[kelnos]

> The release is not just a mechanistic "I am a man of my word" moment, its a distraction from the everyday events.

Excellent point that I hadn't considered. We're already flooded with executive orders and news of Musk's capricious wrecking ball. Ultimately who killed JFK or MLK doesn't matter all that much today, except as a matter of historical accuracy. But it's something that people will certainly talk about, distracting us from the real dangers going on in this administration.

Ultimately I don't think we'll learn much from this anyway. I expect any juicy documents (if any existed) were destroyed long ago, and the departments in custody of any related files are still free to redact whatever they want, or simply decide not to release the parts they don't want to release.

Another possibility is that the remaining files contain something incredibly damaging to a group or agency he hates. Like say the MLK files implicate the FBI somehow. Trump hates the FBI now (which was not the case during his first term), and files pointing the finger at the FBI would be more ammunition for purging and remaking the FBI.

[ggm]

There might be some news in some details. You have to be pretty dedicated to think the news outweighs other stories of the moment. Qualified historians of the 1960s will be lining up to re-strike positions on what the minutia say about the Warren Commission, washington insider politics, previously misunderstood relationships between agencies, great stuff for PhDs.

Oliver Stone cares, of that I am sure.

[rightbyte]

>Ultimately who killed JFK or MLK doesn't matter all that much today, except as a matter of historical accuracy.

Come on those would be the most high profile murders in the US in the 20th century?

[ggm]

Undeniable. And Bobby Kennedy. But, ask yourself why you care more than the deaths of McKinley, or Hoffa or Malcolm X

I maybe said it badly. I think MLKs unanswered questions have more current value, than JFKs because I think they tell us more about morally corrupting behaviour in US institutions. I don't tend to think any US agency paid a part in JFKs assassination, although they bungled the aftermath.

I've been to the book depositary. Sad place. Banal even.

[quakeguy]

Franz Ferdinands death would be higher on that list i reckon.

[saagarjha]

> in the US

[tanewishly]

[...] During the war, the U.S. mobilized over 4.7 million military personnel and suffered the loss of over 116,000 soldiers. [...]

From Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_in_World_War_I