Blogging is not truth, behavior is truth

[msfreeh]

https://robertscribbler.com/2017/06/30/ ... l-warming/

Scorching 129 Degree (F) Temps Hit Iran; Severe June European Heatwave Attributed to Climate Change; Satellite Data Confirms Rapid Global Warming


In a slew of climate change related news this week, Iran’s city of Ahvaz saw temperatures hit near the highest readings ever recorded on Earth, a new scientific model study has found that climate change made the recent heatwave that hit Europe this June two to ten times more likely, and climate change deniers lost a major cherry-picked talking point as the most recent satellite data now confirms the rapid global temperature rise that ground stations have been reporting all along.

129 F in Iran — Near Record for Globe, But Not a 35 C Wet Bulb Reading

On Thursday, in Ahvaz, Iran, temperatures hit a blazing 53.7 degrees Celsius or 128.66 degrees Fahrenheit. These temperatures were just shy of the 54 C (129.2 F) global records in Mitribah, Kuwait on July 21, 2016 and in California’s Death Valley on July 30, 2013 identified by Chris C Burt of Weather Underground. The reading was also the hottest temperature ever recorded in Asia.


This very severe high temperature came just one day after the thermometer struck 52.9 C (127.2 F) on Wednesday and is the strongest temperature spike of a broader Middle Eastern heatwave that has been baking the near-Persian-Gulf-region for many days. Such severe heat did not, however, tip wet bulb readings above the 35 C human self-cooling threshold despite an extremely hazardous heat index near 142 F. A combined dew point of 72 F, a 129 F temperature, and 995 hPa pressure resulted in wet bulb readings of around 30.2 C for the city — quite dangerous, but not beyond the human limit for temperature self-regulation.

June European Heatwave Attributed to Climate Change

As the Middle East was testing new all-time high temperature records for planet Earth, Europe was also sweltering under combined severe heat and drought. Throughout June, dry weather and high temperatures have plagued Europe. Extreme record heat sweltered the UK, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium — setting off heat emergencies and forcing some regions to ration water. Belgium as a country saw its highest night-time temperature readings on record. England endured its hottest day since 1976. Meanwhile, the heat and extreme dryness set off wildfires that resulted in the tragic loss of 64 lives in Portugal while 1,500 were forced to evacuate from similar extreme blazes in Spain.



(June heat set off a rash of extreme conditions across Europe. World Weather Attribution has linked this extreme event to climate change. Image source: Climate Central.)

This kind of heat is becoming more typical around the world as global temperatures have increased, on average by around 1.2 C since the 1880s. And a recent climate change model attribution study has confirmed that this particular heat wave was a lot worse than it otherwise would have been without the added kick provided by human-forced warming. For a study by World Weather Attribution found “clear and strong links between June’s record warmth and human-caused climate change.”

According to the new study:

“These high temperatures are no longer rare in the current climate, occurring roughly every 10 to 30 years depending on the country. The team found that climate change made the intensity and frequency of such extreme heat at least twice as likely in Belgium, at least four times as likely in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and central England and at least 10 times as likely in Portugal and Spain.”

Satellite Data Confirms Rapid Global Warming

In another climate science related development, remote sensing researchers at the University of California have significantly revised their lower troposphere temperature record. The revision corrected for orbital decay in satellites that caused the world to appear to warm more slowly than actual trends. As a result of these revisions, a significant subset of the satellite data now largely confirms the more accurate land based temperature record showing significant global warming over the past few decades.



(Satellite data revised to correct for orbital decay now basically confirms land-based observations of global temperature increase. Image source: Carbon Brief. Data Scource: RSS and NASA.)

Dr Carl Mears, a co-author of the new findings, in a statement to Carbon Brief noted:

By correctly accounting for the changes in satellite measurement times, the new satellite data are in better agreement with the surface data.

Carbon Brief goes on to add that:

Unlike the satellite temperature record, where only a few satellites are measuring temperatures at any given point of time, there is a large amount of redundancy in surface temperature observations, with multiple independent sets of data producing consistent results. Therefore, it is not too surprising that corrections to problems with satellite data would move them closer to surface records.

Climate change deniers (self-labeled skeptics), have long pointed to satellite data showing the Earth warming at a slower rate than land-based measures. These ‘skeptics’ have then gone on to falsely claim that such data throws the whole issue of human-caused climate change into doubt. But this same group has failed to acknowledge the fact that orbital decay, as pointed out by the very researchers that run the satellite sensors, tends to result in artificially cool readings.

The recent reworking of satellite data to account for orbital decay along with researchers’ direct acknowledgement of the higher accuracy of land-based data removes the rational scientific basis for this line of ‘climate skeptic’ argumentation and renders past assertions in this vein mostly moot.

Links:

Mercury Tips Record 53.7 C in Iran

World Weather Attribution

Europe’s Extreme June Heat Clearly Linked to Climate Change

Chris C Burt

Major Correction to Satellite Data Shows 140 Percent Faster Warming Since 1998

Hat tip to wili

Hat tip to bostonblurp




Link du jour



http://www.alanmagee.com/

https://defcongroups.org/dcpages.html

http://narconews.com


https://medium.com/@LoriHandrahan2/fede ... 1493c5b919


http://hollytornheim.com


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in- ... 74ebc0ef82



https://narcosphere.narconews.com/noteb ... ngling-all


The US president’s business partners in the Caribbean nation are linked to a Venezuelan tycoon who is allegedly the target of a major US investigation
By Bill Conroy
via The Narcosphere




https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/spe ... ge%2Fstory

Ancient Romans made the world’s ‘most durable’ concrete. We might use it to stop rising seas.
The mixture of volcanic ash and quicklime reacts with seawater to create a rare crystal called tobermorite, which may resist fracturing. One engineer called it "the most durable building material in human history."



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3300143

Missouri set to reduce St. Louis minimum wage from $10 to $7.70


BY TERENCE CULLEN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Tuesday, July 4, 2017, 12:37 PM



http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capita ... p-makes-it


Justice Department's Corporate Crime Watchdog Resigns, Saying Trump Makes It Impossible To Do Job
BY DAVID SIROTA @DAVIDSIROTA ON 07/02/17 AT 6:01 PM





http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3300059

Florida’s updated ‘Stand Your Ground’ law is unconstitutional: Miami judge


BY MEERA JAGANNATHAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, July 4, 2017, 11:13 AM



https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... c31552c66f

See which states would be hit hardest by the Senate’s Obamacare repeal bill
By Kim Soffen




https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... egulations


Trump's alarming environmental rollback: what's been scrapped so far
Since January, the White House, Congress and EPA have engineered a dizzying reversal of regulations designed to protect the environment and public health



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wor ... 676e27b6a1


The winning entry in Iran’s Trump cartoon contest shows a drooling president wearing a jacket made of U.S. dollar






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3300457


Facebook video showing cop punching woman sparks investigation
BY MEGAN CERULLO
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, July 4, 2017, 2:02 PM



http://www.madcowprod.com/2017/07/02/go ... more-14454


← Trump, Khashoggi, & Germany’s Criminal Deutsche Bank
GOP operative soliciting Russian hackers was bagman for ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’
Posted on July 2, 2017 by Daniel Hopsicker
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The GOP operative leading a team looking for Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails—the same ones Donald Trump had publicly implored Russia to find—was active as a Republican bagman in what Hillary Clinton famously called the “vast right-wing conspiracy” during the Bill Clinton-era Troopergate sex scandals.

Chicago financier and leading GOP donor Peter W. Smith last year launched a well-funded quest for Clinton’s missing emails, according to a pair of stories by Shane Harris in the Wall Street Journal.

During his hunt for the stolen emails Smith told computer specialists he approached that he was working with Michael Flynn, then a top Trump foreign policy adviser, as well as Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon.

Smith, an old Clinton foe and an enthusiastic backer of Trump, died of undisclosed causes less than two weeks after talking to the Journal.

Corroboration for the story came from a former British government intelligence official who said he was approached last summer by the veteran Republican operative to help verify hacked Hillary Clinton emails from a mysterious and most likely Russian source.



The incident, recounted by Matt Tait, who was a information security specialist for British intelligence (GCHQ) and now runs a private internet security consultancy in the UK, sheds new light on pathways used by the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election in Donald Trump’s favour.

Tait’s account, published on the Lawfare national security blog, shows Republican operative Peter Smith’s willingness to collude with the Russians, as well as possible collusion by Trump aides.



Troopergate bagman revealed



In his efforts during the campaign last year, Smith reprised a role he first played in 1992 as a Republican bagman, passing out an estimated $ 80,000 cash while trolling for dirt on Bill Clinton.

“Chicagoan was trooper bagman” was the headline of a United Press International report on March 31, 1998.

“A Chicago banker says he played a pivotal role in getting the so-called ”Troopergate” story into print. Investment banker Peter W. Smith says he paid out $80,000 to two Arkansas troopers and their lawyer as part of a plan to bring sexual misconduct allegations against President Clinton into the mainstream press.

“The story led to the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit against Clinton, which led to the special prosecutor’s sex-and-cover-up investigation involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and others.”

A revealing April 10, 1995 story in Crain’s Chicago Business headlined “NEWT’S DOLE: HIS ILLINOIS PATRONS” stated:

“When Newt Gingrich talks, a lot of people listen these days. What a lot of people don’t know is that when Peter W. Smith talks, Newt Gingrich listens.

Smith started his own political efforts in 1988, organizing the Republican Candidates for the Future Political Action Committee (PAC). Shortly thereafter he met Newt Gingrich.

“I was introduced to him by some people from Goldman Sachs in New York,” said Smith. ”I became a supporter pretty much on the spot.”

“In addition to his support for GOPAC, Mr. Smith is a major backer of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank, as well as a contributor to various GOP candidates for Congress.

“He also hosts lunches in his Wrigley Building offices every month or so for visiting GOP luminaries, such as Mr. Gingrich, Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and noted Republican strategist William Kristol.

“In 1992 Smith began an effort to dig up dirt on Clinton to help re-elect George Bush president. Although the White House contended there is an anti-Clinton network, Smith said he worked alone.



Another lone wolf financier?

Yet there is ample evidence this was not the case, and that Smith was assisted by operatives who were also officials in the Republican party.

For example, Richard W. Porter, a law partner in Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s private practice, provided advice and shared information with Smith’s covert investigation of President Clinton’s sex life conducted between 1992 and 1994.

At the time that Porter first began assisting Smith, he had been directing an opposition research effort against Clinton for the Bush reelection campaign,” Salon magazine reported. Billing records showed Porter was paid for “legal strategy” and prepared a memo on “investigative leads” that could embarrass Clinton.

That Richard W. Porter, a key player in Smith’s efforts, was also Kenneth Starr’s law partner was never admitted in Starr’s statements to the attorney general’s office, which supported Clinton’s assertions that a perjury trap had been set for him.

During the 1992 presidential race, then-President George Bush suggested that Clinton might have done something unpatriotic, saying that Clinton should disclose to voters “how many demonstrations he led against his own country from a foreign soil.”

Salon magazine reported that Smith discussed underwriting an investigative effort to obtain information about a college trip that President Clinton made to the Soviet Union in 1969.

Sources said Smith discussed probing Clinton’s Soviet trip in a meeting with other conservative activists. The sources, two of whom participated in the discussions, said that Clinton’s trip was only one of a number of issues that Smith thought worthy of investigation.



“Condolences on your recent death”

Anyone who suspects that the Trump campaign’s defense will be to paint Peter Smith as a “lone wolf financier” may find it profitable to check out the encomiums to Smith that have been left on a ‘Life Tributes’ page at Reuland & Turnbough Funeral Directors in Smith’s hometown of Lake Forest, Illinois.

The first to leave a message of condolence was conservative columnist Charles K. Ortel, who wrote “Peter was a great American patriot who helped me enormously in an ongoing investigation of the Clinton family charity frauds.”

Ortel, who a financial writer calls “A Harvard MBA Guy out to Bring Down the Clintons,” has often been featured on Breitbart. A story headlined “Al-Jazeera, Global Jihad, and the Suicide of the West” noted “Cliff Kincaid is holding another one of his amazing press conferences at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.”

“One speaker, Jerry Kenney, an independent television producer, has uncovered evidence of public television stations illegally turning over their airwaves to foreign propaganda channels, including Al-Jazeera and Russia Today (RT) television. He has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over this illegal activity and will tell us all about it.”

Another one of the featured participants was Charles Ortel, “who’s been warning that many initiatives launched by the Obama Administration constitute a “War on Capitalism.”

The War on Capitalism aside, Ortel was obviously out of sympathy with expressions about “public television stations illegally turning over their airwaves to foreign propaganda channels, including Al-Jazeera and Russia Today (RT) television.”



“Vault 7: Plan 9 from outer space for nerds

Because when Russia’s Sputnik News wanted to stir up comment about whether the release of WikiLeaks’ “Vault 7” would contain anything comparable to the Iraq War Logs or the Podesta emails, Ortel was only too happy to share his views “on the mysterious “Vault 7″ and secret materials which may find their way out in the near future.”

Ortel responded to Sputnik with what some might say sounds like a winking aside.

“I am happy to try answering your questions with the caveat applying to each of my answers that I am joining you in making educated guesses — I have no connection, direct or indirect, with WikiLeaks or with anyone connected to WikiLeaks.”

“I suspect that the next set of WikiLeaks papers may drop earlier than this coming April — if they are extensive, they may need many days to disseminate this information to the general public,” Ortel said.

Then he serves the main course, noting:

“If Vault 7 is a reference to the 7th Floor at the US State Department (which it may or may not be), then it is possible that the forthcoming release will document more intervention in foreign elections and referenda and show previously unseen communications and deliberations involving US government personnel, possibly including Hillary Clinton, her aides, and other members of the Obama Administration.”



Bagman with a mean streak

Republican moneyman Smith was spreading cash around in Arkansas in 1992 in hopes of securing some devastating sex stories. Yet when Hillary Clinton responded to the Monica Lewinsky meltdown by positing a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” she was widely mocked as an X-files-type fantasist.

Journalists also sniffed at disclosures by Salon magazine and elsewhere tracing hundreds of thousands of dollars in conservative money into the pockets of anti-Clinton investigators and operatives like Peter W. Smith.

An In These Times story headlined “Was Hillary Correct? Right-Wing Conspiracies & Hardball Politics” by reporter Robert Perry reviewed reports of Smith’s efforts to catch Bill Clinton with his pants down, then offered an unexpectedly poignant passage:

“At the time Hillary Clinton told confidants she did not believe any of the troopers’ allegations.

“The troopers’ stories were circulated after one of the troopers was caught by his wife with the telephone number of a woman in his pocket while doing her husband’s laundry, the first lady told friends.

“When the trooper’s wife demanded an explanation, according to the first lady’s version of the story, he falsely said that he had obtained the phone number for the governor. After the incident, Hillary Clinton told her friend stories began to circulate about the troopers assisting Clinton in meeting women.

“Said the friend who was told the story: “You listen to the story and you know that it’s not plausible. But you don’t have the heart to say anything.”

Then, more than 20 years later, it happened again.

That the same Republican moneyman who helped finance the sex scandals during Bill Clinton’s presidency was leading a search more than 20 years later for Russian hackers who could deliver Hillary Clinton’s missing emails for public consumption is, for Clinton,




By this time next year, CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling will be out of prison. But in the meantime, Jeffrey and his wife Holly continue to endure a very painful ordeal.

For both of them, you’re been a lifeline -- signing petitions in support of Jeffrey, maybe donating to the Sterling Family Fund, maybe writing to Jeffrey. Whatever you’ve done has been vitally important, lifting their spirits.

Now, please read the new message from Holly below.

-- The RootsAction.org Team

_________________________________________

Dear Friends,

The anticipation of the appellate court issuing its decision is over. On June 22, the court upheld the unjust convictions of my beloved husband Jeffrey. An entire judicial system failed him yet again. We are grieving another horrific loss and miscarriage of justice that has been allowed to continue for so many years. We always maintained the hope and belief that the truth would prevail and true justice would be delivered; instead we are devastated and reliving the nightmare of the conviction once again.

The start of this summer also marked completion of the second year of Jeffrey's incarceration. He had this to share reflecting on this tragedy:

"Two years of imprisonment have given me ample time to reflect on the circumstances in which I find myself today. I often retrace my steps, carefully recalling each conversation I had and action I took that landed me in this prison. However, in the two years that I have served, my position has never wavered. I know who I am, and I know what my values are. My name is Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, and I am an innocent man who has been wrongfully convicted of espionage after dedicating my life to serving the U.S. government.

"I was convicted of espionage against the U.S. government for being in communication with a reporter. The CIA accused me of offering New York Times journalist James Risen classified national defense information regarding Operation Merlin, a top-secret operation that targeted Iran’s nuclear program, which Risen later described in his book ‘State of War.’

