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61
I remember you dodging it many times. I don't recall you addressing it even once.

Really? I wonder aloud again if you suffer from bouts of amnesia. Go back and read our exchanges about when Connally was hit.

And, I'm still waiting for you to explain how a bullet whose impact Connally said felt like someone pounded him hard with their fist would have caused "JBC flipping his arm upward at Z226" but would not have driven his shoulder downward, would not have caused his cheeks to puff, and would not have caused a pained expression to appear on his face until Z238, when we know from forensic science that the pained expression alone would have occurred no more than 250 milliseconds after the moment of impact.

Of course, it's interesting and telling that Connally himself, the guy who actually experienced the wounding, identified Z234 as the moment of impact, which dovetails perfectly with what forensic science tell us about how long it would have taken for his shoulder to be driven downward, for the air forced from his lungs to cause his cheeks to puff, and for a pained expression to appear on his face.

But you guys have to ignore this plain, obvious evidence because it destroys your SBT fantasy.

"I've already answered that" was a favorite dodge of Tony Marsh's on John McAdams' forum. He resorted to it whenever presented with inconvenient facts. He would invariably follow it with "Learn to Google".

It wasn't a dodge. McAdams would constantly repeat claims that had been thoroughly answered, just as you and other WC believers do here all the time.

Dr. Cyril Wecht scoffed at the theory presented by David Lifton. I can't find the exact quote but it essentially said that you could take a team of the best surgeons in the world and they couldn't perform post-mortem surgery that wouldn't be instantly recognizable by a first year medical student.

It's funny how you cite Wecht when you like what he said, which is rarely, but then you turn around and trash him the rest of the time.

Anyway, you obviously don't know that Dr. Wecht changed his mind about pre-autopsy surgery once he read Horne's research and discussed the matter with Horne and Mantik. In fact, Dr. Wecht strongly endorsed Dr. Mantik's 2014 book JFK's Head Wounds, which, among many other things, lays out the essentials of the evidence for pre-autopsy surgery.

It's worth repeating for the sake of our readers that you have such a poor handle on JFKA research that just a few weeks ago you erroneously claimed that Dr. Wecht concurred with all but one of the FPP's major conclusions. This statement proves you had not even read his FPP dissent.

I notice you ignored the point that mortician Tom Robinson saw Humes sawing on the skull and that Robinson specified that the damage to the top of the skull was done by the autopsy doctors. None of the medical technicians at the autopsy recalled seeing this, because Robinson arrived before the autopsy began and because the med techs had not arrived yet.

Why do you suppose Humes suspiciously asked aloud, during the autopsy, if there had been surgery done to the head in Dallas?

Before you blunder and embarrass yourself again, you might, just this once, just for once, want to read some of the research that's been done on this issue before you comment on it again. The following article is a good introduction on the subject:

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/dominick-armentanos-fallacious-disagreement-with-doug-hornes-new-jfk-documentary/ 

The article was written by Jacob Hornberger, who holds degrees in economics and law, is a former university professor, and is now the president of the Future of Freedom Foundation.

I see you're predictably trying to dismiss Doug Horne's historic research on this issue by claiming that anyone who posits pre-autopsy surgery should not be taken seriously. Yeah, never mind that Horne was the Chief Analyst for Military Records for the ARRB, that he took part in nearly all of the ARRB's historic interviews with the autopsy witnesses, and that he holds a degree in history.

Unlike you, Washington Post editor George Lardner was impressed with Horne's research and even found Horne's evidence that the autopsy brain photos do not show JFK's brain to be credible:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/11/10/archive-photos-not-of-jfks-brain-concludes-aide-to-review-board/53b0858e-d0ed-4d9c-9d30-eda5ae71a84a/

It is amusing that you so fervently dismiss the idea of pre-autopsy surgery, without having read any of the research that supports it, and then you turn around and defend the preposterous SBT, a ludicrous theory (1) that has been refuted by every single wound ballistics test that was intended to duplicate it, and (2) that was definitively debunked by the 2023 Knott Laboratory SBT trajectory analysis, the most sophisticated and data-intensive SBT trajectory analysis ever done.

It is absolutely ridiculous to think a bullet would have only penetrated a few inches into JFK's back and then fallen out. Even lower velocity handgun ammo has far more penetration than that.

