The Universe.

  

When any human being knows about the vastness of the Universe, that person would be humbled and show more respect to it. The Universe is made up of all space and time including its contents. All of the planets, stars, galaxes, nebulae, and every form of matter and energy is part of the Universe. Most scientists believe in the Big Bang theory as the origin of the Universe. The theory states that space and time emerged from ca. 14 billion years ago, and the Universe has expanded ever since the Big Bang. We don't know the spatial size of the entire Universe. It could be infinite, but the observable universe is about 93 billion light years in its diameter at the present time. Thousands of years ago, many thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe. Now, we know that the Sun is at the center of the Solar System (as explained by the observations from Nicolaus Copernicus and other researchers). We know about the laws of planetary motion and the law of universal gravitation from Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, and other scholars. What is a light year? A light year is a unit of length used by astronomers to find distances of entities in the Universe. As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a light-year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year (365.25 days). Because it includes the word "year", the term is sometimes misinterpreted as a unit of time. So, a light year is how far light can travel in one year. One light year is nearly 6 trillion miles. The Universe has many physical laws. In the University, there is many forms of energy like electromagnetic radiation, etc. 

So, how do you get from the Earth to the edge of the observable Universe. First, you have the Earth. The Earth is part of a series of planets, asteroids, moons, and other bodies found in space called the Solar System. The Solar System is part of the Radcliffe wave. The Radcliffe wave is the nearest coherent gaseous structure in the Milky Way, dotted with a related high concentration of interconnected stellar nurseries. It stretches about 8,800 light years. This structure runs with the trajectory of the Milky Way arms and lies at its closest (the Taurus Molecular Cloud) at around 400 light-years and at its farthest about 5,000 light-years (the Cygnus X star complex) from the Sun, always within the Local Arm (Orion Arm) itself, spanning about 40% of its length and on average 20% of its width.  Its discovery was announced in January 2020 and its proximity surprised astronomers. The Radcliffe wave is part of the Orion Arm. The Orion Arm is a minor spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy that is 3,500 light-years (1,100 parsecs) across and approximately 10,000 light-years (3,100 parsecs) in length, containing the Solar System, including Earth. It is also referred to by its full name, the Orion–Cygnus Arm (not to be confused with the outer end of the Norma Arm the Cygnus Arm), as well as Local Arm, Orion Bridge, and formerly, the Local Spur and Orion Spur. Then, the Orion Arm (filled with the Earth, the Sun, and the rest of the Solar system) is part of the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The Milky Way encompasses tons of stars too. The diameter of the Milky Way is about 100,000 light years. From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. The Milky Way is one out of many galaxies in the Universe. The Milky Way has several satellite galaxies and is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which form part of the Virgo Supercluster, which is itself a component of the Laniakea Supercluster. The Milky Way has at least 100–400 billion stars (like Alpha Centauri A, Pleiades, Sirius, Tau Ceti, Proxima Centauri, etc.) and at least that number of planets. The Solar System is located at a radius of about 27,000 light-years (8.3 kpc) from the Galactic Center, on the inner edge of the Orion Arm, one of the spiral-shaped concentrations of gas and dust. The stars in the innermost 10,000 light-years form a bulge and one or more bars that radiate from the bulge. The Galactic Center is an intense radio source known as Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole of 4.100 (± 0.034) million solar masses. Stars and gases at a wide range of distances from the Galactic Center orbit at approximately 220 kilometers per second (136 miles per second). 

The Milky Way is part of the Local Group. The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way. It has a total diameter of roughly 3 megaparsecs (10 million light-years; 9×1019 kilometers), and a total mass of the order of 2×1012 solar masses (4×1042 kg). It consists of two collections of galaxies in a "dumbbell" shape; the Milky Way and its satellites form one lobe, and the Andromeda Galaxy and its satellites constitute the other. The two collections are separated by about 800 kiloparsecs (3×106 ly; 2×1019 km) and are moving toward one another with a velocity of 123 km/s. The group itself is a part of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which may be a part of the Laniakea Supercluster. Beyond the Local Group is the Virgo Supercluster (Virgo SC) made up of galaxies.  At least 100 galaxy groups and clusters are located within its diameter of 33 megaparsecs (110 million light-years). The Virgo SC is one of about 10 million superclusters in the observable universe and is in the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, a galaxy filament. Beyond the Virgo Supercluster is the greater supercluster entitled called Laniakea. 

