Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Max Holland is back. He's at it again, pushing his ridiculous theory that Oswald fired the first shot (the one that missed) when the limo was still in the intersection, and the bullet ricocheted off the traffic light fixture, shed its jacket, and sailed down the length of Dealey Plaza to hit the curb and make James Tague a part of history.

I'll give you the link to his long, "scientific" research paper, but I suspect few will read the whole thing.  It's tough to wade through. But, I'll give you the gist of it. 

http://www.acsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DeRonja-Holland-1.pdf

So, the gist of it is that it's all about failure. Multiple failures. I mean multiple failures to find the evidence that Max was looking for, which was evidence that the traffic light mast arm- or other metal part of it- could be shown to be indented as expected from a bullet impacting it. He NEVER found such evidence. 

I'll take a moment to point out that we know where the missed bullet came from. It was fired from a low elevation in the Dal-Tex building. And the reason it went the whole length of Dealey Plaza is because it was travelling, for the most part, parallel with the ground.  Eventually, gravity took it down, but that's the reason it went so far. It certainly wasn't fired at a steep downward angle from the 6th floor. 

I repeat and I quote: they found "no clear physical characteristics of a bullet indentation imprint." But, they decided to make do with a "slight surface tactile disturbance" and call it a "likely ricochet impact area."

OK, now I'm going to put up what they wrote because this a classic case of pounding a square peg into a round hole:

"However, because the sleeve of the traffic signal light hanger was originally close to that site (of the slight surface tactile disturbance) and in the same alignment as the mast arm, it could have been struck instead. A glancing ricochet to the hanger sleeve would have redirected the bullet core in a direction similar to that which was concluded for the mast arm from the firing tests. Inasmuch as the hanger part was not available for examination, it could not be eliminated as a possible location for the ricochet impact point."

So, after all that laborious effort to finger the mast arm, Holland moves on to a new speculation: the hanger sleeve. But, they didn't have the hanger sleeve. 

Then, he goes back to the mast arm and gives a techno-babble explanation to support that 50 years of weathering would destroy any evidence of a bullet impact on the mast arm. 

"Hence, it is unreasonable to expect to find physical evidence of a glancing bullet strike on the signal light mast arm after nearly fifty years of atmospheric exposure."

Oh, really, Max? Are you sure about that? Bu, regardless, Max: not being hit also results in no physical evidence of a glancing bullet strike on the mast arm. So, what have you really got here?

Then, based on a witness reported to see "something" bounce off the pavement, Max concludes that that was the bullet jacket fragment hitting the ground after the separated core was on its merry way sailing down the length of Dealey Plaza. 

So, after all his pseudo-scientific garbage, Max helps himself to this conclusion:

"It is reasonable to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald’s first shot from the sixth floor window of the Texas School Depository missed the presidential limousine and all its occupants because the bullet struck and was deflected by the traffic signal light structure at the northwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets. The bullet contact with the mast arm stripped the jacket from the core and redirected the core on a path to the ground by the concrete skirt on the south side of Elm Street; from there the core ricocheted toward and subsequently struck the Main Street curb downrange from the skirt, where the FBI Laboratory found metal residue from the bullet core impact on the curb. Although a bullet footprint was not found on the mast arm, a shallow rusted depression was located where the strike would have occurred. Such localized rusting would not likely have occurred if the original protective paint coatings and metal in that area were not mechanically disturbed. A glancing bullet footprint cannot be expected to survive over fifty years of corrosion rusting. The bullet strike to the mast arm was most likely 22 in (56 cm) from the signal light end, but the possibility that the strike was to the missing and unexamined signal light hangar could not be eliminated."

I'll tell you what can be eliminated: any serious consideration of that ridiculous hypothesis. Now, I'm going to tell you what really happened.

Let's start with the section of curbstone that the missed shot hit. It was air-hammered out and taken by the FBI. They conducted spectrograph and trace analysis testing of the area of impact. 

The report, in August 1964, came from Hoover. He said that lead and antimony were found, but no copper. The lack of copper meant that it wasn't a standard military infantry bullet, said Hoover. Hoover also said that the small amount of damage to the curbstone meant that it didn't involve a high-powered rifle.  He also said it could not have been caused by a high-caliber bullet. (And note that multiple witnesses said that the first shot had a weaker report.)

When Harold Weisberg tried to get a look at the spectrograph analysis plate of the first shot fired, he was told that the FBI had destroyed it to save space at their national headquarters. Keep in mind that their headquarters are the size of a city block. The plate was 1/32 inch in thickness. 

So, what does the lack of copper mean? How about that the bullet did not have a copper jacket? I realize that that rules out Oswald, but hey, that's not my problem.

Now, I am quoting ballistics expert Orlando Martin:

"The low impact point of this projectile irrefutably indicates that it was fired from a low point of origin relative to the target. Given its known impact point, low and 400 feet past the President's vehicle, it becomes undeniably clear that Oswald could not have taken this shot from the height of the sixth floor."

Note that in Oliver Stone's movie JFK, the first shot is depicted as coming from a low elevation in the Dal-Tex building. And, it is the only place it could have come from to give it a trajectory that would take it down the length of Dealey Plaza. 

This is from an article of mine that goes back to 2011, a review of Max Holland's tv The Lost Bullet. Entitled, Lies, Damn Lies, and National Geographic it is very visible on the net.

But, there is no basis for assuming the bullet deflected before it hit the curb. What happened is that it was shot from a low elevation; it sailed over Kennedy’s head, perhaps not by much, and then it kept going until it ran out of gas, and gravity took it down. Like many other assassination researchers, Orlando Martin believes that the most likely place where the first gunman was perched was a low elevation in the Dal-Tex building, which was east of the Book Depository, on the northeast corner of Houston and Elm. 

Here is the link to my article:

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/11/ralph-cinque/lies-damn-lies-and-national-geographic/

Max: you're wrong about everything. The first shot was not taken from the 6th floor, and regardless, Oswald was not on the 6th floor. He was standing in the doorway, six floors below. The photographic evidence proves it beyond any doubt. Your whole theory that the first shot ricocheted is rubbish, and your hapless attempt to find physical evidence on the remaining traffic light structures is childish and pathetic. 

This "scientific" paper of yours is pure fantasy. It's garbage, Max. Pseudo-scientific garbage. And I'll add that it's over for you and yours. The Oswald Innocence Campaign is here, and we know Oswald was innocent, and the official story is a lie. And it shall be revealed to the world. That's a promise, Max.