Phew! This nonsense is further proof that you have no business pretending to know enough about the JFK case to comment on it. The forum needs to create a sub-forum for people who know little about the case and who want to learn more. That's where you belong.

Now, no, it is certainly not "absolutely ridiculous" to think that a bullet could have only penetrated a few inches into Kennedy's back. The bullet could have been a squib load, i.e., a bullet with a defective cartridge that contained too little gunpowder. This would explain why so many witnesses said one of the shots sounded different than the others.

It is unfortunate that you routinely use adamant verbiage when making erroneous claims. You keep pretending that you have enough knowledge to be making categorical assertions, when you have no business doing so.

I notice you didn't say one word about the disclosed evidence that the autopsy doctors determined with absolute certainty that the back wound had no exit point, that they even probed the wound after removing the chest organs, and that the pathologists and the other men around the autopsy table could see the end of the probe pushing up against the lining of the chest cavity. BTW, this is the same thing that medical technician James Jenkins stated in a recorded interview in the 1970s.

I notice you said nothing about the fact that we know from the released transcript of the 1/27/64 WC executive session alone that the first two drafts of the autopsy report said nothing about the throat wound being an exit point for the back wound. One draft said the back wound had no exit point and said nothing about the throat wound as any kind of exit point. The other draft said that a fragment from the head shot caused the throat wound and said nothing about any exit point for the back wound.

The ARRB materials shed historic light on this vital disclosure by revealing that the autopsy doctors, along with the medical technicians and others who were near the autopsy table, could see with their own eyes that the back wound had no exit point.

These facts have been known since the late 1990s, but you guys have refused to face them and are still peddling the SBT myth.
62
To be honest, the WC clearly had a mandate and agenda not to look too closely at certain possibilities.

I must have missed that memo. Can you cite it.
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It was heavily FBI-reliant, staff-reliant, and operating under pressure to "get the damn thing done."


I'm always suspicious when I see a word or phrase quoted out of context. It makes me wonder what is being omitted.
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The WR report is an impressive piece of work under the circumstances, but there is no way it can be viewed as an impartial, full-scale investigation and vetting of all the relevant issues; it just can't.

Because you say so.
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Reclaiming History is a prosecutor's brief from the title to the last page of the index. Bugliosi was neither an historian nor a scholar. In addition to being a successful prosecutor, he was a massively self-promoting publicity hound; that's just the reality. In my experience, prosecutors and defense counsel both tend to have a one-dimensional view of every case.

On the contrary, Reclaiming History is a thorough and meticulous defense of the WCR.
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Yes, the WR and VB would be the place to steer a newbie if one wanted to frontload him with the LN narrative, but I fail to see how that would be any more reasonable than a CTer steering him to Horne's books. Almost everyone in the JFKA is such a fanatic that the inclination is to frontload a newbie with "the Truth" - be it LN Truth or CT Truth - before he encounters anything else. That's why I say (1) learn everything you can about Oswald the man, because he's central to the case and every theory, and (2) at least learn a bit about epistemology and logic lest you be wowed by smart and articulate people saying crazy things.

The WCR and Reclaiming History are where to steer anyone who wants to know the truth of the JFKA without having the waters muddied by a bunch of nonsensical conspiracy crap. Reclaiming History is especially valuable in the debunking of most of the popular conspiracy myths that had been propagated in the 43 years since the release of the WCR. I saw most because new ones have cropped up since it's publication.
63
Just set up your Youtube account and upload. You can get the direct link by “Share” and “Copy link”.  Or you can upload to Google drive and select “Share” “Anyone with the link”.

Thanks Andrew.  I'll look into this and post the video as soon as I can.
64
To be honest, the WC clearly had a mandate and agenda not to look too closely at certain possibilities. It was heavily FBI-reliant, staff-reliant, and operating under pressure to "get the damn thing done." The WR report is an impressive piece of work under the circumstances, but there is no way it can be viewed as an impartial, full-scale investigation and vetting of all the relevant issues; it just can't.

Reclaiming History is a prosecutor's brief from the title to the last page of the index. Bugliosi was neither an historian nor a scholar. In addition to being a successful prosecutor, he was a massively self-promoting publicity hound; that's just the reality. In my experience, prosecutors and defense counsel both tend to have a one-dimensional view of every case.

