Live data from Hacker News

Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

govinfo.gov

231–240 of 256 posts

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#231

I thought the JFK assassination was tragic but not really relevant/interesting until I listened to this podcast by journalist Soledad O’Brien: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/who-killed-jfk/id17146... There’s actually a mountain of evidence pointing to a horrifying conclusion. It’s not easy to summarize, and anyhow I don’t want to give spoilers here.

I once listened to a Pittsburgh-area local legend coroner named Cyril Wecht (RIP to one of the best public speakers it was ever my pleasure to see) go on about this for a half hour and the number of things that had to happen for the first time in human history in order for the warren report to not be entirely bullshit is staggering. A trained rifleman passing on an approaching shot in favor of a shot where the target…

That’s right, and those aren’t the only inconsistencies in the official report.

More interesting to me is who had the motive and opportunity, and this podcast makes a compelling case for who was behind it.

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That the comment bots are getting better at phrasing things as clickbait?

I’m not a bot, look at my history.

What is the horrifying conclusion the mountain of evidence points to? To me the fact that you said that but didn't specify the actual conclusion also gave me pause. If you can't post the specific conclusion you reached, are you that confident in it?

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the conclusion?

Don’t want to spoil it for you

It's not that deep, dude. He is just a well-known proponent of the second shooter claim, and that the assassination was a government conspiracy.

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#234

It's just a symbolic order, won't actually lead to anything important being released because the agencies have the authority to reject whatever they want. Many of the files have already been destroyed anyways. See: Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) t…

Honest question: why weren't they declassified earlier?

Because classified records don't always come with expiration dates on their classification status for obvious reasons - even if records are classified for a speficic reason you'd probably want to make sure that reason doesn't still apply ten, twenty or fifty years later. You seem to assume the default is for information not to be classified. The right question to ask is: what incentive would there have been to declassify them earlier?

As others have said, declassification is a process, not a rubber stamp. Declassified records can reference things which are still classified so you need to go through each document line by line and check for such references to make sure they're blanked. Likewise if you want to be particularly helpful you'd have to also go through all previously declassified documents referencing this document and then un-blank their references and republish them, though I doubt that often happens in practice.

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#235
post #63

Most of the documents were declassified already, I think 99% of 170,000 files or some large number. This was through the The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. I don't know what's to gain in this release other than closure?

Someone previously decided that the remaining 1%, 1700 files, shouldn't be viewed by the public. Why? 1700 files is plenty to hold some interesting truths.

Interesting truths? Maybe. Possibly some embarrassing things for FBI Or CIA. But nothing likely to satisfy conspiracy theorists.

We know who killed JFK

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/671ky4/is_th...

> Yes, the official explanation that Lee Harvey Oswald was, on his own, responsible for murdering President Kennedy is overwhelmingly accepted as correct. It has largely held up to intense scrutiny over the past 50 years and there is no substantial evidence toward any other explanation.

> As I mentioned in my older post linked elsewhere, one of the reasons why there was so much criticism of the official explanation after the fact is that the investigation was not handled well. This resulted in a lot of seemingly contradictory and unexplained information that opened the door to questioning the overall conclusion as a whole.

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#236
post #2

Surely nobody sees this as a bad thing. It’s been a bit since these events happened.

I can think of a few agencies that might be sweating. Or maybe it'll come out that it really was just a random nutjob. Or they'll redact something and conspiracy theorists will forever say that the crucial piece of evidence is contained under the last remaining Sharpie ink

We know who it was We have known for decades

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald

Just because the government messed up the first investigation in a rush doesn't change the fact that they came to the correct conclusion as the following decades has shown. It's possible there's something embarrassing to the fbi in those files but it wouldn't be assassination of prominent figures

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as some would like to pretend it does, his issues in his personal life still don’t make segregation and lack of voting rights an okay thing.

Yes, but he was really bad in some respects, that clashes with his public image/caricature in a way that kind of matters

He wasn't "really bad". He was a hero but also a human with human faults

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk and co held an X space last night to publicly discuss their gutting of USAID and more. They have actively publicized DOGE. The idea that this is a smokescreen is totally unfounded. Have you considered that releasing these files is just fulfilling a campaign promise? Or that if a non-Trump admin had done this it would've been celebrated?

A law signed during the presidency of George H. W. Bush ordered the declassification of all records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy in October 2017. When this time arrived during Donald Trump's first presidency, several documents were declassified; however, others remained classified. In 2021 President Joe Biden signed a presidential memorandum which created deadlines for more declassifications of…

Sounds good to me too. Wasn't making a comparison between administrations, just pointing out that Trump, Musk, and co do not appear to be hiding any of their activities. The idea that releasing documents is a smokescreen makes no sense when this administration is constantly announcing everything they're working on.

Re: Order Declassifying JFK and MLK Assassination Records [pdf]

#240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A law signed during the presidency of George H. W. Bush ordered the declassification of all records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy in October 2017. When this time arrived during Donald Trump's first presidency, several documents were declassified; however, others remained classified. In 2021 President Joe Biden signed a presidential memorandum which created deadlines for more declassifications of…

Sounds good to me too. Wasn't making a comparison between administrations, just pointing out that Trump, Musk, and co do not appear to be hiding any of their activities. The idea that releasing documents is a smokescreen makes no sense when this administration is constantly announcing everything they're working on.

just pointing out that Bush, Obama, Biden and co do not appear to be hiding any of their activities
Post reply on HN