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In reply to the discussion: Mark Lane, JFK assassination expert, has died. [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)You understand how important something that happened more than half a century ago is upon our political, social, environmental, and economic reality today. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy changed the trajectory of the country. We went from a nation that could do anything -- from peace on earth to going to the moon. Imagine what we could have done if we were still led by men and women of vision? Now we are told we can't afford to do anything, let alone try raising taxes on the wealthy in the wealthiest times in history.
Mr. Lane worked to expose the government's lies regarding the assassination of the President, even if it included defending the accused assassin in public. It's pretty clear that the nation has not been a working democracy in a long time. We now are manipulated and misled by oligarchs and plutocrats and their toadies on tee vee and in Washington while getting misused and abused by the banksters and warmongers. These people have zero interest in peace, let alone the well-being of 99-percent of the planet.
Mr. Lane stood up to power. He said the Warren Commission case -- based on FBI investigations led by J. Edgar Hoover and information passing through gatekeepers that included the former (and still-head in his mind) head of the CIA, Allen Dulles -- did not make sense. He said they ignored eyewitnesses, evidence and logic to build a case, a theory, that Oswald was the lone assassin.
Mr. Lane discovered the actual reasons for ignoring the facts supporting conspiracy -- from the evidence in Dealey Plaza, such as shots from behind the picket fence, where most eyewitnesses are recorded as saying some fire came; to the plots broken up in Chicago and Miami (and possibly Tampa and other places) where the conspirators had tried to assassinate President Kennedy -- and the resulting cover-up.
President Johnson apparently realized that plotters, including officials in intelligence community, had intentionally created a false trail leading to Oswald and from Oswald to Cuba and from there to the Soviet Union and the KGB. LBJ had to twist Chief Justice Warren's arm to get him to cross over to forbidden territory from his branch of government by stating if he didn't, 150 million Americans might die in a nuclear war with the Soviets.
So, they came up with a commission that buried the truth and avoided war. It's only been recently that we've been able to put together a somewhat more complete picture, wherein those who benefited the most from the assassination -- the Military-Industrial Complex and secret government that manages it and us, the ultra rich cronies of Allen Dulles and Prescott Bush.
I'm proud to write I learned a lot of it on DU and am so thankful you and so many DUers care. Thank you for your kind words, JonLeibowitz! Very much appreciate that you care about Mr. Lane and what he dedicated much of his life.