“Though I have persistently maintained that I never disclosed any classified information to Risen and was only in touch with him regarding my discrimination case against the CIA, I was nonetheless convicted of espionage based solely on metadata from phone calls and emails we had exchanged. Despite the lack of any direct evidence proving I was the source for Risen’s book, I am now entering the third year of my three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.”

Jeffrey and I are beginning to look forward to and preparing for his return home as his official release date is June 14, 2018.

Please continue to support and assist us in those preparations:

** Your help for the Sterling Family Fund would continue to grant me the privilege of visiting Jeffrey in Colorado and provide funds for essential preparations. You can make a donation by clicking here. Contributions of any amount are a real help and gratefully received.

** Please continue to send words of support and encouragement to my beloved husband. Your sentiments will lend much-needed support and strength handling the news of this latest injustice. You may write letters and/or send cards to him at the following address:

JEFFREY STERLING, 38338-044
FCI ENGLEWOOD
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSITUTION
9595 WEST QUINCY AVENUE
LITTLETON, CO 80123

Jeffrey and I continue to find solace in your unwavering support. We remain eternally grateful as you have remained by our side through this seemingly endless nightmare. Thank you to each of you for your warm sentiments and overwhelming generosity. All of you are in our thoughts and we wish you continued health, happiness, and peace.

Your friend,
Holly Sterling

PS from the RootsAction.org Team: We hope that you can write to Jeffrey and/or click here to make a contribution to the Sterling Family Fund. The thoughtful letters and the donations, no matter how short or how small, loom large for providing vital ongoing support to Jeffrey as a CIA whistleblower who is paying a steep personal price for his courage.

Share on Facebook.
Share on Twitter.

Background:
>> BBC News: "Jeffrey Sterling's Trial by Metadata"
>> John Kiriakou: “CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling Placed in Solitary Confinement”
>> ExposeFacts: Special Coverage of the Jeffrey Sterling Trial
>> Marcy Wheeler, ExposeFacts: "Sterling Verdict Another Measure of Declining Government Credibility on Secrets"
>> Norman Solomon, The Nation: "CIA Officer Jeffrey Sterling Sentenced to Prison: The Latest Blow in the Government's War on Journalism"
>> Reporters Without Borders: "Jeffrey Sterling Latest Victim of the U.S.' War on Whistleblowers"
>> AFP: "Pardon Sought for Ex-CIA Officer in Leak Case"
>> Documentary film: "The Invisible Man: NSA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling"
Donate button





http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

Homeland Security officer charged with kicking handcuffed man in the head



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3281008

S.C. inmate details strangling, beating four blockmates to death: 'I did it for nothing'


Tuesday, June 27, 2017, 9:30 AM






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3300601


Naked man arrested after video shows him slapping Houston cop before being Tasered



BY ELIZABETH ELIZALDE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, July 4, 2017, 3:26 PM




http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html


California Supreme Court makes it harder for three-strike prisoners to get sentence reductions



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3300764

American tourist urinating in Cancun lagoon loses arm to crocodile attack


BY CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Tuesday, July 4, 2017, 4:18 PM




http://stevehochstadt.blogspot.com/2017 ... ickly.html


Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Gay Equality is Coming Quickly


Usually public opinion on important and emotional subjects shifts gradually. The realization that discrimination against African Americans and women was wrong came very slowly. For more than a century, Americans spoke out against sexism and racism. In the 19th century, they were considered radicals, advocating unpopular political positions against traditional beliefs in white male superiority. By the 20th century, opinion in America was split and some discriminatory laws were changed, but common practices based in prejudice persisted.

Only after World War II did majority public opinion shift away from entrenched discrimination, but even then progress was halting. The two Supreme Court decisions that declared school segregation (1954) and laws against mixed-race marriages (1967) unconstitutional were 13 years apart, and they were just way stations along a much longer journey toward equality. In both cases, defenders of discrimination used religious arguments to oppose equal treatment for blacks and women, citing Biblical verses written thousands of years ago to claim that God had declared the superiority of white men for all time.

Change comes more quickly in modern society, as we can see in the technological innovations which replace each other with bewildering rapidity. In 1999, Ray Kurzweil proposed the “The Law of Accelerating Returns”; he believed that change in a wide variety of evolutionary systems, including technology, would come with accelerated speed. We might see this “law” operating in the third great shift in public opinion about traditional discriminatory practices, the acceptance of homosexual people as normal and deserving of equal rights.

Data from the Pew Research Center shows a dramatic recent shift in American public opinion on same-sex marriage, which may be taken as an indicator of more general attitudes about homosexuality. After years of relative stability, in the last 8 years the proportion of Americans who oppose gay marriage dropped from 54% to 32%, as the number who favor it rose from 37% to 62%. That same amount of opinion shift on inter-racial marriage took about twice as long.

The popular shift has been rapid, but not smooth. After Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003, 12 states passed constitutional amendments outlawing it in the next year alone, and eventually 30 states passed such backlash legislation. The Supreme Court decision in 2015 that rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all citizens included the right to get married came four years after support for same-sex marriage reached majority status.

Like many shifts in social attitudes, this was led by young people. The latest Pew survey shows 18- to 29-year-olds against discrimination by 79% to 19%, while Americans over 72 remain opposed to this change by 49% to 41%. But every demographic group, whatever their attitudes were a few years ago, has shifted towards acceptance. Opposition remains concentrated among white evangelical Protestants, conservative Republicans, and the oldest Americans, groups which considerably overlap. Those who demonize their neighbors who have a different sexual orientation continue to use arguments derived from Christian tradition as justification.

What caused this rapid shift in public opinion? When Pew asked why people had changed their minds, the most common answer was that they knew someone who is homosexual. Visibility has been a significant factor in the increasing acceptance of gays in America. While race and gender are usually obvious, homosexuality was not.

I grew up in an America where homosexuality was queer, meaning strange and unnatural. It was dangerous for a gay person to reveal their orientation, which could cost them their jobs. Homosexual relations were criminal across the country, until Illinois was the first state to decriminalize same-sex relations in 1962. So I didn’t know any homosexuals. I, like most Americans, had no evidence from life experience that gay people were not as they were portrayed in medical practice (sick), in official propaganda (dangerous), and in common talk (weird).

Over the course of 30 years, the proportion of Americans who said that someone they knew revealed to them that they were gay rose from 24% in 1985 to 75% in 2013. Since it is unlikely that the incidence of homosexuality has changed significantly, what did change was the realization that there are gay people in everyone’s social circle.

The end of discrimination against homosexuality is determined by changing public opinion and political practice, which differ from country to country. Germany, in many ways more officially opposed to discrimination of all kinds than the US, just legalized gay marriage last week. A recent poll showed that 83% of Germans approved of same-sex marriage, much higher than in the US. But the politics of the conservative party, the Christian Democrats, who have led the government since 2005, prevented any vote on the issue until now.

Bigots will keep using religion as a cover for prejudice, as in the so-called religious freedom laws. But the shift toward acceptance of homosexuality will continue, as older opponents are replaced by younger advocates. Because our gay relatives and friends do not fit the prejudicial stereotypes, discriminatory impulses will lose their persuasive power.

Happy birthday, America.

Steve Hochstadt
Springbrook, WI
Published in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, July 4, 2017

[msfreeh]

Link du jour



https://www.wunderground.com/cat6


https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... t-williams

http://www.metro.us/entertainment/movie ... -al-pacino

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/c ... ts-1004567





https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/07/06 ... age-voice/



Read Frank Serpico’s Blistering 1975 Letter to the Village Voice
After the release of the hit film about his life, the hero cop who exposed corruption in the ranks sent a letter to his hometown paper

July 8 2017

Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico” (1973)
FILM FORUM
Starting this week, Film Forum is presenting “Ford to City: Drop Dead — New York in the ’70s,” a series devoted to the classic, history-making movies made during some of the city’s darkest years. To go with the retrospective, we will be sharing some of the stories and reviews that ran in the Village Voice during this time.

Al Pacino and Sidney Lumet’s hit 1973 film, Serpico, about the undercover cop who exposed police corruption and criminality in the NYPD in the late Sixties and Seventies, was one of the seminal movies of this era. And in its February 3, 1975, issue, the Voice ran a lengthy letter from Frank Serpico himself, who at that time was living in the Netherlands. In the letter, written with the help of the Voice’s Lucian K. Truscott IV, Serpico offers his thoughts on the film, the politics of the day, his fellow cops’ response to him, and the issues of police brutality and racism that continued to plague the force, and in many ways still do so today.

The piece also included a sidebar by Truscott about the circumstances that led to the Serpico letter. It also featured some of the correspondence Serpico had himself received, including a threatening one, filled with racist invective, from an “Ex-policeman in New York.”



http://arizonawatch.org


http://arizonawatch.org/recent-projects



Welcome to the Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism
ArizonaWatch.org, is the primary website for The Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism, Inc.

The Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit Arizona corporation and will not engage in any form of political advocacy. The Center received formal approval from the IRS in January 2014 and all contributions are fully tax deductible.

The Center’s mission is to conduct independent investigative reporting on matters of the highest public interest and disseminate the information to the general public through the ArizonaWatch.org website, documentary films and published reports.

A recent example of investigative reporting supported by the Center is InvestigativeMEDIA’s investigation of the Yarnell Hill Fire that killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots on June 30, 2013.

The Center will help fill the increasing void of investigative reporting resulting from the collapse of the traditional newspaper industry.

The Center may enter into agreements with major media outlets and university journalism schools to conduct joint investigative reporting projects for publication on the Center’s website and with media and university partners.

The Center will also provide an important training ground for young journalists on state and federal public records laws, open meetings laws and access to business information.

The Center will focus on major investigative reporting projects and will not cover day-to-day events. However, the Center will report on the underlying issues that shape much of the daily news coverage.

Energy production and distribution, natural resource exploitation, water supplies and distribution, environmental issues, urban growth and development, transportation, international trade, immigration policies, criminal justice issues, public and private education and campaign finance are among the topics the Center will





http://www.courthousenews.com/asst-sher ... em-failed/

Assistant Sheriff in Orange County Says the System Failed


July 7, 2017
SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) — For years, the sheriff’s department in Orange County, California, had a “failed system” that allowed deputies to use jail informants to violate the constitutional rights of criminal suspects, an assistant sheriff testified Thursday.

“During that period of time, we had a failed system,” Assistant Sheriff Adam Powell told Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals. “We had no policy and worse protocols.”

Powell’s testimony came in an evidentiary hearing to determine whether convicted mass murderer Scott DeKraai should be spared the death penalty for killing his ex-wife and seven others at a beauty parlor in 2011.

DeKraai’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, says the sheriff department’s improper use of informants to obtain incriminating statements justifies the restriction on sentencing.

Sanders’ allegations against the sheriff’s and the Orange County district attorney’s offices — which he first laid out in a 505-page motion in January 2014 — set off a continuing controversy in the county and led Judge Goethals to remove the district attorney as DeKraai’s prosecutor in November last year. The California Attorney General’s Office has taken over the case.

Powell’s testimony in some ways contradicted that of his boss, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, who testified Wednesday that while “a few” deputies in the jails may have violated the law, the practice was not widespread.

“There is no jailhouse informant program … that is not in accordance with the rules,” Hutchens testified.

But Powell told Goethals that the department’s “whole process [for informants] was failed.”

He said the deputies in the jails’ Special Handling Unit, who cultivated and developed informants, were doing what their supervisors wanted them to do.

“Deputies were working on their assigned duties and doing their job, and, as you very well know, they received accolades,” he told Sanders in court.




http://www.courthousenews.com/protester ... -violence/

Protester Gets Prison Time for Inauguration Day Violence


July 7, 2017






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3313668

Witness claims California cop used N slur during traffic stop


BY ELIZABETH ELIZALDE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, July 9, 2017, 8:37 PM




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3313397

House oversight committee investigates HUD Brooklyn housing co-owned by Trump for possible conflicts of interest
BY GREG B. SMITH
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, July 9, 2017, 5:56 PM







https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/05/k ... -institute

Koch-funded Ex-GOP Congressman Tim Huelskamp to Lead Climate Science Denial Group Heartland Institute
By Graham Readfearn • Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - 11:26





http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3313298

Iowa woman who believed election was rigged pleads guilty to voting twice for President Trump
BY MEERA JAGANNATHAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, July 9, 2017, 4:33 PM





http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/d ... -1.3309724


The most dangerous man in the White House is not who you think it is
BY MICHAEL LEVIN
DAILY NEWS CONTRIBUTOR Friday, July 7, 2017, 6:30 PM

The most dangerous man in the Trump administration isn't Steve Bannon or Jeff Sessions or even the President himself.

Instead, it's a sleazy, creepy lawyer who died 30 years ago, and his name is Roy Cohn.

It's not nice to criticize the dead, but in Cohn's case, I'll make an exception.

Back in the 1950s, Cohn was chief counsel for Senator Joe McCarthy, when McCarthy was destroying the lives of thousands by claiming they were Communists.

There’s nothing funny about this Bill Cosby show
Cohn's next stop was the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Were they spies? Probably. Did they deserve the death penalty? Historians say it's an open question, but most agree that Roy Cohn's improper actions during the trial led the Rosenbergs to their electrocution.

At parties in Manhattan, Cohn would tell people that when he was a kid, he used to swim in the Hudson River.

"But it's so disgusting and dirty!" his listeners would exclaim.

To this out-of-towner, NYC pedestrians seem almost suicidal
He would reply with a sly grin, "How do you think it got that way?"

Fast-forward two decades and this same sleazeball becomes the attorney for none other than a young Donald Trump.

In 1973, the Justice Department accused the Trump Organization of violating the Fair Housing Act by denying African Americans the opportunity to rent apartments.

Roy Cohn, Trump's attorney and a notorious counterpuncher, sued the government for $100 million, claiming the charges were baseless.

Can a recovering alcoholic be a great dad? The answer is ‘Yes’
The lawsuit failed, but the strategy won.

Trump skated.

He also learned a tremendous lesson — if somebody hits you, hit him back ten times harder, even when you're wrong.

Especially when you're wrong.

Sound familiar?

When Trump was just a businessman, how he behaved didn't matter — except, of course, to the businesses he fleeced while alternating between growing his empire and going bankrupt.

We saw vestiges of Roy Cohn in Trump's presidential campaign, where he would ignore potential opponents until they attacked him, and then he would attack them with endless brutality.

We're seeing the same thing today — the same brutal counterpunching tactics Trump learned at Roy Cohn's feet.

The biggest victim in all of this?

Civility.

We are turning into a nation of Roy Cohns, snarling first and asking questions later.

It's not just celebrities, like the alleged comedienne who tweeted a photo of a decapitated Trump, or the Public Theater, turning Julius Caesar into a play about wishful thinking of the death of the President.

It's in the way regular people treat each other.

And it's not just one deranged gunman trying to mow down Republican Congressmen on a baseball diamond.

It's all of us.

It just feels like civility is vanishing from society.

It seems like wherever you go, on the highway, on Manhattan sidewalks, everywhere, people have less patience for each other.

Trump recently described the House bill to replace Obamacare as "mean."

But what's really become mean is we, the people.

It's just ugly out there.

I can't point to statistics and surveys. I can just tell you what I'm seeing.

People are emulating our President.

They're getting nasty.

They're getting short with each other.

As the President himself would tweet, sad.

So as






https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/09/a ... ent-energy


Sunday, July 9, 2017 - 06:58 • BEN JERVEY
Yet Another Koch Cadet Hired to Push Fossil Fuels at Trump's Energy Department
Trump and his Cabinet
The Koch brothers have landed yet another of their trusted fossil fuel think tank veterans in the Trump administration’s Department of Energy (DOE). Alex Fitzsimmons was Manager of Policy and Public Affairs at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance (AEA), while also working as a “spokesman” and communications director for Fueling US Forward (FUSF), the Koch-funded campaign to bolster public opinion of fossil fuels.

Fitzsimmons will be joining former IER colleagues Daniel Simmons and Travis Fisher at the DOE.








https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/07 ... -la-riots/


Dakota Access Security Firm’s Top Adviser Led Military Intelligence Efforts for 1992 LA Riots

Retired Major General James “Spider” Marks chairs the advisory board for TigerSwan, a private security firm hired by Energy Transfer Partners to help police protests of the Dakota Access pipeline — an approach for which Marks has shown vocal support.

DeSmog has found that Marks also headed up intelligence efforts for the task force which brought over 10,000 U.S. military troops to police the 1992 riots following the acquittal of Los Angeles Police Department members involved in beating Rodney King. In addition, Marks, a long-time military analyst for CNN, led intelligence-gathering efforts for the U.S.military’s 2003 “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, which was dubbed “Operation Iraqi Liberation.”

