The Magic Bullet - Fact or Fiction?

[Jerry Organ]

Explain this obvious bullet strike please

Could be a metal fragment from the head shot.

[Eddie Haymaker]

Thanks Jerry

But I must disagree

Its a perfectly round symmetrical impact

anyone who uses a rifle can tell right away what that is

yes I believe a ricochet did hit the windshield from the headshot

but not that strike

[Tim Nickerson]

Thanks Jerry

But I must disagree

Its a perfectly round symmetrical impact

anyone who uses a rifle can tell right away what that is

yes I believe a ricochet did hit the windshield from the headshot

but not that strike

A direct strike by a intact bullet traveling at near muzzle velocity would have done much more damage to that chrome piece. Nobody familiar with rifles would think that it was a direct strike from a bullet.

[Andrew Mason]

My recollection tells me that I've taken apart your "over 20 witnesses said that JFK reacted to the first shot" claim before. More than once.

Yes. You have rationalized why some of them all made the same mistake of missing the first horrible ear shattering noise and thinking the second shot was the first shot. The problem is that your rationalizations of why they were wrong does not constitute evidence.  What you need are witnesses who said that they saw JFK not react to the first shot and continue to smile and wave for 3 seconds afterward.   But there are none.  So there is only evidence that JFK reacted to the first shot.  The WC certainly seemed to accept that evidence.

You could ask yourself why everyone who had been looking at the president suddenly stopped looking after the first horrible ear-shattering noise and then immediately looked at him at the time of the second shot which they did hear, but then forgot that they had heard a similar sound 3 seconds earlier. 

[Andrew Mason]

Few among the "20 witnesses" in your paper were actually in a position to see the President smiling. Of those, some (ie: the Chisms, Jean Newman) were "two shot" witnesses who merely recalled the President "slumping" on the shot which occurred before the head shot. That means their "first shot" was the second in most three-shot scenarios.

That is not a very good argument, Jerry.  There were dozens of witnesses along the north side of Elm who could see JFK from z160 to z225.  Many if not all were looking at the President or Jackie.  None of them said that either continued to smile or wave after that first horrible ear-shattering noise.

According to your rationalization of why they were wrong, they must have stopped looking at the President after the first shot and then looked at him again only at or after the second. The problem is that we can see in the zfilm that they are all continuing to look at JFK while he is smiling and waving.  Why did not a single one of them report that?  When you then look at the evidence as to when the first shot occurred, it becomes obvious: the first shot had not yet occurred as JFK was smiling and waving.

Mary Woodward saw the President not react (other than look around) to the first shot and "slump" on the second shot, followed by the head shot.

She also heard the last two shots closer together - so close that the reverberation from the second had not died out before the third shot sounded.  That, in itself, says that JFK must have been hit on the first shot.  Admittedly, she said her recollection of the events after the first shot were a little "hazy". But there are dozens of others who reported the same thing.

It's "required" only to meet your arbitrary claim.

It would be arbitrary if not supported by evidence but merely conjecture.  Your rationalizations for why the witnesses were all wrong is just that: conjecture.  It is certainly not evidence.

But your list of 20 witnesses have few who were in a position to see the President wave clearly and even more who were not positioned to see his face.

So what? See above: there were many others who were in a position to see his face - everyone on the north side of Elm St.  All or nearly all were looking at the President.

No evidence for the car clearing the oak tree by Z195 that you produced. Better-resolution film shows the branches were a considerable hindrance.

Your zframes are wrong.  The president was opposite the lamppost at z190.  Why not show us how you determined the corresponding zframe for this film. Also - tell us where you found the high resolution frames of the tree. I would like a better copy myself.

Witnesses were more attentive to the shot span--if they were attentive to such a thing at all--only after hearing a second shot. They had no reason to expect a second loud report after hearing the first as many dismissed the first as a "backfire" or "firecracker". The first shot blended more readily into the normal behavior observed in the crowd and the motorcade. Only with the second shot came a wave of awareness and urgency.

