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I didn't read the article but a few months ago I randomly came across https://www.posner.com/case-closed https://www.posner.com/case-closed and gave it a read.

I didn't read the article but a few months ago I randomly came across https://www.posner.com/case-closed https://www.posner.com/case-closed and gave it a read. I haven't really read much else about the Kennedy assassination and the various conspiracy theories (certainly no other 400p books on the subject) but came away from the reading pretty impressed with the thoroughness of the argument. Spoiler alert, the argument is that the official story that Oswald acted alone is almost certainly correct and evidence to the contrary is entirely unconvincing when examined in detail.

PaulRobinson 3y ago
How does this book account for the magic bullet, an exit wound to the back of the head, gun smoke seem from another location, eyewitness reports of Oswald that make it impossible for him to make the shots in those timeframes, or the eyewitness reports of a "police officer" near the grassy knoll that was never accounted for or found? The magic bullet and exit wound - as seen on film kept from Americans for years - were enough to convince me the lone gunman theory was nonsense, but the rest of it also needs some accounting for.
- ianburrell 3y ago
  The magic bullet took a straight trajectory through Kennedy and Connolly. Modern theory is that they weren't seated in a straight line and Connolly was turned. Oswald could definitely have made the shots. He was a trained Marine marksman. There have been multiple tests showing that it is possible to make the shots. Kennedy had a small entry in back of the head. The explosion on top and side of head was not the entry wound. There isn't an exit wound because it was probably in damaged area so could say explosion was the exit wound. Remember that he was hit with rifle bullet that causes lots more damage than handgun.
  - PaulRobinson 3y ago
    But you can see from video evidence that they were sat aligned and Connolly was not turned. If you are in the room, you might be able to make the shots - although the FBI failed to, and Oswald was a lousy shot - but my main problem is that he could not have moved through the building as needed without being seen by some people, and not by others who did. The photos of Kennedy do not show a small wound in the back of the head. They are distressing for a number of reasons, not least they clearly show the back of the head has exploded out.
    - sparky_z 3y ago
      On the contrary, what you can see in the Zapruder film is comletely consistent with the bullet trajectories lining up. [0] This documentary I watched recently is long, but it puts all the eyewitness testimony of Oswald in the depository building into one big spacial timeline [1]. There are some inconsistencies (like you would expect when aggregating a bunch of eyewitness testimony from fallible humans) but there's nothing there that made me think there was something nefarious going on. Anything specific you had in mind? As far as the autopsy photos go, I know the photo you're referring to, and you're misinterpreting it. Here are some medical illustrations [still kinda graphic, but not photographs] of the part that "exploded out" [2] and what the actual hole in the back of his head looked like when you held that part back in place [3]: [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HSCA-JFK-head-7-125.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HSCA-JFK-head-7-125.jpg [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JFK_posterior_head_wound.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JFK_posterior_head_wound....
      - sparky_z 3y ago
        Too late to edit, but the [1] link should be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7euN1HTuU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7euN1HTuU
    - ianburrell 3y ago
      The autopsy of Kennedy shows small wound in the back of head, top and side blown off, and no wound in the front. The bullet fragments were in his head, which makes a forward shot impossible. The video is deceptive because it is from behind and doesn't see full explosion. Oswald was a good shot, he was rated sharpshooter and marksman in the Marines. Lots of people left to watch the motorcade. Memories are always unreliable. Oswald was supposed to be working. It is possible that FBI was working from bad info or incompetent. It was thought that the last two shots were rapid fire. But there is better info now that the shots were spaced out with plenty of time for bolt action rifle, and the "rapid fire" was echos. Lots of people have recreated the shots, some not that good shots.
- thinkharderdev 3y ago
  > gun smoke seem from another location, eyewitness reports of Oswald that make it impossible for him to make the shots in those timeframes, or the eyewitness reports of a "police officer" near the grassy knoll that was never accounted for or found Not sure what specifically you are referring to with all of them, but in general it covers the various eyewitness reports used to establish multiple shooters. In short (and would really recommend reading the book if you are interested in the subject) they are not credible. Often inconsistent (both internally as the stories are told on different occasions) and also mutually inconsistent. There were a lot of people there that day and it was quite chaotic after the assassination. It doesn't seem that implausible to me that there would be a lot of conflicting information from eyewitnesses. But the eyewitness testimony taken as a whole is completely consistent with Oswald firing all three shots from the Book Depository. > magic bullet From memory, there was nothing "magical" about the magic bullet. The injuries on both Kennedy and Connelly and the video evidence are completely consistent with the official story that a bullet hit Kennedy in the back of the neck, exited through his throat and then hit Connelly in the the thigh. > exit wound I assume you mean the story that there was an exit wound on the back of Kennedy's head. But according to the actual autopsy that was not the case. He had an entry wound on the back of his head and exit wound on the side/front (again consistent with the official story). The story of a rear exit wound is from two doctors who treated Kennedy at the hospital in Dallas. They were not doing an autopsy. They were administering emergency medicine to a man whose head was covered in blood and brain fragments. And there accounts have been directly contradicted by other doctors who were there.