In recent months, Marks has endorsed Dakota Access and its southern leg, the Bayou Bridge pipeline. He has shown this support by writing op-ed pieces published in various newspapers and on the website of a pro-Dakota Access coalition run by a PR firm funded by Energy Transfer Partners.

“I spent a good portion of my adult life in Iraq, and I must tell you that the similarities are stark,” Marks said in November of the anti-Dakota Access encampment set up by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Marks, according to The Washington Times, traveled to Standing Rock “as an adviser to the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now” (MAIN), a pro-pipeline front group run by the Republican Party public relations firm, DCI Group.

“General Marks is still an adviser to the coalition. He is given a modest stipend for his time and expertise,” DCI Group’s Craig Stevens told DeSmog of Marks’ relationship with MAIN. “TigerSwan is not a member of the Coalition nor does the Coalition receive any funding from them.” Stevens manages public relations efforts for MAIN and is the crisis management lead for DCI.

In February, Marks traveled to Louisiana to speak in favor of the Bayou Bridge pipeline at a Louisiana Department of Natural Resources hearing.

Neither Marks nor TigerSwan responded to requests for comment for this story. TigerSwan has recently come under fire by the North Dakota Private Investigative and Security Board for operating in the state without a permit, with the Board filing a legal complaint about the matter. Energy Transfer Partners says TigerSwan is no longer working on its behalf in North Dakota.

Pentagon Pundits

Among his numerous public appearances, writings, and television pit stops, Marks has failed to disclose his advisory board position for TigerSwan. Failure to disclose affiliations, though, is not unusual for Marks.

As a military pundit for CNN, both The New York Times and the watchdog group Public Accountability Initiative (PAI) have documented that Marks has often appeared on cable TV while not disclosing his ties to military weapons companies. The 2008 New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation — “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand” — covered Marks and explained that he and over 75 others were paid by the George W. Bush administration to give seemingly independent, pro-Iraq War analyses on cable TV outlets beginning in early 2002.

The catch: The public was never informed that these pro-war pundits were on the Pentagon’s payroll and often on the payroll of military weapons companies as well.

“To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as ‘military analysts’ whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world,” wrote The Times. “Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.”

The thousands of documents obtained for The New York Times investigation were organized and published online in a searchable format by the Center for Media and Democracy. Those memoranda, emails, and other materials offer an insightful window into the cozy relationships among the upper echelons of the U.S. media, the U.S. military, and the U.S.government. General Marks fits neatly in the intersection of these three entities.

In an email to Major General Donald Shepperd, Joy DiBenedetto, then Vice President of Network Booking and Research at CNN Worldwide, thanked Shepperd for putting her in contact with General Marks. She wrote, “you can always contact me for any CNN reason, and if I’m not the right person, I can certainly get you to the right person.”

In 2006 Marks traveled on a pro-Iraq War trip during his capacity as a Pentagon pundit. That trip was convened by the U.S.Department of Defense, and the Pentagon tried to have Marks ask CNN to foot his bill for travel expenses. Along with other retired military men-turned-analysts, Marks was part of a roundtable meeting with General David Petraeus in 2007, and participated in conference call discussions with Defense Department officials. Marks had his media appearances reviewed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In PAI’s 2013 report, “Conflicts of interest in the Syria debate,” the watchdog group named 22 people serving as commentators on the issue of whether or not the U.S. should attack Syria for using chemical weapons on its own citizens. That report, paralleling The New York Times’ findings on the Iraq War, found numerous cases of undocumented conflicts of interest. The group of men, which once again included Marks, landed mainstream media pundit gigs on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX and wrote op-eds for Bloomberg and The Washington Post.

PAI noted in its report that out of 111 total appearances by the pundits in October 2013 alone, only 13 had mentioned their relationships to the defense industry. Marks appears on the list identified as the former Commander of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center. The list ties him into the defense sector by noting his position at Willowdale Services, a boutique consulting firm for the energy and national security industries.

In the documents obtained by The New York Times, a picture emerges of Marks’ advocacy for military intervention in Syria long before 2013. When asked by CNN in February 2007 to speak about the failed bombing attempt on Vice President Cheney, he told the network to “bear in mind you have Syria, which is to the west of Iraq, which is a safe haven for the introduction of new ideas and an opportunity for insurgents to go across that border, and refit, regroup, and reintroduce themselves into the fight.”

And just hours later on another CNN show, Marks made similar remarks about Pakistan, telling CNN’s Brian Todd that “what is significant is the proximity of Bagram Air Base to Pakistan, which is as the crow flies only 70 miles, as you can see right here from Bagram to Pakistan. The region right here is Waziristan. This is the root of the challenge.”

Marks also serves as a source for the private security firm Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting Inc.), according to a roster leaked to and published by Wikileaks. Stratfor’s past client list has included the American Petroleum Institute.

1992 LA Riots

Marks also headed up the Joint Task Force Los Angeles, assigned with cracking down on the violent 1992 riots which erupted in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict. The task force operated under the authority of an executive order issued by then-President George H.W. Bush.






https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... uper-smart

Messy, always late and swear like a sailor? It just means you’re super smart
Arwa Mahdawi









https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -australia

Philip Morris cigarettes charged millions after losing plain packaging case against Australia
Court of arbitration finds Philip Morris Asia case to be ‘an abuse of rights’ and says it must pay Australia’s multi-million dollar legal costs








http://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/09/f ... -lifetime/


Family of 4 with Maine roots drops anchor in Portland after journey of a lifetime
Since 2011, Tucker and Victoria Bradford sailed around the world with their children.




http://projectcensored.org/category/the ... 2015-2016/

Project Censored
THE TOP CENSORED STORIES OF 2015–2016
The presentation of the Top 25 stories of 2015-2016 extends the tradition originated by Professor Carl Jensen and his Sonoma State University students in 1976, while reflecting how the expansion of the Project to include affiliate faculty and students from campuses across North America has made the Project even more diverse and robust. During this year’s cycle, Project Censored reviewed 235 Validated Independent News stories (VINs) representing the collective efforts of 221 college students and 33 professors from 18 college and university campuses that participate in our affiliate program.

A Note on Research and Evaluation of Censored News Stories
How do we at Project Censored identify and evaluate independent news stories, and how do we know that the Top 25 stories that we bring forward each year are not only relevant and significant, but also trustworthy? The answer is that each candidate news story undergoes rigorous review, which takes place in multiple stages during […]

Continue Reading…
25. NYPD Editing Wikipedia on Police Brutality
In March 2015, Kelly Weill reported in Capital New York that computers operating at One Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York Police Department (NYPD), had been used “to alter Wikipedia pages containing details of alleged police brutality,” including the entries for Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo. As Mother Jones subsequently reported, […]

Continue Reading…
24. India’s Solar Plans Blocked by US Interests, WTO
The United Nations Conference on Climate Change, held in December 2015 in Paris, featured lofty rhetoric about international cooperation to tackle climate change, including overtures by the US and other nations to include India. Anticipating the Paris summit, World Trade Organization (WTO) director-general Roberto Azevêdo wrote, “The challenge is not to stop trading but to […]

Continue Reading…
23. Modern-Day Child Slavery: Sex Trafficking of Underage Girls in the US
In December 2015, D. Parvaz published “Selling American Girls,” a seven-part investigative report for Al Jazeera America that documented sex trafficking in the US. Each part of her report examined a different role in the sex trafficking trade and its enforcement, from the prostitutes and their buyers, pimps, and advocates, to law enforcement officers and […]

Continue Reading…
22. Department of Education Cooperates with ALEC to Privatize Education
The Department of Education and school districts throughout the US are working with billionaire families such as the Waltons and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to undermine public education, Dustin Beilke reported for PR Watch in January 2016. Instead of defending public education in pursuit of equity for all students, the Department of Education (DoE) is […]

Continue Reading…

[msfreeh]

Link du jour

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/18/p ... born-case/


http://pizzagate.wiki/Franklin_Scandal

https://www.justsecurity.org/43272/rina ... stigators/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... 41fdee40b7







http://sdgln.com/entertainment/2017/07/ ... pope-visit

Gilbert Baker met with FBI in full drag before 1987 Pope visit
by Timothy Rawles - Community Editor for SDGLNARTS & CULTURE






https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/07/w ... -well-keep

Why the Ninth Circuit Got It Wrong on National Security Letters and How We’ll Keep Fighting

JULY 18, 2017
In a disappointing opinion issued on Monday, the Ninth Circuit upheld the national security letter (NSL) statute against a First Amendment challenge brought by EFF on behalf of our clients CREDO Mobile and Cloudflare. We applaud our clients’ courage as part of a years-long court battle, conducted largely under seal and in secret.

We strongly disagree with the opinion and are weighing how to proceed in the case. Even though this ruling is disappointing, together EFF and our clients achieved a great deal over the past six years. The lawsuit spurred Congress to amend the law, and our advocacy related to the case caused leading tech companies to also challenge NSLs. Along the way, the government went from fighting to keep every single NSL gag order in place to the point where many have been lifted, some in whole and many in part. That includes this case, of course, where we can now proudly tell the names of our clients to the world.

No matter what happens with these particular lawsuits, we are not done fighting unconstitutional use of NSLs and similar laws.

Making sense of a disappointing ruling

National security letters are a kind of subpoena issued by the FBI to communications service providers like our clients to force them to turn over customer records. NSLs nearly always contain gag orders preventing recipients from telling anyone about these surveillance requests, all without any mandatory court oversight. As a result, the Internet and communications companies that we all trust with our most sensitive information cannot be truthful with their customers and the public about the scope of government surveillance.

NSL gags are perfect examples of “prior restraints,” government orders prohibiting speech rather than punishing it after the fact. The First Amendment embodies the Founders’ strong distrust of prior restraints as powerful censorship tools, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly said they are presumptively unconstitutional unless they meet the “most exacting” judicial scrutiny. Similarly, because NSLs prevent recipients from talking about the FBI’s request for customer data, they are content-based restrictions on speech, which are subject to strict scrutiny. So NSL gags ought to be put to the strictest of First Amendment tests.

Unfortunately, the Ninth Circuit questioned whether NSLs are prior restraints at all. And although the court did acknowledge they are separately content-based restrictions on speech, it said the law is narrowly tailored even though it plainly allows censorship that is broader in scope and longer in duration than the government actually needs. As a result, the court held the government’s interest in national security overcomes any First Amendment interests at stake.


The ruling is seriously flawed.

Not-so-narrow tailoring

In order to find that the law satisfied strict scrutiny, the court overlooked both the overinclusiveness and indefinite duration of NSL gag orders. Narrow tailoring requires that a restriction on speech be fitted carefully to just what the government needs to protect its investigation and that no less speech-restrictive alternatives are available.

But NSLs are often wildly overinclusive. For example, they prevent even a company with millions of users like Cloudflare from simply saying it has received an NSL, on the theory that individual users engaged in terrorism or espionage might somehow infer from that fact alone that the government is on their trail.

The court admitted that a blanket gag in this scenario might well be overinclusive, but it simply deferred to the FBI’s decisionmaking. But of course, under the First Amendment, decisions about censorship aren’t supposed to be left to officials whose "business is to censor.” And here, we know that NSLs routinely issue to big tech companies with large numbers of users like both Cloudflare and CREDO, and only in rare circumstances does the FBI allow these companies to report on specific NSLs they’ve received.

Similarly, the FBI often leaves NSL gags in place indefinitely, sometimes even permanently. Indeed, the FBI has told our client CREDO that one of the NSLs in the case is now permanent, and the Bureau will not further revisit the gag it imposed to determine whether it still serves national security. Here again, the court acknowledged that at the least, narrow tailoring requires a gag “must terminate when it no longer serves” the government’s national security interests. But instead of applying the First Amendment’s narrow tailoring requirement, the court declined to “quibble” with the censoring agency, the FBI, and its loophole-ridden internal procedures for reviewing NSLs. Nevertheless, these procedures “do not resolve the duration issue entirely,” as the Ninth Circuit understatedly put it, since they may still produce permanent gags, as with CREDO. As a result, the court suggested that NSL recipients can repeatedly challenge permanent gags until they’re finally lifted.

The problem of prior restraints and judicial review

However, that points to the other fundamental problem with NSLs: they are issued without any mandatory court oversight. As discussed above, prior restraints are almost never constitutional. The Supreme Court has said that even in the rare circumstance when prior restraints can be justified, they must be approved by a neutral court, not just an executive official. But the NSL statute doesn’t require a court to be involved in all cases; instead, judicial review takes place only if NSL recipients file a lawsuit, like our clients did, or if they ask the government to go to court to review the gag using a procedure known as “reciprocal notice.”

The Ninth Circuit had two responses to this lack of judicial oversight.

First, it wrongly suggested the law of prior restraints simply does not apply here. The theory is that unlike cases involving newspapers that are prevented from publishing, NSL recipients haven’t shown a preexisting desire to speak, and when they do, they’re asking to publish information they supposedly learned from the government. But as we pointed out, that’s inconsistent with case law that says, for instance, that witnesses at grand jury proceedings—which are historically both secret and subject to court oversight—cannot be indefinitely gagged from talking about their own testimony. NSL gags go much further.

Second, the court suggested that even though the burden is on NSL recipients to challenge gags, this is a “de minimis” burden that doesn’t violate the First Amendment. When Congress passed the USA FREEDOM Act in 2015, it gave recipients the option of invoking reciprocal notice and asking the government to go to court rather than filing their own lawsuit. That’s simply not good enough; the First Amendment requires the government be the one to go to court to prove to a judge it actually requires an NSL accompanied by a gag. Not to mention that forcing companies that receive NSLs to fight them in court and defend user privacy may actually be a heavy burden.

Big progress nonetheless

Despite these considerable errors in the Ninth Circuit’s opinion, we shouldn’t lose sight of progress made along the way. Nearly all of the features of the NSL statute that the court pointed to as saving graces of the law—the FBI’s internal review procedures and the option for reciprocal notice most notably—exist only because Congress stepped in during our lawsuit to amend the law.

So what’s left to providers that receive NSLs? Push back on the gags early and often. The “reciprocal notice” process, which the government says only requires a short letter or a phone call, should be done as a matter of course for any company receiving an NSL. And since the Ninth Circuit said that courts retain the ability to re-evaluate the gags as long as they remain in place, gagged providers should ask a court to step in and make sure the FBI can still prove the need for the gag—potentially over and over—until the gag is finally lifted. EFF wants to help with this, and we’re happy to consult with anyone subject to an NSL gag.

We’ve also encouraged technology companies to make the best of the reciprocal notice procedure as part of our annual Who Has Your Back? report. If the government continues to argue that recipients don’t necessarily “want to speak” about NSLs, we can now point to the growing trend of major tech companies—Apple, Adobe, and Dropbox, among others—that have committed to invoking reciprocal notice and challenging every NSL they receive.

Finally, we’ve seen other courts question gag orders in related contexts, and we’ve supported companies like Facebook and Microsoft in these fights. We’re confident that in the long run, these prior restraints will be roundly rejected yet again.







http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the ... 5f893e1b02

Scott Ritter, Contributor
Author, ‘Deal of the Century: How Iran Blocked the West’s Road to War’
The Difference Between Watchers And Doers
07/18/2017 09:56 am ET

As a Chief Weapons Inspector with the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq, I often found myself in the media limelight, as the work of the inspectors became fodder for the media. One of these media organizations was Al Jazeera based out of Doha, in Qatar. Al Jazeera began its operations in 1996, in the midst of inspection-derived controversy in Iraq that quickly became one of the lead stories covered by that outlet. In 2001, following my resignation from the UN, I produced and directed a documentary film, In Shifting Sands, about the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Al Jazeera was the first outlet for this film, broadcasting it in its entirety to a large Middle Eastern audience; I also did a number of interviews with Al Jazeera from its Baghdad bureau. Later, in 2004, I began writing a regular opinion column for Al Jazeera’s English-language web site. I often appeared on Al Jazeera’s international and American outlets as an expert commentator on issues pertaining to Iraq and the Middle East. It was, in my opinion, a mutually beneficial relationship.

I imagine that one of the reasons I was attractive to Al Jazeera and other media outlets was the fact that I possessed a wealth of first-hand experience in the topics I was asked to comment on. The Middle East was awash in conflict; as someone who trained for, planned and fought in a Middle Eastern war, my experiences were relevant to the dialogue Al Jazeera wished to pursue. The same could be said for arms control, weapons of mass destruction, and the complex political relationships that existed among the major players of the region—I had direct personal experience, at the highest levels, in all of these areas. When I wrote or spoke on a topic, it was from the point of view of someone who had spent his adult life doing that which he now commented on.

