and NASA. Reverend Raymond Broshears Makes a Startling Revelation! Broshears tells Garrison investigators that Thornley is gay and that his body is in the backyard photographs.

Here is an audio recording of the Reverend Raymond Broshears' appearance on the Stan Borhman show on July 8, 1968. Here is a transcript of the audio recording, part one. Raymond Broshears told Stan Bohrman that he was a psychic: (2:18) Stan Bohrman: Okay. Now, how did you get involved with all of these predictions and all of this clairvoyance? Raymond Broshears: Well, I came into the full knowledge of my psychic abilities several years ago, and under various teachers, including Elaine Chambers of the City of Life in New Mexico. Elaine has helped me develop them over the years. I have been 97% correct in the prophecies that I have received in meditation during... my channeling during meditation. These have come to me and it's sort of a semi-trance state. Stan Bohrman: Who talks to you during this time of meditation? Raymond Broshears: I do not hear any voices. Stan Bohrman: Well, how do you come to the conclusions that you do? Raymond Broshears: They come in through me and then out, and then I write them out. Bohrman confronted Broshears with some of his ridiculous predictions: (4:28) Stan Bohrman: Well, I would tend to go along with Dr. Richter before I would tend to go along with a man who says that George Wallace is going to be elected president of the United States by six votes. Raymond Broshears: I did not say that, sir. Stan Bohrman: Who said that? Raymond Broshears: The spirit said it. Stan Bohrman: Oh, the spirit. But you put... Now here's some the things that Reverend Raymond Broshears, the channel, has said that is going to happen. Number one, George C. Wallace will be elected president of the United States by six electoral votes, another death in the Kennedy family, as well as the death of famous close friend... as a famous close friend, Cardinal Cushing. In other words, you are prophesying the death of Cardinal Cushing? Raymond Broshears: Yes. Last year I prophesized the death of Cardinal Ritter and also Cardinal Fallon. In the transcript, there is talk of a séance where Broshears channeled Lee Harvey Oswald.: (7:16) Stan Bohrman: Okay, we're back again. We have our two unusual ministers, Reverend Raymond Broshears and Reverend Jeff Mann from the Church of God of Light. We'll be back to them in just a moment. Right now, we check in with Ted Myers in the newsroom. It's 18 minutes after 1:00. Here's something else. It says that you have been talking with Lee Harvey Oswald. How recently did you talk with Lee Harvey Oswald when he was in the beyond? Now he's of course been dead for five years now. Raymond Broshears: This was done in a seance, as some of the traditional people prefer to call it. I was the channel, and the message came through me to the medium. There were several mediums in the room and this is the message that came forth. The reason they chose me was because of my close association with the late David Ferrie who had property belonging to Lee Harvey Oswald at the time that I knew David. So I had come in contact with some of Lee Harvey Oswald's clothing, and metal objects. So they felt that I would be a good channel, and these are the things that came through. Of course, it's quite controversial. Stan Bohrman: Well, I don't think the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald very possibly did not even fire a gun that day is too controversial. But I think the thing that's controversial is that you talked to him from the beyond and that you... So he talked to you from the beyond actually, or talked to us through you. Raymond Broshears: Yes. Stan Bohrman: I'll just read one paragraph of this. I can't through the whole thing because it's too long. But it says, "I raised the rifle to aim at the target, and I suddenly realized that the target was the president of my country, my president. I couldn't go through with it. Then the motorcade came into sight. I dropped the rifle. I was wearing gloves, that accounts for the lack of fingerprints, and I started to run. And then Bill said, 'Shoot the so-and-so or you'll be shot.' I did not care. I just ran out of the book depository and then I knew that others had hit him. I ran, I ran for my life," and it goes on and on. I don't know, man. Raymond Broshears: May I say something? You deny psychic phenomena, sir? Stan Bohrman: No, I don't deny psychic phenomena, but I really don't think that you have talked to Lee Harvey Oswald. I really don't believe that you can prophesize correctly and knowledgeably all the things that you've said. I don't want to call you a charlatan because I have no basis in fact for calling you names. But I can't believe that you are telling the truth. Here is a link with additional information about the séance: and here is an except from the May 1968 issue of The Light of Understanding, a magazine published by Raymond Broshears: Reverend Raymond Broshears was a fabulist of the highest order. After this interview, he was contacted by Mark Lane and Stephen Jaffe and he was then subpoenaed by Jim Garrison. He spent a week in New Orleans being questioned. The links below have some of the crazy statements he made when he was questioned -- and it's no wonder he was never called as a witness in the Clay Shaw trial. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Raymond Broshears First Garrison Interview with Reverend Raymond Broshears Bill Turner sent a memo to Stephen Burton saying that he should find and interview Raymond Broshears. Here is Burton's memo. David Ferrie's Roommate Reveals the Assassination Plot! Broshears revealed the plot to the LA Free Press Reverend Raymond Broshears Tells All to Stephen Jaffe and Mark Lane! Lane and Jaffe pay the good Reverend a visit. Reverend Raymond Broshears Reveals the Shaw-Ferrie Link! Broshears even identified the three tramps. Reverend Raymond Broshears Tells Even More in New Orleans! Of course, they had to fly Broshears to New Orleans to tell more stories. Reverend Raymond Broshears Makes a Startling Revelation! Broshears outs a Garrison suspect. The good Reverend writes about Jim Garrison Broshears' newsletter discusses his trip to New Orleans Reverend Raymond Broshears Talks to the HSCA Hard to believe but the HSCA actually interviewed Broshears. What do JFK conspiracy books say about Raymond Broshears? For some reason, conspiracy theorists believe Broshears is credible. Who was Leon Oswald? James DiEugenio believes that Raymond Broshears corroborates the existence of a Leon Oswald.