The Laniakea Supercluster (/ˌlæni.əˈkeɪ.ə/; Hawaiian for "open skies" or "immense heaven") is the galaxy supercluster that is home to the Milky Way and approximately 100,000 other nearby galaxies. It was defined in September 2014, when a group of astronomers including R. Brent Tully of the University of Hawaiʻi, Hélène Courtois of the University of Lyon, Yehuda Hoffman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Daniel Pomarède of CEA Université Paris-Saclay published a new way of defining superclusters according to the relative velocities of galaxies. Beyonce the Laniakea Supercluster, you have the observable universe limit (filled with superclusters all over the Universe) being 93 billion light years (or 28 billion parsecs) in diameter. Therefore, the Universe is so vast that our minds are not fully comprehending everything in the Universe. 

 

The 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the worst tragedies in human history. Jealousy and racial hatred caused Dr. King's death. Yet, his legacy lives on in our time 55 years later. Dr. King changed from 1955 when he worked in the Montgomery Bus Boycott movement. He became more revolutionary by 1968 by opposing the Vietnam War, promoting a radical redistribution of economic and political power, supporting the rights of workers, opposing imperialism, and supporting supporters of human justice. Like all of us human beings, we are made up of flesh and blood. We are not perfect, and Dr. King wasn't perfect. Yet, even Dr. King would inspire us to be better people despite our imperfections. Constantly, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke eloquent, inspirational speeches to men, women, and children to speak up against injustice, to hold dear to the concept of integrity, and to follow the Golden Rule fully in advancing the cause of civil rights and human equality. By 1968, the federal government was constantly illegally harassing Dr. King and his allies worldwide via COINTELPRO and other secret programs. Dr. King by 1968 was hated by a large percentage of the American public who opposed his opposition to the Vietnam War and his advocacy of the progressive Poor People's Campaign. Many young people falsely believed that his views on nonviolence were outdated. In retrospect, Dr. King's views were much more progressive and revolutionary than his critics. For example, Dr. King was much more progressive and heroic than many who claimed to be in favor of Black Power. For example, Dr. King spoke up in favor of black self-determination, he called for a Marshall Plan to rebuild the Middle East, he supported African independence in Ghana and in Nigeria, and he criticized capitalism in word plus in his speeches (in favor of democratic socialism). Therefore, Dr. King was courageous and idealistic in his life story. His wife, Coretta Scott King took on the torch along with his relatives plus friends to believe in the Dream. The Dream is not some fictional plan. The Dream is a real, authentic goal meant for all inhabitants of the Universe. The point of life is to love, build constructively, and helping others. We are born to fulfill that mission, and be a light of freedom for future, subsequent generations. 

 

1994 was a turning point in music. In early 1994, I was in the 5th grade, and in late 1994, I was in the 6th grade at my first year of middle school. In January 1994, the Maryland singer Tori Amos had the 2nd album called Under the Pink with singles like Pretty Good Years. She said that she can see music in colors. Green Day had their debut album, and they were from the Berkeley, California punk scene. Their singles include Longview and When I Come Around. Their album sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The EP of Jar of Flys was shown by Alice in Chains (a Seattle grunge band). Groups like Meat Puppets and The Cranberries released music. New York City hip hop group Salt-N-Pepa team with R&B vocal group En Vogue for the single "Whatta Man" #3 US, #1 US Rap, #7 UK. The track is from Salt-N-Pepa's fourth album Very Necessary #4 US which goes 5X Platinum. The song is a cover of the 1968 song "What A Man" recorded by Linda Lyndell for Stax/Volt. This was in February of 1994. Satl-N-Pepa is a groundbreaking hip hop all women's group since 1985 who helped to break down barriers for other women MCs in the modern generation. Salt-N-Pepa and the group Sequence are the hip hop women groups have set up a great foundation in music. After achieving fame with French language songs, Quebec singer Celine Dion switches to English in 1990 and has her first US #1 hit with the single "The Power Of Love" #4 UK. The song is from Dion's third English language album The Colour Of My Love #1 UK, #4 US. The album goes Platinum in the US and UK. Celine Dion is known for making powerful ballads and go into other genres too. Stockton, California alternative, indie rock band Pavement release their second album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and reach the US Top 200 Albums for the first time at #121 and #15 UK. Cleveland, Ohio industrial, alternative band Nine Inch Nails release their second album The Downward Spiral and chart at #2 US, #9 UK. By March of 1994, the Division Bell, #1 US and UK, is the fourteenth studio album from UK progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was the second album recorded without founding member Roger Waters. The album, which sells over seven million copies, is followed by a world tour and an extended ten-year hiatus. By March 1994, there was the song of The Sign from the Gothenburg, Sweden group of Ace of Base. I heard of that song and the group in 1994. The Sign was a number one hit in America and number 2 in the UK. The song is the title track from the band's US #1 debut album. The album had previously been released in Europe as Happy Nation. The album would sell over 21 million copies worldwide. Superunknown, the fourth album from Seattle grunge pioneers Soundgarden, enters the US Top 200 Albums at #1 and hits #4 UK. The single "Black Hole Sun" receives steady MTV play and hits #2 US Alternative and #12 UK. The album goes 5X Platinum in the US. ON April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Seattle home. The singer songwriter had struggled with depression, heroin addiction and chronic health problems for several years. Cobain was 27 years old at the time of his suicide. The death of Kurt Cobain represented an end of an era, as he was the spokesperson for the grunge musical and cultural revolution. R Kelly (the convicted pedophile) had his first solo hit in America with a song.  The song is included on Kelly's second album 12 Play which goes 6X Platinum. The album's second single "Your Body's Callin'" hits #13 US, #2 US R&B. I don't agree with what R Kelly did. This is just for historical reference. 

