Michael Griffith

Humm, well, 38 years later he makes this claim. However, just as JFK used back channels to communicate with other Communist leaders, I do not rule out the possibility that he was willing to explore a back-channel dialogue with Hanoi. But, this does not remotely suggest that he was preparing to abandon South Vietnam after the election, just as his back-channel approach to Castro suggested that JFK would make no effort to stop Castro from spreading communism in Latin America. Nixon opened a back channel with Hanoi yet did not flinch from ordering massive bombing raids on North Vietnam at the same time. There is no trace of any weakening of JFK's will on the White House tapes. Zero. Marc Selverstone proves this in his new book The Kennedy Withdrawal.

As I said, Blakey "capably" defended the HSCA acoustical evidence in the debate. He did a credible job. I would give him a C+. But, he could have done better if he had been better versed in the evidence. Here are some things he could have mentioned that would have greatly bolstered his case: The HSCA acoustical experts found remarkable timing-movement correlations between the five suspect dictabelt impulses and five Dealey Plaza test shots. Not only do they match in sequence, a remarkable correspondence all by itself, but they also match in spacing and distance. The sequence match alone is impressive, given that there are 120 ways to order five events. The odds of randomly ordering five events in the correct sequence are 1 in 120, or less than 1%, and this is not considering the correlations in spacing and distance. Even the NRC panel obliquely admitted that their own calculations showed that the odds that these correlations resulted from chance were only 7%. Or, take the fact that N-waves, muzzle blasts, and muzzle-blast echoes are recorded on the dictabelt. The N-waves only occur among the identified gunshot impulses and only when the motorcycle's microphone was in position to record them. Moreover, the N-waves, muzzle blasts, and muzzle-blast echoes occur in the correct order and in the correct interval, soundly debunking the amateurish suggestion that these sounds were made by human speech. Some microphone in Dealey Plaza must have recorded those sounds, because N-waves, muzzle blasts, and muzzle-blast echoes do not just magically appear on recordings out of thin air, much less in the correct order and interval. The BBN experts knew that if they were dealing with impulse patterns caused by gunfire, each of the sounds would come in a specific order: they knew that the N-wave would come first, followed by the muzzle blast, followed by echoes of the shock wave and the muzzle blast. They also knew that the presence of these patterns would depend on whether the microphone was in position to record them. The BBN scientists screened all of the impulse patterns on the police tape for N-wave-like characteristics. They did not have the test-firing data yet, but, being acoustical scientists who had dealt with gunfire cases before, they understood the general characteristics of N-waves and how they would appear on an oscillogram printout of a recording. And they found that the N-waves, muzzle blasts, and muzzle-blast echoes only occur among the identified gunshot impulse patterns, and that they occur in the correct order and interval. The NRC panel did not lay a finger on this impressive evidence. Or, consider the remarkable windshield distortion correlations. The HSCA experts tested for the effect of windshield distortion. They found that windshield distortions occur in the dictabelt's gunshot impulse patterns when they should occur, i.e., when the motorcycle was in position to allow them to occur, and do not occur when they should not occur. The NRC panel did not even attempt to explain these correlations. Or, consider the fact at least four of the gunshot impulses on the dictabelt recording have echo patterns that are unique to Dealey Plaza. This is why acoustical expert Aschkenasy said that if the police microphone had in fact been recording in a different location, that location would have had to be an exact replica of Dealey Plaza. Or, consider the fact that the echo of the shot identified as the grassy knoll shot had distortion and transmission traits that were unique to the grassy knoll. When Congressman Edgar asked Dr. Weiss if the third and fourth dictabelt shots were really just an acoustical mirage from one muzzle blast, Dr. Weiss said this was impossible because every echo predicted from the dictabelt’s grassy knoll shot (the third shot) corresponded to an echo from the grassy knoll recorded during the test firing. He explained that for the third and fourth shots to be an acoustical mirage of one shot, the sound of the muzzle blast would have had to be transported “to the location of the grassy knoll area, and there emitted as if it had originated from that point,” because every echo has “its own peculiar distortion, transmission characteristics." And we should remember that the sonar analysis enabled Weiss and Aschkenasy to reduce the acceptance window for matching a dictabelt impulse with a test-firing shot from 6 milliseconds down to 1 millisecond, a 500% narrower window, which vastly reduced the possibility of a false match. 1 millisecond is one one-thousandth of a second. To be counted as a match, a dictabelt impulse and a test-shot echo pattern had to correspond to each other within the incredibly short timeframe of 1 millisecond As for the Decker "hold everything" crosstalk transmission, it is not a determinative time indicator. The time offsets alone indicate that the "hold everything" transmission is not a reliable time marker. Other transmissions are far more compelling time markers, and they show that the shots occurred at the correct time. For example, Chief Curry’s “triple underpass” transmission occurs 6 seconds before the 12:30 time notation on Channel 2 and 2 seconds after Deputy Chief Fisher’s “I’ll check” crosstalk (which occurs 8 seconds before the 12:30 time notation). Chief Curry’s “triple underpass” transmission and the first dictabelt gunshot occur virtually at the same time. Curry’s “to the hospital” transmission occurs 12 seconds after the 12:30 time notation on Channel 2. This is key evidence because we know that Curry made the “to the hospital” transmission while still in Dealey Plaza, just after he heard gunfire. I think the tests that Josiah Thompson arranged to have done at BBN prove once and for all that the Decker "hold everything" crosstalk is not a valid time indicator but is a meaningless anomaly. Thompson discusses these tests and their results in great detail in his recent book Last Second in Dallas.