Yes, the WR and VB would be the place to steer a newbie if one wanted to frontload him with the LN narrative, but I fail to see how that would be any more reasonable than a CTer steering him to Horne's books. Almost everyone in the JFKA is such a fanatic that the inclination is to frontload a newbie with "the Truth" - be it LN Truth or CT Truth - before he encounters anything else. That's why I say (1) learn everything you can about Oswald the man, because he's central to the case and every theory, and (2) at least learn a bit about epistemology and logic lest you be wowed by smart and articulate people saying crazy things.
65
And this kind of severe bias and echo-chamber group think is why you guys are in a decided minority in the Western world; it's why your version of the shooting is rejected by 2/3 to 3/4 of the Western world.

I'm sure it gives you a great deal of comfort knowing that a woefully uninformed public thinks like you do about the JFKA.
66
LP--
One has to concede, whether LNT'er or CT'er, there are highly intelligent people on both sides of the issue.

From my original post: "As we see with the JFKA, occupancy of the LF bears absolutely no relation to an occupant’s intelligence, education or knowledge of the subject."

"Smart people" really has nothing to do with whether one is in the lunatic fringe. If Niederwacky graduated from Harvard Medical School, I assume he has functioning brain cells. David Ray Griffin was beyond brilliant. If we can believe his self-puffery, MTG actually has academic credentials. And yet, they all believe absolutely crazy things.

Intelligence and education, alas, are not a guarantee of the ability to think rationally or analytically. Indeed, in his book Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer argues that "the number one reason why people believe weird things is because they're smart – they have a high IQ or they have an exceptionally creative intellect. Because he can rationalize away evidence, an intelligent person is better able to defend weird ideas to himself." From another source: "Highly intelligent people fall for ridiculous things primarily because their high intellect gives them the mental horsepower to rationalize beliefs they arrived at for emotional or social reasons. Instead of protecting against irrationality, high intelligence can act as a tool for sophisticated self-delusion."

How many raving CTers - or Young Earthers or Flat Earthers or Fake Moon Landing proponents - strike you as really dumb? I can answer that because I've dealt with all of these folks. The answer: pretty much NONE. They are uniformly intelligent, articulate and persuasive. It's among their followers and cultists that you will find the 15W bulbs.

And, of course, the conspiracy-prone mindset, like it or not, plays a huge role. Add a conspiracy-prone mindset to a high intellect and you have a recipe for lunacy.

I don't exactly know why - I wish I could tell people - but I was blessed to be able to step out of this trap. Partly it was my legal training, but mostly I think it was my long exposure to religion. To fit into a religious community, you must pretend to believe some wildly unlikely things or somehow convince yourself they are true. I listen to Christian talk radio several times a week where truly highly intelligent, highly educated people assert that the earth is 6,500 years old. No, sorry, it's not; that's a crazy belief, no matter how many "scientists" provide "scientific" reasons that the Grand Canyon was formed in a couple of hundred years.

In any event, at some point I was blessed with some sort of epiphany to be able to recognize the utter craziness coming from the mouths of "smart people" across all the many areas of weirdness in which I was involved. Where I used to say "Wow, tell me more!" I now say "Bullshit, prove it." Even in my OWN experiences that I have LIVED, as described in Duncan's new weirdness subforum, my initial reaction is one of intense skepticism. That's just how it has to be in the world where rationality and analytical thinking drive the bus.

Lest we forget: propinquity, it's all about propinquity.  :D :D :D
67
I wouldn't recommend 6 books. The WCR is all that is needed to know the truth of the JFK assassination. If one wants to deal with the myths of the JFKA, they can read Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugilosi. He does a thorough job of demolishing those myths and addressing all the objections made about the WCR, at least the ones that had been invented up to the time he wrote the book. Newer and nuttier ones are being invented all the time.

Yes, this! And I will add that Vincent Bugliosi’s huge book is worth at least five other books. So, I think essentially this should equal six books….

Yes, at least six. Possibly up to 10!

And this kind of severe bias and echo-chamber group think is why you guys are in a decided minority in the Western world; it's why your version of the shooting is rejected by 2/3 to 3/4 of the Western world.

Here you have simply been asked to list six books that you think would give a newcomer a decent understanding of the JFK case, and you can't even bring yourselves to do that.

I started the thread by listing six books, four of them pro-conspiracy and two of them anti-conspiracy, and two of the four pro-conspiracy books do not attempt to identify any suspects but just focus on the evidence relating to the shooting and JFK's wounds.

