# Rob Reiner and Soledad O'Brien -- their JFK assassination podcast **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 20, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435 "2023-11-20T18:27:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/21 "2023-11-26T00:49:26Z")
I for one would support a Robin Williams candidacy for president. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/22 "2023-11-27T12:57:58Z")
Easy **Moriarty**! Let’s not let facts get in the way of a quality conspiracy theory. I’ll have none of that. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/23 "2023-11-27T14:22:42Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > I _have_ always found it suspicious that Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner with mob ties, killed Oswald before a trial could happen. > > Except he didn’t really have mob ties (other than being a guy who ran a seedy nightclub that would attract unsavory types with whom he was friendly) > [@spifflog](#): > > Easy **Moriarty**! Let’s not let facts get in the way of a quality conspiracy theory. I’ll have none of that. Hey now, before I get a rep on the SDMB as a Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorist nut, let me just point out that the part of my post that **Moriarty** quoted was a small part of a larger post I wrote supporting the conventionally accepted lone shooter theory. That last part was just to say if there’s any, even 1%, of doubt on that, it’s the fact that Ruby shot Oswald before he could stand trial. But, that was an observation from my point of view as someone who has pretty much just a layman’s knowledge of the subject-- I haven’t stayed up all night studying the Warren Report or anything. But I knew enough to know that Stone’s JFK was a load of steaming crap when I saw it. I’ve since read up a bit on Ruby and learned that he was an ardent Kennedy supporter who was mentally addled from being hopped up on diet pills, and am satisfied that he was a misguided soul who simply acted on his own, just as Oswald did. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/24 "2023-11-27T15:20:59Z")
All good! I thought I knew where you were coming from. Having said all of this, I’d be interested in what Reiner and O’Brien came up with, but I don’t want to give them the ‘clicks’ on the podcast. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/25 "2023-11-27T17:32:50Z")
I never understood why the Warren Commission insisted there was no second shooter. There was a entire crew from the railroad that watched the parade from the grassy knoll. They saw the smoke after the shot and immediately went behind the fence to investigate. Oswald could have an accomplice. That doesn’t necessarily imply a conspiracy. Just 2 nuts that hated the President. I listened to Rob’s podcast. He makes some interesting points. I hate to think the CIA could be involved in treason by harming a President. We’ll never know if Rob and other researchers are right. Holland was a supervisor on the Union Terminal Railroad. He and a crew of men were on the overpass. There are short interviews with several men from that crew on this channel. They all saw the gun smoke and saw muddy footprints behind the fence. I think these interviews were shortly after the assassination? Link [https://youtu.be/iaCwrmoa3sQ?si=y0dGrrKQ2HQhgVmn](https://youtu.be/iaCwrmoa3sQ?si=y0dGrrKQ2HQhgVmn) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/26 "2023-11-27T17:37:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > They saw the smoke after the shot Do modern firearms emit smoke with each shot? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/27 "2023-11-27T17:39:46Z")
Oswald had a WWII rifle. Maybe another shooter had a war surplus rifle too? I don’t know how much smoke comes from that ammunition. The railroad guys mentioned fresh cigarette butts behind the fence. That’s another source for smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/28 "2023-11-27T18:19:23Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Oswald could have an accomplice. That doesn’t necessarily imply a conspiracy. Just 2 nuts that hated the President. Two nuts working together is still a conspiracy, isn’t it? > [@aceplace57](#): > > The railroad guys mentioned fresh cigarette butts behind the fence. That’s another source for smoke. Maybe it was just some guy watching the motorcade from behind the fence; when the shots rang out, he ran. None of that means he was a shooter. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/29 "2023-11-27T18:36:59Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Two nuts working together is still a conspiracy, isn’t it? Yup 😉 It’s not an elaborate conspiracy like the best selling books dream up. But it only takes two people. The guy behind the fence could be someone that wanted a view of the parade. The investigation was rushed and it was easy to blame it all on Oswald. Any chance of learning the truth is long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/30 "2023-11-27T18:54:59Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Any chance of learning the truth is long gone. Unless we already know the truth. Personally, I’m somewhere below _believing_ in a conspiracy, but still skeptical about the official version. For a while in the 80s I was friendly with Mark Lane, author of Rush to Judgment. We had some very interesting conversations James Earl Ray, Lee Oswald, and Jim Jones. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/31 "2023-11-27T19:02:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The investigation was rushed The ‘investigation’ took nine months and developed an 888 page report supported by 16,000 pages in 26 volumes. Pretty sure “rushed” isn’t the word you were looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/32 "2023-11-27T21:11:13Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > They saw the smoke after the shot > > Do modern firearms emit smoke with each shot? When Oliver Stone was making his movie, he had to use special effects to get smoke. Because guns don’t do that. > [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m somewhere below _believing_ in a conspiracy, but still skeptical about the official version. The old Soviet Union would be pleased with its success. > **[JFK files: KGB had 'trusted relationship' with longtime Warren Commission...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/10/jfk-files-kgb-had-trusted-relationship-longtime-warren-commission-critic-mark-lane/1018691001/)** > > A secret informant said the Soviet intelligence agency had a "trusted relationship" with Mark Lane, a prominent critic of the Warren Commission. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/33 "2023-11-27T21:20:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Oswald could have an **accomplice**. That doesn’t necessarily imply a **conspiracy**. “I do not think that word means what you think it means.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/34 "2023-11-27T22:03:10Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Oswald could have an accomplice. That doesn’t necessarily imply a conspiracy. Just 2 nuts that hated the President. And where would that get us, if that turned out to be true and there were some actual substantive evidence for it (not sentences that include “could have”)? After 60 years, that change in the narrative would be essentially meaningless. You need a bigger target (like organized crime, or Cuba, or a military cabal, or something like that) for your theories, to make them interesting after all this time. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/35 "2023-11-27T22:23:42Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > You need a bigger target (like organized crime, or Cuba, or a military cabal, or something like that) for your theories, to make them interesting after all this time. Would _any_ change in the accepted perpetrator make any difference? - CIA: Would any changes in the agency take place 60 years after the event? - Soviet Union: Not much can be done now - The mob: Would anything change in how the feds/police handle the mob? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/36 "2023-11-27T23:22:59Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > You need a bigger target (like organized crime, or Cuba, or a military cabal, or… …a tiger? ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/37 "2023-11-27T23:29:42Z")
I note that smokeless gunpowder was invented in 1884. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/38 "2023-11-27T23:57:51Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > “I do not think that word means what you think it means. I was distancing myself away from the wild Oliver Stone type theories. I’ve never thought the JFK attack was planned with any sophistication. Oswald had a job in a tall building at the right time. We’re had other attacks on Presidents and they were nut case losers like John Hinckley Jr., Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore. The so called deep state had nothing to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/39 "2023-11-28T00:00:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I was distancing myself away from the wild Oliver Stone type theories. By concocting a theory of an accomplice shooter that is equally without basis. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435/40 "2023-11-28T00:20:36Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > Would _any_ change in the accepted perpetrator make any difference? I said to make the narrative interesting, not to make it important. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rob-reiner-and-soledad-obrien-their-jfk-assassination-podcast/993435.md?page=3)