But if we had never gone in there and escalated like LBJ did, perhaps the South Vietnamese would not have suffered near as much as they did when their regime fell to the North? Yikes, this sounds like what a good ole boy would say about a brutalized rape victim: "If she had not resisted so much, maybe she would not have gotten hurt as badly." If Congress and the "anti-war movement" had not stabbed South Vietnam in the back, the South Vietnamese would have remained independent and there would have been no Hanoi-imposed reign of terror. And, just to set the record straight, we escalated only in response to Hanoi's escalation after Diem's death. As a direct result of the disastrous removal of Diem, South Vietnam lost control of a number of areas. With Diem gone, Hanoi concluded that the time was right for a large escalation of their war effort. NVA infiltration of troops and weapons rose substantially. The number and scale of attacks began to increase markedly in 1964, and by 1965 things were getting worse. Even then, LBJ hesitated to take firm action, but the foolish North Vietnamese naval attack on a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin persuaded him that he had to escalate. I think JFK sensed the futility of trying to stop the inevitable. This again? The record proves the exact opposite. The whole reason that JFK felt at liberty to start a gradual, conditional withdrawal was that the war was going well. Again, North Vietnamese sources confirm the fact that the war was going well for the U.S. and South Vietnam from early 1962 until shortly after Diem was assassinated. If you do not believe the U.S. sources that said the war was going well during that period, then trust the NV sources that say the same thing--and say it even more clearly and in more detail. Many of the NV sources were classified, internal assessments that were never intended to be published. They report in anguish and disappointment on (1) the increasing failures and defeats being suffered by Communist forces in South Vietnam during this period, and (2) on the Saigon regime's success in expanding its control over more and more areas during this period. The officers and officials who were telling JFK that the war was going well were telling the truth, and JFK initiated his gradual, conditional withdrawal plan precisely because he believed them, and because he rejected the false doom-and-gloom reports coming from the likes of McNaughton, Forrestal, Harriman, and Hilsman.

There was also another reenactment, in Dealey Plaza, where the T2/T3 location was acknowledged. They put a white mark on the back of the JFK stand-in, and the mark was at about T2/T3, in harmony with the rear clothing holes. See the attached photo from the reenactment.