PaulRobinson 3y ago

How does this book account for the magic bullet, an exit wound to the back of the head, gun smoke seem from another location, eyewitness reports of Oswald that make it impossible for him to make the shots in those timeframes, or the eyewitness reports of a "police officer" near the grassy knoll that was never accounted for or found? The magic bullet and exit wound - as seen on film kept from Americans for years - were enough to convince me the lone gunman theory was nonsense, but the rest of it also needs some accounting for.

ianburrell 3y ago
The magic bullet took a straight trajectory through Kennedy and Connolly. Modern theory is that they weren't seated in a straight line and Connolly was turned. Oswald could definitely have made the shots. He was a trained Marine marksman. There have been multiple tests showing that it is possible to make the shots. Kennedy had a small entry in back of the head. The explosion on top and side of head was not the entry wound. There isn't an exit wound because it was probably in damaged area so could say explosion was the exit wound. Remember that he was hit with rifle bullet that causes lots more damage than handgun.
- PaulRobinson 3y ago
  But you can see from video evidence that they were sat aligned and Connolly was not turned. If you are in the room, you might be able to make the shots - although the FBI failed to, and Oswald was a lousy shot - but my main problem is that he could not have moved through the building as needed without being seen by some people, and not by others who did. The photos of Kennedy do not show a small wound in the back of the head. They are distressing for a number of reasons, not least they clearly show the back of the head has exploded out.
  - sparky_z 3y ago
    On the contrary, what you can see in the Zapruder film is comletely consistent with the bullet trajectories lining up. [0] This documentary I watched recently is long, but it puts all the eyewitness testimony of Oswald in the depository building into one big spacial timeline [1]. There are some inconsistencies (like you would expect when aggregating a bunch of eyewitness testimony from fallible humans) but there's nothing there that made me think there was something nefarious going on. Anything specific you had in mind? As far as the autopsy photos go, I know the photo you're referring to, and you're misinterpreting it. Here are some medical illustrations [still kinda graphic, but not photographs] of the part that "exploded out" [2] and what the actual hole in the back of his head looked like when you held that part back in place [3]: [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AlKUJHXYxQ&t=260s [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HSCA-JFK-head-7-125.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HSCA-JFK-head-7-125.jpg [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JFK_posterior_head_wound.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JFK_posterior_head_wound....
    - sparky_z 3y ago
      Too late to edit, but the [1] link should be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7euN1HTuU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7euN1HTuU
  - ianburrell 3y ago
    The autopsy of Kennedy shows small wound in the back of head, top and side blown off, and no wound in the front. The bullet fragments were in his head, which makes a forward shot impossible. The video is deceptive because it is from behind and doesn't see full explosion. Oswald was a good shot, he was rated sharpshooter and marksman in the Marines. Lots of people left to watch the motorcade. Memories are always unreliable. Oswald was supposed to be working. It is possible that FBI was working from bad info or incompetent. It was thought that the last two shots were rapid fire. But there is better info now that the shots were spaced out with plenty of time for bolt action rifle, and the "rapid fire" was echos. Lots of people have recreated the shots, some not that good shots.
thinkharderdev 3y ago
> gun smoke seem from another location, eyewitness reports of Oswald that make it impossible for him to make the shots in those timeframes, or the eyewitness reports of a "police officer" near the grassy knoll that was never accounted for or found Not sure what specifically you are referring to with all of them, but in general it covers the various eyewitness reports used to establish multiple shooters. In short (and would really recommend reading the book if you are interested in the subject) they are not credible. Often inconsistent (both internally as the stories are told on different occasions) and also mutually inconsistent. There were a lot of people there that day and it was quite chaotic after the assassination. It doesn't seem that implausible to me that there would be a lot of conflicting information from eyewitnesses. But the eyewitness testimony taken as a whole is completely consistent with Oswald firing all three shots from the Book Depository. > magic bullet From memory, there was nothing "magical" about the magic bullet. The injuries on both Kennedy and Connelly and the video evidence are completely consistent with the official story that a bullet hit Kennedy in the back of the neck, exited through his throat and then hit Connelly in the the thigh. > exit wound I assume you mean the story that there was an exit wound on the back of Kennedy's head. But according to the actual autopsy that was not the case. He had an entry wound on the back of his head and exit wound on the side/front (again consistent with the official story). The story of a rear exit wound is from two doctors who treated Kennedy at the hospital in Dallas. They were not doing an autopsy. They were administering emergency medicine to a man whose head was covered in blood and brain fragments. And there accounts have been directly contradicted by other doctors who were there.