Blur and Live had music and album. By April of 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba alternative band Crash Test Dummies hit it big with their single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" which reaches #4 US, #2 UK. The song is from the band's second album God Shuffled His Feet which charts at #9 US and #2 UK and goes Double Platinum in the US. Recorded as a one-off hip hop/sampling experiment by Los Angeles folk artist Beck, the song "Loser" is released by independent label Bong Load. The song spreads from local college radio to commercial radio and MTV, eventually reaching #10 US, #15 UK and leading to a major label deal with DGC. Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet spend fifteen weeks at #1 in the UK with their cover of The Troggs 1967 hit "Love Is All Around". The single hits #1 in fourteen countries, but only reaches #41 in the US. Recorded for the film Four Weddings And A Funeral, the song is the band's third UK #1. By May of 1994, After changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol, the artist formerly know as Prince scores his first UK #1 hit with the single "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" #3 US. The song is from his seventeenth album The Gold Experience #6 US, #4 UK. During this time, Prince wanted control over his masters which helped other artists in the future to control their musical publishing, masters, and other forms of revenues. California R&B group All-4-One hit US #1 for eleven weeks with their single "I Swear" #2 UK. The song is a cover of the 1993 #1US Country hit for John Michael Mongomery. It is the second single from All-4-One's self titled debut album which reaches #7 US and goes 4X Platinum. With production from The Cars Rick Ocasek, Los Angeles band Weezer release their self-titled debut album. The videos for the singles "Undone - The Sweater Song" and "Buddy Holly" both get heavy MTV and alternative radio exposure pushing album sales to 3X Platinum in the US. Madonna had the song of I'll Remember. By July 1994, Long Beach, California rapper Warren G scores a hit with his debut single "Regulate", a collaboration with Nate Dogg, #2 US, #1 US Rap, #5 UK. The track is included on his debut album Regulate...G Funk Era which reaches #2 US and goes Triple Platinum. G funk took over hip hop for many years. Groups like NOFX and The Prodigy shown punk music and electronic music. On August 1994, Woodstock '94 is held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original 1969 festival. Performers from the original festival such as Santana and Country Joe McDonald play along with current artists Metallica, NIN, Blind Melon, Green Day and others. The event is marred by rain and mud and has been nicknamed "mudstock." Anaheim, California native Jeff Buckley releases his debut album Grace. It would be Buckley's only album, as he drowned in 1997. Ten years later his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" would be released as a single and reach #2 UK. Buckley is the son of 60's singer songwriter Tim Buckley. Oasis had their debut album in 1994 too. Lisa Loeb had her song of Stay (I Missed You). 