The vast majority of LNs do not ignore JFK and JBC's movements as they come out from behind the sign, but claim them as proof they were hit at the same time, Z-224. Which LNers have discussed JFK's being knocked forward in Z226-232? Who among them has done this? Posner ignores this sequence. Moore ignored it. Bugliosi ignored it. McAdams ignored it. Both the WC and the HSCA ignored JFK's being jolted forward in Z226-232. Since they ignored it, they made no effort to explain it. Incidentally, Posner even ignores the slamming down of Connally's right shoulder--he acknowledges that Connally's cheeks puff in Z238 but claims that Connally's shoulder collapses because Connally turned himself "sharply down and to the right." Yeah, you bet, and JFK jerked his own head back and to the left in Z313. It is JFK's movements before he went behind the sign that have been ignored, and lied about. The HSCA photography panel's conclusions were largely ignored, by LN and CT alike, before I started talking about them a few decades back. In fact, much of what is discussed today along these lines comes from the 50 Reasons for 50 years video Jeff and I put together for Len in 2013. Well, I, for one, have never ignored the HSCA PEP's finding that JFK began to react to being wounded before Z207. I think it is obvious that the PEP was right about JFK's pre-Z207 reaction, and I think the evidence of a Z186-190 shot is compelling.

This is the video of the 2018 debate between former HSCA chief counsel G. Robert Blakey and former WC assistant counsel Howard Willens held at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, Texas. Those pro-conspiracy researchers who view Blakey as the enemy, a traitor, a saboteur, etc., may have second thoughts about their opinion of Blakey after watching this debate. LINK TO VIDEO Among other things, Blakey does the following: -- He notes that surveillance and informant accounts show that Mafia kingpins Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante admitted to being involved in the JFK assassination, and that Marcello revealed that Ruby was used to silence Oswald. -- He presents a strong defense of the eyewitness accounts of gunfire from the grassy knoll, and he insists there was a gunman on the knoll. -- He stoutly and capably defends the HSCA acoustical evidence. -- He discusses and criticizes several WC failures and errors. -- He argues that Oswald was manipulated and misled by the conspirators. -- He says there was more than one criminal person on the grassy knoll involved in the assassination. -- He says the CIA misled and withheld information from the WC. -- He says the CIA misled and withheld information from the HSCA. -- He says J. Edgar Hoover pressured FBI agents to do a hurried, incomplete investigation, and that some FBI agents said they would have investigated differently if they had been given more time and more latitude. Now, yes, you will have to hold your nose when Blakey defends the SBT, when he argues that only two shots hit JFK, and when he says that both hits came from the sixth-floor window. But, notice how upset Willens becomes over Blakey's arguments, and notice how angrily Willens attacks Blakey. Willens is downright comical at times, in addition to being dour and unfriendly much of the time. This debate was held in 2018, but Willens talks like the debate was held in 1965. He insists the WC got it right and denies that anyone has found any major errors in the WC's conclusions.

The consequences of the liberal betrayal of South Vietnam: 60,000 South Vietnamese executed by the Communists following the fall of Saigon after the so-called "anti-war movement" and most news outlets succeeded in pressuring Congress to break our promise to maintain adequate aid to South Vietnam. At least 700,000 South Vietnamese sent to Communist concentration camps, where the death rate was at least 5%. An exodus of at least 800,000 "boat people" following the Communist takeover of South Vietnam. The remaining 17 million South Vietnamese forced to suffer under Communist tyranny, which included massive looting by Communist forces, the revocation of private property rights, the abolition of private education, the Communist takeover of all public schools and their curriculum, and the denial of the basic rights of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press. And while all of these terrible things were happening, liberal "anti-war" protestors actually celebrated North Vietnam's victory and had nothing to say about the terrible human suffering imposed by the Hanoi regime.

