grizz - Glad you posted, Grigio and all - (had the same this eve', nice summer's night here.)
Among the many highly-experienced contributors are a few here who do flight safety work in it's many iterations.
The people who do flight safety work instantly recognize special interests, the stench of political statements and interference from those who pronounce from their title and their office but who know nothing about aviation or flight safety, and the earnest but inexperienced notions about what happened in this or that accident, all harmless enough, but one never learns while talking or thinking of something to say when someone else is talking.
There are a precious but tiny group here who, while not specialists in aviation, are serious in learning about this industry and what makes it tick from the people who do the work. They ask questions here, read widely, listen to others, ponder and mostly remain silent because they know what they don't know.
You are precisely correct in saying, "Investigators (be they aircraft accident investigators, homicide cops, pathologists, insurance investigators, or whatever) look at evidence and say “what is this and what does it tell me?” "
Lotta wisdom in that statement. How was the Pino?