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

[Fred Litwin]

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/on-the-loss-of-occam-s-razor-in-the-jfk-case

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

A guest essay by Nicholas Nalli on Jefferson Morley misuse of Occam's Razor.

"That said, however, the conclusion of the paper that JFK was shot in the head from behind does indeed adhere to Occam’s Razor, specifically in the interpretation of Zapruder Frames Z312–Z313, where the forward head-snap of JFK’s head is clearly evident concurrent with the head wound.

The simplest (and best) explanation for this observation was an impulse caused by a high-speed bullet fired from the rear."

[Michael T. Griffith]

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/on-the-loss-of-occam-s-razor-in-the-jfk-case

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

A guest essay by Nicholas Nalli on Jefferson Morley misuse of Occam's Razor.

"That said, however, the conclusion of the paper that JFK was shot in the head from behind does indeed adhere to Occam’s Razor, specifically in the interpretation of Zapruder Frames Z312–Z313, where the forward head-snap of JFK’s head is clearly evident concurrent with the head wound.

The simplest (and best) explanation for this observation was an impulse caused by a high-speed bullet fired from the rear."

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.

 

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/on-the-loss-of-occam-s-razor-in-the-jfk-case

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

A guest essay by Nicholas Nalli on Jefferson Morley misuse of Occam's Razor.

"That said, however, the conclusion of the paper that JFK was shot in the head from behind does indeed adhere to Occam’s Razor, specifically in the interpretation of Zapruder Frames Z312–Z313, where the forward head-snap of JFK’s head is clearly evident concurrent with the head wound.

The simplest (and best) explanation for this observation was an impulse caused by a high-speed bullet fired from the rear."

Nalli is an imbecile. He believes that the sun shines out of (imbecile) Einstein's bum. Yet Nalli mentions Occam's Razor.
But the Heliyon Paper (ie Nalli i think) is indeed korrekt that jfk was killed by  a high-speed bullet fired from the rear .....(ie SSA Hickey with his AR15 with a hollow point).
Elementary my dear Litwin.

Abstract
U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in an open motorcade by a sniper in Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963. A civilian bystander, Mr. Abraham Zapruder, filmed the motorcade with a 8-mm home movie camera as it drove through Dealey Plaza, inadvertently recording an ≈8 second sequence of events that included a fatal gunshot wound to the President in the head. The accompanying backward motion of the President's head after impact appeared to support later “conspiracy theories” because it was claimed that this was proof of a shot from the front (in addition to one from behind). In this paper, simple one-dimensional dynamical models are uniquely applied to study in detail the fatal shot and the motion of the President's head observed in the film. Using known parameters from the crime scene, explicit force calculations are carried out for determining the projectile's retardation during tissue passage along with the resulting transfer of momentum and kinetic energy (KE). The computed instantaneous KE transfer within the soft tissue is found to be consistent with the formation of a temporary cavity associated with the observed explosion of the head, and subsequent quantitative examination of this phenomenon reveals two delayed forces at play in the backward motion of the President following impact. It is therefore found that the observed motions of President Kennedy in the film are physically consistent with a high-speed projectile impact from the rear of the motorcade, these resulting from an instantaneous forward impulse force, followed by delayed rearward recoil and neuromuscular forces.


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844017331882

Had a look at the paper. Terrible. Allmost zero info/input re actual tests shots etc. The paper is just theoretical twaddle.

[John Mytton]

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.

Wrong!

Real life isn't a Hollywood movie, these soldiers were all shot in the head with FMJ bullets and not one soldier is violently thrown forward, they just fall down and all but one moves back towards the shooters. A relatively light bullet simply lacks the kinetic energy to propel anyone more than an inch or two, learn basic physics before you continue to embarrass yourself.



Another example of a soldier being struck in the head with a bullet and his head snaps back an inch and he just falls down. Welcome to the real World.



Only Kennedy's head moves forward at the time of the headshot and the expulsion of matter all goes in a forward direction. Not one eyewitness says that Kennedy had two exit wounds!



The authenticated autopsy photos only show a single bullet entrance on the back of Kennedy's head and NO exit wound. This smoothly rotating morphed image was created using technology which was impossible in 1963.



JohnM

[Jarrett Smith]

Bang Bang two quick shots fired first from the rear and second from the front. The Zapruder film proves 4 shots.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Wrong!

Real life isn't a Hollywood movie, these soldiers were all shot in the head with FMJ bullets and not one soldier is violently thrown forward, they just fall down and all but one moves back towards the shooters. A relatively light bullet simply lacks the kinetic energy to propel anyone more than an inch or two, learn basic physics before you continue to embarrass yourself.



Another example of a soldier being struck in the head with a bullet and his head snaps back an inch and he just falls down. Welcome to the real World.



Only Kennedy's head moves forward at the time of the headshot and the expulsion of matter all goes in a forward direction. Not one eyewitness says that Kennedy had two exit wounds!



The authenticated autopsy photos only show a single bullet entrance on the back of Kennedy's head and NO exit wound. This smoothly rotating morphed image was created using technology which was impossible in 1963.



JohnM

Conspiracy Groundhog Day. The same conspiracy nonsense is promoted, then it's knocked down, and the next day it comes back again. A bullet simply doesn't carry the energy/force that can cause a body to fly around. That's just in a Peckinpah movie. Somebody please shoot that conspiracy groundhog.

Mr. Griffith thinks the Z-film was faked (except for the parts he likes; it's both reliable and unreliable), the autopsy was faked, the x-rays and photos faked, the investigations faked, the investigations into the investigations faked and on and on. And the people who did this - this is treason of course - were just 20 or 30 in total. The others simply went along with the orders. They altered the evidence, covered things up, planted material. Just following orders. They said nothing, objected to nothing, exposed nothing, went along. Again, this is treason. This is Jim Garrison/Fletcher Prouty conspiracy territory.

He says, among other things (it's a endless list) a pro-Kennedy gay New Orleans businessman conspired with a right wing racist to kill JFK. They took this idea to...well, he doesn't say. They were seen with Oswald and then...something something something. Just being allegedly seen with Oswald is sufficient evidence. And JFK is dead, killed by somebody. And the Mafia ordered Ruby to silence Oswald. And then the businessman tried to get a lawyer for Oswald. The same Oswald they framed. And had to silence by killing him. Then this....well, it's all gibberish and argle bargle.

And he thinks his arguments are supported by Occam's Razor?

[Michael T. Griffith]

Wrong!

Real life isn't a Hollywood movie, these soldiers were all shot in the head with FMJ bullets and not one soldier is violently thrown forward, they just fall down and all but one moves back towards the shooters. A relatively light bullet simply lacks the kinetic energy to propel anyone more than an inch or two, learn basic physics before you continue to embarrass yourself.



Another example of a soldier being struck in the head with a bullet and his head snaps back an inch and he just falls down. Welcome to the real World.

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.

[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.