A History of the Single-Bullet Theory Follies

[Michael T. Griffith]

How do you deal with people who are so unwilling to face facts that they can't even admit that the HSCA FPP put the back wound about 1 inch lower than did the WC? How do you reason with people who won't acknowledge what is plainly visible in HSCA FPP Figure 24 and in CEs 385 and 386? I mean, really, how?

How can you engage in rational discussion with people who allow themselves to imagine that a wound whose visible interior is tunneled upward would somehow magically become tunneled downward if the body were in the anatomical position, not to mention the abrasion collar, which proves the bullet struck at a slightly upward angle after supposedly being fired from an elevation of 60 feet?

[Tom Graves]

How do you deal with people who are so unwilling to face facts that they can't even admit that the HSCA FPP put the back wound about 1 inch lower than did the WC? How do you reason with people who won't acknowledge what is plainly visible in HSCA FPP Figure 24 and in CEs 385 and 386? I mean, really, how?

How can you engage in rational discussion with people who allow themselves to imagine that a wound whose visible interior is tunneled upward would somehow magically become tunneled downward if the body were in the anatomical position, not to mention the abrasion collar, which proves the bullet struck at a slightly upward angle after supposedly being fired from an elevation of 60 feet?

Griffith,

Why are you such a rabid JFKA tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist and gaslighter?

Does somebody pay you to try to discredit the Warren Commission Report's conclusion that a self-described Marxist former Marine sharpshooter and radar operator by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald fired all three shots at JFK in the echo chamber known as Dealey Plaza and killed him even though one of his shots missed everything?

If so, is it "former" KGB officer Vladimir Putin by any chance?

[Michael T. Griffith]

Griffith, Why are you such a rabid JFKA tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist and gaslighter? Does somebody pay you to try to discredit the Warren Commission Report's conclusion that a self-described Marxist former Marine sharpshooter and radar operator by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald fired all three shots at JFK in the echo chamber known as Dealey Plaza and killed him even though one of his shots missed everything? If so, is it "former" KGB officer Vladimir Putin by any chance?

This silliness is your answer to the evidence I have presented in this thread and to the facts I mentioned in my previous reply???

"Marine sharpshooter"?! You must know this is misleading, at best. You're referring to the fact that on Oswald's very best day at a Marine rifle range, he barely managed to qualify in the "Sharpshooter" category, the second of three qualification categories. In basic training, I saw guys who'd never fired a rifle before qualify in the "Sharpshooter" category. Of course, Oswald was using a semi-automatic rifle and firing at stationary targets on which he had practiced for days before firing for record. This was vastly less difficult than his alleged 11/22/63 shooting performance.

When three NRA-Master-rated riflemen, using the alleged murder rifle, attempted to duplicate Oswald's alleged shooting feat for the WC, they failed miserably, even though the targets were not moving, even though they fired from only 30 feet up, and even though they took as much time as they wanted for their first shot. Most of their shots landed far from the aiming point, and many of their shots didn't even hit within the target silhouettes on the target boards. Are you aware that the greatest Marine sniper of all time, Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, said he didn't believe Oswald could have done the shooting?

If Oswald fired a rifle on 11/22, why did every single test done on his right-cheek paraffin cast, including the super-sensitive NAA test, find no traces of nitrates, even though the control test proved that NAA was 100% reliable in detecting nitrate residues in paraffin casts of men who'd fired rifles?

I discuss Oswald's poor marksmanship skills at great length in my recent book A Comforting Lie: The Myth that a Lone Gunman Killed President Kennedy.

[Tom Graves]

[...]

Griffith,

The truth regarding the wounds that JFK and JBC sustained before the fatal head shot (Hint: they were all caused by CE-399) was not immediately apparent because:

1) Investigators didn't realize that JFK was sitting significantly farther to the right and higher than JBC, and that JBC was turned about 35 degrees to his right when he was hit.