 

In August of 1994, Chicago, Illinois native Shawntae Harris is noticed at a rap competition sponsored by MTV's Yo! MTV Raps and is signed by Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. Performing as Da Brat her debut single "Funkdafied" hits #6 US and #1 US Rap. The album of the same name hits #11 US and goes Platinum. Da Brat is known for her rapid-fire lyrical delivery. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania worldbeat band Rusted Root release their major label debut album When I Woke and chart at #51 US. The song "Send Me On My Way" is released as a single and reaches #72 US. The track "Ecstasy" is also popular. The album goes to US Platinum. Blues Traveler is a Princeton, New Jersey blues rock jam band with their album of Four. By September 1994, the Brooklyn, New York City rapper The Notorious B.I.G. releases his debut album Ready To Die on Bad Boy Records #15 US. The album features the singles "Big Poppa" #6 US, #1 US Rap and "Juicy" #27 US, #3 US Rap. The album goes 6X Platinum in the US and elevates B.I.G. to the top of East Coast hip hop. After the album, The Notorious B.I.G. was the top leader of hip hop in the East Coast indeed. By this time, Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. were great friends and hanged out across America. Veruca Salt released music, and alternative rock band R.E.M. released their album Monster in September 1994. The album was a more harder rock sound. The album debuts at #1 US and #1 UK and goes 4X Platinum in the US. Lead single "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" hits #21 US, #1 US Alternative and #9 UK. Midwestern singer Sheryl Crow had her hit of All I Wanna Do. She was once a backup singer with Michael Jackson. Charlottesville, Virginia group The Dave Matthews Band release their debut album Under The Table And Dreaming which charts at #11 US and eventually sells six million copies. The album's lead single "What Would You Say" (#11 US Alternative) features John Popper on harmonica.

By September 1994, Boyz II Men made another comeback with their hit I'll Make Love to You celebrating a love to woman. The song is the lead single from the group's third album which charts at #1 US, #17 UK and goes 12X Platinum in the US. The second single "On Bended Knee" also hits US #1. Queensryche and Pearl Jam released albums too. When Can I See You was a sentimental song by Babyface. Babyface is one of the best songwriters and producers of all time. The song is from his third album For The Cool In You #16 US, which goes Triple Platinum on his own record label LaFace. By December 1994, Veteran Jamaican reggae artist Ina Kamoze scores a #1 US single with "Here Comes The Hotstepper" #4 UK. The song includes multiple samples including a vocal line from the 1965 Cannibal & The Headhunters hit "Land Of A Thousand Dances." London, England band Bush release their grunge inspired debut album Sixteen Stone which hits #4 US, but only #42 at home. The album generates five US Alternative Top Five singles including "Glycerine" and "Comedown" both #1 US Alternative. The album goes 6X Platinum in the US. 

 

One of the newest groups in the political world is the No Labels movement. This movement is made up of centrists who desire to possibly bring up a third-party candidate. They claim that they are opposed to the far left and the far right. The problem with the moderates in No Labels (and moderates in general) is that they desire no revolutionary change, but they do focus on a status quo reality. Also, the problem is that with climate change, racism, and other evils in the globe, a centrist policy won't make real solutions to these complex problems. Also, many people have exposed that some corporate executives in the No Labels crew have financed Republican and Democratic candidates. No Labels might decide to form a "unity" ticket that could cause Trump to win the 2024 by getting rid of votes from Biden. Another problem with No Labels is that the groups refuse to list their donors or anyone funding their movement. Mother Jones found out that many funders are past and present chief executive of corporations from Arby Partners to Fortress Investment Group. This is no unusual as large companies desire a neoliberal system where no waves are promoted in change. Many of the donors gave millions of dollars to Republican causes and GOP candidates too. One funder is Michael Smith, who is a billionaire founder of natural gas company Freeport LNG. He aided the Mitch McConnell campaign. No Labels believes in the myth that centrism and token bipartisanship is the way to go. William Galston resigned from the group.  Nancy Jacobson has been the board president since the founding of the organization and in 2023 began serving as CEO as well. In December 2020, No Labels announced Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R), as a national co-chair (prominent spokesperson) to serve alongside the No Labels founding co-chair Joe Lieberman. In January 2023, Benjamin Chavis joined Hogan as national co-chair. I'm shocked that Chavis is part of No Labels as Chavis is a well-known civil rights activist. Based on 14 interviews with former employees in December 2022, Politico described a "toxic" culture within No Labels. The article cited a "cutthroat culture, one where staffers are routinely fired or pushed out, have little trust in management, and believe the workplace environment can be difficult for minority and female colleagues." In response to the criticism, several senior officials for the group described to Politico the complaints as coming from, "aggrieved ex-workers" who could not "adapt" to a demanding office culture. No Labels is a contradiction by claiming to be not affiliated with any political philosophy but social change throughout history relies on adherence to political views. For example, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and other heroes subscribed to certain political and economic views that weren't encompassing of centrism. At the end of the day, each of these people used mobilization to resist the capitalist elite in militant terms. 

