Reasonable Doubts?

[Tom Graves]

The bullet entered JFK's upper back approximately two inches right of JFK's back.

My, what an awkward sentence.

The location [of the entry wound in JFK's upper back/lower neck] is shown in one of the leaked autopsy photos. The bullet exited JFK's throat at the level of the knot of his necktie. It tumbled upon exiting and struck JBC who was sitting in front of and slightly to the left of JFK.

You forgot to mention that JBC was sitting lower than JFK and was turned far to his right when he, too, was struck by CE399.

The bullet entered in the back near his right armpit making an elongated wound due to the tumble. The bullet exited below his right nipple and passed through his right wrist, depositing tiny lead fragments from the core which was only exposed at the base of the bullet. The bullet went on to make a shallow penetration in JBC's thigh before working its way loose and was discovered at Parkland hospital and became CE399.

Correct.

These three articles are nothing more than a collection of stale old myths, misstatements of fact, and your amateur analysis of the medical evidence which is at odds with the conclusions of the FPP, which concurred with the SBT with the lone dissenter being Cyril Wecht. A classic example of garbage in, garbage out.

Correct.

[John Corbett]

Umm, Dr. Charles Gregory, the surgeon who operated on Connally's wrist, said that the shattering of the distal radius bone and the severing of part of the radial nerve would cause immediate and complete loss of function in the hand.---MTG

This is my recollection of what Gregory said also. Can you find reference to this in the WC?

I have reasonable doubts that Gov. JBC held onto his hat after being shot through the wrist.

Ergo, a reasonable deduction is JBC had not yet been shot by Z-275.

There is nothing reasonable about your deductions.

[Michael T. Griffith]

First and foremost, we should remember that Connally himself, the guy who actually experienced the wounding, insisted he was not hit before Z229-230. After viewing the Zapruder film a few times for the WC, Connally said he was not hit before Z230. Two years later, in 1966, he was given the opportunity by LIFE magazine to study high-quality color prints of the Zapruder film under high magnification, frame by frame, and to take as much time as he felt he needed. After doing so, Connally insisted he was certain he was not hit before Z229, and he selected Z234 as the moment of the bullet's impact.

And, oh, well, of course you claim that Connally was "off" when he insisted he was certain he was not hit before Z229, even after he studied a high-quality color print of the Zapruder film under high magnification frame by frame. Somehow he just "missed" the specious pre-Z229 "reactions" that you and other SBT defenders claim to see in the film, even though Connally was the one who actually experienced the shooting and knew himself better than anyone else.

Obviously, Connally didn't see any significance in the movement of his right arm in Z226, certainly not as an indication that he'd been hit yet. Z226 merely shows the continuation of a movement he began several frames earlier as he was turning back from looking at JFK. You must be blind to claim that his movement resembles the sudden and dramatic jolting forward of JFK's torso and the upward flinging of his hands and elbows from Z226-232. You must be kidding.

Gov. Connally had good reasons for selecting Z234 as the moment of impact. One of them was that starting in Z238 we see a very definite change in Connally: his right shoulder rapidly collapses, his cheeks puff, and a pained expression appears on his face. The right-shoulder collapse matches Connally's earliest descriptions of the bullet's impact: he said the impact felt like someone hit him powerfully in the back with their first.

Lone-gunman theorists have fallen all over themselves trying to explain this dramatic, obvious reaction event, with a few even making the specious claim that the shoulder collapse is an optical illusion. Why does the Z238-242 reaction pose such a problem for WC apologists? Because they are chained down by the single-bullet theory (SBT), which requires that Connally was hit absolutely no later than Z224.

A Z234 hit makes perfect sense with what we see in the Zapruder film. It makes total sense that a bullet that hit Connally in the back would only take four Zapruder frames--4/18ths of a second or 218.4 milliseconds--to drive his right shoulder downward. 218.4 milliseconds is in the range of the speed of an eye blink. Eye-blink speed ranges between 100 and 400 milliseconds.