I think this is erroneous. Most major newspapers endorsed Carter in 1980 and painted Reagan as a dangerous extremist who would lead us into WW III. Even in 1984, with a roaring economy and high public confidence, the majority of major newspapers endorsed the feckless Walter Mondale over Reagan. In the 2004, most major newspapers endorsed Kerry over Bush, and even the majority of non-major newspapers endorsed Kerry. The daily circulation of the newspapers that endorsed Kerry was nearly 50% larger than the circulation of the newspapers that endorsed Bush. In 2012, virtually every major newspaper and most non-major ones endorsed Obama, even with a sluggish economy, the recent debacle in Benghazi, and mediocre stock market performance. As for the TV networks, MSNBC is far left. CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS are dominated by liberal commentators. CNBC is somewhere in the middle. And, Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax TV are conservative. I might add that no network has given RFK Jr. more coverage and more favorable coverage than Fox News.

Indeed. It is remarkable and revealing that neither the WC nor the HSCA acknowledged, much less discussed, the dramatic Z226-232 sequence when JFK is visibly knocked forward and his hands and elbows are flung forward and upward. At the very least, this sequence is just as obvious as the Z238-246 sequence when Connally's right shoulder is slammed downward, his cheeks puff, and a pained expression appears on his face. SBT adherents continue to ignore the Z226-232 sequence because it refutes any version of the SBT. The sequence indicates that JFK was hit in Z224, which is when most WC apologists now claim the magic-bullet hit occurred. But, if WC apologists acknowledge the Z226-232 sequence, then they have to explain why Connally's dramatic right-shoulder collapse and cheek puffing do not start until Z238, since they claim he was hit in Z224. (They also have to wish away the clear indications that JFK began to react to a different wound many frames before Z224.) Speaking of Connally's Z238-246 reaction, his two surgeons studied the Zapruder film and agreed that Connally was hit two to four frames before his reaction: Dr. Robert Shaw, Connally's chest surgeon, after studying the Zapruder film, concluded that Connally was hit at Z236, "give or take 1 or 2 frames." Dr. Charles Gregory, Connally's wrist surgeon, after studying the Zapruder film, concluded that Connally was hit between Z234 and Z238. Of course, Connally himself, the person who actually experienced the wounding, after studying high-quality blowups of the Zapruder film, said he was hit at Z234 and stated he was certain he was not hit before Z231.

The corporate/Republican machine hasn't even begun to turn on the MSM political attack heat on RFK Jr. FYI, most of the MSM is controlled by liberal Democrats. Most of the harsh attacks and smears against RFK Jr. have come from liberals. RFK has some odd associations with right wing types. That's very confusing. It is not confusing at all--it is encouraging and refreshing. One of the main reasons I am intrigued by his candidacy is that I can tell he is not a rabid partisan or a rigid idealogue. In this regard, he is much like JFK was.

Where in the world do you see any racism in Larry's comment? Where? What is remotely racist about saying we can't afford to have Harris or Trump as president? You are reading miles between the lines and inferring motives and intentions out of thin air. And, just FYI, Trump is not "uneducated." He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics. In case you don't know, Wharton is considered one of the best business schools in the world. No one who graduates from Wharton can be called "uneducated."

Pretending a problem does not exist will not make it go away. There are stark contradictions between the autopsy report and the autopsy skull x-rays. The autopsy report describes a low fragment trail that is nowhere to be seen on the skull x-rays. Equally problematic, the skull x-rays show an obvious high fragment trail that is not mentioned, much less described, in the autopsy report. The only innocent explanation for these contradictions is wildly implausible, namely, that Humes committed the incomprehensible blunder of mistaking the high fragment trail for a trail that was several inches lower and that ran between two fixed reference points that were clearly below the high fragment trail (the EOP and the right orbit). The graphic below illustrates just how mind-boggling an error this would have been. Moreover, even if we assume that Humes committed this astonishing blunder, we must still explain how a bullet that entered slightly above the EOP could have left the high fragment trail, i.e., a fragment trail that starts several inches above the EOP and that has no tract that even remotely connects it with the entry site. OTOH, if we reject the EOP entry site and accept the Clark Panel-HSCA higher entry point (the "inshoot" in the graphic), we must explain how three pathologists could have "mislocated" this wound by a whopping 10 cm/3.93 inches, and how they could have believed that a fragment trail ran from the EOP to the right orbit if the entry point was nearly 4 inches higher.