Since the release of Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, journalist Jefferson Morley has come out with a presentation that also features the fake Oswald handbill. In Part Three of my series on the fake handbills, I looked at how James DiEugenio took fake evidence and non-existent evidence and turned them into conspiracy theories that are total fiction. Now, Jefferson Morley has gone beyond DiEugenio with his talk of imaginary evidence. When NARA uploaded thousands of JFK documents in December, Morley was disappointed that the CIA personnel file on George Joannides was not released. Of course, as I have mentioned before (here and here), an ARRB staffer examined that file and it does not contain any material relevant to the JFK assassination: It is also quite clear that the ARRB knew exactly who George Joannides was. They knew he was a covert action officer at JMWAVE and that he was the case officer for the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE). The ARRB also knew that he worked with the HSCA on its requests for CIA documents. ARRB staffer Michelle Combs noted that "The descriptions of his duties and accomplishments in the personnel file are very general and contain no specific reference to his relationship with the DRE. There is no mention of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in the file and no information relevant to the assassination in the file." And yet, Morley is convinced that this personnel file has details of some undisclosed CIA operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald. He said this during his press conference in December: (from 57:57 to 58:50) What are they hiding? We can now answer that question with some precision. The CIA is hiding 44 documents known to exist in Joannides' personnel file that will shed light on his secret activities in 1963 and 1978. These include information about a CIA operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald that has never been disclosed. I'm not crazy about the term 'smoking gun.' I think that's a bit of a cliche -- it's not a term that investigative reporters use but I think in this case it's appropriate. What we are talking about here is not smoking gun proof of a conspiracy to kill the President. We're talking about smoking gun proof of a CIA operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald that the CIA is still concealing in 2022. This body of records has profound implications for the official story of the assassination. Screen shot from Mary Ferrell press conference (58:22 through 59:03) But how does Morley know what is in this file? He is speculating, if not imagining, what is in Joannides' personnel file, and so now we have the category of imaginary evidence. Interestingly, Morley has never discussed Michelle Combs' conclusions about the Joannides file. Morley also included the fake handbill in his presentation: You can see the handbill starting at 51:40 of the video. The importance of the handbill to Morley's argument can be seen in this excerpt from his interview with Oliver Stone in James DiEugenio's book, JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass: (page 271) Oliver Stone: Well, speaking about Oswald here, how did the incident on Canal Street with Carlos Bringuier of the DRE begin? Jeff Morley: So in the spring of 1963 Oswald started communicating with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New York. And he said I want to form a chapter. And the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro–Cuban Revolution group that was popular on college campuses discouraged him and said, you know, it’s not safe in a Southern conservative city like that, you need to get together with like-minded people, please don’t do this. Oswald ignored all of that, which is one sign that he was a provocateur and not a true believer. Because he disobeyed what the FPCC wanted him to do. So that summer he began handing out pamphlets for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee which he had ordered. And some of them he stamped 544 Camp Street which was an office in downtown New Orleans, actually near where the CIA’s offices were, right across the street in fact. There was also the home of the Cuban Revolutionary Council which was the leading anti-Castro group. Why would a pro-Castro activist put his headquarters in the same headquarters as the leading anti-Castro group in the country? Because he was a provocateur most likely. Morley is convinced that Oswald has no agency - the fact that he didn't listen to the leadership of the FPCC is not evidence that he has a mind of his own, but evidence "that he was a provocateur and not a true believer." Morley seems unaware that Oswald did NOT stamp 544 Camp Street on his handbills, and, as I have remarked earlier, anybody going to 544 Camp Street in 1963 would find the offices of the Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America. They would not find the Cuban Revolutionary Council (they had been evicted several months earlier) and they would not find Guy Banister. But was Oswald handing out handbills in New Orleans because he was instructed to by the CIA or was he handing out handbills in New Orleans because he was a committed Marxist who had a passion for Cuba? To Morley, Oswald lacks free will - he is just a pawn in some operation. In the same interview, Morley goes further: (page 273) Stone: But after the assassination, didn’t Bringuier blame Castro, just to bring it full circle? Morley: Yes, Carlos Bringuier and the DRE did seek to blame the assassination on Oswald instantaneously. The DRE published the first JFK conspiracy theory saying that Oswald and Castro were the presumed assassins and that publication was paid for by the CIA under the auspices of George Joannides. Stone: Almost the same day, on the same