I don't know what happened to Robert Kennedy Jr., but he has made outlandish statements recently in his Presidential campaign. Recently, news reports said he aired a COVID lie that the pandemic virus will not harm Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish people because the virus is an ethnic virus. Sources believe that RFK Jr. said the virus is a bioweapon targeting Caucasians and black people. This ludicrous view promotes anti-Semitism, Sinophobia, and a lack of sound judgment. RFK Jr. recently denied saying such statements (he denied saying that the virus was targeted to spare Jewish people). He also said that there is a vaccine and autism connection, which is not scientifically proven. He was an environmental lawyer and is the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In the two months since announcing his campaign, Kennedy has registered between 12 and 20 percent support among Democratic primary voters. Robert Kennedy Jr. mixed a populist rhetoric mixed with reactionary rhetoric and "free market absolutism." Former Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the chair of the Kennedy campaign. He desires a populist "left/right" alliance to take on the "corporate kleptocracy." RFK Jr. erroneously compared mandatory vaccines to the Holocaust. Later, he apologized for those remarks. Robert Kennedy Jr. is pictured with fascists and far right extremists like Michael Flynn and Roger Stone including Charlene Bollinger back on July 18, 2021. In a June 23 article, Rolling Stone revealed that one of Kennedy’s super PACs,“Heal the Divide,” listed as its treasurer a Jason D. Boles of RTA Strategy.

RTA Strategy has been the go-to firm for several recent Republican campaigns, including that of Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, failed Senate candidate Herschel Walker and the overt racist Illinois Representative Mary “victory for white life” Miller. Rolling Stone reported that Kennedy’s support from the far right went beyond “one MAGAfied superPAC. ... His bid is awash in support from Donald Trump’s allies in MAGA world, conservative media, and some of the Republican donor elite.” Robert Kennedy Jr. said that in private the fascist Steve Bannon urged him to run for President for months. RFK Jr. talked with Donald Trump in 2017 about vaccines too. Kennedy made clear to Musk and his right-wing audience that a Kennedy administration would be no threat to his unearned wealth or to his billionaire friends. “I am a free-market absolutist,” Kennedy said, adding, “I believe in markets. I believe in free market capitalism.” So, Robert Kennedy Jr. is a far right extremist (running in the Democratic Party) as free market capitalism has been a detriment to social progress for centuries as history documents. RFK Jr. hypocritically believes in free markets across borders involving business transactions, but he wants to seal the border involving immigration. He promotes the racist Israeli restrictions of African migrants in Israel. Robert Kennedy Jr.'s campaign is not anti-establishment or progressive. He is a reactionary person which is in contradiction to the anti-imperialist legacy of tons of heroes in our history. 

 

After the assassination of President John Kennedy, the Warren Commission existed. Before exposing the weaknesses of the Warren Commission, it is important to describe its origin and composition first. The Warren Commision was created by President Lyndon Baines Johnson via Executive Order 11130 on November 29, 1963. The Commission's purpose was to investigate the assassination of JFK. The U.S. Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 137 authorizing the Presidential appointed Commission to report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, mandating the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence. Its 888-page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days later. The Warren Commision concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald alone, and Jack Ruby acted alone when he killed Oswald 2 days later. The Chairman of the Warren Commision was Chief Justice Earl Warren.  According to published transcripts of Johnson's presidential phone conversations, some major officials were opposed to forming such a commission and several commission members took part only reluctantly. One of their chief reservations was that a commission would ultimately create more controversy than consensus. President Lyndon Baines Johnson didn't want an independent Congressional investigation of the assassination at first. At the same time, Nicholas Katzenbach has been named as providing advice after the assassination of John F. Kennedy that led to the creation of the Warren Commission. On November 25 he sent a memo to Johnson's White House aide Bill Moyers recommending the formation of a Presidential Commission to investigate the assassination. To combat speculation of a conspiracy, Katzenbach said that the results of the FBI's investigation should be made public. He wrote, in part: "The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large."

