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

Alen, I read your paper, and first, you are absolutely right that JFK was hit with a neurotoxin. The spastic paralysis he exhibited was pathognomonic of that, and there is no possibility it was caused by any physical trauma. And the fact is that, to that point, his physical trauma was minimal. The hole in his back was nothing. It was a deep scratch. And remember that they kept probing it with their fingers, and each time you do that, you make it bigger.

And as far as his neck goes, I don't assume his larynx was damaged. And it certainly wasn't the reason he didn't speak. If it was just that, then we would have seen him trying to speak and then trying to communicate non-verbally in lieu of speaking. But, he never made any attempt to speak, and it was clear that he wasn't up to it mentally. 

Now, as far as which neurotoxin he was hit with, I agree that it's very significant that William Colby mentioned shellfish toxin as being an intended weapon. I have no experience with anyone stricken with shellfish toxin, and I can't say whether JFK's clinical presentation conformed to it. Remember, he was not "paralyzed" due to denervation. It was just the opposite; he had uncontrolled and unrelenting innervation which froze his muscles in spasm. And I will say that I am extremely disappointed that more doctors haven't recognized the fact that JFK exhibits extreme muscular dyskinesia. Apparently, even doctors are affected by the "JFK-land" syndrome, where strange developments are brushed off because it's the JFK assassination where weird stuff happened. Well, we shouldn't do that. There is no JFK-land. It was the real world where the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology apply. And for a man to be riding down the road, in normal composure and consciousness, and then be hit and then manifesting the symptoms of a neuromuscular disorder plus a complete cognitive breakdown- there has to be a cause for that. 

So yes, the obvious patho-physiology of JFK being ignored by doctors is very frustrating to me. 

But, regarding the umbrella as a weapon, Cutler and Sprague were just speculating. They never built a functioning umbrella gun. Whether such a thing is even possible, remains to be seen. And your idea that the missile involved plastic and a feather, and these materials dissolved? How? I can't even imagine that happening. But, I do know that ice could vanish quickly, not just from melting, but because ice is inherently unstable and bursts easily. And by contaminating it with minerals which interfere with the delicate crystalline structure of widely spaced hydrogen and oxygen atoms in ice, you can make it burst even more easily.  

And realize that it could have been a cocktail of drugs. It wasn't necessarily just one. And when you recognize that possibility, then the sky is the limit. 

So, there is a lot we don't know. But, what we do know is that JFK went very quickly from normal awareness, cognition, and muscular control into a helpless, spasmodic state, accompanied by complete mental collapse. And since he suffered no physical trauma that could explain it, intoxication is the ONLY modality that can. It's not just a possibility. It's an absolute certainty. Thank you. 

Ralph