day, or day after the assassination? Morley: On the night of the assassination, Carlos Bringuier was the DRE delegate in New Orleans and Jose Antonio Lanusa, the spokesman for the DRE in Miami, got on the phone and started telling reporters, “We know all about the guy who killed the president.” And they talked to ten or fifteen reporters that night. So they shaped the story. The CIA’s propaganda assets shaped the story from the first hours after Kennedy was dead. DRE's information about Lee Harvey Oswald came from Carlos Bringuier, Here is an article from the December 10, 1963 issue of the Charleston, South Carolina News & Courier: Bringuier had been trying hard to tell everybody that Oswald was an avowed supporter of Fidel Castro since the debate with Bill Stuckey: Was the "press relief" part of the undisclosed Oswald operation? Did the CIA have to instruct Bringuier to issue this statement? And right after the assassination, Bringuier continued as would be expected. Here is an excerpt from an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune from November 24, 1963: Does Morley believe that Bringuier had to have the CIA tell him to blame Castro for the JFK assassination? Wouldn't it be natural for Bringuier and other anti-Castro Cuban leaders to blame Castro? And Morley seems to understand this. Here is a quote from his book, Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA: (page 175) All the former DRE leaders emphasized that they did not take orders from the CIA, and there is good reason to take them at their word. In 1963, they were passionate young anticommunists who feared their homeland was in danger of slipping under one-party control forever. They did not need a CIA man from Washington to tell them to take against against a public supporter of Castro like Oswald. It is impossible to evaluate Morley's imaginary CIA operation because he has not elaborated on its scope. If one goal of Morley's operation was to blame Castro for the assassination, it totally failed. Having DRE leaders tell the press that Castro was the mastermind did very little. The supposed CIA plotters would have better spent their time and energy trying to convince the FBI that Castro was behind the assassination. And Carlos Bringuier in his book Crime Without Punishment, denies that he received any money from the DRE in Miami: (page 425) I was just a Delegate in New Orleans of the DRE. I was not receiving instructions or orders from the CIA, I never received any money from the CIA, if others in the DRE at the Miami office were receiving money from the CIA that was not my case. I was working very hard as a salesman as comanager of "Casa Roca" to bring food for my family, I never received any money from the Miami DRE office or any other office of the DRE, on the contrary my delegation was sending small amounts of money to Miami headquarters. That is the historical truth. In addition, Bringuier wrote that he never met George Joannides: (page 419) On her book Ms. Mellen portray me as a FBI or CIA informant and tried to associate me with George Joannides, according to her and others, as a CIA operative. I heard the name Joannides for the first time while researching some of Jefferson Morley's allegations and this was Mr. Joannides had passed away. I never met, talked or had any direct or indirect contact with Mr. George Joannides but these recyclers of lies keep repeating the same lies. In Morley's world, individuals have little agency. But they do have Central Intelligence Agency agency -- Bringuier and Oswald are just pawns of the CIA and that their actions can only be explained by an imaginary CIA operation. The link between Lee Harvey Oswald and Guy Banister was always tenuous. Oliver Stone decided to bolster that link by producing fake handbills using the 544 Camp Street address. Over ten years ago, someone else produced newer fake handbills combining elements from a real handbill and the 544 Camp Street stamp from the film JFK. Oliver Stone used that newer fake handbill in his documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed. It's time for Oliver Stone, James DiEugenio, and Jefferson Morley to come clean about the fake handbills. A big thank you to Paul Hoch who contributed a lot of the research that went into the four part series on the Oswald handbill. Steve Roe was also responsible for finding the fake flyer in Judyth's book. Previous Blog Posts on the Fake Oswald Handbill "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills An analysis of the handbill used in Oliver Stone's so-called documentary, JFK: Destiny Betrayed. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills, Part Two An examination of where the fake handbill came from. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills, Part Three A look at James DiEugenio's use of the fake handbill. Don't miss the Viewer's Guide to JFK: Destiny Betrayed and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass. Over the past several months, I have shown in multiple blog posts how Oliver Stone's documentary series, JFK Revisited and JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers. In fact, despite months of work, there are still many more misleading segments that need to be addressed. It's no wonder that the fact checkers of Netflix nixed the airing of the films. There is a choice between four hours of tendentious nonsense (JFK: Destiny Betrayed) and two hours (JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass). As a handy guide for viewers, here are all those posts in order of their appearance in JFK: Destiny Betrayed and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, preceded by some general critiques The Viewer's Guide has now been updated to include the sources from my new book, Oliver Stone's Film-Flam: The Demagogue of Dealey Plaza.

