- I’m so thankful Jimmy Carter finally died. The man is no longer suffering and will definitely be remembered with the dignity and grace he deserves, as Biden is still our active commander-in-chief. It won’t happen, but I wish this would open up a civil discussion about end-of-life care—or, to be straightforward, euthanasia. I hated seeing my father suffer in hospice when all we were doing was waiting for him to die, basically by starvation. The last two times we saw Carter was about 13 months ago at his wife’s funeral and in early October to witness a flyby on his 100th birthday. He looked to be in terrible shape, and I fear he was suffering. He wouldn’t be the type to end his life early, but IMO, he and others should have had the opportunity once they reached the deteriorating end of hospice. There’s no reason for him to suffer for so long after his wife’s funeral, which he was barely able to attend. The stark reality of hospice is waiting for the patient to lose their appetite and starve to death. But I’d like to add something I recently learned from a hospice worker. Dying is a part of human nature, and as the end of life approaches, the body starts the dying process. Their energy needs decrease when they stop regular activities and start sleeping more. As the body slows down to prepare for death, the metabolism slows down and requires less food. The digestive tract is also less active, which means a dying person won’t feel hungry or thirsty.
- I spent the last week doing a very deep dive into the JFK assassination. I really went down deep in the rabbit hole.
- It started by binge-watching all eight one-hour episodes of Hulu’s 11.22.63 based on the 2011 Stephen King novel starring James Franco. I give it big thumbs up.
- Then there was the hour and thirty-two minute special JFK: What The Doctors Saw.
- This was pretty dang interesting and introduced me to the autopsy conspiracy. It reunited the seven doctors who treated JFK in the Parkland Hospital ER Trauma Room. Absolutely fascinating. It’s here I first learned that what the doctors saw does not match the X-rays or autopsy report. I was well aware of the second-shooter conspiracy theory but wasn’t aware of the one regarding his autopsy until this.
- The nation witnessed the coffin being unloaded in Washington and into a light-colored ambulance that Jackie and RFK rode in.
- The official version is that Kennedy’s body was carried into the Bethesda morgue by the Joint Casket Bearer Team at 8:00 p.m. in the heavy, ornamental, bronze casket into which it had been placed at Parkland Hospital. But check out this old Time article:As Technician Jerol F. Custer passed near Mrs. Kennedy in the lobby, he was carrying X-ray films of her husband’s body that had already been taken in the hospital’s morgue. Looking down the lobby from a second-floor balcony, Chief Hospital Corpsman Dennis DavidKnew the bronze casket was empty; about 15 minutes earlier, he had watched a black, unmarked hearse arrive through a gate at the back of the hospital and ordered some sailors to help men in civilian clothes carry a plain gray casket into the morgue.
- On top of that, Navy corpsman Pat O’conner assisted in the autopsy and said this:
“I knew he was dead by bullet wounds, but I did not know how massive and ghastly the wounds were,” O’Connor said in the 1981 interview. “The hole in his head was big enough for two hands. The right side of his head had been blown off, and there was no brain in the cranium. Nothing — just a big hole.”
According to the article, what most disturbed O’Connor after seeing the former president’s body was an unanswered question.
“If JFK’s remains were intact when they left Dallas’ Parkland Hospital and the brain was gone when the body was wheeled into Bethesda’s mortuary, what happened en route?” wrote Keen.
Here’s a two-minute video interview.
- As a matter of fact, JFK’s brain has been missing from the National Archives since 1966.
- So, one report states Kennedy’s body was carried by a team of sailors into the Bethesda morgue at 6:35 p.m. in an aluminum shipping casket encased in a body bag after being delivered in a black hearse. However, another report states it was carried in by the Joint Casket Bearer Team at 6:55 p.m. in the heavy, ornamental, bronze casket from Dallas and wrapped in white sheets after being delivered in a gray Navy ambulance Jackie and RFK were riding in. So, which is it? This section of a Wiki article might explain it better.
- Next on the list was another one hour and thirty-two minute special from the Smithsonian Channel: The Day Kennedy Died. Kevin Spacey narrated this one.
- JFK Unsolved: The Real Conspiracies, which you can watch on YouTube.
- Rob Reiner’s LBJ starring Woody Harrelson as the title character.
- Nova’s Cold Case JFK
- Parkland which had a star-studded cast: Zac Efron, Tom Welling, Colin Hanks, David Harbour, Marcia Gay Harden, Ron Livingston, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti
- Jackie starring Natalie Portman as the former first lady.
- The three-part National Geographic docuseries JFK: One Day in America.
- Oliver Stone’s JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass
- ABC’s 20/20 Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words.
- And I haven’t included the numerous articles and YouTube videos I’ve watched. But here’s something I thought might interest you. Parkland started to receive prank calls when JFK was admitted.
“Most disquieting,” again per Manchester, “was a young boy who called three times, talking to a different operator each time. His approach never varied. ‘I want to talk to my Daddy,’ he would begin plaintively. Asked who his father was, he would say, ‘My Daddy—President Kennedy.’ Then he would giggle and ring off.”[5]