2) Investigators didn't realize that that kind of bullet has a tendency to start tumbling upon exiting something soft, like a block of ballistics gel or a human neck

3) Oswald took 10.2 seconds to fire all three shots in the echo chamber known as Dealey Plaza, and only his last two shots were "captured" by the Zapruder film

4) James Tague may have been wounded by a bullet fragment from the fatal head shot

5) Most of JFK's body may have been hidden behind the Stemmons Freeway sign when he was hit by CE-399

6)JFK reacted to being hit by CE-399 more quickly and in a different way than JBC because CE-399 passed through his neck and nicked his spinal column whereas it passed through JBC's chest and didn't nick his spinal column

7) The bullet hole in JFK's throat was mistaken by Dr. Perry as an entrance wound because it was small. It was small because JFK's shirt collar and tie were exerting pressure on his skin when it exited

8 ) The aforementioned exit wound in JFK's throat was virtually obliterated by the tracheostomy that was performed at Parkland Hospital

9) The autopsy doctors didn't know about the bullet hole in JFK's throat until the next day

10) The autopsy doctors weren't able to physically track the path of CE-399 through JFK's corpse because rigor mortis had set in

11) Etc. Etc. Etc.


Get over it, Griffith.

Not everyone is as perfect as you and the eye doctor known as Dr. Gary "Rudeness" Aguilar.

[Michael T. Griffith]

To show the confusion that exists among SBT defenders, I note that Dr. John Lattimer, a devout WC apologist, concluded Kennedy shows a "reflex reaction" to a wound in Z225 and opined the wound occurred at about Z220. In fact, in his book Kennedy and Lincoln (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Johanovich, 1980), Lattimer acknowledged that Kennedy's elbows are beginning to "fly upward in frame 224" (p. 241), yet current SBT defenders claim the magic bullet hit him in Z223-224, making his Z224 reaction a physical impossibility.

It is crucial to note that even if we assume that JFK does not start to react until Z225, this still means that the bullet that caused the reaction must have hit no later than Z221, because no human could visibly move their hands upward and inward less than four frames after being hit. This is why Dr. Robert Piziali, testifying for the prosecution in the 1992 mock Oswald trial, denied that JFK is reacting to a wound in Z225. Under cross-examination, Piziali admitted that if JFK is reacting to a wound in Z225, the bullet that caused this reaction could not have hit him after Z221, which would destroy his Z224-lapel-flip SBT, so he was forced to deny JFK's obvious wound reaction in Z225.

In fact, we know from the 4/22/64 WC memorandum that when a group of wound ballistics experts, the autopsy doctors, and commission staffers reviewed the Zapruder film frame by frame, with the aid of enlargements, the consensus was that Kennedy "had been definitely hit by frames 224-225" (p. 1). It should be noted that this group included Dr. F. W. Light, the deputy chief of the Biophysics Division at Edgewood Arsenal, and Dr. Alfred G. Olivier, the chief of the Wound Ballistics Branch of the Biophysics Division at Edgewood Arsenal. The group further noted that the Z224-225 reaction may have begun as early as Z199, and also at around Z204-205:

The reaction shown in frames 224-225 may have started at an earlier
point--possibly as early as frame 199 (where there appears to be some
jerkiness in his movement) or, with a higher degree of possibility,
at frames 204-205 (where his right elbow appears to be raised to an
artificially high position). (WC memo, 4/22/64, p. 1)

Of course, JFK's Z225 wound reaction, not to mention his Z224 and earlier reaction, destroys the Z224-lapel-flip SBT.

This is a good example of the tendency of WC defenders to uncritically and hastily accept "expert" conclusions without considering the implications. Leaving aside the fact that coat lapels cannot flip up and down in the space of 1/18th of a second, and leaving aside the clear indications of a wound reaction before Z224, if the lapel flip was caused by a bullet, then JFK's Z224/Z225 reaction categorically proves he must have been hit by a different bullet.

[Tom Graves]

I discuss Oswald's poor marksmanship skills at great length in my recent book A Comforting Lie: The Myth that a Lone Gunman Killed President Kennedy.

Griffith,

Oswald was a very good marksman by civilian standards.

https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/345171706200220-lee-harvey-oswalds-us-marine-corps-rifle-score-book-warren-commission-exhibit-no-239/

[Andrew Mason]

* At first the back wound was above the throat wound, but now it's level with or slightly below the throat wound, a difference of at least 1 inch in its vertical location on the back. But, we are told, the SBT still works!