Your rationalization of why you think they were wrong is not evidence.  You need evidence that the witnesses who reported the last two shots closer together were wrong. All the evidence I have found shows that they were right: that the second shot was at z271-272.

Andrew Mason is a defense attorney and apparently will commit any lie, misrepresentation or distortion to "defend" his "client" (pet theory).

Why do you think that my "theory" that the witnesses were not hallucinating or collectively mistaken in the same way is any crazier than your "theory" that they were?  And why is it a "lie"?  You should realize, Jerry, that resort to ad hominems is a sign that you are in the last stage of a losing argument.

[Jerry Organ]

That is not a very good argument, Jerry.  There were dozens of witnesses along the north side of Elm who could see JFK from z160 to z225.  Many if not all were looking at the President or Jackie.  None of them said that either continued to smile or wave after that first horrible ear-shattering noise.

Well, here are some witnesses on the north Elm sidewalk near the Stemmons sign.

    "The motorcade had just passed me when I heard something that
     I thought was a firecracker at first, and the President had just
     passed me, because after he had just passed, there was a loud report,
     it just scared me, and I noticed that the President jumped, he sort
     of ducked his head down, and I thought at the time that it probably
     scared him too, just like it did me, because he flinched like he jumped.
     I saw him put his elbows like this, with his hands on his chest."
          -- Jean Newman

Newman is a two-shot witness. She's described the jump-and-duck shot occurring when "the motorcade had just passed" and before the head shot. Her Nov 24th affidavit states: "A car carrying the President and another person had just passed her when she heard a report and saw the President jump. raising his hands to his chest area."

The motorcade (ie: limousine) was still in front of Newman at Z195. Much of the front of the car was pass her position by Z223.

In a letter written Nov. 22, 1963, June Dishong wrote: "here come the president and his wife?His arm in the air waving?He drops his arm as they go by, possibly 20 feet. Suddenly--a sound.  Gun shots? So hard to tell above the clamor of the crowd. The president bent forward into his wife?s lap as his arm slipped off the side of the car."

The President drops his right arm as he goes behind the sign, which is after your Z195 shot. A Z150s first shot would be lost in memory ("So hard to tell above the clamor of the crowd"). A Z195 shot would have occurred before he lowered his arm and was so near to Dishing, I doubt it would be lost to "the clamor of the crowd". Dishong recalls him reacting after he lowered his arm and when he was near to her. This is more supportive of a shot heard at Z223 than Z195.

Karen Westbrook said the first shot occurred as the President waved towards them ("She was leaning over the President and pulling her hair out of her eyes as they were waving to us. And that is the image that I remember when the first shot was fired..."). We have to assume it was only the President waving and that Westbrook misinterpreted Jackie doing something with her hair; that's what the Zapruder film suggests as the car approached Westbrook).

The President is turned her way and about to wave by Z160 (roughly a quarter-second after a late-Z150s shot). By Z195, Westbrook can't see Mrs. Kennedy and the President isn't looking her way.

"After the first shot was fired I saw the President's hands gradually come up".

[

Between Z162 and Z193, the President's right hand gradually raises up fairly high ("I thought he was going to hold up his hands and say 'Ah, you got me.'")

[Eddie Haymaker]

Hey thanks Jerry

I would just like to say people like Mr Organ and Mr Brown

though we may vigorously disagree they are gentleman

who debate the topics and do not attack people unduly

they are 2 of the elder statesmen on this site

and they act like it

Thankyou - Respect

[Jerry Freeman]

The magic bullet theory is ridiculous. It was created by conspiracy screwballs. I reject it entirely.
 The Single Bullet Theory remains standing, Firm and unchallengeable.

And the difference is....?  Either way we are still calling it a THEORY. And it is the stupidest theory I have ever heard of.  BTW there is no such word as 'unchallengeable'. You might look up the word-----
Unproven=doubtful, uncertain..suspicious..problematic..dubious..debatable..controversial..ambiguous