I notice he kept mispronouncing "nuclear" as "nu-cu-lar." One of his aides needs to get him to fix that. I recall that critics endlessly needled George W. Bush for mispronouncing the word.

Uh. . . . Umm. . . . Are you implying that Putin is not a thug and a despot? Just in the last year, Putin has murdered thousands of civilians in Ukraine with missile and artillery attacks on civilian areas, including schools, malls, apartment buildings, churches, daycare centers, hospitals, etc. Since 1992, at least 83 journalists have been killed in Russia, while over a dozen have gone "missing." Yes, Putin is most certainly a Stalinist thug and despot, and a murderer. And, no, Russia is not a "pretty nice place to live."

This is exactly the kind of spineless, appeasing mindset that led Europe to stand by and do nothing about Hitler until it was too late. It is also the same tragically misguided mindset that led America to do nothing about Stalin until it was too late. No, it is not inevitable that China will take over Taiwan. As long as we remain strong enough to defend Taiwan, and as long as China is convinced that we will come to Taiwan's defense, China will not attack Taiwan. It is no more inevitable that China will take over Taiwan than it is that Russia will regain control of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, etc. When dictators fear that the price of aggression will be too costly, they refrain from aggression. Would you have abandoned Afghanistan to Soviet rule after the Soviets invaded? Jimmy Carter and then Ronald Reagan, to their great credit, chose to send large amounts of weapons to the Afghani resistance, and the Afghanis, largely because of the arms we provided, were able to inflict so many casualties on Soviet forces and destroy so many Soviet planes, helicopters, and tanks that the Soviets decided to withdraw eight years after invading. It is a miracle that Ukraine has done so amazingly well in fighting off the Russian invasion. Now, they just need enough offensive weapons to take the offensive to force the Russians to leave their country. What is there to "negotiate" with Putin? He invaded a peaceful, liberal democracy, in violation of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in which Russia promised to respect the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine. Although I wish Biden had done more earlier on, I applaud his sending of massive arms shipments to Ukraine and his recent approval of fighter jets for Ukraine. Why is it that so many liberals seem incapable of learning the basic lesson of history that weakness and appeasement invite aggression and war?

Speaking of the paper bag that Oswald carried to work that day: The Warren Commission claimed that Oswald made the brown paper bag from wrapping paper available to him at the Book Depository. However, an FBI report written shortly after the assassination said that the paper from the Depository "was examined by the FBI laboratory and found not to be identical with the paper gun case. . . ." (5:449, emphasis added). But the "corrected version" of this FBI report said, "This paper was examined and found to have the same observable characteristics" as Oswald's paper bag. When asked to explain the contradiction, the FBI said the initial report was "inaccurate" and was "mistakenly passed along to the Warren Commission." As Marrs observes, "this incident raises the question of how many other assassination documents stated one thing and were subsequently 'revised.' And if there do exist 'revised' documents in federal files, how would anyone know unless the originals accidentally slip out, as in this case?" (5:449). If the brown paper bag was used to carry the Carcano, it is odd that no traces of oil were found on it, since the rifle was well oiled when it was discovered. In fact, when the Carcano was examined by the FBI the day after the shooting, oil was found on surface of the rifle. Yet, not only did the bag contain no oil traces, but it showed no creases that matched the outline of the alleged murder weapon (68:66). But wasn't the paper bag found in the sniper's nest? If it was, then it is astonishing that it wasn't photographed there along with the three shells and the boxes that were allegedly used as a gun rest. Not only did Lt. Day and Detective Studebaker, the two policemen who were supposed to take crime-scene pictures, inexplicably "fail" to photograph the bag in the sniper's nest, but the bag does not appear in any of the photos that were taken of the nest on the afternoon of the shooting. There are photos of the shells in the nest, and photos of the gun-rest boxes, but not one of these pictures shows the bag, even though most of them show the area where the bag was allegedly lying. Some Warren Commission apologists have offered the admittedly weak suggestion that Day and Studebaker didn't photograph the bag in the nest because no one "pointed it out to them." This is surely an unbelievable theory. The bag would have been in plain view; the policemen would have hardly needed anyone to "point it out" to them. The other explanation is that the bag was removed before photos could be taken of it. Aside from being suspiciously convenient, this explanation immediately raises the question of why anyone would have moved the bag before it could be photographed. Furthermore, the testimony of the police officers at the scene is highly contradictory on the issue of when the bag was moved (as well as on such matters as where the bag was located, what it looked like, what else was lying beside it, and whether it was a "bag" at all). In addition, these policemen surely knew better than to move a piece of evidence before it had been photographed at the crime scene. (Hasty Judgment, pp. 17-18)