Similarly, the forced expulsion of air from Connally's lungs would have been quite rapid and forceful, quickly causing his cheeks to puff, just as we see in the Zapruder film virtually simultaneously with his right-shoulder drop. The cheeks start to puff just a frame or two after the right shoulder starts to drop.

And, needless to say, the shattering of 4 inches of rib bone alone was extremely painful and would have quickly caused a pained expression to appear on Connally's face. Forensic science tells us that when people experience a sharp, sudden pain, it only takes 150-300 milliseconds to react with a pained facial expression.

Of course, these reactions make no sense in a Z224-hit scenario. It most certainly would not have taken Connally's right shoulder 14 frames to begin to be driven downward, nor would it have taken 14 frames for Connally to react with a pained facial expression and for his cheeks to puff.

It is worth noting that Dr. Robert Shaw, Connally's chest surgeon, studied the Zapruder film and
concluded the bullet struck the Governor at Z236, "give or take 1 or 2 frames, and that Dr. Charles Gregory, Connally's wrist surgeon, opined that the hit occurred between Z234 and Z238.

[Milton Kaiser]

You were chided because you doubt there was ONLY one gunman and ONLY one bullet hit JFK and Connally ? Am I Right ?  That's nonsense. I really don't know what people are thinking. Don't let any of these people disturb you, bother you, or sway you. In Texas the answer was obvious. Yes I was alive then.
Every Texas boy back then knew weapons. Look again at the Z film. All these 'Theories' are absolutely, positively, IMPOSSIBLE. There is no projectile on planet earth that follows a razor line thru and thru two men, but can also make a man's head explode. Not Possible. The Exploding Head requires a special bullet (we used them for predators) called a Hollow Point. There is no other round that can do that.
The Carcano is a military rifle and therefore (by the rules of war - 1898 The Hague) like all military rifles, only ONE type round is made for the weapon. It can ONLY shoot bullets specifically made Not to fragment. These are called FMJ's (Full Metal Jackets). This could account for a single shot, but the angles are wrong and we don't have the projectile. So, in any case, their must be at least two shooters, with two Different Types of ammo and possibly different caliber weapons .
Any other scenario is IMPOSSIBLE.
The Only Real Question is, was, and always will be... Who were the real shooters, How many, and was LHO even one of them ? Notice I did not say conspiracy or assassination. Neither of those points have proven.
Granted, a different scenario is highly unlikely, but it has to be treated and dismissed with Proof.
The Entire Problem with this case, is that so many issues require a, "been there, done that" kind of Experience and Knowledge. This is not the Oprah Whinfry Show. One's Personal opinion is irrelevant, unless it can be backed up with the type of evidence and proof that can stand up in a Court of Law.
 

[Andrew Mason]

. One's Personal opinion is irrelevant, unless it can be backed up with the type of evidence and proof that can stand up in a Court of Law.

Unless you are a ballistics expert with a solid education in physics, your opinion would not be admissible, let alone stand up, in a court of law.

[Milton Kaiser]

I Have Just Such an Education and personal but not professional experience. Whether or not I could Testify, would be decided by a judge thru voir dire.

[John Corbett]

Gov. Connally had good reasons for selecting Z234 as the moment of impact. One of them was that starting in Z238 we see a very definite change in Connally: his right shoulder rapidly collapses, his cheeks puff, and a pained expression appears on his face. The right-shoulder collapse matches Connally's earliest descriptions of the bullet's impact: he said the impact felt like someone hit him powerfully in the back with their first.

Lone-gunman theorists have fallen all over themselves trying to explain this dramatic, obvious reaction event, with a few even making the specious claim that the shoulder collapse is an optical illusion. Why does the Z238-242 reaction pose such a problem for WC apologists? Because they are chained down by the single-bullet theory (SBT), which requires that Connally was hit absolutely no later than Z224.

