What's your favorite reason for believing Oswald didn't do it?

[Benjamin Cole]

TG-

A titan, towering like the Colossus of Rhodes over other feeble JFKA junkies, you are.

But...we disagree on this one.

Probably in the EF-JFKA and this forum you are the smartest guy.

But, I looked at the Costella and other Z films a million times, and lined it up best I could with testimonies, including the frequent "bang...bang-bang" account of audible gunshots.

As stated, I doubt JBC did a 180-degree turn in his seat after being shot through the chest, having his right wrist shot through, and the slug burrowed into his thigh.

That dog don't hunt.

A reasonable assumption is that JBC would be immediately incapacitated, and would fall forward into his wife's lap. Seems likely to me.

Why is it impossible for LHO to have had co-conspirators? For some G-2 guys to work on his pro-Cuba blah-blah, and get him to shoot at JFK limo?

Maybe so. Maybe not.

I am talked out.

[Tom Graves]

I doubt JBC did a 180-degree turn in his seat after being shot through the chest, having his right wrist shot through, and the slug burrowed into his thigh. A reasonable assumption is that JBC would be immediately incapacitated and would fall forward into his wife's lap.

JBC's spinal cord and vital organs were intact after he was hit by CE-399 at Z-222/Z-224, so there was nothing preventing him from turning around (which he did) if he wanted to.

[Jake Maxwell]

What are your favorite reasons for believing Oswald didn't do it?

1) He was a crummy shot.

2) He had a crummy rifle.

3) He didn't even own a rifle.

4) There were no nitrates on his cheek.

5) He couldn't possibly have fired three shots -- with two hitting the target -- in 5.8 seconds.

6) As those KGB officers in Mexico City said, he was way too nervous fire a rifle accurately, so it must have been the CIA.

7) He admired JFK.

8 ) He was standing on the front steps!

9) He was in the second-floor lunchroom, buying a Dr. Pepper I mean a Coca-Cola.

10) He said he didn't do it and that he was just a patsy!

11) [fill in the blank]

I think FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's memo only 2 days after the assassination should be at or near the top of everyone's list of reasons to consider that Oswald didn't do it... or at least was not the mastermind behind the event...
When top law enforcement officials want to direct the narrative early on in order to sway public opinion - without any semblance of a thorough investigation - they are most likely trying to cover up something. They are not after the truth of the matter in any regard. 
“The thing I am concerned about… is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin.” [J. Edgar Hoover, Memo to Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, 11/24/63]

[Benjamin Cole]

TG--

You are an indomitable, indefatigable colossus, a pillar of gimlet-eyed insights, and a towering figure upon the JFKA research scene.

But I think JBC did not do a 180-degree turn in his seat after being shot through the chest (taking out four inches of rib and leaving a large ragged exit hole in his chest), having his right wrist shot through and fractured, and having the slug burrow into his thigh. I think he was immediately incapacitated.

My and my dog are sticking with our narrative.

LHO is still the best suspect for the TSBD6 sniper.

What the GK smoke-and-bang show was about, I don't know. A diversion?

The floor is yours.

[Tom Graves]

TG--

You are an indomitable, indefatigable colossus, a pillar of gimlet-eyed insights, and a towering figure upon the JFKA research scene.

Flattery, although true in this case, will get you nowhere.

I think JBC did not do a 180-degree turn in his seat after being shot through the chest (taking out four inches of rib and leaving a large, ragged exit hole in his chest), having his right wrist shot through and fractured, and having the slug burrow into his thigh. I think he was immediately incapacitated.

JBC was neither the first nor the last person to do something "superhuman" after having a rib smashed by a bullet.

. . . . . . .

ME: Has anyone ever done something that was physically impressive after having a bullet smash one of their ribs?

GROK: Yes, there are several well-documented real-world examples of people performing physically impressive (or at least highly functional) feats shortly after having ribs broken by gunshot wounds.

Here are some of the most striking (pardon the pun):

Theodore Roosevelt (1912) – The most famous case.

While campaigning in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot in the chest with a .38 revolver at close range. The bullet cracked his fourth rib on the right side, deflected slightly, and lodged in the chest wall (it was never removed).

Immediately after being shot, Roosevelt coughed into his hand, saw no bright red blood (correctly concluding the lung was not pierced), stood up, walked to his car, and insisted on delivering his scheduled 90-minute speech before going to the hospital. He began with the legendary line: “Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot—but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose.”

50 Cent (Curtis James Jackson III) – 2000

Shot nine times at point-blank range with a 9 mm handgun while sitting in a car. One bullet struck him in the chest and reportedly fractured a rib (sources vary whether it was a direct rib fracture or secondary from lung collapse).

