He never made much money (Trump would probably call him a loser) but he's a man with a lot of common sense, and he'd always give his children sound advise & guidance. In addition, Dad's political views are center-left so I mostly agree with him. However, there is one area where I always disagree with him. & that's when it comes to the JFK assassination.
I've never believed in conspiracy theories. "Lizard people", "FEMA concentration camps", etc. is all nonsense as far as I'm concerned. Governments & powerful organizations are mostly about getting wealth, resources, & nothing else. That's what drives most politicians and world leaders."Money makes the world go round" as they say. When it comes to complex conspiracy theories I tend to dismiss them unless you can show me somebody is making money off it: then I'll investigate a little bit more but most of the conspiracy theories are just B.S. to keep certain people occupied.
But back to my dad, I've always argued with him because he is sure there was a great conspiracy to kill JFK. I've always counter by saying it was just a lone nutcase who was radicalized to the point he committed one of the worst acts of violence of the 20th century. The lone nutcase blew the brains out of the president of the United States in front of his wife (& on video) which led to a decade of turmoil in the United States's mainland: which I doubt was good for government, business or markets which mostly depend on stability at home. Still, I can see how some people want to believe it was all part of a grand plan by some shadowy organization or group of powerful individuals.
& this week, Trump has been hyping the release of more JFK files.
Again, probably just to keep certain people occupied. & people as well as journalists are interested because; who doesn't love "investigating" or talking about a conspiracy theory?
To me, JFK's assassination was just a massive failure by the secret service, Dallas police and intelligence agencies. However, lone nutcase killers are tough to identify & find, as we've all seen with the frequent mass-killings; the latest being the Las Vegas shooting, so the failure is not unprecedented.
The NYTimes has a very detailed story (with interactive options to view the documents) about the files which describe the turmoil & confusion in the assassination's aftermath.
Nobody knew what to make of it. Soviet Union at first thought it was a "coup" by the "ultra-right" before their intelligence agencies (KGB) decided to blame president Johnson.
In addition, I think Trump hyping the release of the files so much seems designed to undermine our intelligence agencies & even the FBI. Imagine the damage to the FBI if the cable described below had been released back in those days:
"An F.B.I. cable from April 1964 reconstructed Oswald’s bus trip to Mexico weeks before the assassination, including the names of the people sitting around him and even what he was wearing: “a short-sleeved light colored sport shirt and no coat.”
In Hoover’s memo two days after the assassination, he expressed anxiety that Oswald’s killing would generate doubts among Americans. “The thing I am concerned about,” he wrote, “is having something issued so that we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin.”
Worst of all, after all these years, the NYTimes comes to the conclusion the documents will just keep JFK assassination conspiracy theorists (like my dad) with more questions than answers:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/us/politics/trump-jfk-release.html
The documents will not end the debate or speculation — and a few may add to the questions. In a 1975 deposition, for example, Richard Helms, the former C.I.A. director, was asked: “Is there any information involved with the assassination of President Kennedy which in any way shows that Lee Harvey Oswald was in some way a CIA agent or an agen…”
But the document ends there, and Mr. Helms’s answer is missing.
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