Funny, but this is the first time I have seen this argument made. Perhaps that was an argument advanced in the early days of public access to the Z-film. It was first shown in the mid-1970s on Geraldo's first nighttime news program but that was before VCRs had gained popularity so I doubt many people got to see it then. I didn't see it for the first time until the late 1980s when CBS News did a program on the assassination anchored by Walter Cronkite. Even then, I remember them only playing it once at regular speed than examined short clips in more detail. This was about the time the internet was becoming more popular and ISPs gave widespread access to it. I joined the Prodigy service in 1991 shortly after it became available which coincided with the release of Oliver Stone's movie. That gave me my first exposure to both JFK discussion groups and internet porn.

A Z234 hit makes perfect sense with what we see in the Zapruder film. It makes total sense that a bullet that hit Connally in the back would only take four Zapruder frames--4/18ths of a second or 218.4 milliseconds--to drive his right shoulder downward. 218.4 milliseconds is in the range of the speed of an eye blink. Eye-blink speed ranges between 100 and 400 milliseconds.

A Z234 hit doesn't explain JBC's Z226 arm flip. Maybe JBC was anticipating getting shot in the wrist less than a half second later.

Similarly, the forced expulsion of air from Connally's lungs would have been quite rapid and forceful, quickly causing his cheeks to puff, just as we see in the Zapruder film virtually simultaneously with his right-shoulder drop. The cheeks start to puff just a frame or two after the right shoulder starts to drop.

This seemed like an odd explanation to me even back in the late 1980s when Cronkite mentioned it on the CBS documentary. As I recall, he was presenting it as an argument by the CTs and not as if it was an established fact. Sounds like a SWAG to me (Scientific Wild Ass Guess)

And, needless to say, the shattering of 4 inches of rib bone alone was extremely painful and would have quickly caused a pained expression to appear on Connally's face. Forensic science tells us that when people experience a sharp, sudden pain, it only takes 150-300 milliseconds to react with a pained facial expression.

That defies JBC's WC testimony. He said he didn't feel any great pain until he got to the hospital and tried to stand up:

"Again, a strange thing---strange things run through your mind and, perhaps, not so strange under the circumstances, but I immediately--the only thought that occurred to me was that I was in the jump seat next to the door, that everyone concerned, was going to be concerned with the President; that I had to get out of the way so they could get to the President. So although I was reclining, and again Mrs. Connally holding me, I suddenly lurched out of her arms and tried to stand upright to get myself out of the car.
I got--I don't really know how far I got. They tell me I got almost upright, and then just collapsed again, and someone then picked me up and put me on a stretcher. I again was very conscious because this was the first time that I had any real sensation of pain, and at this point the pain in the chest was excruciating, and I kept repeating just over and over, "My God, it hurts, it hurts," and it was hurting, it was excruciating at that point."

Of course, these reactions make no sense in a Z224-hit scenario. It most certainly would not have taken Connally's right shoulder 14 frames to begin to be driven downward, nor would it have taken 14 frames for Connally to react with a pained facial expression and for his cheeks to puff.

I'll leave that explanation to the people who have claimed JBC's shoulder was driven down by the force of the bullet. What the CTs fail to grasp is there are two types of reactions. Cognitive and reflexive. The latter happens more rapidly because it requires no interaction with the brain. The nerves and muscles are stimulated by an external source causing an involuntary movement such as JBC's arm flip. Cognitive reactions are a bit slower because the nerves send a message to the brain which sends a signal back to the muscle groups involved. In JBC's case his cognitive reaction happened about a half second after the bullet strike which followed his reflexive response.

https://thisvsthat.io/cognitive-vs-reactive

It is worth noting that Dr. Robert Shaw, Connally's chest surgeon, studied the Zapruder film and
concluded the bullet struck the Governor at Z236, "give or take 1 or 2 frames, and that Dr. Charles Gregory, Connally's wrist surgeon, opined that the hit occurred between Z234 and Z238.

Shaw's guess was only off by about 2/3 of a second.