 

The other members of the commission were chosen from among the representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties, in both chambers (Senate and House of Representatives) added diplomat John J. McCloy, former president of the World Bank and former CIA director, Allen Dulles, sacked by John F Kennedy in November 1961, following the resounding failure of the Bay Pigs Invasion in April 1961. Allen Dulles should not have been chosen on the Warren Commission, because he had a hostility toward President Kennedy's foreign policy actions. The Warren Commission met formally for the first time on December 5, 1963, on the second floor of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. The Commission conducted its business primarily in closed sessions, but these were not secret sessions. Earl Warren, Richard Russell Jr., John Sherman Cooper, Hale Boggs, Gerald Ford, Allen Dulles, and John J. McCloy. The Warren Commision denied that shots were fired form the Triple Underpass, they say that three shots were fired, they couldn't find a motivate for Oswald's actions, and they believe that Connally was shot by Oswald. So, the Warren Commission was the establishment's official view of the Kennedy assassination.

This conclusion was controversial as many people don't agree with the Warren Commission's views at all. The findings prompted the Secret Service to make numerous modifications to its security procedures.

The Commission made other recommendations to the Congress to adopt new legislation that would make the murder of the President (or Vice-President) a federal crime, which was not the case in 1963. All sides of this debate agree that CIA Director McCone was "complicit" in a Central Intelligence Agency "benign cover-up" by withholding information from the Warren Commission, according to a report by the CIA Chief Historian David Robarge released to the public in 2014. According to this report, CIA officers had been instructed to give only "passive, reactive, and selective" assistance to the commission, to keep the commission focused on "what the Agency believed at the time was the 'best truth' — that Lee Harvey Oswald, for as yet undetermined motives, had acted alone in killing John Kennedy." The CIA may have also covered up evidence of being in communication with Oswald before 1963, according to the 2014 report findings.

Also withheld were earlier CIA plots, involving CIA links with the Mafia, to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro, which might have been considered to provide a motive to assassinate Kennedy. The report concluded, "In the long term, the decision of John McCone and Agency leaders in 1964 not to disclose information about CIA's anti-Castro schemes might have done more to undermine the credibility of the Commission than anything else that happened while it was conducting its investigation."

The Warren Commission was not perfect. It has many omissions. Many independent investigators, journalists, historians, jurists, academics including Thomas Buchanan, Sylvan Fox, Harold Feldman, Richard E. Sprague, Mark Lane Rush to Judgment, Edward Jay Epstein Inquest, Harold Weisberg's Whitewash, Sylvia Meagher's Accessories After the Fact or Josiah Thompson's Six Seconds in Dallas, will issue opinions opposing the conclusions of the Warren commission based on the same elements collected by its works. English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, who read the report, despite the lack of an index, wrote: "The Warren report will have to be judged, not by its soothing success, but by the value of its argument. . I must admit that from the first reading of the report, it seemed impossible to me to join in this general cry of triumph. I had the impression that the text had serious flaws. Moreover, when probing the weak parts, they appeared even weaker than at first sight."

The Warren Commission argued that direct witnesses to the shooting, who immediately rushed en masse to the grassy knoll after the shots were fired, were fleeing the area of the shooting. In reality, the people present, including a dozen members of the security forces, in particular Sheriff Decker's team, who had given the order to invest the area, all testified that they were running to the search for one or more shooters posted on the grassy Knoll. It also did not interview John Fitzgerald Kennedy's personal doctor, Doctor Georges Burkley who was nevertheless present during the shooting in the convoy of official vehicles then at Parkland Hospital, on board Air Force One, then at Naval Bethesda Hospital during the autopsy. He signed the death certificate and also took delivery of the brain of John Fitzgerald Kennedy which is declared lost in the National Archives. Concerning the conclusions of the Warren commission about the three shootings, the practitioner had declared in 1967: "I would not like to be quoted on this subject." 