In 2004, about the same time I began writing for Al Jazeera’s English language web site, a young man named Muhhammad Idrees Ahmad was finishing up his studies at The American University in Dubai, where among other things he captained the school tennis team and was recognized for his appreciation of jazz music. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Idrees Ahmad—a citizen of Pakistan who was born in Chitral and raised in Abbottabad and Peshawar—attended the University of Strathclyde, where he earned his PhD. While a doctoral candidate, Idrees Ahmad began blogging on global political issues, and several prestigious outlets, including The London Review Blog and Le Monde Diplomatique, picked up his work. He has been a frequent contributor to Al Jazeera International, and currently works as a professor of digital journalism at the University of Stirling (he has also been a contributor to HuffPost.)

On July 12, 2017, Dr. Idrees Ahmad published an opinion piece in Al Jazeera.com that took umbrage with the recent reporting by the Pultizer Prize-winning journalist, Seymour Hersh, in the German daily, Die Welt, as well as earlier articles published in The London Review of Books. Idrees Ahmad also maligns the intellect and integrity of a group of experienced intelligence professionals, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). I am a member of VIPS, whom Idrees Ahmad dismisses as merely a group of “disgruntled former employees of the government.” The professionals who populate VIPS includes Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst who used to prepare the Presidential Daily Briefing, considered one of the most sensitive and important pieces of analysis in the US Intelligence Community. Coleen Rowley, a career FBI Special Agent who exposed flaws in the government’s investigation of the 9/11 terror attacks, is also a member. Larry Johnson spent years serving his country honorably in both the CIA and State Department doing things he can never talk about, and which the likes of Idrees Ahmad will never know. The same can be said for Philip Giraldi, William Binney, Elizabeth Murray and the many other intelligence veterans who are VIPS members. These are accomplished professionals with serious resumes that go far beyond playing college tennis and enjoying jazz music; in short, these are people who have decades of firsthand experience actually doing what Idrees Ahmad has only partially observed from afar.






http://www.voltairenet.org/article197144.html

Billions of dollars’ worth of arms against Syria
by Thierry Meyssan
Over the last seven years, several billion dollars’ worth of armament has been illegally introduced into Syria – a fact which in itself is enough to disprove the myth according to which this war is a democratic revolution. Numerous documents attest to the fact that the traffic was organised by General David Petraeus, first of all in public, via the CIA, of which he was the director, then privately, via the financial company KKR with the aid of certain senior civil servants. Thus the conflict, which was initially an imperialist operation by the United States and the United Kingdom, became a private capitalist operation, while in Washington, the authority of the White House was challenged by the deep state. New elements now show the secret rôle of Azerbaïdjan in the evolution of the war.



http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc ... -1.3336692


Former NYPD sergeant guilty of tossing semen on female co-worker
BY SARAH GABRIELLI SHAYNA JACOBS
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, July 18, 2017, 10:33 PM


http://stevehochstadt.blogspot.com


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Why Americans Voted for Trump


I have been reading about why so many Americans voted for Trump. Simple ignorance is a partial answer. Many Medicaid recipients who voted for Trump did not know that their benefits were due to the Democrats’ health care legislation that he vowed to repeal.

Some voters just believed Trump’s promises to help Americans who suffered economically, even though there was no evidence in his history or the history of the Republican Party that he actually help cared about them. Many former Obama voters who switched to Trump thought that Democrats were more likely to enact policies that favored the wealthy. Now that we can see what Trump and congressional Republicans want to do about taxes and health care, it’s clear how wrong they were.

But support for Trump is about more than ignorance or deluded hopes. An extensive analysis of white working-class voters, about one-third of Americans and a group who favored Trump by a 2-1 margin, shows their unhappiness with today’s America. About two-thirds of them believe “American culture and way of life has deteriorated since the 1950s.” That time frame coincides with the civil rights and women’s movements that have shifted power away from traditionally dominant white men. They express this idea by saying that the US is losing its identity, that immigrants threaten American culture. They believe that America’s best days are in the past. No wonder Trump’s slogan about making America great again had such resonance.

Perhaps related to this pessimism about their country is a tendency to favor authoritarian leaders. A remarkable 56% of white working-class evangelical Protestants were rated as “high authoritarian”, another explanation for supporting Trump. An earlier survey confirms the authoritarian tendencies of Trump voters. People who wanted to raise their children to be “respectful, obedient, well-behaved and well-mannered” were much more likely to be Trump voters than those who wanted children to be “independent, self-reliant, considerate and curious”.

Although the views of the white working class are often labeled racist, I think this misses the mark. About half of them believe that discrimination against whites is as bad as discrimination against minorities, with older people even more sure of this idea. Nearly half of white working-class seniors believe that Christians face a lot of discrimination. This is nonsense, as shown by every study which actually compares treatment of white versus black. But it has this kernel of truth – black Americans and non-Christians have more power than they did in the 1950s. This may be the source of white belief that America has lost its identity and American culture has deteriorated.

A survey taken more than a year ago during the primaries already showed these characteristics of Trump voters: nearly all of them agreed that “my beliefs and values are under attack in America”. The label of “values voters” for white evangelicals was perhaps never accurate. Their votes for Trump, whose personal life represents a rejection of these values, show they are better named “nostalgia voters”, whose vision of a white-male-dominated America no longer represents reality.

A more complex comparison of presidential votes and moral beliefs shows that Trump voters were likely to be motivated by ideas of group loyalty, respect for authority, male dominance, and traditional social norms than by compassion for those who are suffering and desire for equal justice.

The other side of Trump supporters’ worries about fading white male power is their disparaging attitude about people different from them. The calls at his rallies to lock up Hillary Clinton and attack journalists, the desire to deport millions of immigrants, the anger at the legalization of gay marriage are signs of a meanness of spirit that Trump himself exemplifies.

Here is a local example of meanness. Catholic Bishop Thomas Paprocki in Springfield issued a “Same Sex Marriage” decree in June: people in same-sex marriages may not participate in communion or receive a Catholic funeral. Paprocki’s decree does not punish adulterers, thieves, liars, or those who disobey their parents. His isolation of gay couples is political malice, unique among American bishops. Bishop Patrick McGrath of San Jose explicitly rejected Paprocki’s nasty version of religious intolerance.

It is possible to value self-reliance and hard work without trying to cut food stamp aid to poor families. One can believe in the virtue of raising oneself out of poverty without trying to cut Medicaid for poor people in bad health. Taking a hard line on punishing criminals does not require assuming that all immigrants are law-breakers. We can deplore terrorists without discriminating against Muslims.

Too many Trump supporters take their beliefs in what is right as license to be hateful toward people who are not like them. Combine that with nostalgia for a time when blacks had to defer to whites, men could grope women, and gays stayed in the closet, and you have a Republican Party which cuts health insurance for millions of Americans, which keeps foreign students from returning to their American universities, which cuts federal programs for Americans in need. So far these attempts have failed, but Trump and his allies show no signs of letting up.

That’s what I call mean.

Steve Hochstadt
Springbrook, WI
Published in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, July 11, 2017



https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/1 ... ng_orders/

It's A-OK for FBI agents to silence web giants, says appeals court
One step back – but several steps forward possible in battle against NSL gagging orders


By Iain Thomson in San Francisco 18 Jul 2017 at 20:21
Gagging orders in the FBI's National Security Letters are all above board and constitutional, a California court has ruled.

These security letters are typically sent to internet giants demanding information on whoever is behind a username or email address. Crucially, these requests include clauses that prevent the organizations from warning specific subscribers that they are under surveillance by the Feds.

Cloudflare and Credo Mobile aren't happy with that, and – with the help of rights warriors at the EFF – challenged the gagging orders. Despite earlier successes in their legal battle, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled [PDF] on Monday that the gagging orders do not trample on First Amendment rights.

“We are disappointed in the Ninth Circuit’s decision and are considering our options for next steps,” Credo CEO Ray Morris told The Register in a statement. “At CREDO, we know what an uphill battle challenging these gag orders can be, and feel that the court missed an opportunity to protect the First Amendment rights of companies that want to speak out in the




http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... stigation/

How a Top Senate Republican Is Creating an Alternative Trump-Russia Investigation
In this one, the president is the victim.


JUL. 18, 2017 7:23 AM



Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) oversees a June 28, 2017 judiciary committee hearing.Tom Williams/CQ/Roll Call via ZUMA Press

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week on Christopher Wray’s nomination to head the FBI, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) quickly brought up President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey. But the committee chairman didn’t fault Trump for Comey’s dismissal. Rather, Grassley defended Trump’s right to let him go. “There are no restrictions on the ability of any president to fire any director,” he said in his opening statement.

Grassley’s comment was significant because he heads what could wind up being the most consequential of the congressional investigations related to the Trump-Russia scandal: a probe of Trump’s firing of Comey and collusion between the Trump camp and Russia. The inquiry presumably will examine whether the president obstructed justice by axing the official leading the FBI’s investigation of interactions between the Trump camp and Russia and its related probe of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. The House and Senate intelligence committees are examining various aspects of the Trump-Russia controversy, and the FBI’s investigation is now proceeding under the leadership of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who may also be examining Trump’s dumping of Comey.

But the Judiciary Committee, unlike these other outfits, operates mostly in public, and, more important, it can actively pursue the case of Comey’s firing—and Trump’s possible obstruction of justice—whether or not that episode involved any violations of the law.

The intensity and extent of the committee’s investigation of the Comey firing and other aspects of the Russia scandal depend on Grassley. And so far it looks like the 83-year-old Iowan is more interested in developing a counter-narrative to the Trump-Russia storyline by conducting a series of alternative investigations into tangential subjects. These inquiries seem designed to minimize the culpability of Trump and his aides and to deflect attention from the core issues of the controversy.

Grassley has sent a stream of letters to government agencies and private parties demanding information that is barely or loosely related to the Comey dismissal or Trump-Russia contacts. The letters suggest wrongdoing by those investigating Trump or imply equivalence between the actions of the Trump gang and the Obama crew. Put together, they offer a rough conservative narrative of government officials and others colluding and conspiring to take down Trump. At the least, Grassley’s missives appear aimed at undermining the credibility of agencies or people who have uncovered information on Trump.

Meanwhile, Grassley is reluctantly moving ahead on the main issues. That’s due in part to careful coaxing by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. The committee’s ranking member, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and other Democrats on the panel know they need Grassley on board for the committee to pursue a thorough investigation of the Comey firing and other Trump-Russia matters. Aware that Grassley resents criticism and revels in a nonpartisan image, they have mostly avoided accusing him of covering for Trump. The Democrats have also more or less accepted his alternative inquiries as the price of doing business and winning Grassley’s cooperation in the collusion and obstruction probes.

Feinstein tells Mother Jones that this strategy of nonconfrontation led to a deal, ratified last Tuesday in an exchange of memos between Democratic and Republican committee staffers, which ensures the committee will investigate alleged obstruction and collusion by Trump and his aides.

There is “agreement to look into issues related to Russian interference in the election and possible obstruction of justice,” Feinstein spokesman Tom Mentzer wrote in an email. Mentzer, though, declined to elaborate on specifics of the arrangement, which judiciary aides say replaces a less formal working agreement that had lacked clarity on what Grassley had agreed to investigate. Grassley’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

After the deal was reached, Grassley announced he would call former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to appear before the committee. He also agreed to Feinstein’s request that the committee ask Donald Trump Jr. to testify publicly before the panel regarding his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer and an email exchange showing top Trump aides agreed to cooperate with what seemed to be a secret operation mounted by the Putin regime to disseminate negative information on Hillary Clinton to help Trump.

But while he moves ahead on those fronts, Grassley is also pushing his parallel probes and maintaining an idiosyncratic and at times truculent investigative approach.

Grassley has sent at least five letters this year to the Justice Department and the FBI asserting that Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s acting director, should have recused himself from the bureau’s probe into Trump campaign contacts with Russia because his wife received campaign contributions from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally, during her unsuccessful 2015 Virginia state Senate bid. Grassley has cited reporting by the conservative news site Circa to assert McCabe should have also have recused himself from the bureau’s investigation of Flynn because Flynn wrote a letter supporting an FBI agent who had alleged she faced retaliation after filing a sex discrimination complaint in 2012.

Grassley said at the Wray nomination hearing last week that McCabe “was named in a sex discrimination case.” That’s a stretch. The report cited in Grassley’s letter says McCabe knew of an investigation into the FBI agent that she claimed amounted to retaliation—not that McCabe was personally accused of discrimination. Without presenting evidence, Grassley also called McCabe a “potential” suspect behind leaks of information on Flynn, a charge that McCabe has denied.

Grassley has tried to link McCabe and another entity he has portrayed as suspicious: Fusion GPS, the Washington, DC, firm that retained former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to produce memos detailing allegations of secret ties between the Kremlin and Trump. Grassley has issued a series of committee letters demanding the firm hand over information on its clients and details of Steele’s work arrangement, including whether the FBI once planned to pay him for providing intelligence to the bureau.

Grassley has suggested that McCabe employed Steele as part of some anti-Trump effort. “The American people should know if the FBI’s second-in-command relied on Democrat-funded opposition research to justify an investigation of the Republican presidential campaign,” Grassley wrote in multiple letters. The letters, which include footnotes, do not document any contacts between Steele and McCabe.

But Grassley’s questions were picked up by conservative media outlets dismissive of the Russia scandal. “Chuck Grassley Asks If the FBI Helped Create Trump-Russia Allegations,” RedState.com said in a March 29 headline.

Grassley similarly helped fuel conservative talking points with a July 11 letter asking the State and Homeland Security departments how Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. and others in Trump Tower, had entered the United States after she was previously denied a visa. The query led to errant reports that the Justice Department had okayed an exemption for Veselnitkskaya, including a Drudge Report banner: “Obama DOJ Let the Russian In.” (The Homeland Security Department says the State Department issued her a visitor’s visa in 2016.) Other pro-Trump sites incorrectly claimed former Attorney General Loretta Lynch personally approved of the exemption, a claim President Trump parroted during a press conference in Paris on Thursday. “Somebody said that her visa or her passport to come into the country was approved by Attorney General Lynch,” Trump said.

Grassley is also not done with Clinton’s emails. He wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on March 30 asking if the department had concluded that Clinton’s email management was careless and whether it had launched a review into her “mishandling of classified information.”

Even as he pursues these disparate targets, Grassley has not sought to compel Attorney General Jeff Sessions to testify before his committee to explain Sessions’ false claim—made under oath at his confirmation hearing—that he had no contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign. Nor has Grassley pressed Sessions, his former committee colleague, to explain how he squares his recusal from the Russia probe, which resulted from Sessions’ undisclosed meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, with his role in Comey’s firing.

Democrats, no surprise, grouse that these Grassley moves are overly partisan. “It’s a mistake,” says Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) a former Judiciary chairman. “The committee is more and more controlled by politics.”

A part-time pig farmer, Grassley, the first chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee without a law degree, won a reputation for independence after joining the Senate in 1981. He drew notice for pressing Republican and Democratic administrations to curb spending and protect whistleblowers. He developed an experienced team of investigators that earned a reputation as an effective, free-ranging oversight force that ran probes on a variety of issues, from federal contracting to drug pricing.

Democrats who have worked with Grassley say his nonpartisan bonafides began to decline in 2009, when he acceded to heavy pressure from GOP leaders and conservative activists and dropped out of bipartisan negotiations with Democrats regarding President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Grassley ended up endorsing the false claim that Obamacare would create “death panels,” recalls Jim Manley, a onetime spokesman for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and late Sen. Ted Kennedy. “He made his bed with the right and he’s been playing that game ever since,” Manley says.

Still, Grassley is no Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the hapless House Intelligence Committee chairman who was forced to recuse himself from the panel’s Russia probe after a ham-handed effort to bolster Trump’s false charge that the Obama administration had wiretapped him. Nor is Grassley taking the approach of House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who has refused to even question the Trump administration on Comey’s firing or Sessions’ conduct.

Committee Democrats appear intent on playing to Grassley’s self-image as a fair and balanced chairman, ignoring his conspiratorial focus on events involving Fusion GPS and McCabe. Feinstein and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the crime and terrorism subcommittee, even signed onto Grassley letters regarding former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s actions in connection to the bureau’s investigation of the Clinton email controversy.

Democrats remain cautious as they work to nudge Grassley forward. Feinstein is quick to praise his forthrightness in their dealings. But when asked if his investigative zeal is hampered by a desire to avoid damage to the Republican president, she tersely says, “I think that’s right.” But she quickly adds, “I really like him, because he’s very clear. Things are either bad or good. He’s very direct and honest with me.”