Charles Spiesel testified on February 7 - 8, 1969, for the prosecution at the Shaw trial. He told the jury that he heard Clay Shaw talk about the assassination with David Ferrie at a party in New Orleans. On cross examination, Spiesel was unveiled as a complete loon who had sued the City of New York for hypnotizing him dozens of time against his will. New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 8, 1969 Here is a CIA document on Charles Spiesel: Garrison staffer Tom Bethell wrote a letter to Sylvia Meagher about the beginning of the Clay Shaw trial: The second and third paragraphs relate to Charles Spiesel -- Bethell indicates that James Alcock knew some elements of Spiesel's background. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Clay Shaw's Trial Did the Clay Shaw Trial Jury Believe There Was a Conspiracy? Conspiracy books claim that all the jurors believed that Garrison had proved a conspiracy in the JFK assassination, This is just not true. Clay Shaw's Lawyers Faced an Unfair Fight! Clay Shaw's trial attorney, Irvin Diamond, wrote a memo explaining the difficulties facing the defense. Clay Shaw's Attorneys To-Do List There was not discovery in Louisiana courts in 1969 and so Clay Shaw's attorneys had to run down every lead and rumor. The Christenberry Decision Judge Christenberry stopped Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw for perjury. Here is his ruling.

Dr. Louis Jolyon West Some conspiracy theorists are now conjecturing that Jack Ruby was subjected to some sort of mind control in 1964. It has turned out that one of his psychiatrists, Dr. Louis Jolyon West, worked in the top-secret CIA MK-Ultra program, which ran between 1953-1964 and was designed to develop drugs and techniques for brainwashing and mind control. Seymour Hersh broke the story on MK-Ultra in 1974 and hearings were held in Congress in 1977. Since then, MK-Ultra has become a conspiracy theorists' dream - easily graftable onto any story. One of the first instances of the Jack Ruby - Dr. West story was in an article by Richard Sprague in the April 1986 issue of Freedom Magazine. Sprague alleged that Dr. West was the doctor who "administered the injection [of cancer] to Ruby." Of course this is nonsense -- while Ruby did die of cancer in January of 1967, it was (is) impossible to inject any agent into a human that would cause cancer in a determinable period of time. A wilder, more comprehensive story emerged from an affidavit sworn in September 1986, regarding Dr. West, Guy Banister, and Dr. Mary Sherman: You can read the rest of the affidavit, found in Jim Garrison's files, at the link above. Adam Gorightly wrote about this affidavit: My initial reaction to this affidavit was that it had to be some kind of hoax, or a red herring intended to spread disinformation. I based this on the inclusion of Dr. Louis Jolyon West in the narrative which seemed just a little bit too good to be true—kind of like a conspiracy theorists’ wet dream—mainly because West has so often been linked to a panoply of MK-ULTRA conspiracy theories over the years like some sort of Dr. Evil super-villain in a Marvel comic book series. It’s no secret (as you can read from his wiki page) that West was indeed involved in at least one MK-ULTRA-related project when he injected an elephant with large dose of LSD and accidentally killed the poor creature. But beyond that, his legend grew somewhat ridiculously, I think, mainly because it gave street cred to different supposed MK-ULTRA mind control conspiracy theories that have circulated over the years. Joan Mellen claimed in her 2005 book A Farewell to Justice that the affidavit was written by Jim Garrison as a spoof: (page 364 in the Kindle edition) In fiction, Garrison can include details he suspected but could never prove: that Ruby knew Oswald; that Ruby had transported “at least one gunman” to the grassy knoll, the Julia Ann Mercer testimony. In a jibe at James Phelan, Garrison uses hypnotism and sodium pentothal to render Ruby passive. The motive for Sherman’s unsolved murder, he suggests, was the need to keep a secret associated with the assassination. The planner of Ruby’s murder was Dr. West, “who did his best to help people and to work for the security of the United States.” West, of course, is a thinly disguised Dr. Alton Ochsner, who decrees that Ruby must die because if he won his trial, “he would hurt many people, open old wounds.” The witness to the “Affidavit” bears the names of both Garrison’s most virulent antagonist, Walter Sheridan, and his assistant, Richard Townley: “Richard