In Dale Myers' SBT animation, the back wound is above the throat wound, noticeably above it. But the HSCA established that the back wound is actually slightly below the throat wound, or at least level with it.

This is not an argument just against the SBT.  It is an argument that the bullet did not transit JFK's neck.  That appears to be at odds with all the evidence.

* At first the alleged magic-bullet hit came at right around frame 210 of the Zapruder film (Z210), then it was at Z188, but now it's "positively" at Z224, based on a 56-millisecond supposed flip of Connally's lapel, never mind that pieces of fabric cannot move up and down that quickly.

* At first the alleged magic-bullet hit was the first shot, but now it's "positively" the second shot.

I agree that the shifting time of the shot through JFK and the change in sequence does not instill confidence that the Single Bullet Theory is a "Fact".

* At first, no one denied that JFK is clearly reacting to a wound in Z225, which proves he must have been hit no later than Z221, because it would take at least 4 frames for him to react to a wound with his hands and arms. But, at the 1992 ABA mock Oswald trial, Dr. Robert Piziali, who headed the Failure Analysis SBT trajectory analysis, denied that Z225 shows JFK reacting to a wound! Piziali put forth this specious denial because he admitted that if JFK reacted in Z225, the bullet that caused this reaction could not have hit him later than Z221, which would destroy his Z224-lapel-flip SBT.

To show the confusion that exists among SBT defenders, I note that Dr. John Lattimer, a devout WC apologist, concluded Kennedy shows a "reflex reaction" to a wound in Z225 and opined the wound occurred at about Z220. In fact, in his book Kennedy and Lincoln (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Johanovich, 1980), Lattimer acknowledged that Kennedy's elbows are beginning to "fly upward in frame 224" (p. 241), yet current SBT defenders claim the magic bullet hit him in Z223-224, making his Z224 reaction a physical impossibility.

Latimer lacked the "ne" in his qualifications to be a neurologist.

His theory that JFK assumed the "Thorburn position" is not supported by any qualified neurologist.  The original report of Dr. Thorburn shows that it took a few days for the unfortunate falling victim to assume the "Thorburn position" and that was because the spinal cord was crushed between the 5th and 6th vertebrae which resulted in: "complete paralysis of the lower limbs, and of the abdominal and thoracic muscles. All the muscles of the arms were paralysed, with the exception of the biceps, brachialis antiens, supinator longus and deltoid, the consequence being that the elbows were flexed, the shoulder abducted and rotated outwards, and the hands and arms fell into the position indicated in the annexed engraving (Fig. 1)":

* At first the SBT required that Connally was rotated 20-30 degrees to the right when the missile struck, but now we're assured the theory can still work even though some of the theory's defenders admit Connally's torso was rotated only 10-15 degrees.

In his SBT analysis, Myers has his Connally figure rotated 15 degrees to the right, whereas fellow lone-gunman theorist Todd Wayne Vaughan measures the degree of rotation as being only 10 degrees. In the Zapruder film we see Connally's shoulders are facing nearly parallel to the roll bar in Z223-224. The roll bar is a fixed horizontal point inside the limousine, and thus provides us with an excellent measuring rod. One can look at Z223-224 and plainly see that Connally's shoulders are nearly parallel to the roll bar. FBI photographic expert Lyndal Shaneyfelt noted to the WC that in Z222 Connally is turned only slightly to the right and that in the few frames thereafter he is "almost square, straight on with the car momentarily."

I agree that this makes it very difficult to get the right armpit far enough left to intersect with a right to left path from JFK's midline.  Also, at z225, JFK is not leaning over the right side of the car as he was earlier making the SBT less feasible.  It also appears that JFK's hands may have been in the way of a path from the throat to JBC's right armpit just before z225.

Your argument about the trajectory not going from JFK's throat to JBC's right armpit is reasonable one that has evidentiary support.  But not the suggestion that a bullet did not transit JFK's neck.

[Tom Graves]

Now the alleged magic-bullet hit "positively" came at Z224, based on a 56-millisecond supposed flip of Connally's lapel, never mind that pieces of fabric cannot move up and down that quickly.

Griffith,

Don't forget the movement of JBC's tie in Z-222.

https://www.jfk-assassination.net/video/JFK_sbt.mp4