Still, it is anyone’s guess just where Grassley is headed. Feinstein says she’s not sure how he will navigate the obstruction and collusion probe and the various tangents he is pursuing: “I don’t know what’s going on




FBI Octopus

https://www.wday.com/news/4299707-west- ... l-children


West Fargo Police Chief sets focus on safety of local children
WDAY-
WEST FARGO—West Fargo's new police chief, Heith Janke is setting his priorities, as he settles into the new role. The former FBI Agent says one of his top ...







https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/worl ... osing.html


War Crimes Office May Be Closed in State Dept. Reorganization
July 18, 2017


Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson in Istanbul this month. A State Department spokeswoman said decisions on restructuring were not yet
WASHINGTON — The State Department office charged with combating war crimes may become the latest casualty of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson’s plans to restructure his department, former American officials said on Tuesday.

Human rights advocates seized on the proposal as another example of what they assert is the Trump administration’s indifference to human rights outside North Korea, Iran and Cuba.

They also say that shutting the Office of Global Criminal Justice, as the war crimes bureau is officially known, would hamper efforts to publicize atrocities and bring war criminals to justice.

“The promise of ‘never again’ has proven hard to keep,” said Stephen J. Rapp, who led the office during the Obama administration. “If this Office of Global Criminal Justice closes, it will become even more difficult.”

[msfreeh]

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... n-fbi-jfk/

August 2, 2017
Jim Garrison’s incendiary JFK probe protected him from fraud charges
New Orleans DA’s accusations against the U.S. government temporarily inoculated him against an FBI investigation

One of the documents released by the FBI is both redacted and very blurry, making it difficult to read. For clarity and ease of reading, some excerpts below instead reference an original, unredacted and far more legible copy of the same document.

While popular media has often portrayed Jim Garrison, the New Orleans District Attorney behind the infamous Clay Shaw trial, as having been targeted by the federal government for retribution, a look at his FBI file reveals the exact opposite - according to the documents, Garrison’s investigation was considered so toxic and aggressive that Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered no agents have any contact with him. When third parties began providing the FBI with evidence that Garrison had engaged in fraud against the government, the Bureau cautioned against investigating him, precisely because of how Garrison would inevitably frame it.

As early as February 1967, the FBI Director had ordered the Bureau’s agents to avoid all contact with Garrison and his investigators. Just days before a KGB planted story would appear in the Italian newspaper Paese Sera and redirect Garrison’s investigation to obsess over CIA connections, Hoover identified Garrison as “a person not to be contacted without prior Bureau approval.” This was the explicit result of Garrison’s already inflammatory investigation and accusations.



The next day, the Special Agent in Charge for New Orleans dutifully passed on the instructions, adding that no member of his investigation’s staff was to be contacted nor were any Bureau personnel to respond to the media with anything more than “no comment.”



Aaron Kohn, who headed the Metropolitan Crime Division in New Orleans, was positioned to keep his ear to the ground and report to the FBI. According to an FBI document dated May 5, 1967, Kohn provided the Bureau with information about Garrison’s activities, his wrongdoings and a heads up about pending publications. The day before the document was written, Kohn had informed the Bureau that Newsweek was going to publish an article about Garrison’s investigation, detailing attempts by Garrison’s staff to intimidate witnesses. Kohn’s information was completely correct with only one minor error - the Newsweek article was published a week later than he predicted.



According to Kohn, whose version of events would be confirmed by other investigators and an audio recording, Garrison’s investigators’ had attempted to bribe a potential witness into providing false testimony. As on part of their effort to get what would appear to be incriminating evidence against David Ferrie included an attempt to bribe Alvin Beaubouef, “a close friend of Ferrie” to provide false testimony.



When the investigators were tricked into allowing themselves to be recorded while repeating their offer, they apparently returned to threaten Beaubouef into signing a statement that the offer was not a bribe.



The tape recording, the contents of which would be confirmed by multiple witnesses, leaves little doubt, however. “Well, he can’t fill in the missing links if … he doesn’t know. And that is what the deal is predicated on.” In that investigator’s own words, “we could put $3,000 on him just like that [snaps his fingers], you know … I’m sure we would help him financially and I’m sure … real quick we could get him a job … Al said he’d like a job with an airline and I feel the job can be had, you know.”

Regardless, the issue was not a federal one and the tape was provided to another local District Attorney who would later confirms its contents to the Bureau. According to Kohn, however, this was not the only threat that Garrison had apparently responsible for. Carlos Quiroga had apparently reported that Garrison had told him his life would be in danger if he didn’t testify for Garrison. When called to testify before the Grand Jury, Quiroga repeatedly stated he’d been threatened with perjury if he testified.



Quiroga’s accusations were similarly out of the Bureau’s federal jurisdiction - but one accusation relayed by Kohn wasn’t. According to Kohn, Garrison claimed to have resigned from the National Guard as an alternative to facing military charges. Garrison had reportedly falsified his drill duty certifications for roughly six months, resulting in fraudulent pay from the government.



This, as noted by an earlier memo, fell fully within the FBI’s jurisdiction.



Nor was Kohn the first person to provide them with this type of information. The Bureau had previously received similar reports from the district director of the U.S. Customs Service in New Orleans.



After the Bureau received the initial report from Huff, they referred the matter to the Assistant Attorneys General of the Criminal Division and the National Security Division, apparently without highlighting the possible fraud violation. The only comment the Bureau apparently offered was that any investigation of Garrison was likely to be presented by Garrison as the FBI attempting to interfere with his investigation.



When the Bureau received a second report that seemed to corroborate their initial source, they decided that nothing had changed. If they attempted to investigate Garrison, it was inevitable that it would become known in the area and word would leak to Garrison. “Rightly or wrongly, the Bureau would be accused of trying to intimidate Garrison and engaging in the same tactics which are currently being charged to Garrison himself.” As a result, the Bureau concluded that it wouldn’t be in their best interest “to voluntarily institute a fraud investigation of Garrison at this time.” Instead, they simply referred the matter to the Assistant Attorneys General again.



Years later, Garrison would be swept up in an organized crime and gambling probe. Unlike the prior fraud allegations, these didn’t center on Garrison exclusively. Two New Orleans police officers “and seven other persons” were arrested as a result of a months long investigation which was summarized in a 113-page affidavit and supported by tape recordings. For his part, Garrison had long argued that there was no such as the mafia and nothing wrong with him receiving gifts from those associated with the Marcello crime family.

You can read part of the FBI’s release below, or the rest on the request page.








http://goodlife.org

Welcome to the Historic Homestead
of Scott & Helen Nearing
The mission of the Good Life Center is to perpetuate the legacy of Helen and Scott Nearing. The Good Life Center, through its programming and preservation of the historic Forest Farm homestead, advocates for simple and sustainable living skills, social and economic justice, organic gardening and the non-exploitation of animals.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GOOD LIFE CENTER





https://books.google.com/books?id=mj4rD ... le&f=false

Stalking Sociologists: J. Edgar Hoover's FBI Surveillance of American Sociology
By Renee C. Fox



Book Description Taylor Francis Inc, United Kingdom, 2003. Paperback. Book Condition: New. New.. Language: English . Brand New Book. Until recent years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation enjoyed an exalted reputation as America s premier crime-fighting organization. However, it is now common knowledge that the FBI and its long-time director, J. Edgar Hoover, were responsible for the creation of a massive internal security apparatus that undermined the very principles of freedom and democracy they were sworn to protect. While no one was above suspicion, Hoover appears to have held a special disdain for sociologists and placed many of the profession s most prominent figures under surveillance. In Stalking Sociologists, Mike Forrest Keen offers a detailed account of the FBI s investigations within the context of an overview of the history of American sociology. This ground-breaking analysis history uses documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Keen argues that Hoover and the FBI marginalized sociologists such as W. E. B. Du Bois and C. Wright Mills, tried to suppress the development of a Marxist tradition in American sociology, and likely pushed the mainstream of the discipline away from a critique of American society and towards a more quantitative and scientific direction.He documents thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars dedicated to this project. Faculty members of various departments of sociology were recruited to inform on the activities of their colleagues and the American Sociological Association was a target of FBI surveillance. Keen turns sociology back upon the FBI, using the writings and ideas of the very sociologists Hoover investigated to examine and explain the excesses of the Bureau and its boss. The result is a significant contribution to the collective memory of American society as well as the accurate history of the sociological discipline. This ground-breaking book documents in meticulous detail decades of harassment and surveillance of major American sociologists by the FBI. The misuse of power.will outrage all Americans and raise significant professional issues within the social sciences. --Mary Jo Deegan, professor of sociology, University of Nebraska.



"Keen raises important questions about academic freedom and whether the fear of "subversive" ideas shaped the direction of American sociology, leading to the marginalization of Marxism and to the hegemony of quantitative and statistical analyses."-Choice

Keen raises important questions about academic freedom and whether the fear of "subversive" ideas shaped the direction of American sociology, leading to the marginalization of Marxism and to the hegemony of quantitative and statistical analyses.?-Choice

"Based on research of FBI files on some of America's most eminent sociologists, Mike Keen's Stalking the Sociological Imagination extends our understanding of the politics of FBI surveillance, the social costs of Cold War anti-communism, and the origins of McCarthyism."-Athan Theoharis Professor of History Marquette University

"This ground-breaking book documents in meticulous detail decades of harassment and surveillance of major American sociologists by the FBI. This misuse of power, public funds, and national trust will outrage all Americans and raise significant professional issues within the social sciences."-Mary Jo Deegan Professor of Sociology University of Nebraska

"Mike Keen has published a stimulating book that adds new grist to the mill of sociological theory and history of American sociology....[H]e has produced a book that is of interest to students of social theory and the experts who teach them. Students will find his clear and comprehensive discussion informative and engagingly written, and professors will glean new insights into topics and theorists that they know well....Because of the novelty of the information and the quality of prose, this book will have wide appeal."-Barry V. Johnston Professor Department of Sociology Indiana University Northwest

Read more
About the Author
MIKE FORREST KEEN is Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Sociology at Indiana University South Bend. He teaches classical and contemporary social theory, sociology of science, and environment and society. His previous work includes numerous scholarly articles and Eastern Europe in Transformation: The Impact on Sociology (Greenwood, 1994) edited with Janusz L. Mucha.






Link du jour


http://kneadingconference.com


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/he ... cb1632c15c



http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/03/ch ... iser-poll/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... tack-herat

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http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/02/se ... rice-hike/


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... ths-russia


https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5446450 ... _good_life


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http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/03/ri ... drugs-fda/


Senate passes “right to try” bill to help terminally ill patients get experimental drugs


http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2017/08/ ... hree-hours



https://robertscribbler.com/2017/08/02/ ... ransition/


A Beautiful Machine to Change the World — Model 3 to Transform Global Automobile Markets, Open Pathway For Rapid Energy Transition
“The Tesla Model 3 is here, and it is the most important vehicle of the century. Yes, the hyperbole is necessary.” — Motor Trend.

“The arrival of Tesla’s Model 3 signals a new chapter in automotive history, one that erases 100-plus years of the gas engine and replaces it with technology, design, and performance hot enough to make electric vehicles more than aspirational – to make [electric vehicles (EVs)] inspirational.” — Wired.

“[T]here isn’t anybody who’s going to sit in the driver’s seat of this car and not want it. The Model 3 stokes immediate desire, and the lust lingers. That truly changes everything.” — Business Insider.



(The Tesla Model 3 entered low rate initial production in July of 2017. There has likely never been a more anticipated, desired, or better reviewed automobile. Image source: Tesla. )

*****

More than half a million.

That’s the number of pre-orders Tesla’s Model 3 has racked up since its 2016 product announcement and through its July 2017 launch. And it’s possible that there’s never been a car that’s so anticipated, so desired by the public. People are literally clamoring for this best-in-class, long-range, all-electric vehicle. Elon Musk is getting harassed on twitter by followers anxious to know when their Model 3 will be ready for purchase. And it’s questionable if Elon’s plan to go through ‘mass production hell’ to reach 500K per year annual production rates by end 2018 will ever come close to satiating demand for what is far more than just an amazing automobile (Tesla reports it is still accumulating reservations at a rate of 1,800 per day net, or more than 12,000 per week).

If we were to tap into what drives Model 3 customers, what fuels this particularly virulent brand of Tesla-mania, we’d probably find a dynamic combination of desire, aspiration, and fear. Desire for what is hands-down an absolutely awesome vehicle. Aspiration to contribute to a public good through a meaningful purchase. And a growing fear that we need to move very swiftly away from fossil fuels to confront the rising crisis that is human-caused climate change.

Beautiful Machines

The vehicle itself is just simply extraordinary. For 35,000 dollars you can get a car with a 220 mile all-electric range. For 44,000, the car’s renewable legs lengthen still further to 310 miles. This graceful beast can rocket from 0-60 in less than six seconds. And her interior is wrapped in the kind of bubble cockpit, due to glass roofing, that most fighter pilots would envy. She’s a vehicle that gives a nod to the simplicity of earlier times with her gadget-less dash board. Her liquid exterior a reflection-in-form of the plasma-producing energy of a futuristic, but quietly purring, all-electric drive train.



(Tesla’s beautiful machine launches. Top down view shows iconic glass roof. Image source: Tesla.)

Elon Musk has delivered to us the exact opposite of a clunky automobile made up of all the worst excesses of a stinking smokestack civilization. The Model 3 comes across as a bold and proud creature of air and light. A hopeful machine designed in the pursuit of a better future day, a better way forward.

Changing the World for the Better

And this is what brings us to the heart of the matter. The crux of the reason why hunger for the Model 3 is quite possibly without cure, without limit. People in advanced civilizations these days are tired of being the butt of blame. And they are more than a little worried about what may be coming down the Keystone XL pipeline of climate change. They don’t want to contribute to the great death and harm that is worsening climate disruption with their purchases. They no longer want to be consumers captive to the unforgiving, smog-belching yoke of fossil fuels. They want the vehicular equivalent of the paladin’s white horse. They want to buy into a liberation from an age of pain and heartbreak and endless bad choices with no visible way out. And with each Model 3 purchase — that’s exactly what they are doing.



(Tesla aims for 5,000 vehicle per week Model 3 production ramp by late fall. Image source: Tesla.)

For if Tesla is able to meet this visceral demand for a truly renewable vehicle, if the company is able to ramp up to 20,000 + vehicle per month production rates, it will, by itself, more than double the size of the U.S. Electrical vehicle market in just 1-2 years. The batteries the elegant Model 3 relies on will form a basis for extending the reach of already affordable wind and solar energy (as we are seeing this week in a new wind + battery deal off Massachusetts). And the seismic ground wave produced by the Model 3 will drive a major spike in demand for other, similar electrical vehicles from an expanding array of automakers.

The Model 3 is thus the tip of the spear for speeding an energy transition in the U.S. and in many other countries. And she couldn’t have come at a better time.



https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -life-raft

A second Brexit referendum? It’s looking more likely by the day



https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... jones-fcc/

August 1, 2017
You can’t make this up, folks! InfoWars fans take to the FCC to defend Alex Jones
“If Infowars is considered conspiracy theory news or propagandist, then what is Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, and Fox News considered?”
Written by Caitlin Russell
Edited by JPat Brown
There are so many hilarious, red faced, shirt tearing, pants-on-head-crazy Alex Jones moments that of course there should be a treasure trove of outraged FCC complaints about him.

But of course, dreams are made to be broken, and the world is a terrible place.

A request for FCC complaints for normal website InfoWars turned up a handful of indignant Jones fans furious that their fearless leader was so rudely disrespected by the hosts of other shows.

There’s death threats against “legitimate” news networks …



unfounded accusations of racism …



which, while we’re on the subject, white people are the real victims of …



and this somewhat salient point …



that’s undercut by the fact that while mainstream media is far from perfect, but none of the outlets mentioned above ever claimed to have evidence of Hillary Clinton birthing an alien lifeform out of her mouth.

Read the full complaints embedded below, or on the request



The planet edges closer to a major tipping point
Climate change will almost certainly heat the world so much it can never recover, major study finds

There's only a 10 per cent chance we'll avoid widespread drought, extreme weather and dangerous increases in sea level

The Independent (U.K.), Aug. 1, 2017
The scientists looked at 50 years of data on world population and economic activity to come up with their forecast. One factor taken into account was "carbon intensity", the amount of carbon emitted for each dollar of economic activity.

The approach is different from that taken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose most recent report included future warming rates based on four carbon emission scenarios.

Professor Adrian Raftery, who led the University of Washington team, said: "The big problem with scenarios is that you don't know how likely they are, and whether they span the full range of possibilities or are just a few examples. Scientifically, this type of storytelling approach was not fully satisfying.

"Our analysis is compatible with previous estimates, but it finds that the most optimistic projections are unlikely to happen. We're closer to the margin than we think.