Sheridan.” I do not believe that Garrison was the author. Someone passed this along to him in the hope he would buy the story. It does show that Dr. Louis Jolyon West is a good vehicle for conspiracy stories. Gorightly easily rebuts Mellen's contention that the affidavit was a spoof: Mellen refers to the affidavit as a “brilliant spoof,” but you can read it for yourself and make up your own mind if that’s actually the case. It certainly doesn’t read like a spoof; or if it was a spoof, then Garrison evidently was spoofing himself because the only other source at the time linking Mary and Ferrie to this cancer conspiracy was Garrison’s 1967 Playboy interview. Not only wasn’t the Russell Affidavit a spoof, it wasn’t particularly brilliant, either. The only reason I can figure why Mellen offered this puzzling explanation was because she probably didn’t know what to make of it, either—not to mention that on its face the Russell Affidavit seems somewhat problematic if, indeed, Garrison actually authored it, as it only undermines his credibility and presents the possibility that he was intentionally pushing a false narrative. MuckRock then published an article by Emma North-Best about Dr. West and Jack Ruby in 2017. North-Best focused on the details of Dr. West's work with MK-Ultra and provided links to relevant documents. She was somewhat vague in what this all meant, noting that "After he shot Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby's psychosis was diagnosed by the same CIA doctor who had once killed an elephant with psychedelics." But it was Tom O'Neill's 2019 book Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties that really gave the story wings. O'Neill made the case that there was an abrupt change in Jack Ruby's mental condition after Dr. West's visit, and he surmises that this was due to "toxic psychosis," i.e., psychosis resulting from chemicals or drugs. And then Tucker Carlson picked it up in December of 2022. Here is an excerpt from his report: In April of 1964, a psychiatrist called Louis Jolyon West visited Jack Ruby in his isolation cell in a Dallas jail. According to West's written assessment, he found that Jack Ruby was "technically insane" and in need of immediate psychiatric hospitalization. Those are conclusions that puzzlingly no one who had spoken to Jack Ruby previously had reached. Ruby had seemed perfectly sane to the people who knew him. Louis Jolyon West pronounced him crazy. But what West did not say was that he was working for the CIA at the time. Louis Jolyon West was a contract psychiatrist for the spy agency. He was also an expert on mind control and a prominent player in the now infamous MKUltra program in which the CIA gave powerful psychiatric drugs to Americans without their knowledge. So of all the psychiatrists in the world, what in the world was this guy doing in Jack Ruby's prison cell? Four days later, Jefferson Morley picked up the story for his Substack: Carlson reported, accurately, that Dr. Louis Jolyon West visited Oswald’s assassin, Jack Ruby, while he was in jail. Carlson noted, again accurately, that West was a psychiatrist on the CIA payroll and participant in the notorious MKULTRA mind control program. “What in the world was this guy doing in Jack Ruby’s prison cell?” he asked. You can loathe Carlson’s political project and still acknowledge that is a reasonable question that the CIA has never answered. A reasonable question? Does the CIA really need to answer this? The short answer to the Morley/Carlson question, as the documents made clear long ago, is that Ruby's lawyers brought him in. Is there any evidence that Dr. West was on the CIA payroll in 1964? In March 2023, Jefferson Morley devoted his Substack to the Dr. West - Jack Ruby story: He included a video of Tom O'Neill being interviewed by Joe Rogan, and included this paragraph: This doesn’t prove that the CIA facilitated Dr. West’s exculpatory diagnosis on Ruby for the sake of protecting the Agency, but it certainly lends credence to the notion. It shows the medical diagnosis that propped up the government’s widely disbelieved theory of JFK’s murder was compromised by a secret agenda related to mind control. O'Neill told Rogan that he had contacted Arlen Specter back in 2002 to tell him he had new information. Specter wanted to see his documents on Dr. West and MK-Ultra, but O'Neill refused to fax them. Specter and O'Neill agreed to meet in person but on the day of the meeting, O'Neill cancelled. Jefferson Morley brought up the story once again in May 2023: What we do know, thanks to author Tom O’Neill