The ballistic reports conducted by the F.B.I and the autopsy reports were not the subject of any counter-investigation, which made the commission directly dependent on the work of the latter. The Warren Commission, by decision of Earl Warren, refused to hire its own independent investigators. However, it had its own investigative capacity thanks to direct access to the emergency presidential budget funds granted by President Lyndon Johnson when it was created, to conduct its own investigations. Thus, the Warren commission was not informed by the F.B.I of the discovery the day after the attack, on November 23, 1963, by a medical student, William Harper, of a piece of occiput located at the rear left in relation to at the position of the presidential limo during the fatal shot to the head. He had it examined by the professor and medical examiner, Doctor Cairns who measured it and photographed this piece before informing the F.B.I, on November 25, 1963. The latter received instructions not to make any publicity on this subject. It was the Attorney General, Robert F Kennedy, who, informed by a letter from Dr. Cairns transmitted to the Warren Commission, allowed the latter to question the practitioner. 

As early as the 1970s, official members of the Warren Commission questioned its work, in particular Hale Boggs who criticized the influence of J. Edgar Hoover, the historic director of the F.B.I from 1924 to 1972, who had centralized all of the information from the F.B.I agents before synthesizing it and transmitting it to the Warren Commission. He campaigned for a reopening of the file considering that the director of the F.B.I had lied to the Warren commission. He disappeared in an unsolved plane crash in October 1972.

Commission member Richard Russell told the Washington Post in 1970 that Kennedy had been the victim of a conspiracy criticizing the commission's no-conspiracy finding and saying "we weren't told the truth about Oswald." John Sherman Cooper also considered the ballistic findings to be "unconvincing". Russell also particularly rejected Arlen Specter's "single bullet" theory, and he asked Earl Warren to indicate his disagreement in a footnote, which the chairman of the commission refused.

Four other U.S. government or senate investigations have been conducted about the Warren Commission's conclusion or its material in different circumstances.

The Commission Church analyzed in 1976 the work of the CIA and FBI which had communicated the different elements to the Warren Commission Members.

The three others concluded with the initial conclusions that two shots struck JFK from the rear : the 1968 panel set by Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the 1975 Rockefeller Commission, and the 1978-79 House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), which reexamined the evidence with the help of the largest forensics panel and bringing new materials to the public.

The HSCA involved Congressional hearings and ultimately concluded that Oswald assassinated Kennedy, probably as the result of a conspiracy. The HSCA concluded that Oswald fired shots number one, two, and four, and that an unknown assassin fired shot number three (but missed) from near the corner of a picket fence that was above and to President Kennedy's right front on the Dealey Plaza grassy knoll. However, this conclusion has also been criticized, especially for its reliance upon disputed acoustic evidence. The HSCA Final Report in 1979 did agree with the Warren Report's conclusion in 1964 that two bullets caused all of President Kennedy's and Governor Connally's injuries, and that both bullets were fired by Oswald from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. 

The HSCA determined that the gradual change in policy of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy administration toward Cuba, first with the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, then more sustainably with the missile crisis of October 1962, in order to appease relations with the Cuban regime on a lasting basis and to open up new prospects, contributed to directing, if not slightly, within the many groups of paramilitary operations the most radical fringe of anti-Castro Cubans, American intelligence agents and Mafia criminals who continued their operations to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro despite requests for formal arrests from the White House. 

On January 20, 2019, a request made by 60 personalities to officially reopen the investigations into the assassinations of Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and John Kennedy was formulated by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, of which Robert Blakey is a member (investigator in head of the HSCA), the children of Robert Kennedy, filmmaker and director Oliver Stone, Daniel Ellsberg (the whistleblower on the Pentagon Papers in 1971), or even Doctor Robert McClelland (deceased in September 10, 2019), one of the surgeons at the Parkland Dallas Memorial Hospital who intervened on JFK on November 22, 1963.

 

The state funeral of President John F. Kennedy, or the 35th President of the United States of America, took place in Washington, D.C. This happened during the three days after the assassination. Kennedy's body was brought back to Washington after his assassination. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Kennedy's body was flown back to Washington, D.C. and taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for the autopsy. During that time, military authorities started to make arrangements for a state funeral. Army Major Philip C. Wehle (the commanding general of the Military District of Washington or the MDW) and retired Army Colonel Paul C. Miller (chief of ceremonies and special events at the MDW) planned the funeral. The military leaders went to the White House and worked with the President's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver (also director of the Peace Corp) including Ralph Dungan, an aide to the President. One day after the assassination, LBJ issued Presidential Proclamation 3561, declaring Monday to be a National Day of Mourning. 

