On the Loss of Occam's Razor in the JFK Case

[Mitch Todd]

I don't think Nick Nalli is a credible source, given Dr. David Mantik's demolition of his deeply flawed analysis (see link below).

The simplest and most logical explanation for JFK's fierce backward movement is that an object hit him from the front and propelled him backward, just as we see in countless war and execution footage. The two theories offered to attribute the backward movement to a shot from the rear are both silly, convoluted, and unscientific--the jet-effect theory (which even premier lone-gunman apologist and wound ballistics expert Dr. Larry SPersonivan rejects) and the neuromuscular-reaction theory (which neuroscientist Dr. Robert Zacharko, among other experts, says is impossible in this case).

The Omissions and Miscalculations of Nicholas Nalli
https://themantikview.org/pdf/Omissions_and_Miscalculations_of_Nicholas_Nalli.pdf
This is Dr. Mantik's critique of Nalli's claims.

Scientist’s Trick ‘Explains’ JFK Backward Movement When Shot
https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/scientist-neutralizes-jfks-back-and-to-the-left-or-does-he/
This is another critique of Nalli's claims, written by Milicent Cranor, a medical writer.

Speaking of Occam's Razor, the simplest explanation for the small bullet fragments on the back of JFK's head in the autopsy skull x-rays is that they are ricochet fragments, since FMJ bullets never, ever, ever deposit fragments on the outer table of the skull when they enter a skull, as even Dr. SPersonivan has acknowledged, and since no FMJ bullet in the known history of forensic science has done this (the HSCA FPP could not cite a single case where an FMJ bullet did this, and no FMJ bullet in the three JFK wound ballistics tests that have been conducted has done this).

The simplest explanation for the fact that none of the Master-rated riflemen in the WC's rifle test were able to duplicate Oswald's alleged shooting feat is that Oswald did not perform that feat. (Note that the rifle test was the only test that used the alleged murder weapon itself.)

The simplest explanation for the astounding fact that the first shot missed not only JFK but the entire huge limousine is that that shot was not fired from the sixth-floor window but from a lower window of a nearby building, since a shot from a lower window could have barely missed JFK's head and then easily and plausibly missed the limo as well.

The simplest explanation for the fact that dozens of witnesses in three different locations said there was a sizable visible hole in the back of the head, including two of the morticians who reassembled the skull, the Parkland nurses who cleaned the wound, and a Secret Service agent who got a prolonged look at the wound from just a few feet away and saw the wound twice more that day, is that there was a sizable visible hole in the back of the head.

The simplest explanation for the virtually whole brain seen in the JFK autopsy photos and for the wildly implausible brain weight of 1,500 grams is that that brain could not be JFK's brain, since we know that brain matter from JFK's brain was blown onto at least 16 surfaces, including two windshields, numerous places inside the limo, and the trunk of the limo, and since "fragmented sections of brain" dropped onto the drapes of the emergency room cart at Parkland Hospital, and since OD measurements have confirmed that only about 30% of the entire right side of the brain is present in the autopsy skull x-rays.

The simplest explanation for the astounding fact that the autopsy report says nothing about the high fragment trail seen on the skull x-rays and the equally astounding fact that those x-rays don't show the low fragment trail described in the autopsy report (and reaffirmed by the autopsy doctors in 1966) is that the autopsy materials and the autopsy report do not show/describe all of the bullet fragments/trails that were present in JFK's head on the night of the autopsy.

And on and on we could go.

At least you could bother to get Occam's Razor correct. It is not "the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct," it is "the explanation that requires the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct." And those are not the same thing.

Of the rest of your post, most is nothing more than a  is a Gish Gallop dished up as series of diversions and red herrings. Surely you can do better than this. Maybe.

[Tom Graves]

[...]

LOL!

[John Mytton]

Oh, here we go. If I wanted to bother to do so, I could post far more wartime and execution video clips that show victims being propelled in the same direction as the bullet. As I thought was understood, I am not saying this always happens. It depends on the muzzle velocity of the weapon, the distance from the weapon, and any acton the victim might be performing when hit. But there is ample footage showing victims being propelled backward when shot from the front and being propelled forward when shot from behind.

I'm not sure if you are aware of Newton's third law of motion, "for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction" and that being the case, why don't we see rifle shooters being "propelled" around like rag dolls? And even though the girl is prepared and braced for the shot, she isn't knocked off her feet, real life isn't a Hollywood movie.



And let's not forget that as soon as a bullet leaves the rifle, the bullets kinetic energy has to contend with air resistance and then upon the inelastic impact, the penetrating bullet further loses energy to damaging flesh, sound and heat. But as I previously implied, it ultimately comes down to momentum and the amount of force of an 11 gram bullet is barely significant as compared to the reaction of a full grown man.

Mythbusters did some practical experiments which illustrate the actual effects of bullet strikes.

BTW, the most insane aspect of this CT theory is why on Earth would the conspirators set up the Patsy to be behind and then put an assassin in front of Kennedy, DOH! And another nail in this bonkers CT theory is that the vast majority of earwitnesses say there was no crossfire, meaning all the shots came from only one direction and while there is some confusion of the exact location due to the echo chamber qualities of Dealey Plaza, over 95% didn't detect a variation in the sound direction, meaning that the gun shots didn't come from either end of Dealey Plaza and since we can know with 100% certainty that both Kennedy and Connally were shot in the back from behind therefore ALL shots came from behind!



JohnM

[Dan O'meara]

The first movement is forward.
JFK is shot in the head from behind.
At the moment of impact his head is already bent forward.
He is looking down, his chin resting near the top of his sternum.



The truly massive impact blasts his head forwards. As his head pivots forward it has nowhere to go and simply rebounds upwards and backwards. It happens so quickly in real time that the initial forward pivot of his head is lost to the eye and it looks like his head is moving backwards as a result of the shot.

Some here have argued that a bullet passing through a body/head imparts hardly any momentum and this is true if it passes straight through.
But this is clearly not the case with JFK's head shot.
His head explodes.
Not metaphorically or as an exaggeration.
It literally explodes.
Large chunks of skull are blasted high into the air and away from the limo.
A large chunk of skull is blasted forward into the limo.
The right side of his head is blasted downwards revealing the inside of his scalp with large fragments of bone still attached.
A giant plume of blood and brain matter is blown into the air above his head.

To compare this to a bullet passing straight through a body is ridiculous.
It requires a massive force acting on his head to produce this kind of damage.
This massive force is represented in the movement of his head - blasted forward and rebounding backwards.

Nalli is a joke, as is anyone else who believes that JFK's head acted like a balloon flying around the room as the air escapes.
I'd be more concerned about the loss of Common Sense rather than Occam's Razor.