Despite massive blood loss and injuries to his face, hand, legs, and torso, he survived and within months was back in the studio recording. While not an immediate athletic feat, the fact that he regained full physical capacity (and later became known for intense workout regimens) after that degree of trauma, including rib damage, is remarkable.

Military and law-enforcement cases (multiple)

U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq/Afghanistan have continued fighting after taking 5.56 or 7.62 rounds to the plate or body that cracked/fractured ribs but did not penetrate vital organs thanks to body armor or glancing hits. Many accounts describe troops returning fire, dragging wounded buddies, or running hundreds of meters to cover while having one or more cracked ribs from bullet impacts.

One specific documented case: LAPD Officer Kristina Ripatti (2006) was shot in the chest with a .45 ACP; the round cracked a rib and collapsed a lung. Despite being paralyzed from the waist down by a second bullet that hit her spine, she still managed to return fire and wound her assailant before collapsing.


In short: Yes, people have done extraordinarily impressive things—speech-giving, returning fire, continuing to fight, or rapidly returning to high-level physical condition—after having a rib smashed or cracked by a bullet. Theodore Roosevelt’s 90-minute speech minutes after taking a .38 to the chest remains one of the most extreme examples in history.

[John Mytton]

I think FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's memo only 2 days after the assassination should be at or near the top of everyone's list of reasons to consider that Oswald didn't do it... or at least was not the mastermind behind the event...
When top law enforcement officials want to direct the narrative early on in order to sway public opinion - without any semblance of a thorough investigation - they are most likely trying to cover up something. They are not after the truth of the matter in any regard. 
“The thing I am concerned about… is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin.” [J. Edgar Hoover, Memo to Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, 11/24/63]

Jake, the DP on the very first day had enough evidence to charge Oswald with JFK's murder. And in the next couple of days before the memo, the Authorities accumulated a Mountain of evidence.
How can a sane rational man come to any other conclusion?

1. The recovered bullet and fragments all came from C2766.
2. C2766 was purchased and possessed by Oswald.
3. Oswald made an atypical visit mid-week to Irving to visit his wife.
4. Oswald carried a long package to work which he told Frazier contained curtain rods but later he lied and told the Police that he only carried his lunch.
5. The rifle which was stored in a blanket at Irving was not there on the afternoon of the 22nd.
5. The rifle had Oswald's palm print.
7. The 3 types of fibres on the rifle were a match to Oswald's arrest shirt, while not conclusive the prohibitive probability strongly suggests that they are the same.
8. Oswald immediately fled the scene of the crime (flight)
9. Oswald got on and off a slow moving bus. (flight)
10. Oswald got out of his cab way past his Rooming house.
11. Oswald killed a cop(the first on duty Dallas cop in years to be killed by gunfire), why would Oswald feel the need to kill a cop if he didn't kill Kennedy.
12. Oswald tried to kill more cops when he was arrested.
13. Oswald lied about owning the rifle that killed Kennedy.
14. Oswald lied about the package he took to work on the 22nd.
15. The rifle carry bag had Oswald's prints.
16. Oswald had no alibi.
17. Oswald at the height of the Cold War defected to the Enemy.
18. Oswald took surveillance photos of General Walkers house and a short time later attempted to assassinate General Walker.
19. ETC, ETC,...

With the above evidence, why do hardcore conspiracy theorist's continue to cast doubt on this initial conclusive evidence, and consider that 60+ years later none of this evidence has been refuted.

JohnM

[Benjamin Cole]

Verily, Roosevelt and the "Bull Moose Party."

"Schrank's bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating Roosevelt's steel glasses case and passing through a 50-page-thick (single-folded) copy of his speech titled "Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual", which he was carrying in his jacket pocket."

There is a vast difference between a revolver bullet c. 1912 (likely bullet ~880 fps) that first struck a steel glasses case and then a 50-page book...and near 2000-fps large slug from an M-C carbine that passed through a dress shirt (JBC).

From afar, I admire Roosevelt's fortitude, nonetheless. His photos make him look like a fatty, and a faux toughie who shot animals, but who knows maybe some blubber helped his survival too.

We are on different pages on JBC.

Signing out.

[Tom Graves]

"Schrank's bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating Roosevelt's steel glasses case and passing through a 50-page-thick (single-folded) copy of his speech titled "Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual", which he was carrying in his jacket pocket."

There is a vast difference between a revolver bullet c. 1912 (likely bullet ~880 fps) that first struck a steel glasses case and then a 50-page book...and near 2000-fps large slug from an M-C carbine that passed through a dress shirt (JBC).

CE-399 slowed a bit when it passed through JFK, and it probably hit JBC's fifth rib tangentially and traveled parallel to it.

We are on different pages on JBC.  Signing out.

Probably because you're conspiracy-minded and therefore refuse to read what I've posted and look at the frames I've mentioned.