"Overall, the goals expressed in the Paris Agreement are ambitious but realistic. The bad news is they are unlikely to be enough to achieve the target of keeping warming at or below 1.5 degrees."

The findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

A separate study in the same journal found that even if all fossil fuel emissions were halted this year, global temperatures were very likely to be 1.3C higher than pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

There was a 13% chance that the Earth was already committed to 1.5C warming by 2100, said the authors led by Dr Thorsten Mauritsen, from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany.



http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 69641.html



We only have a 5 percent chance of avoiding ‘dangerous’ global warming, a study finds

The Washington Post, July 31, 2017

In recent years, it has become increasingly common to frame the climate change problem as a kind of countdown — each year we emit more carbon dioxide, narrowing the window for fixing the problem, but not quite closing it yet. After all, something could still change. Emissions could still start to plunge precipitously. Maybe next year.

This outlook has allowed, at least for some, for the preservation of a form of climate optimism in which big changes, someday soon, will still make the difference. Christiana Figureres, the former head of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change, recently joined with a group of climate scientists and policy wonks to state there are three years left to get emissions moving sharply downward. If, that is, we’re holding out hope of limiting the warming of the globe to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures, often cited as the threshold where “dangerous” warming begins (although in truth, that’s a matter of interpretation).

Yet a battery of recent studies call into question even that limited optimism. Last week, a group of climate researchers published research suggesting the climate has been warming for longer than we thought due to human influences — in essence, pushing the so-called “preindustrial” baseline for the planet’s warming backwards in time. The logic is clear: If the Earth has already warmed more than we thought due to human activities, then there’s even less remaining carbon dioxide that we can emit and still avoid 2 degrees of warming.

Two new studies published Monday, meanwhile, go further towards advancing this pessimistic view which asserts that there’s little chance of the world will stay within prescribed climate limits.

The first new study calculates the statistical likelihood of various amounts of warming by the year 2100 based on three trends that matter most for how much carbon we put in the air. Those are the global population, countries’ GDP (on a per capita basis), and carbon intensity, or the volume of emissions for a given level of economic activity.

The research finds that the median warming is likely to be 3.2 degrees Celsius, and further concludes that there’s only a 5 percent chance that the world can hold limiting below 2 degrees Celsius and a mere 1 percent chance that it can be limited below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). That will come as bad news for vulnerable small island nations in particular, which have held out for a 1.5 degree target, along with other particularly vulnerable nations.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about the future, our analysis does reflect that, but it also does reflect that the more optimistic scenarios that have been used in targets seem quite unlikely to occur,” said statistician Adrian Raftery of the University of Washington, Seattle. Raftery conducted the study, which was just published in Nature Climate Change, alongside colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Upstart Networks.

The research is significant because 2 degrees Celsius has often been regarded as the threshold for so-called “dangerous” climate change. Figueres herself put it this way in an interview with CBS News: “Science has established for quite a while that we need to respect a threshold of 2 degrees, that being the limit of the temperature increase that we can afford from a human, economic and infrastructure point of view.”

The second new study, meanwhile, takes a different approach, analyzing how much global warming the world has already committed to, since the warming due to some emissions has not yet arrived. Nonetheless, with the planet at a so-called energy imbalance, that warming is inevitably coming, and the study — conducted by Thorsten Mauritsen of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany and Robert Pincus of the University of Colorado, Boulder — finds that it probably pushes us several slivers of a degree beyond where we are now.

The upshot is that we may already have firmly committed to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming even if emissions were to stop immediately and entirely (which is not going to happen). One scenario presented in the study finds a 13 percent chance that 1.5 degrees is already baked in; another finds a 32 percent chance. And again, the margin for avoiding 2 degrees C narrows accordingly.

Glen Peters, a climate policy expert at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, is on the record stating that he thinks there’s little chance of holding warming to 2 degrees Celsius unless we come up with so-called “negative emissions” technologies that allow us to actively withdraw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere later in the century.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, Peters actually felt that the first new study, finding only a 5 percent chance of staying below 2 degrees, might be a tad too negative. It takes into account past climate policies, he notes, but not the possibility of a major upsurge in global climate action in coming years, unlike what we’ve seen previously. Indeed, the study notes that “Our forecasting model does not explicitly incorporate future legislation that could change future emissions.”

“Less than 2 degrees of warming is unlikely if we don’t try,” said Peters. “I’m one that says that 2 degrees is not likely anyway — but if we try, at least it’s an option that we can get to 2 degrees.”

(Raftery, speaking about this aspect of his study, noted to me that “I think it’s possible that the future might be completely different, and there’ll be a sudden big jump forward, but past data would suggest that’s being a bit optimistic.”)

However, at the same time Peters also admitted that the study about committed warming reinforced a troubling conclusion, since “it’s in a sense impossible that we’re not going to emit any more.” The upshot is that “We’re starting from 1.5 and going up from there in the future emissions that we have,” he said.

This again means that negative emissions, based on technologies that don’t exist yet at the relevant scale, would probably be required at some point in the future. The new research “emphasizes the importance of removing carbon from the atmosphere,” said Peters.

The upshot of all the latest research, however, is that while limiting warming to 2 degrees is seeming unlikely, and 1.5 degrees nearly impossible, staying within something like 2.5 degrees still seems quite possible if there’s concerted action. And who knows whether in thirty years, negative emissions may appear much more feasible than they do now, providing the option of cooling the planet back down again at some point.

In sum, climate pessimism has indeed had a strong run lately — but you have to keep in context. It’s pessimism that we’ll hit our current goals. It’s not fatalism, or the idea that we’ll accomplish nothing, or that present momentum doesn’t matter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ene ... 87271d4a1a





https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... ined-in-us

Briton who stopped WannaCry attack arrested over separate malware claims
Marcus Hutchins arrested over his alleged role in creating Kronos malware targeting bank accounts



https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... layers-mlb

The long decline – and possible revival – of the African American baseball star
Players such as Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays helped shape baseball, and America. So why has the number of black players halved since the 1980s?






https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... ropaganda/

August 3, 2017
Former House Majority Leader worked with the CIA to use a Congressional investigation for propaganda - and it backfired
Agency felt investigation into Soviet war crimes might have led to charges of U.S. biological warfare in Korea
Written by Emma Best
Edited by JPat Brown
Declassified CIA documents describe the Agency’s agreement to work with a Senator’s plan to use a 1952 Congressional investigation into Soviet war crimes for propaganda purposes. Congress was looking into the Katyn massacre in which the KGB’s predecessor’s, the NKVD, murdered thousands of Polish prisoners of war and which the Soviet Union denied responsibility for until 1990. In 1952, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives sought to use the investigation of very real Soviet war crimes as a propaganda opportunity, and while it may have worked in the short run, documents indicate that both CIA and State Department personnel believe it may have backfired, and led to charges the U.S. was using biological weapons in Korea.

According to the formerly TOP SECRET CIA document describing the February 28, 1952 Director’s Meeting, then Deputy Director Allen Dulles was approach by John Mitchell, the Counsel of the Committee which was investigating Katyn (no relation to Nixon’s John Mitchell). Mitchell, who discussed the matter with Congressman McCormack, hoped the Agency would be cooperative with the probe to their mutual benefit.

However, those attending the Director’s Meeting had some concerns -someone whose name is redacted, likely Mitchell or McCormack, was seen as “unreliable” and not worth trusting with Agency operational details. Previously, the Agency had expressed concern that Mitchell would ask them to provide a lot of assistance with the probe. Regardless, the Agency’s senior staff decided they couldn’t let the opportunity go by “in view of its propaganda value.” As a result, Deputy Director of Plans Frank Wisner agreed to “follow through” on the matter. While a memo was apparently written from Dulles to Wisner memorializing the conversation with Mitchell, it has not yet been declassified.



Wisner had earlier recommended against working with Mitchell or any Congressional investigation. Several months earlier, Mitchell had approached Wisner when he first became the Counsel for the Committee investigation. According to a formerly SECRET memo from Wisner to the Department of State, Mitchell had approached Wisner about cooperating on the probe with no apparent mention of propaganda except a desire to avoid investigating “government officials (presumably of G-2)” who had been accused of “having suppressed certain highly relevant documents.” Wisner appropriately referred him to the Office of Legislative Counsel without commenting. In his memo, Wisner added that he did “not consider it appropriate for this Agency to become involved in Congressional investigations” - Wisner felt that was this was the Department of State’s jurisdiction.

According to another formerly SECRET memo, which had curiously been referenced two days before it was written, Congressman McCormack followed up with CIA’s Legislative Counsel when the hearings had all but concluded, with only two days and five of eighty-one witnesses still to testify, to discuss the Katyn propaganda effort. While he wanted to know how CIA evaluated the overseas propaganda value of the Congressional Committee investigating the Katyn Massacre, he felt that it “had been extremely successful from the standpoint of favorable United States propaganda.”



While neither the hearings nor Mitchell’s liaising with CIA had come to an end, Congressman McCormack already his eye on the future. To his view, the effort had been more than successful enough to warrant considering doing the same thing again. McCormack openly speculated “as to whether it might not be helpful if other Congressional investigations might be undertaken with a view towards utilizing them for psychological warfare purposes.” Where the cooperation over the Katyn investigation had coalesced around an already existing effort on the part of Congress, McCormack now suggested forming new committees with that explicit expectation. In particular, he was considering “a special Congressional Committee to investigate atrocities against American soldiers in Korea, with broad enough authority to include examining into [sic] the germ warfare charges.”



In response, CIA Director General Walter Bedell Smith responded that the Agency “should have no interest in this matter.” The Director’s refusal to cooperate may have had several motivations. The first may have simply been a refusal to create Congressional investigations for propaganda purposes - using an existing investigation into war crimes as an opportunity for propaganda was one thing, but creating Congressional investigations with that purpose in mind was something altogether different.



Assuming that McCormack had meant investigating Communist use of biological weapons in Korea, then the Agency had a major obstacle to pursuing that propaganda angle. According to the formerly TOP SECRET record of another Director’s Meeting held soon after, the Agency already had a proposed propaganda plan involving Communist bacteriological warfare in Korea. The problem was that the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had disapproved of the plan since the Agency had been unable to prove there was a Communist bacteriological warfare unit in Korea.



There was another reason for the Agency to “show no interest” in the matter - some staff members of CIA and the State Department believed that the propaganda relating to the Katyn investigation had backfired. According to a formerly SECRET issue of the Current Intelligence Digest from April 12, 1952, the Italian Embassy reported that the Communist press was “continuing an intensive propaganda campaign” that alleged U.S. use of biological warfare in Korea. The Embassy believed that the campaign may have been designed “in part to draw public attention away from the investigation of the Katyn massacre.”



The Embassy and the CIA analysts reviewing their information weren’t the only ones to see such a link as plausible. A declassified Psychological Strategy Board memo written several months later describes an October 1952 conversation between John Elliott and Charles Bohlen, who was then the Counsellor to the State Department and would be named, several months later, as the Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In their discussion, Bohlen brought up the U.S.’s past propaganda against the Soviet Union. In Bohlen’s mind, the propaganda tended to be “too strident and shrill.” Bohlen believed that this resulting in alarming the U.S.’s allies more than any intimidation to the Kremlin. Worse, the “sharp attacks” reinforced the “incipient impression lurking in the minds of the peoples of the democratic world that the U.S. was a warmongering nation trying to incite hostilities with the Soviet Union.” Creating this image, Bohlen noted, was a goal of Soviet propaganda - one that the U.S. had inadvertently been helping them with.



Bohlen cited that Katyn massacre investigation as a specific example of this. He felt that the barrage of propaganda released in connection with the investigation had backfired. Like the Embassy staff members several months earlier, Bohlen felt that it “may have been responsible for the launching of the Communist bacteriological warfare charges against the United States in reprisal.”



Perhaps the Agency should have listened to Frank Wisner in 1951.

You can read additional CIA documents discussing Katyn here, the seven volumes of Congressional hearings here, the interim report here and the final report here. The Director’s Meeting memo is embedded below.

DOCUMENT
PAGE

[gardener4life]

I'm not really sure where this is going? What is this post supposed to be about? I think the point was 'tangent-ified' somehow.

[msfreeh]

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... ton-common

Here’s what happened at the ‘free speech’ rally and counter-protests on Boston Common


“I’m really impressed,” he said. “We probably had 40,000 people out here, standing tall against hatred and bigotry in our city, and that’s a good feeling.”Boston Police Commissioner Evans



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... eech-rally

Saturday 19 August 2017 15.48 EDT First published on Saturday 19 August 2017 12.54 EDT

Donald Trump described anti-fascist and anti-racist demonstrators who converged on Boston as “anti-police agitators” on Saturday, in a tweet that seemed destined to revive the still simmering controversy over his remarks equating the far right and anti-Nazis in Charlottesville last weekend.


“Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston,” Trump tweeted. “Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you.”










SIGNS FROM BOSTON COMMON
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... -in-boston




http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/por ... -1.3426142


Port Authority Police candidates with law enforcement jobs failing psych test at alarming rate


Saturday, August 19, 2017, 8:55 PM




They’re good enough to wear an NYPD or state police shield, but they’re mentally unfit to guard the Holland Tunnel.

More than 70% of the men and women hoping to join the Port Authority Police Department and who have passed the written exam are being turned down because, the agency says, they failed the psychological exam — even though many of the applicants already have jobs in the New York Police Department, the state police and other law enforcement agencies, the Daily News has learned.

The reject pile numbers in the thousands.

“They are dropping people left and right and blaming it on the psychological exam,” said a high-ranking law enforcement source with knowledge of the Port Authority’s vetting process. “Some of the people being dismissed are already cops. What does that say about the agency that hired them?

“If you’re coming up with numbers like that, you really need to look at yourself — there is something wrong with your system,” the source said.

The massive failure rate on the psychological test has been trending for several years, sources said.

Historically, upward of 20,000 applicants a year take the Port Authority Police Department written exam to be part of the force that protects people using the airports, PATH trains, Midtown bus terminal and bridges and tunnels linking New York to New Jersey.

Many want the job because of the huge amounts of overtime and generous benefits that are historically better than those of other police departments.

The exam is graded on a curve, depending on how many people the Port Authority needs, but 65% of the test-takers usually pass — about 13,000.


Unlike the psych exam, 65% of applicants pass the Port Authority Police written exam
Out of that number, about 9,100 are usually dismissed from the running for failing the agency’s psychological exam, sources said.

“(That’s) double or triple that of any other law enforcement agency that we are aware of,” said Paul Nunziato, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association. “It seems almost impossible that there could be a legitimate medical need to fail that many candidates.”

The psychological exam is a standard questionnaire based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a test used throughout the country to gauge mental health, followed by an interview with a psychologist.

Many of the people the Port Authority found to be too off-balance to keep traffic moving at the George Washington Bridge include New York and New Jersey cops — sparking a major ethical concern.

“If they determine that someone is unfit to be a Port Authority police officer and they already carry a gun, they should be obligated to inform the agency that person works for, but they don’t,” the high-ranking source said.

Those being dismissed also include decorated veterans, according to Robert Egbert, the benevolent association’s spokesman.

“We are concerned about the lack of veterans becoming Port Authority police officers,” Egbert said. “It seems the Port Authority is hiding behind a subjective exam and saying to these courageous men and women, ‘You are not good enough.’”

John, a New Jersey cop drummed out of the Port Authority Police Department vetting process, said he “didn’t know what to think” when he was given the news that he failed the psychological exam.

No sales to daily newspapers except in the U.S. and U.K.
The Port Authority Police guard people using the airports, PATH trains, Midtown bus terminal and bridges and tunnels linking New York to New Jersey. (CHRIS HONDROS/GETTY IMAGES)
The shock was understandable: John, who asked that his last name be withheld, works in his department’s special victims unit, where he investigates sexual assaults and interviews rape victims.

“I already work in probably one of the most stressful units in law enforcement and they tell me I’m not cut out for this job,” he said. “It just didn’t add up. Why wouldn’t they hire someone who has experience in stressful situations?”

The Port Authority initially refused to comment on the odds-defying trend, demanding The News seek answers through the Freedom of Information Law. A FOIL request for documents regarding Port Authority Police Department vetting was quickly denied.

On Friday, the Port Authority acknowledged that “failure numbers in the most recent class were higher than average.”

“(It’s) a reflection of some reforms put in place to date,” the agency said in a statement. “The Port Authority’s ambition is to have the highest-quality police force possible. In pursuit of that ambition, the agency has been reviewing the selection process for police recruits.

“The review and revision process for police recruitment standards is currently midstream, with multiple aspects still being studied and under consideration,” the PA said. “Medical and psychological standards are among those still being reviewed, with the goal of implementing a revised set of standards in early 2018.”