I think some of Baker's criticisms are valid and some are either wrong or exaggerated. My main concern about RFK Jr. is that he would be weak on national defense and would pressure Ukraine to make unreasonable and risky concessions to get Putin to halt his brutal invasion. I fear that China would see his election as a green light to attack Taiwan and to take control of key Asian shipping lanes. Still, I would take RFK Jr. over Biden.

JFK's movement of his left arm upward toward his throat in Z224 is revealing because in the Z170s until about Z195 his left arm appears relaxed on his lap and, more important, is at the level of his stomach. Compare the position of his left arm in Z224 with its position in Z177, Z188, and Z195. It is slightly higher in Z199 than in earlier frames, and in Z224 his left arm is clearly higher than it has been at any point before that moment. Obviously, in Z224 he has already started to reach toward his throat with his left hand, and in Z225 we see that he has already started doing the same thing with his right hand. Indeed, 20 frames earlier, in Z205, his right hand has been brought inward and is in front of his face--he is obviously no longer waving. Clearly, JFK began reaching toward his throat many frames before Z224. There is no way his arms and hands could be in their Z224-Z225 position in response to a Z224 hit. Humans cannot move limbs that quickly, not even involuntarily. And, needless to say, his Z200-205 movements are obviously the beginning of his action of reaching toward his throat, just as the HSCA photographic experts noted. We know from Willis slide 5 that this shot was fired at Z186-190. Blur analysis of the Zapruder film powerfully confirms this: the strongest blur episode in the entire film occurs in Z189-197.

Let us remember this important fact: Jackie herself said that she turned to the right because she heard "terrible noises," not because some girls were calling to her: I was looking this way, to the left, and I heard these terrible noises. You know. And my husband never made any sound. So I turned to the right. (5 H 180) And after she turned to the right, her head remained frozen in place looking straight at JFK from Z204 until Z249. Deep down, we all know that she was staring at JFK because he was reacting to his first wound. Perhaps I should mention that I do believe that JFK was hit at Z224 because he is visibly knocked forward and his hands and elbows fling forward and upward starting in Z226, but this is clearly a separate hit from the shot that causes him to freeze his waving motion, snap his head to the left, and start to bring his hands toward his throat starting at around Z200. The first hit was fired at Z186-190 and hit him in the throat. The second hit was fired at Z224 and obviously hit him in the back. I am still waiting for someone to offer a rational explanation for how a Z224 hit on Connally could have taken 14 frames to start slamming his right shoulder downward, when Kennedy's entire upper body and elbows and hands are jolted forward by the Z224 hit on him.

