JFK Assassination Forum

People, people, people - thank you, I guess, but I KNOW all the LN responses. I can (and have) regurgitate them myself. As stated, I believe there is a high likelihood the LN version of the Tippit murder is correct. But noooooo, this is insufficient for a hardcore LN zealot. There is a mysterious compulsion to keep pushing the LN narrative as though there were some crowd of lurker historians out there who might be swayed unless all comments that don't toe the LN party line are immediately shut down.

Much the same thing is encountered on religion forums, which is why I have equated the LN narrative to some quasi-religious gospel. On those forums, there is a species of believer who keeps parroting something along the lines of "It's all in the Bible, just read the Bible" no matter how theologically deep the discussion might be. On those forums, I attribute such responses to fear - fear that examining one's faith might shake it. That surely can't be what's going on here ... can it?

If you don't want responses, maybe don't ask questions.  There is nothing "quasi-religious" about this.  It is the application of the evidence and common sense along with the facts.  It is strange to take issues with such things while implying that there is something strange about Oswald walking down the street.  A guy who didn't own a car and was in flight from a crime. 

I'll bet he was looking forward to the notoriety he would receive for what he did.

DELLA: Minor problem, Perry. That doesn't fit ANYTHING he said or did. No manifesto. No note. No hint in custody. Nada, zilch. Is this a problem, Perry?

MASON: Not at all, Della. Give me a week or so to think about it.

DELLA: Possibly, Perry, he was saving it all for a theatrical trial in which he would at last strut his stuff?

MASON: Nice work, Della. I like it.

DELLA: And yet, Perry, the operation was so fraught with risk that he couldn't reasonably have expected to survive for a trial. Is this a problem, Perry?

MASON: Not at all, Della. Shirley was actually Ted in a latex mask, the dog actually belonged to Bob, and it all stemmed from a confrontation between Shirley and Babs on a summer vacation in Istanbul back in college.

DELLA and DRAKE (in unison): Genius, Perry.

Roll the credits.

One of the psychological explanations for elaborate conspiracy theories is that believers need an assassination worthy of JFK, not a one-off by some "little commie punk" (Jackie).

John seems to be the mirror image of this: to be worthy of JFK, Oswald had to be an "evil monster," the Worst Person In the World.

Columbo:  There are a couple of loose ends I'd like to tie up, sir. Nothing important you understand.  Actually, so far, sir, we don’t have a thing.
Hickey:  Well, that’s heartening.
Columbo:  Officially, that is.
Hickey:  And unofficially?
Columbo:  Unofficially, we don’t have anything either.
Hickey:  So, when did you first suspect me?
Columbo: As it happens, sir… the first time i read the report.
Hickey: That can’t be possible.
Columbo:  Well sir, little things bother me.  Like when i was looking for the tests done on your AR15, & the bullets.  Especially your sworn witness testimony, sir.
Hickey:  There were no tests, & i wasn’t called as a witness.
Columbo:  Yes, that's what i mean sir.  It's just one of those things that got in my head and kept rolling around in there like a marble
Columbo:  My wife was a great fan of JFK sir.
Hickey:  Well, tell her it was just rotten luck.
Columbo:  Yes sir, u were just doing your job.

I would also strongly dsipute John's statement that "people choose to be what they are." Oswald was only 24. He had been shaped by a broken home and a chaotic life with the mother from hell. Every attempt to find a better life had gone awry. He was intelligent, idealistic and frustrated at his inability to achieve what he thought he was capable of achieving. Ernst Titovets, who probably knew him better than anyone, found him likeable, amusing and incapable of anything like the JFKA. I don't completely excuse him, but "evil monster" is way over the top.

Slightly humorous, or at least I think so: I came from a truly traumatic childhood, alone in the home with two incorrigibly alcoholic parents. In 1968, I was a freshman in Apache Dorm at the University of Arizona. One of my good friends informed me that the other residents on our floor had voted me the person "most likely to go up in a tower and start shooting people" as Charles Whitman had done at the University of Texas in 1966. I was deeply flattered and amazed they were so perceptive. Fortunately for me, I got some breaks Oswald never got thanks to a very wealthy grandmother.

Lot's of people come from broken homes and unhappy childhoods. Most of them do not assassinate Presidents. I don't care what problems Oswald faced during his life, he chose to become an assassin and a cop killer. He deserved what he got and wouldn't have if not for Jack Ruby. Even though Oswald probably expected he would be sentenced to death, I doubt he even cared. I'll bet he was looking forward to the notoriety he would receive for what he did. He was finally going to be somebody important. Jack Ruby robbed him of that. Thanks, Jack.

Empathy for Oswald? I feel more empathy when I swat a fly.

You think Oswald had already contemplated shooting JFK before  Oswald ( or whomever ) ordered a rifle by mail?

If Oswald had a specific purpose in mind when he ordered the rifle, it was probably General Walker. Killing JFK was a crime of opportunity. I doubt the thought even crossed his mind until he read JFK's motorcade was going to pass right in front of his workplace.