Early on November 23, six military pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffin into the East Room of the White House, where he lay in repose for 24 hours. Then, his flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol to lie in state. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket, with a quarter million passing through the rotunda during the 18 hours of lying in state. Kennedy's funeral service was held on November 25, at St. Matthew's Cathedral. The Requiem Mass was led by Cardinal Richard Cushing. About 1,200 guests, including representatives from over 90 countries, attended. After the service, Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

I found out a lot of information about the Beech family (who are related to my paternal relatives). Russell Walker Beech (b. 1960) is my 3rd cousin, and his parents are Darrel Morgan Beech (1926-1991) and Charlotte Ann Stokes (b. 1925). Darrel Morgan Beech was a Navy veteran who married Jessie Curtiss Berlena Bailey (b. 1929) on October 2, 1947, at Northampton County, Virginia. Later, he married Charlotte Ann Stokes on April 26, 1958, at Richmond, Virginia.  third wife was Loretta Elizabeth Johnson Beech (1932-2007). Darrell Morgan Beech's parents are Walker Dumas Beech Jr. (1885-1966) and Cora Lee Tillery (1896-1955).  1st cousin Cora Lee Tillery married Walker Dumas Beech Jr. on September 21, 1911 at Northampton County, Virginia. Their children are Dumas Beach Jr. (1914-1921), Rose D. Beech (1916-1939), Melvin Thomas Beech (1917-1968), Earl Dale Beech (1919-1991), Lois Carolyn Beech (1923-2020), Darrel Morgan Beech Sr. (1926-1991), Carrie Webster Beech (b. 1930), Philbert Dutel Beech (b. 1930), Vivian Garfield Beech (b. 1931), and Barbara Ann Beech (1934-1998). My 2nd cousin Earl Dale Beech married Francenia May Bundy (1918-2016) on September 28, 1941 at Essex, Virginia. Their children are Rose B. Graham (b. 1943), Francenia Beech-Martin (b. 1949), Leslie Tillery Beech-Morris (b. 1951), and Valerie B. Siler. Earl Dale Beech was also a Monfort Point Marine 51st Defense Battalion too. Cora Lee Tillery's parents are Walter Tillery (1868-1927 and Sallie Gary (b. 1869). My 2nd great-granduncle Walter Tillery's parents are my 3rd great grandparents who are Isam Tillery (b. 1835) and Martha Jane Randolf (b. 1847) as they lived in Halifax County, North Carolina. My 4th cousins of Devin Jovan McCants (his first wife was Melissa Tabon, and his 2nd wife is Carla Nikole Riche since 2016), and Tira McCants are children of my 3rd cousin Paulette C. Ayers (b. 1952. She was married to the late William Banks Carter, who lived from 1950 to 2014). Paulette C. Ayers's parents are Paul Lawrence Ayers Sr. (1933-1990) and Barbara Ann Beech (1934-1998). Barbara Ann Beech is a descendant of Isam Tillery and Martha Jane Randolf. Many of the Ayers family lives in Trenton, New Jersey, Cape Charles, Virginia, and all over America. 

My 4th cousins of Paul Ayers (b. 1974)., Devion Ayers (b. 1975), and A'yanna Ayers are siblings. Their parents are Paul Lawrence Ayers Jr. (b. 1955) and the late Denise Yvette Hall-Jones (1958-2015). My 3rd cousin Paul Lawrence married Denise Yvette Hall-Jones on October 1974 at Trenton, New Jersey, and his second wife is Lorraine Covington (b. 1967. He married her on January 23, 2001 at Trenton, New Jersey too). His parents were Paul Lawrence Ayers Sr. (1933-1990) and Barbara Ann Beech (1934-1998). Barbara Ann Beech's parents are Walker Dumas Beech Jr. (1885-1966) and Cora Lee Tillery (1895-1955). Cora Lee Tillery's parents are Walter Tillery (1868-1927) and Sallie Gary (b. 1869). Walter Tillery's parents are my 3rd great grandparents of Isam Tillery (b. 1835) and Martha Jane Randolf (b. 1847). Devion Dermont Ayers Sr. married Janine Tricia Butler on December 12,2012 at Eastampton Township, Burlington, New Jersey. Their children are Kaeli Ayers (b. 2015), Kameron Ayers, and Devion Ayers Jr. 

By Timothy