A short post for the conspiracy naysayers.

[ColesCountyDem]

251. I'm not at all angry with the CT folks-- I simply think they're wrong.

Criminal conspiracies DO exist, even conspiracies to assassinate the President of the United States-- Abraham Lincoln, e.g. -- so I'm not one of those who immediately attacks a CT as 'whacked out' or 'crazy'. Having said that, I do think that the Warren Commission got it MOSTLY right. As they say here, "Even a blind hog finds an acorn, now and then".

By training, I am a lawyer (Drake University Law School, Class of 1982), although I chose to use my degree in both business and government. Law students are required to take a two semester-long classes in Evidence. One of the legal principles of evidence in the Anglo-Saxon system a student is taught is the principle of 'best evidence'. That is to say, the best evidence of a writing, photograph, recording, etc., is the thing itself. Absent the original, the 'best evidence' becomes a certified copy of the original, an un-certified copy of the original, supported by sworn testimony, etc., etc., etc. .

A great many crimes have unanswered questions, at the time of trial. Indeed, even after trial, questions often remain unanswered. The facts that a question or questions remain unanswered does not render it impossible to prove every element of a crime 'beyond a reasonable doubt, and to a moral certainty'. In 2013, what is able to be proven about the murder of President John Kennedy in Dallas TX on November 22, 1963, using the best evidence, is that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, killed the President.

The Warren Commission did the American people a great disservice in that it reached the correct conclusion, but did so in an extremely flawed manner:

1.) There was no 'magic bullet', nor was it 'pristine', by any means. More than anything else, the Warren Commission's conclusion regarding the bullet that struck both President Kennedy and Governor Connally, Jr., has given fuel to the fires of CT's. Relying upon a flawed understanding of where the President and Governor were seated in the limousine, coupled with their grossly inaccurate description of the bullet found on the Governor's stretcher at Parkland Hospital, the Commission gave CT's their "AHA!" evidence. We now know that the Governor was not seated directly in front of the President, but was, rather, seated inboard and to the left of the President, allowing the bullet to align perfectly with the sniper and to produce all 7 wounds. Further, while the bullet recovered from the Governor's stretcher lost little mass, it was both flattened (oblate) and bent-- hardly 'pristine'. A copper-jacketed, military-style bullet, which the 'magic bullet' was, is designed to perform and behave precisely as it behaved that day.

2.) The Commission's second-most egregious error that has fueled the fire of CT's was its inability to clearly explain the movement of President Kennedy's head, following the third and fatal shot. I do not propose to answer the question of "why" they did not do so, but simply submit that they did not adequately do so. The 'backward movement' of the President's head, clearly observable in the Zapruder film, is the result of simple physics and entirely consistent with a gunshot wound to the back of the President's head, the bullet exiting from the right parietal an temporal areas of the cranium. Simply stated, the force of the ejected brain, bone, etc., provided 'thrust' that caused the President's head to move to the rear. Although counter-intuitive, the backward movement of the President's head is absolutely logical, under the law of physics.

I could go on and on in a 'point by point' refutation of various "Then how do you explain _______?", but I won't, since it is not my intention to add to the myriad tomes regarding the Kennedy assassination. My sole purpose has been to acknowledge that there ARE unanswered and, possibly, unanswerable questions regarding President Kennedy's murder, but that does not mean that the 'best evidence' available does NOT prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt, and to a moral certainty' who was and is responsible for his death-- Lee H. Oswald.

Thanks for hearing me out!