The Port Authority outsources psychological testing to a private company, the name of which is a closely guarded secret.

“We have no idea who they are. The police are not involved in that side of it at all,” said the high-ranking source. “If we ask, the Port Authority tells us, ‘It’s none of your business.’”


Experts say outsourcing the psych exams could lead to the skewed test numbers.

“Private companies have a vested interest in accommodating their clients. What happens, unfortunately, is that they may target certain answers and weed out candidates that a psychologist steeped in the law enforcement culture may see differently,” said Daniel Rudofossi, a licensed psychologist who was once clinical director for the NYPD Medical Division’s Membership Assistance Program.

When John was told he was medically barred from becoming a Port Authority cop, he appealed. He was then sent a form letter claiming he did not “meet the psychological requirements.”

“This does not mean you are not qualified for other positions within or outside of the Port Authority or any other endeavors you choose to pursue,” the letter said.

“I don’t understand it,” the high-ranking source said about the failure rate. “They’re just molding their applicant numbers to whatever they think they need that given year.”

The Port Authority can be overly selective because it hires so few applicants. Only 120 cadets were welcomed into the Port Authority Police Academy in January. After 26 weeks of study and physical training, 83 of them graduated July 28.

The Port Authority currently has 1,657 rank-and-file police officers. The entire Port Authority Police Department — including supervisors — tops out at 2,045.

Eugene O’Donnell, a retired NYPD cop and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the Port Authority shouldn’t use the psych exam as a catch-all excuse for dismissing candidates.









http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bro ... -1.3426223


Hundreds march in rally over police violence against people with mental illness in Brooklyn
BY DALE W. EISINGER THOMAS TRACY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, August 19, 2017, 9:59 PM





http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bro ... -1.3426173


NYPD school safety agent busted after allegedly attacking boyfriend amid brawl in Brooklyn apartment


Saturday, August 19, 2017,






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3426317

Dick Gregory, comedy legend and civil rights activist, dead at 84



Saturday, August 19, 2017, 11:11 PM

He was 84.

Gregory died in Washington D.C. two days after his son revealed that he was hospitalized with a “serious but stable medical condition.”

“It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, DC.,” his son Christian Gregory wrote on Instagram.

18180
Muhammad Ali embraces Dick Gregory, comedian, social activist and nutritionist, after a workout in New Orleans, Sept. 13, 1978 .
“The family appreciates the outpouring of support and love and respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.”

Born in St. Louis, Gregory first started performing stand-up comedy in the army in the 1950s.

His major break came in 1961 when he was spotted by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner performing before an all-white audience at the Roberts Show Bar in Chicago.


In memoriam: Remembering the famous figures we lost in 2017
“It was the first time they had seen a black comic who was not bucking his eyes, wasn’t dancing and singing and telling mother-in-law jokes,” Gregory said in a 2000 Boston Globe interview. “Just talking about what I read in the newspaper.”

Gregory instantly shot to fame, landing gigs at the country’s top clubs and raking in as much as $25,000 a night.

At the same time, the civil rights movement was gathering momentum and Gregory bravely injected himself into the cause, trading stage performances for sit-ins and marches.


Gregory became a major figure in the civil rights movement, marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King
Some critics called him out for allowing his demonstrating to interfere with his comedy career.

“My career is interfering with my demonstrating,” Gregory shot back.

A friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, he was shot in the leg during Los Angeles’ Watts Riots in 1965 and even ran for president as a write-in candidate in 1968.

Gregory's major break came in 1961 when he was spotted by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

“He taught us how to laugh. He taught us how to fight. He taught us how to live,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. “Dick Gregory was committed to justice. I miss him already. #RIP.”

TV One host Roland Martin described Gregory as “honest, truthful, unflinching, unapologetically black.”

“He challenged America at every turn.” Martin added.

The death of the comic giant even prompted Bill Cosby to issue a rare public statement.

“His




https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.or ... ck-gregory

Dick Gregory Portrait by Robert Shetterly
c Robert Shetterly/Americans Who Tell The Truth
Dick Gregory
Comedian, Social Activist, Writer : b. 1932

"…to be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils is really to have no choice at all. …Under such circumstances the only real choice a person has is to exercise his right not to vote; to boycott the polls and refuse to participate in a process that mocks the concept of free elections."




http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/footb ... -1.3425792

Frank Serpico, NYPD cops raise their fists, take a knee for team-less Colin Kaepernick at Brooklyn rally
BY DALE W. EISINGER LARRY MCSHANE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, August 19, 2017, 3:03 PM




http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/s ... -1.3425701

Inside the support house assisting deported U.S. veterans living in Mexico

Nearly 60 veterans who have served in the U.S. military have been sent to Tijuana, Mexico upon the end of their service due of their lack of citizenship status and, for some, their criminal record. The Deported Veterans Support House, however, has stepped in and given many of them food, shelter, clothing, and a lifeline to the legislation fighting to get them back in the U.S.






http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/17/de ... -coworker/


Two Denver jail sergeants fired for failing to report intoxicated co-worker





http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/art ... 882366.php


Next week's striking New Yorker cover shows Trump traveling with the KKK
Michael Cavna, The Washington Post Published 2:52 pm, Thursday, August 17, 2017





http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/O ... 944379.php


Evacuation orders affect hundreds in California, Oregon
Updated 4:35 pm, Saturday, August 19, 2017

[msfreeh]

https://www.mintpressnews.com/judge-gre ... rs/232815/


Judge Greenlights Lawsuit Against FBI Over Surveillance Of Barrett Brown Supporters
A judge ruled that the lawsuit plausibly alleged that the government abused its subpoena power to unmask identities of unnamed donors who raised money for the jailed journalists legal defense.


A federal judge Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the FBI used an unconstitutional subpoena to spy on anonymous supporters of jailed journalist Barrett Brown.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James found the lawsuit plausibly alleged that the government abused its subpoena power to unmask the identities of unnamed donors who raised money for Brown’s legal defense.

“Defendants have failed to articulate any facially reasonable explanation for requesting donors’ identities,” James wrote in her 26-page ruling.




Brown was arrested in September 2012 and sentenced to five years and three months in prison after he shared an online link to files stolen in the 2011 hack of the security and intelligence contractor Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor.

Related | Government Reaches New Lows In Its Crusade Against Barrett Brown

Kevin Gallagher, who started an online fundraiser for Brown’s legal defense, and an anonymous donor filed a class action against the government in February this year. They claim the FBI violated donors’ privacy, the First Amendment, and the Stored Communications Act.

Gallagher and Donor No. 1 claim Dallas-based FBI agent Robert Smith and Candina Heath, an assistant U.S. attorney in Texas, used a subpoena to “unlawfully identify, target and surveil” anonymous supporters of Brown.

The government says those donors have no expectation of privacy for transaction records retained by a third party. But the plaintiffs say the records were protected political speech and that revealing their identities violates their rights to engage in anonymous political speech.





http://www.mintpressnews.com/report-wit ... il/232827/

Report: Without Taxpayer Subsidies, Fossil Fuel Companies Would Fail
A new report found that industry subsidies cost U.S. taxpayers more than $20 billion each year, $14.7 billion at the federal level and $5.8 billion at the state level.


https://www.courthousenews.com/texas-ch ... aster-aid/


Texas Churches Fight FEMA for Right to Disaster Aid
By KELSEY JUKAM
The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss claims from three Texas churches that FEMA’s disaster aid policies unconstitutionally discriminate against religious organizations.






https://www.courthousenews.com/florida- ... nd-claims/

Florida Supreme Court Clears Path for Civil Action on ‘Stand Your Ground’ Claims
ALEX PICKETTFacebookTwitterGoogle+Email September 29, 2017
(CN) – A person declared immune from criminal prosecution under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law can still face a civil action, the Florida Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The unanimous decision is yet another twist in the interpretation of one of the state’s most controversial laws.




https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -gun-laws/


October 4, 2017
Could you purchase a gun in Nevada? Probably.
In the case of Stephen Paddock, existing gun laws didn’t fail - they’re just that lenient
Written by Vanessa Nason
Edited by JPat Brown
So, you decided to purchase a gun in Nevada.

1. The first step, unless you know a private dealer willing to sell you a gun, is to go to a Federal Firearm Licensed (FFL) Dealer.

If you’re in the Las Vegas area, you’re in luck - there are roughly 300 holders of this license. You can buy a machine gun - provided it was manufactured before 1986 - just 20 minutes outside the Las Vegas Strip.



2. Once you’ve found the firearm you want, the store will run a background check on you.

All FFLs are required to run a background check prior to a gun sale. You complete ATF Form 4473, which asks 16 questions, including, “are you a fugitive from justice?” And “are you an alien illegally in the United States?” The store will then contact the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), run by the FBI, giving them your answers and social security number. A permit may also be required, but this varies depending on state and type of firearm.



3. A firearm will be denied on criteria outlined by federal law and state laws.

The 10 federal disqualifications, given to us as part of a request with the Nevada Attorney General, are:



Extra disqualifications vary from state to state. In Nevada, there are two:



According to the FBI, the NICS returns an immediate response more than 90 percent of the time. To check even more records, states can opt to run their own background checks in addition to the federal NICS. Only 21 states take this extra precautionary measure. There are now three possible outcomes:

1. You were given the instant OK by the FBI.

Congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of a firearm. This can mean different things. Clark County, where Las Vegas is, used to have a required 72 hour waiting period before taking your new gun home.



2. You were denied.

Too bad. Try a different state, or buy an antique online.

3. The FBI wants more information.

If the results of your background check came back inconclusive, and the FBI wants to further look into your case, they legally have three days to do so. If they have not reached a determination by the end of those three days, you will automatically be sold the firearm in what’s known as a default proceed. Most infamously, this is how Dylan Roof was able to purchase a Glock and murder nine people at a church in Charleston, despite a previous drug offense.

The dealer is not required to notify the FBI when a sale has been made via default proceed. If the FBI later determines the gun sale was illegal, they are obligated to send a retrieval order to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The ATF then works in conjunction with local law enforcement to confiscate the gun. Keeping with what we’ve found so far, the data surrounding default proceeds and successful retrievals is murky. The FBI says they issue an average of 3,000 retrieval orders each year. There is no information on how many of those are successful. We’ve been filing to find out how many guns are sold as a default proceed each year, and while our requests to find this information have so far been futile, the same data that was denied to us was released to Think Progress earlier this year. Their data shows more than 300,000 firearms were sold as default proceeds last year.



The Las Vegas shooter was legally sold a gun. According to the New York Times, the 65-year-old man had stockpiled 23. He passed the routine background checks. So what went wrong?

In this case, it wasn’t that the system failed - it was that the system is just that lenient.

Gun law advocates have given Nevada an F rating. The state doesn’t require any permits, licenses, or registration on rifles and shotguns. And while it’s technically illegal to purchase a modern machine gun, Mother Jones reported in 2012 on how easy, and legal, it is to rig your semiautomatic to fire just like one. The Las Vegas shooter had his own modified gun, which may have been the cause of his rapid fire shooting that left 59 dead and more than 500 injured. 90 shots were fired in 10 seconds.

Is that really “the price of freedom?”

Read Nevada’s firearms policies embedded below, or on the request page.


Image by Michael Saechang via Flickr and licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0.




https://networks.h-net.org/node/5299/re ... old-bureau

Schorman on Cecil, 'Branding Hoover's FBI: How the Boss's PR Men Sold the Bureau to America'

Author:
Matthew Cecil
Reviewer:
Rob Schorman

Matthew Cecil. Branding Hoover's FBI: How the Boss's PR Men Sold the Bureau to America. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2016. 344 pp. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7006-2305-1.

Reviewed by Rob Schorman (Miami University of Ohio Regionals)
Published on H-FedHist (October, 2017)
Commissioned by Caryn E. Neumann

Matthew Cecil, in Branding Hoover's FBI: How the Boss's PR Men Sold the Bureau to America, lays out a case that the prestige and public trust enjoyed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during most of J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure resulted not so much from the agency’s investigative prowess as from a finely tuned public relations apparatus that began operation only a few years after the term “public relations” was coined. As Cecil puts it: “The bureau practiced, at an early stage in the development of the field, sophisticated public relations techniques on a nationwide scale” (p. 15). Cecil sees the success of this effort as the achievement of specific, talented individuals. He suggests that had they not been on the scene, the agency would have fared much differently in the public estimation from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and that had they not departed, the agency might have avoided its precipitous fall from grace in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In-depth coverage is given to the careers of both Louis Nichols and Cartha “Deke” DeLoach, the two most prominent overseers of the agency’s PR efforts, the former from 1935 to 1957 and the latter from 1959 to 1970. Nichols established the template for agency policies, and the book details the manner in which he led efforts to control its image in popular radio shows, fought to head off critical findings from a presidential commission, strategically leaked information on alleged Communist sympathizers to force them from public office, and recruited liberal “moles” to offer intelligence about such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union. DeLoach followed the template but with a different style. Whereas Nichols was a sometimes subtle manipulator of a vast network of media contacts—both friend and foe—DeLoach focused his attention on “managing upward” and influencing decision makers in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Justice Department, and White House (p. 263).

Nichols and DeLoach are well-known figures, although their methods have never been examined with such care. Perhaps even more valuable, the book provides an equally detailed appraisal of the contributions of agency staff members who are never more than bit players in standard FBI histories. These include Milton Jones, who for almost thirty years was personally responsible for maintaining the content standards for thousands of letters, memos, speeches, articles, and reports the agency produced, and Fern Stukenbroeker, who among other things was the chief ghostwriter for publications that appeared under Hoover’s name, ranging from law journal articles to the best-selling book Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It (1958), which sold more than two million copies. The book includes readable character sketches of these people and many others with whom they interacted, along with analysis of their activities.

Cecil’s work has an impressive research base, most notably an extensive review of the FBI’s own files of correspondence, memos, and handwritten notes. At its peak, the FBI department responsible for public relations employed almost two hundred people and in a single year responded to about seven thousand letters a month, placed dozens of articles in national magazines, wrote hundreds of speeches and official statements for bureau employees, and performed thousands of “name checks” for the White House. For the network television series The FBI (1965-74), it rewrote scripts, vetted cast and crew members (blackballing “subversives”), and had two agents permanently assigned to the set while filming occurred. Censure, probation, demotion, and reassignment were penalties imposed on agency personnel for offenses as small as a typographical error on a letter that went out on the agency’s letterhead.

The book also covers the tsunami of criticism that led to a decline in the FBI’s reputation at the end of Hoover’s tenure. By that time, the health and vigor of Hoover and his top aide, Clyde Tolson, were in decline, and Nichols and DeLoach had moved on. Cecil states: “It seems likely that the Bureau could have weathered the kinds of public relations challenges it faced in the late 1960s and early 1970s had its leadership team been at full strength” (p. 252). I suppose that’s possible—certainly he provides examples of inept and inadequate response by the agency during this period. He also notes, however, that by the late 1960s the “FBI represented mainstream 1950s values in a counterculture America” (p. 214), and one wonders if any PR effort could have countered the rising suspicion and scrutiny of public institutions that were fueled by civil rights and Vietnam protests, the culture of scandal and investigative reporting that began to permeate Washington media, and the collapse of the Cold War consensus that had dominated public perception and discourse since World War II.

Branding Hoover’s FBI is well done in every respect. The book is well written and organized, its use of both primary and secondary sources is excellent, and overall its argument is convincing. It is a valuable addition to our understanding of the internal workings of the FBI.

Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=49531

Citation: Rob Schorman. Review of Cecil, Matthew, Branding Hoover's FBI: How the Boss's PR Men Sold the Bureau to America. H-FedHist, H-Net Reviews. October, 2017.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=49531

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.


Former FBI special agent reveals possible profile of Vegas shooter
FOX 13 News, Tampa Bay-
TAMPA (FOX 13) - A former FBI special agent painted a picture of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock as a walled-off, complicated subject for ...





http://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/20 ... 728983001/

FBI expert: Motive in Las Vegas shooting will surely surface
Naples Daily News-
The lead FBI agent for the Oklahoma City bombing said the motive behind the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history will become clear. “You can't tell me that ...





Attorney: Ashcroft Gagged Nichols From Exposing McVeigh's OKC Bombing Conspirators | 911Blogger.com
9/11 Blogger › news › attorney-ashcroft-...
Feb 22, 2007 - Trentadue dropped the bombshell that Attorney General's Ashcroft's office gagged Nichols from speaking ... "McVeigh said he believed Potts was manipulating him and forcing him to 'go off script ...


