Charles, you know my stance on this particular issue as I know yours. It's clear from his last post that Brian has absolutely no intention of dealing with the issues I'm raising and, to be honest, he's right not to as it will reveal the kind of hole he's dug for himself with this. His big problem is presenting his model for the first/missed shot with all the trappings of scientific research. This makes him beholden to things like Logic, Rational Thought and, even, Common Sense.
Dan, how many of the witnesses said they initially thought the first one was a backfire or firecracker or something like that? I don’t know the actual count, but it was a large percentage. Do you really believe that the SS Agents were somehow immune to this phenomenon?
I don't know the actual percentage of those who described their perception of the first/missed shot as being something other than a shot (backfire, firecracker etc.) but I agree it's large. I'd go as far to say it's really large. Of course the SS agents are not immune to such a thing and nowhere have I ever said they are so there's no need to ask "Do you really believe..." as if I had made such a ridiculous statement at some time in the past. How can you be immune to perceiving something? It's a really silly thing to say. Here are a few of the Agents describing their initial perception of the first shot:
Youngblood - 'It could have been a
firecracker, a bomb, or a shot,' Youngblood, 39, said in an interview. 'I recognized it as an abnormal sound and realized some action had to be taken'
Greer- The President’s automobile was almost past this building and I was looking at the overpass that we were about to pass
under in case someone was on top of it, when I heard what I thought was the
backfire of a motorcycle
Hill - On the left hand side was a grass area with a few people scattered along it observing the motorcade passing, and I was
visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar to a
firecracker.Ready - I heard what sounded like
firecrackers…
Hickey - I heard what seemed to me that a
firecracker exploded to the right and rear.
I'm sure the point you would like to make is that, if they didn't recognise the first shot as a shot they might not have reacted to it. This would explain the radical reactions of some of the Agents we see in Altgens 6 but why there was absolutely no recognisable reaction to the sound of a gunshot earlier in the Z-film. This, however, is not the case.
In Altgens 6 we see Agents Landis, Ready and Hickey looking over their right shoulders towards the TSBD, presumably in response to the sound of gunfire:
![](https://i.postimg.cc/DfPPnBm6/Altgens-5-close.jpg)
Landis - "I heard what sounded like the report of a high-powered rifle from behind me, over my right shoulder...", "My first glance was at the President, as I was practically looking in his direction anyway...", "I immediately returned my gaze, over my right shoulder."
Ready - "I heard what appeared to be fire crackers going off from my position. I immediately turned to my right rear trying to locate the source but was not able to determine the exact location."
Hickey - "I heard what seemed to me that a firecracker exploded to the right and rear. I stood partially up and turned to the rear to see if I could observe anything. "
Each agent describes their immediate reactions to hearing the first shot, turning to look over their right shoulders looking towards where they felt the sound came from. This is exactly what we see in Altgens 6. Each of them is describing their reactions to the first shot. Even when they thought the sound might be a firecracker they still reacted to it.
We can clearly see one [Agent Hickey] immediately looking in the vicinity of the limo’s tires. It would appear that he thought it was a tire blowout.
Here we come to Hickey's look over the side of the follow-up car. Brian believes this move is so unusual it somehow indicates Hickey is reacting to the sound of gunfire. Where does he imagine the gunfire is coming from? Underneath the follow-up car? And you are suggesting Hickey thought it was a tire blowout. Let's have a closer look at Hickey's move:
![](https://i.postimg.cc/3xkTG3y1/Hickey-moves-2.gif)
In the Gif above we see Hickey look over the side of the limo. He then looks into the crowd to his left then turns straight ahead. That's it. If it was a blowout he would hardly look into the crowd then resume his position looking straight ahead. The idea that he is reacting to the sound of a gunshot is bizarre. What part of his actions gives this indication. There is nothing. No urgency in his movements and he resumes his original position. This is nothing compared to the barely perceptible head movement of Jackie Kennedy which is being heralded as a sure indicator of an early missed shot.
What we cannot discern from the photographic record is what the eyes of the SS Agents are doing during the same time that the limo occupants are simultaneously turning their heads and looking around with concerned expressions like they are trying to figure out what that loud noise they just heard was. The SS Agents were likely looking for visual signs of the source or results of the loud noise. They can do this with just movements of their eyes and small movements of their heads.
This is just fantasy. You are fantasising that the limo occupants are "trying to figure out what that loud noise they just heard was."
This is never a good sign when trying to argue for a particular model.
I know what their reports say about “immediately” doing this or that. But I believe that none of them were likely to come out and explicitly say that they thought the first noise was something other than a gunshot, and that that is why they didn’t react immediately after hearing it. Admitting something like that on their reports would tend to make them look incompetent and lackadaisical. I believe that they reported actions that would tend to make them look good, and stuck to their stories. How could they have anticipated that the Zapruder film would show that their reports were inaccurate?
And here we come to the crunch. Anyone who upsets your model is lying. All the SS agents got together and, for some reason void of logic, decided to lie in order to explain
why they all took over 7 seconds to react to the first shot!Really?
Once we get to this level of debate there seems little point in continuing.