and his book Chaos, is that the CIA intervened in the case of Oswald’s killer Jack Ruby. O’Neill discovered that Dr. Jolyon West, a psychiatrist, who declared Ruby psychotic was in fact a CIA contractor. The Warren Commission never knew. JFK researchers are now asking a new question that the government and partisans of the “lone gunman” theory have yet to answer: “Why did the CIA interfere in Jack Ruby’s trial?” Interfere? How on earth did the CIA "interfere" with Jack Ruby's trial? It is not easy to determine exactly what conspiracy theorists are alleging about Jack Ruby and Dr. Louis Jolyon West. Did Dr. West "scramble" Ruby's mind as conspiracy theorist Max Good, producer of a tendentious documentary on Ruth Paine, suggested in an August 2022 tweet? Was Dr. West doing the CIA's bidding when he wrote his psychiatric reports on Jack Ruby? Did Dr. West prevent Jack Ruby from telling us the awful truth about the conspiracy? I guess it is easier to keep the story very fuzzy. So, what really happened? The documents posted with the MuckRock article clearly show that Dr. Louis Jolyon West was working on human subjects in 1955-1956: This project started in 1955 and ended in 1956. He basically was testing to see if certain drugs could make it easier to hypnotize people. MuckRock makes a big deal out of a proposal that indicated that Dr. West wanted to work another eleven years on this project: I believe that there is a typo in paragraph B and that it should have read 1956-57. If you read the other documents in the file, the fiscal year was not a calendar year. For instance, look at the projected budget, which was for 1956 - 1957: I think it is quite clear that the proposal in question was only for an extension of one year to 1956-57 and not to 1967. While I can't state this with absolute certainty, it does appear that Dr. West was not working with humans on this project after 1957. By the time Dr. West met with Ruby, MK-Ultra was being shut down. There is no evidence that Dr. West was conducting any MK-Ultra research when he examined Jack Ruby. At the end of March 1964, Dr. Hubert Winston Smith, who was Melvin Belli's medical advisor during the Jack Ruby trial, became Ruby's chief counsel. He agreed to conduct "an exhaustive drag-net medico-legal analysis of the Ruby case from cellar to garret." On April 27, 1964, Smith filed a motion to have Jack Ruby hospitalized and that he be re-examined for sanity. Dr. Smith also requested Ruby undergo hypnosis and to be interviewed after being administered sodium pentothal. He hoped to retrieve information about Ruby's motives in killing Oswald. Washington Post, April 23, 1964 Note that it was Dr. Smith, and not Dr. West, who asked for hypnosis and sodium pentothal. This was noted by Dr, West in his report: Ruby was already experiencing some mental issues: West was only with Ruby for an hour and decided not to proceed with a "consideration" of the tests that Dr. Smith had requested: The unexpected discovery that this individual has developed an acute psychotic reaction naturally requires me to postpone consideration of the special examination into his mental status at the time of the shooting last November. West repeated this in a letter to Chief Justice Warren: But Dr. West did notice a change in Ruby: As indicated earlier, Tom O'Neill felt that this was suspicious. He noted that "by then nearly half a dozen psychiatrists, many equally renowned, had taken stock of Ruby's condition, finding him essentially compos mentis." But what they had determined was that Ruby was sane enough to stand trial. Remember, Melvin Belli's strategy for Jack Ruby was to plead innocent by way of temporary insanity. Ruby was on a downward spiral. The trial, the guilty verdict, the imposition of the death penalty all caused Ruby to become increasingly mentally unbalanced. What really affected Ruby was the right-wing notion that Jews were behind the assassination of JFK. The reaction of the far-right John Birch Society got to him. They always referred to Ruby as Rubenstein so as to emphasize a Jewish component of a supposed conspiracy to kill JFK. And that made Ruby worry that the Jews might be blamed (however unfairly) for the murder of Kennedy. Robert Kaplan, a forensic psychiatrist from the University of Wollongong in Australia described his downward spiral in a 2015 paper: Even at Ruby's trial, several witnesses wondered about his sanity. Here is an excerpt from the testimony of William Serur, a friend of Ruby's who testified on his behalf: Here is another excerpt from Mr. Serur's testimony: And Bill