Now, as for Bugliosi's book, I would bet good money that not one of you has read any of the scholarly critiques of the book. These critiques document that Bugliosi made many erroneous claims on important issues, and that the book's errors far outweigh its valid points.

For those who might be interested, here are some of the critical scholarly reviews of Bugliosi's book:

Dr. Gary Aguilar's review:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Review_of_Reclaiming_History.html

Dr. David Wrone's review:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Vincent_Bugliosis_Misnamed_Reclaiming_History.html

Michael Green's review:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Besmirching_History.html

Pat Speer's review:
https://www.reclaiminghistory.org/speer_2007-07-24.htm
 
Dr. Don Thomas's reviews:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Rewriting_History_-_Bugliosi_Parses_the_Testimony.html
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Debugging_Bugliosi.html

Former HSCA investigator Gaeton Fonzi's review:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Reply_From_a_Conspiracy_Believer.html

Dr. Jerry McKnight's review:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Bugliosi_Fails_to_Resuscitate_the_Single-Bullet_Theory.html

Dr. Josiah Thompson's review:
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Epic_Book_Resurrects_Finding_That_Oswald_Acted_Alone_in_killing_JFK.html
 
68

I think ignore might be the wrong word. But it is very easy for me to discount it enough to allow the possibility of an early first shot being the culprit.


Mr. LIEBELER. How long after did you feel yourself get hit by anything?
Mr. TAGUE. I felt it at the time, but I didn't associate, didn't make any connection, and ignored it. And after this happened, or maybe the second or third shot, I couldn't tell you definitely--I made no connection. I looked around wondering what was going on, and I recall this. We got to talking, and I recall that something had stinged me, and then the deputy sheriff looked up and said, "You have blood there on your cheek." That is when we walked back down there.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you have any idea which bullet might have made that mark?
Mr. TAGUE. I would guess it was either the second or third. I wouldn't say definitely on which one.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you hear any more shots after you felt yourself get hit in the face?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe I did.
Mr. LIEBELER. You think you did?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe I did.
Mr. LIEBELER. How many?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe that it was the second shot, so I heard the third shot afterwards.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you hear three shots?
Mr. TAGUE. I heard three shots; yes sir. And I did notice the time on the Hertz clock. It was 12:29.
Mr. LIEBELER. That was about the time that you felt yourself struck?
Mr. TAGUE. I just glanced. I mean I just stopped, got out of my car, and here came the motorcade. I just happened upon the scene.

I think we can safely rule out the single bullet as the cause of Tague's minor injury. I've gone back and forth on whether it was a ricochet from the first shot or a fragment from the headshot.  There are arguments for and against both. To me it's a jump ball. We'll never really know nor do we need to.

For a while, I theorized that it might not have been caused by a shot at all but maybe a pebble tossed up by the traffic on Main St. but when I read there was a chip in the curb with a lead smear, that kind of ruled that out.
69
So we ignore the only evidence as to the shot on which Tague was struck…


I think ignore might be the wrong word. But it is very easy for me to discount it enough to allow the possibility of an early first shot being the culprit.


Mr. LIEBELER. How long after did you feel yourself get hit by anything?
Mr. TAGUE. I felt it at the time, but I didn't associate, didn't make any connection, and ignored it. And after this happened, or maybe the second or third shot, I couldn't tell you definitely--I made no connection. I looked around wondering what was going on, and I recall this. We got to talking, and I recall that something had stinged me, and then the deputy sheriff looked up and said, "You have blood there on your cheek." That is when we walked back down there.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you have any idea which bullet might have made that mark?
Mr. TAGUE. I would guess it was either the second or third. I wouldn't say definitely on which one.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you hear any more shots after you felt yourself get hit in the face?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe I did.
Mr. LIEBELER. You think you did?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe I did.
Mr. LIEBELER. How many?
Mr. TAGUE. I believe that it was the second shot, so I heard the third shot afterwards.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you hear three shots?
Mr. TAGUE. I heard three shots; yes sir. And I did notice the time on the Hertz clock. It was 12:29.
Mr. LIEBELER. That was about the time that you felt yourself struck?
Mr. TAGUE. I just glanced. I mean I just stopped, got out of my car, and here came the motorcade. I just happened upon the scene.
70
So what is the evidence?

It's staring you in the face in the Z-film.

You can lead a horse to water...
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