You continue to post specious denials of reality. Starting in Z200, JFK turns his head rapidly to the left and his right hand freezes its waving motion. I suspect you'll never admit it, but to anyone not determined to deny reality, it is obvious that this is when JFK starts to bring his hands inward to reach for his throat. It is equally obvious that this is why Jackie's head freezes in place and remains turned toward JFK until she starts to reach out to help him. And, eee-gads, JFK's left arm is not "relaxed" in Z223. What in the world are you looking at? Is this another "I see lots of missing brain in the autopsy brain photo" phenomenon? In Z224, 54 milliseconds later, JFK has brought his left forearm inward near his chest and his hand is approaching his throat! Yikes, I guess you just "can't see this," right? You're still citing the meaningless Z224 lapel flip, assuming it's not an optical illusion? It was nowhere near the exit wound, and was almost certainly caused by the gusting wind, if it even occurred. Theories don't "refuse to go away." People refuse to admit they are false.

WC defenders say they see Connally "wincing" just after he reemerges from behind the freeway sign, i.e., in Z222-230. Yet, Connally himself, after studying high-quality blowups of the Zapruder film for Life magazine, specifically said that he was not wincing in these frames. He also said he was not hit before Z231--and he, of course, was the guy who actually experienced the shooting. I see a look of concern, worry on Connally's face in Z222-230, but no wincing, no pained expression. Remember that Connally said that he immediately recognized the first loud bang that he heard as a gunshot, and that it occurred to him that this might be an assassination attempt. Thus, it is no surprise that he has a worried, concerned look on his face when he reemerges from behind the road sign. WC defenders also claim to see Connally's shoulders and upper torso stiffening in Z222-230. I actually agree with this. I, too, see this stiffening. However, this stiffening was not an indication that a bullet had just torn through his chest and right wrist; rather, it was a natural reaction to (1) having just heard what he recognized as a gunshot and (2) his concern that it indicated an assassination attempt. When you suddenly become alarmed, much of your body will stiffen. This is a natural reaction. Connally had just heard a gunshot and feared it might mean danger, so of course his shoulders and upper body stiffened and he exhibited a worried look on his face. But a bullet clearly does not strike Connally until Z234, just as he said, because we see his large right shoulder slammed downward just 4/16ths of a second later, starting in Z238, just as he described. He said the bullet's impact felt like someone hit him with great force. Not only is his right shoulder knocked downward at this point, but his cheeks puff and a pained expression appears on face for the first time. It is obvious that Connally was hit long after JFK was hit. This is clear to anyone who is willing to admit what their eyes can plainly see. Connally was right when he insisted he was not hit before Z231 and when he identified Z234 as the moment of impact. Nellie Connally was right when she insisted that she saw JFK reaching for his throat before she even heard the shot that hit her husband. These facts explain why Jackie's head is already frozen in place and why she is already looking intently at JFK in Z221, and why she continues to do so for 28 more frames before she reaches out to help him. I think these facts are one reason that the Zapruder film was withheld from the public for so long. Those who edited the film could not remove every problematic sequence and reaction. They could only do so much alteration. They realized that the edited version, though not as damaging as the original, was still very problematic for a lone-shooter scenario.

You know this is not what the Zapruder film shows, and you know that Jackie badly mangled the order of events in the shooting sequence. But, true to form, you accept her impossible account, even though the Zapruder film proves she was thoroughly confused and wrong. You claim that 40-plus witnesses, including doctors in nurses, in three different locations, could not tell the difference between a large wound in back of the head and a large wound over the right ear. You claim that Hunes could not tell the difference between the high fragment trail near the very top of the skull and a trail that was several inches lower and that ran between two fixed reference points. But, you accept Jackie's mangled account because you don't want to face what the Zapruder film clearly shows. We can see in the Zapruder film that Jackie's head freezes in place from Z204 through Z249, and that her gaze is fixed on JFK during these frames. This is indisputably clear in Z221, regardless of what you want to imagine she is doing before then. Yes, of course, JFK and Jackie had earlier turned to the right, and, yes, we see JFK waving at people to his right in the Z180s. No one denies this. But, as the HSCA PEP noted, this changes dramatically starting at around Z200, when JFK's right hand suddenly freezes in mid-motion and he starts to bring his hands toward his throat. In Z205, his right hand is in front of his mouth, and in Z224 his left forearm is clearly bent inward and his hand is approaching his throat. It is a new level absurdity and unseriousness to propose that JFK freezes his waving motion and starts to reach for his throat because he injured his back when he turned to his right to wave at the crowd. If I were inclined to waste more time on this farcical theory, I might ask why anyone would reach for their throat after injuring their lower back. When a person is injured, they naturally, instinctively reach for the injured area. If you hurt your knee, you reach for your knee. If you suffer a cramp in your left thigh, you reach for your left thigh. If you pinch a nerve or strain a muscle in your lower back, you don't reach for your throat. Deep down in some corner of your mind, you must recognize the self-evident fact that JFK is reacting to being shot and that his reaction is obviously why Jackie is looking intently at him in Z221 and why she continues to stare at him until she begins to reach out to him in Z250. The problem is that you will not admit this because it destroys the SBT and the lone-gunman theory along with it.