Howard, another friend of Ruby, said the following: And Dr. Manfred Guttmacher, a psychiatric witness for the defense, bolstered the case that Ruby was insane: Here is how this was reported in the New York Times: New York Times, March 11, 1964 During his appeal, his lawyers asked for time to prepare a history of Ruby's mental issues. Here is an excerpt from the book Moment of Madness by Elmer Gertz, who served as one of Ruby's lawyers: (page 168) We reminded the court of the importance of such pretrial conference and of the several vital outstanding problems, requiring "an enormous amount of previous planning and preparation." The requisite proofs of Ruby's mental capacity entailed extensive and thorough psychiatric and psychological examinations of Ruby and interviews with members of his family and others; these would take a minimum of sixty days in the first instance and the employment of additional counsel and no less than thirty more days to utilize the reports. We reminded the court that Ruby's emotional instability extended back to his tenth year, that he and various members of his family had been treated at various times for mental disturbances, that the available reports were more than seven months old and inadequate for our purposes. Even if Dr. West had wanted to do something untoward, what would that be? Give Ruby a dose of LSD? Hypnotize him? Administer sodium pentothal? Right after Dr. West's report on Ruby, he was then examined by Dr. William Beavers. He actually considered the possibility of "toxic psychosis" but noted that it was "unlikely because of the protected situation and the fact that his thought and his mood seemed to be extremely closely related." Conspiracy theorists are grasping at straws. Dr. Louis Jolyon West made a bad mistake taking part in MK-Ultra. But there is no evidence that Jack Ruby was part of his supposed experiments, or that Dr. West's interactions had anything to with his CIA work in the 1950s. By the way, MK-Ultra was a failure. Stephen Kinzer wrote in his book Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control: For ten years, Gottlieb directed systematic, intense, and far-reaching research into mind control. Finally he and his comrades were forced to face their cosmic failure. Their research had shown them that mind control is a myth -- that seizing another person's mind and reprogramming it is impossible. An article in Wired UK quoted Scott Wark, a researcher at the University of Warwick: Wark believes conspiracy theories like MK-Ultra help us come to terms with tragic events by providing a convenient, pre-formed narrative about institutional agency and its ability to be corrupt – something that’s far easier to understand because it’s an idea with so much cultural capital, especially in recent years. He gives the example of Sandy Hook deniers entering into the mainstream thanks to controversial pundits such as Alex Jones. “MK-Ultra is packaged in a narrative that’s a part of our popular cultural heritage,” he says. “We still tell these stories, in movies and TV shows and comics and books. So long as governments commit injustices and atrocities, conspiracy theories like MK-Ultra will translate these onto an individual scale. So long as politics are polarised, it’ll be all too easy to identify ‘them’, the other side, as this agency. MK-Ultra endures because it tells us a story about institutional power that we’re already primed to hear: ‘it was a cover-up.’” Of course, there is no organization as evil as the CIA. Even Clay Shaw recognized that back in 1967: "It is, in short, the most un-American of activities, and the average American has a most ambivalent attitude toward it. Of course, everyone knows and admits, that as long as the other great powers, particularly Russia, maintain intelligence systems, we must do the same. And yet, most of us consider the CIA with abhorence [sic], and a man who works for it, is considered not a patriot serving his country but as a kind of E. Phillips Oppenheim villain ... a somewhat sinister James Bond." I should note that there was one person in the JFK case who did administer sodium pentothal and hypnotize an important witness -- Jim Garrison. Does anybody seriously think that Jim Garrison was part of MK-Ultra? Thank you to Paul Hoch for editing this blog post and contributing links and comments. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jack Ruby Was Jack Ruby Injected with Cancer? Dr. Cyril Wecht says it is impossible. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads on Jack Ruby A look at why Jack Ruby shot Oswald.

Jefferson Morley responded to my blog post, Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case? I am certainly happy that he is reading my blog and I hope that many of his subscribers do the same. Here are some comments on his article: What’s new (and what disturbs Litwin) is that general public now knows about the MKULTRA crime spree and draws negative conclusions about the CIA’s credibility. I am not disturbed that the general public knows about MK-Ultra. Why would I be disturbed? I am not sure how Morley reaches this conclusion from my blog post. Despite the Agency’s consistent record of lying about JFK matters, he cheerfully vouches for the bonafides of the Agency on the issue of JFK’s unsolved murder and tirelessly disparages the majority of Americans who doubt the government’s frail theory of November 22 as “conspiracy theorists.” Do I "cheerfully vouch" for the "bonafides of the Agency"? I'd like to see some examples of this. As Morley obviously knows, I believe that JFK's murder has been solved. I definitely criticize conspiracy theorists in my books and in my blog. But I have never "disparaged the majority of Americans who doubt" that Oswald acted alone. Most Americans know little about the JFK assassination. It's not on the front burner for most people - for instance, none of my friends talk about it. As I have pointed out several times, belief in a JFK conspiracy has been falling since 2000 - thanks to the internet and some very good non-conspiracy books. In fact, among younger people, the numbers are very close, and the single most widely-believed theory is that Oswald was the lone assassin. Litwin is doing, on a volunteer basis, what the CIA does not—or cannot—do for itself: namely explain the agency’s relationship with Dr. West at the time of his visits to Ruby’s jail cell in April 1964. Well at least Morley isn't accusing me of being paid by the CIA. I get those accusations at least once a week. Jim Garrison knew that accusing people of working for the CIA was an easy ruse. He knew the CIA would not respond, and that the charges could stick. This frustrated the defense team of Clay Shaw. They visited the CIA and gave them a list of people that Garrison said were working for the CIA. They wanted the CIA to go public with information on these people, but the CIA had no interest in helping Shaw. But why should the CIA explain its relationship with Dr. West in 1964. Should they respond to unsupported allegations? What government agency, or corporation for that matter, would respond to unsubstantiated claims? Unfortunately, Richard Helms destroyed most of the MK-Ultra files. What was left has been released, (Click here for MK-Ultra documents), and here is a link to the Dr. West files) I doubt there are many people alive who knew Jolly West in 1963 at the CIA. Perhaps Morley should try a FOIA request. MKULTRA, in his view, is not a reality but a “dream.” What I did say was that MK-Ultra has become a conspiracy theorists' dream -- easily graftable onto any story. And the project was a failure -- its goals were indeed a dream. Stephen Kinzer wrote in his book Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control: For ten years, Gottlieb directed systematic, intense, and far-reaching research into mind control. Finally he and his comrades were forced to face their cosmic failure. Their research had shown them that mind control is a myth -- that seizing another person's mind and reprogramming it is impossible. I also noted in my original post that "Dr. Louis Jolyon West made a bad mistake taking part in MK-Ultra.' Accordingly, Litwin’s takes pains to discount any connection between Dr. West and the CIA in 1963 and 1964. I don't need to 'discount' any connection between Dr. West and the CIA in 1963 and 1964. And that is because nobody has provided any evidence of such connection. And even if there was, so what? I wish Morley would spell out his allegations and tell us specifically what Dr. West is supposed to have done in regard to Jack Ruby. Among the general public, his [Litwin's] position is distinctly in the minority. True or not, so what? There is nothing wrong about being in the minority. This is not a popularity contest. The Agency, of course, isn’t talking about Dr. West, which leaves Litwin unable to answer the key questions of JFK researchers: What was the Agency’s relationship to Dr. Jolyon West in 1963 and 1964? Did senior Agency officials know about West’s role in Jack Ruby’s court proceedings? Was the Agency’s Technical Services Division informed of West’s services? Does Morley expect them to call a press conference every time a conspiracy theorist mentions the CIA? Morley's first question is incomplete -= he should just add "if any." As for his second question, well, anybody reading the newspapers would know about Dr. West's role in Ruby's trial or appeal. And who exactly would inform the Technical Services Division of West's "services"? It would be nice if Morley actually practiced some journalism. After all, that is his expertise. Besides filing a FOIA, he could also visit UCLA and examine West's papers. There are 81 hits to "Ruby" in the Collection Guide and perhaps there are other clues as to his relationship to the CIA. Some last words about Dr. West. He had a distinguished career and a humble beginning: Born in 1924 in Brooklyn, NY, of immigrant Russian-Jewish parents, he grew up in poverty in Madison, Wis. Characteristic of children of recent immigrants, he strove to obtain an education. Entering the University of Wisconsin, Madison, at the age of 17 years, he was determined to fight against fascism in World War II. He enlisted in the US Army and was sent to the University of Iowa, Iowa City, in the Army Specialized Training Program, and then to the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1948. When he worked for the CIA on MK-Ultra in 1955, the CIA was not considered more evil than other federal agencies that he worked with: He was a consultant for the US Air Force, the Veterans Administration, the US Information Agency, US National Academy of Sciences, the Peace Corps, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American specialty boards, and private foundations. The full story of Dr. Louis Jolyon West has yet to be written. MK-Ultra will always be a stain on his career, but his career was a lot more than MK-Ultra. For instance, he was on the board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, an organization that did much to counter the horrors that destroyed so many families. Previous Relevant Blog Posts Did Dr. Louis Jolyon West Ask to Examine Jack Ruby in November 1963? There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial. Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case? There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case.