Connally's wrist may have been hit at Z295, which would explain why he was able to keep gripping his hat for so long after the supposed magic-bullet hit. (Even the HSCA FPP could not explain how Connally was able to keep holding his hat, a fact that Dr. Wecht emphasized in his dissent.) However, how do you explain the dramatic collapse of Connally's right shoulder that starts in Z238, especially since Connally said the bullet's impact felt like someone hit him hard in the back? The visible slamming down of his shoulder matches perfectly with his determination that he was hit at Z234 and that the impact felt like a hard blow. As for the comical speculation (not yours) that JFK injured his back when he turned his head quickly to the left and that this head turn injured him and caused him to bring his hands toward his throat, what can one say in response to such a strained, bizarre argument? Here's the problem: Anyone with two working eyes can see that Jackie snaps her head to the right starting at around Z193, and that by Z204 her gaze is fixed on JFK and is still fixed on him in Z221. So, obviously, JFK began to react to his first wound many frames before Z224. Thus, now we hear the laughable theory that JFK was reacting because he had just injured his back! LOL! I'm sorry, but LOL! Even in her jumbled, partial recollection, Jackie said that when she turned to look at JFK, "his hand was up" and he had a "quizzical look on his face." Clearly, she was referring to when JFK began to bring his hands up toward his throat, and the quizzical look on his face was abnormal compared to every previous frame and photo of JFK before that point. How in the world do you interpret her description as saying "she saw nothing wrong with JFK at that time"? How? If she had seen nothing wrong with him when she first looked at him, she would not have continued to stare at him through Z249, just before she starts to reach out to him. After starting at him since Z204, she starts to reach out to him in Z250, obviously to try to help him. Again, we can all see these things. They are undeniable. It is just a matter of being willing to admit it. But, you and others just cannot do this because you would have to abandon the SBT and with it the lone-gunman theory.

You don't know that Oswald carried the bag tucked under his armpit. You are taking Frazier's word for this and are rejecting Dougherty's clear, adamant recollection that Oswald had nothing in his hands when he entered the TSBD. And if the paper bag in evidence is the one Oswald carried, and if Oswald carried the disassembled Carcano in that bag, why was there not one speck of oil in/on the bag?

Deputy CIA director Marshall Carter, left; director John McCone, right. DDCI Carter voiced his displeasure with the deal struck between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the latter whom agreed to remove missiles from Cuba if the United States promised not to invade Cuba and eventually remove missiles from Turkey: In terms of the conditions agreed upon with the Soviets, DDCI Carter felt the U.S. was much worse off than prior to October 1962: After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and what this top CIA man considered a weak response to the missile crisis, resentment towards the president was growing dangerously. ---30--- As we all know, Carter's expression of bitterness and anger, as sharp as it was, pales in comparison to the sentiments expressed by the CIA officers who worked with the anti-Castro Cubans and by many of the anti-Castro Cubans themselves. One can certainly raise valid objections to JFK's refusal to provide sufficient support to Brigade 2506 after the invasion started to flounder, but all rational persons must applaud JFK's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.