PATCON, Oklahoma City, and Jesse Trentadue's Lonely Crusade for Justice | The Libertarian Institute
The Libertarian Institute › justice › patco...
Apr 19, 2017 - On the basis of what he had told Trentadue, Matthews was expected to describe how the FBI was ..... for the OKC bombing videos, Jesse Trentadue contacted by convicted co-conspirator Terry Nichols, ...



'Multiple accomplices' ID'd by Terry Nichols - WND.com
WND.com › 2007/02
Feb 26, 2007 - Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue secured Nichols' signed and sealed declaration as part of his ... As Nichols recounts his conversation with McVeigh, “Potts had something to do with the change ...



https://whowhatwhy.org/2017/10/03/class ... -massacre/


MINDSCAPE
OCTOBER 3, 2017 | RUSS BAKER
CLASSIC WHO: TEXAS CONCEALED CARRY LAW AND THE UT TOWER MASSACRE




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3539563


Georgia cop who lied about receiving a Purple Heart medal gets probation
BY ELIZABETH ELIZALDE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, October 3, 2017, 8:28 PM





https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-sta ... ess-20225/



To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

A copy of report DODIG-2015-157, "Assessment of the Nuclear Warhead Unsatisfactory Report Process (Project No. D2014-DINT02-0199.000)"

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Shawn Musgrave



http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hocke ... -1.3540681


Lauren Hart, Flyers anthem singer and mother of four adopted black children, says protest’s message of Police Cruelty is being lost
BY EVAN GROSSMAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, October 4, 2017, 10:35 AM

"If you are offended at the kneeling say so, and then ask yourself, how do I make this better so a grown man doesn't have to kneel down in front of all of America just to be heard?" she said. "Protest and patriotism are what this country was founded on. Despite our hopes, we are not all treated as equals. Until we face that truth nobody's 'team' wins."





https://www.courthousenews.com/agency-a ... -survival/

Agency Asks Anglers to Aid Fish’s Survival
RAMONA YOUNG-GRINDLEFacebookTwitterGoogle+Email October 3, 2017





http://www.rexresearch.com/nordenstrom/nordenstrom.htm

Bjorn NORDENSTROM first person to map body's electrical system

Electrochemical Treatment of Cancer


Dr.Bjorn Nordenstrom, a Chairman of the Nobel Prize Selection Assembly, discovered how to use electricity to shrink lung and breast cancer tumors with no side effects. His work was ignored.


INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BIOLOGICALLY CLOSED ELECTRIC CIRCUITS (BCEC) IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY

During the 1950's, a brilliant, inquisitive and highly innovative Swedish radiologist and surgeon, Dr. Björn E.W. Nordenström (second photo) became interested in streaks, spikes and coronas that he saw in X-ray images of lung tumors (third photo, from: "Exploring BCEC-Systems," Nordic Medical Publications, Stockholm (1998)). When Dr. Nordenström discussed his observations with other physicians, many of his colleagues saw nothing. Others attributed the phenomena to artifacts in the image.

Dr. Nordenström was quite familiar with negative reactions from his colleagues. As his accomplishments grew, he became Head of Diagnostic Radiology at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. He also authored or co-authored more than 150 publications in radiology, electrobiology and pharmacology. He was a member of the Nobel Assembly from 1967 through 1986, and served as President of the Assembly in 1985. Even with these credentials, many of his ideas, such as needle biopsy and balloon catheterization were initially met with significant amounts of opposition by his peers.

In 1965, Dr. Nordenström began a scientific investigation into the subtle anomalies that he observed in lung tumor X-ray images. After years of very careful experimentation and analysis, he came to the conclusion that the streaks, spikes and coronas that could be seen in X-ray radiographs of lung tumors were the result of water movement, movement of ions and restructuring of certain tissues due to the influence of various electrical and electrochemical phenomena.

As his research activities progressed, Dr. Nordenström proposed a closed loop, circulatory, self regulating model for healing that was much more detailed and complete than conventional wound healing models. Dr. Nordenström's model involves various Biologically Closed Electric Circuits (BCEC), capable of utilizing a number of physiological pathways and influencing structure and function for a variety of tissues and organs. In essence, he described another circulatory system where continuous energy circulation and circulating electrical currents support healing, metabolism, growth, regulation, immune response, etc.

Using his BCEC theory, Dr. Nordenström developed electrochemical therapy (EChT), a minimally invasive electrotherapeutic technique for the treatment of cancer and hemangioma tumors. EChT assists the body's normal BCEC electrochemical healing processes by complementing and assisting the naturally occurring endogenous electric fields and currents that support the process of healing.

EChT povides a low-cost, patient friendly and highly effective technique for the treatment of localized tumors. EChT is highly complementary and can be administered with other therapeutic modalities. EChT does not have the serious side effects associated with conventional therapies, and experience has shown that EChT does not exhibit a significant therapeutic resistance with repeated applications, as is often the case with conventional therapies.

An extensive overview of BCEC and EChT (and how they relate to wound healing and other electrotherapeutic applications), and the more appropriate designation for EChT as NEAT- EChT, can be found in the book: "Electrotherapeutic Devices: Principles, Design and Applications" (Artech House, Boston, MA (2007)) by IABC Emeritus President, Dr. George O'Clock (Also, refer to http://www.georgeoclock.readywebsites.com). Dr. O'Clock's October 23, 2008 University of Minnesota Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Colloquia Presentation titled "Electrotherapeutic Principles: Applications in Cancer, Wound Healing, and Visual System Disease can be viewed at http://www.unite.umn.edu. A DVD of this colloquium presentation is available from the U of MN ECE Department. Dr. O'Clock appears to have written the first scientifically rigorous (yet accessible and relatively easy to understand) book on electrotherapeutic devices that combines essential technical, biological, legal and clinical background with some guidelines for treatment protocols. Two of the chapters discuss magnetotherapeutic principles and devices. This book was dedicated to Dr. Nordenström.

As indicated in the previous paragraph, Dr. Nordenström's theories and clinical results are not confined to cancer. Much of what he has done also applies to wound healing and special branches of wound healing that are associated with various forms of visual disease (macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt's disease, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, neuropathy, etc.). The results of recent FDA guided and supervised clinical trials that have been successfully completed are incorporated into the following website: http://acuitymedicalsystems.net. This website was updated during the Summer of 2009 and should have more technical information by August-September of 2009.

From: B.E.W Nordenström, Biologically Closed Electric Circuits, Nordic Medical Publications, Stockholm (1983); B.E.W Nordenström, The American Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol. 12, 1989; B.E.W. Nordenström, The European Journal of Surgery, Supplement 574, 1994; G.D. O'Clock, Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Biologically Closed Electric Circuits, October 26-29, 1997; B.E.W. Nordenström, Exploring BCEC-Systems, Nordic Medical Publications, Stockholm (1998); Y.L. Xin, et. al., Journal of the IABC, Vol. 1, January-December, 2002; G.D. O'Clock, German Journal of Oncology, Vol. 33, 2001; G.D. O'Clock, Electrotherapeutic Devices: Principles, Design and Applications, Artech House, Boston, MA (2007); G.D. O'Clock and J.B. Jarding, "Electrotherapeutic Device/Protocol Design Considerations for Visual Disease Applications," Proceedings of the 31st International IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Conference, EMBC '09, Minneapolis, MN September 2-9, 2009.

For more information on the books published by B.E.W. Nordenström, contact: http://www.ursus.se/ursus/publications.shtml

BIOPHYSICS OF BCEC

Understanding BCEC requires the use of some high school math and physics, along with an appreciation for history. Over 140 years of research in wound healing has shown that an injury site has a positive electric potential with respect to the surrounding uninjured tissue. Björn Nordenström has also determined that the electric potential at the center of most tumors is positive with respect to the normal tissue surrounding the tumor. He realized that a wound, or tumor, had a considerable amount of cell degradation (lysis) occurring at it's center, making this region positively charged and highly acidic. Therefore, in relation to the surrounding normal tissue, the wound or tumor site had the properties of a wet cell battery, producing a positive potential between the center and periphery of the wound or tumor.

The positive electric potential at the center of the wound or tumor can produce a current in an electrically conductive medium. As the conductivity of the medium increases, the electrical resistance, that tends to "impede" or restrict current flow (impedance), decreases.

Thomasset provides a picture (first figure, from: Journal of the IABC, Vol. 1, January-December, 2002) showing high frequency electrical currents flowing through cells, and the lower frequency electrical currents flowing within the interstitial fluid around various cells. If the source of the electrical potential is an injury site or tumor, the resulting current will be more of a direct current. In this case, most of the current will flow around the cells within the interstitial fluid medium, and the impedance will be relatively high. Also, if the electric current consists primarily of ions in motion, the size of the ion would also be an impedance consideration with respect to it's capabilities of traveling through cell membranes, or it's limitations if it is restricted to conductive pathways within the interstitial fluid medium.

While current is flowing due to the presence of the injury site or tumor site potential, other electrically dependant functions are being influenced by the electrical potential. Like most cells, white blood cells possess a negative surface charge. From the standpoint of immune function, the positive potential at the center of the injury or tumor tends to assist immunological response by attracting white blood cells to that location. The electric field produced by the positive potential of the central region of the injury site or tumor also has an effect on capillary porosity (contraction, which closes the pores of the capillary), as indicated by the second figure.

With cancer, as long as the tumor exists, lytic reactions at the center of the tumor site will promote the continued existence of the positive potential and electric field in the region of the tumor. As indicated by the second figure, with the tumor acting as a wet cell battery; a conductive path for the flow of a variety of ions (including hydrogen and phosphate ions) exists in various electrically conductive pathways near the tumor site, through interstitial fluids between cells, to porous capillaries, to veins and arteries and back to contracted capillaries near the tumor.

The primary electrical conduction mechanism is ionic in a large part of the the electrically conductive pathway. Electron transfer occurs in the membranes of the capillaries that are under the influence of electric field induced contraction. Under the influence of the positively charged center of the tumor, the transport of charged ions and white blood cells continues, promoting various activities in the healing process.

As shown in the second figure (from German Journal of Oncology, Vol. 33, 2001), a closed-loop circulating current and energy flow is accomplished by the transport of charged particles (ions and electrons), producing slowly varying electric currents in the human body, utilizing various conductive pathways (interstitial fluid, blood vessels, nerve fiber, muscle, etc.). The healing currents are slowly varying with respect to time (essentially, they are direct currents). This fact verifies that a Biologically Closed Electric Circuit is involved. A biologically open circuit cannot support direct current.

In many of his published papers and books, Dr. Nordenström points out that BCEC activities have a profound influence on structure and function. The influence of BCEC on function is relatively easy to describe. Once the injury site or tumor site produces an electric field, immune system function is influenced by the attraction of white blood cells. Capillary function (porosity reduction due to electric field induced contraction) is influenced by the presence of the electric field produced by the lytic activity near the center of the site. Function is also influenced by the movement of ions to and from the injury or tumor site.

Structure can also be influenced by BCEC activity. The photo marked "a" (from: Exploring BCEC-Systems, Nordic Medical Publications, Stockholm (1998)) shows soft tissue radiograph of mammary fat tissue before a 10 V source is applied. Over a 10 day period, with 10 V and 1.75 mA of current, some endogenously developed fibrosis has disappeared (arrows in "a"), while large amounts of new fibrous tissue have developed (photo "b"). In this case, the application of an electric potential, electric field and electric current have contributed to a change in the internal structure of the soft tissue.

The transport of water by electroosmosis, at the tumor site, can influence structure and function. The movement of water around various lung tumors contributed to the structural changes Dr. Nordenström first noticed in his X-ray radiographs, that resulted in his development of BCEC theory (see Home page, third photo). As water is drawn away from the tumor by electroosmosis, the tumor is deprived of nutrients and liquid, and the tumor cells and vascular structure of the water starved region begin to deteriorate.

Significant changes in cellular structure can also occur with the application of voltages and currents that can occur in BCEC systems. Dr. Nordenström shows significant changes in mammalian red blood cell morphology with the application of currents at the 1 mA level. Becker reported evidence of electrically induced dedifferentiation of immature red blood cells at current levels that were in the fraction of a nA range. O'Clock shows photos of immature red blood cell dedifferentiation at 1 µA, where, over a period of time, the red blood cells make the transition from concave and spoked, to elliptical in shape and finally to a flat amoeboid morphology. O'Clock and Leonard also show evidence of necrobiosis and loss of cell aggregation properties for lymphoma cells at current levels of 9 µA.

One of the reasons why BCEC theory is so important is that it predicts the fast transport times observed with immune system response. Conventional chemotaxis models, based on diffusion, are much too slow. For example, an estimate of the diffusion time (T) that is required for white blood cells to travel 0.2 cm. from a capillary to an injury site can be obtained from the following diffusion equation:

v = dL/dT = (D/L),

where v represents an instantaneous velocity (that is a function of distance) for the white blood cell, L is the distance traveled and D is the diffusion constant. This relationship was taken from Mombach and Glazier, "Single Cell Motion in Aggregates of Embryonic Cells," Physics Review Letters, Vol. 76, 15 April, 1996. Using a diffusion constant of 1/100,000 cm.cm./sec. and a distance of 0.2 cm, the estimated velocity of 0.0001 cm/sec., from the equation shown above, would result in a transport time of 2000 seconds (or, approximately 33 minutes) for a cell traveling 0.2 cm. to an injury site. Using the cell velocity relationship involving chemotaxis coefficient, and attractant gradient, from Farrell, et. al. (Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton, Vol. 16, 1990); the cell's chemotactic velocity is even slower. We know the immune system response is much faster than the velocities and resulting transport times predicted by these particular mathematical relationships involving standard diffusion and chemotaxis. Therefore, another physiological/immunological model for cell motion in healing and regulation is needed, to predict more realistic cell transport velocities and transport times.

Dr. Björn Nordenström's BCEC theory provides the right mix of physiological structure and function to yield a mathematical expression that predicts more realistic cell velocities and response times for the immune system. Referring to the second figure, the lytic activity at the tumor site can produce an electric potential of 30 mV over a distance of 1 mm. We can assume that the surface charge density of a 20 µm diameter white blood cell is approximately - 2 Coulombs per meter squared. Combining elecric field theory with fluid mechanics, the following BCEC cellular transport relationship can be derived:

F = (Q)(E) = n(v/d)(A),

Where F is the force on the charged cell due to the injury site electric field, Q is the product of cell surface charge and cell surface area, n is viscosity (approximately 1/1,000 kg./m-sec. for a body fluid medium), A is the cross sectional area of the cell perpendicular to the direction of travel, v is the cell velocity and d is the boundary layer thickness for the 20 µm diameter cell traveling in a fluid medium (in this case, approximately 0.3 µm for laminar flow fluid dynamics). Applying these numbers to the BCEC cellular transport equation, the resulting velocity (v) of 0.1 cm./sec. allows the white blood cell to reach the injury site in approximately 2 sec. This transport time is within the range of observed immune system response times for tissues and organs, and is much faster (by a factor of approximately 1,000) than the transport times predicted by chemotaxis models that rely on diffusion and physiological/immunological concepts that are more than 150 years old.

From: A.L. Thomasset, Lyon Médical, Vol. 21, 1962; R.O.Becker and D.G. Murray, Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 29, 1967; B.E.W. Nordenström, Biologically Closed Electric Circuits, Nordic Medical Publications, Stockholm (1983); G.D. O'Clock, Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Biologically Closed Electric Circuits, October 26-29, 1997; B.E.W. Nordenström, Exploring BCEC-Systems, Nordic Medical Publications, Stockholm (1998); G.D. O'Clock, German Journal of Oncology, Vol. 33, 2001; G.D. O'Clock and T. Leonard, German Journal of Oncology, Vol. 33, 2001; B.E.W Nordenström, Journal of the IABC, Vol. 1, January-December, 2002; A.L. Thomasset, Journal of the IABC, Vol. 1, January-December, 2002; P.J. Rosch and M.S. Markov (eds), Bioelectromagnetic Medicine, Marcel Dekker, New York, NY (2004); G. D. O'Clock, Electrotherapeutic Devices: Principles, Design and Applications, Artech House, Boston, MA (2007).


Link du jour

http://evidencespeaks.com/roundup/index ... 501&sig=39





https://www.courthousenews.com/bees-bir ... challenge/


Bees, Birds and Beetles Inspire Federal Pesticide Challenge
DANIEL W. STAPLESFacebookTwitterGoogle+Email October 4, 2017
WASHINGTON (CN) — Fighting to prevent the extinction of 26 endangered species — from woodpeckers and bumblebees to frogs and dragonflies — conservationists brought a federal complaint Tuesday to vacate the registrations of neonicotinoid pesticides.

“Neonics pose significant adverse consequences to threatened and endangered species,” the complaint states. “Yet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved hundreds of neonic-containing pesticide products without consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as required under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.”

Filed in Washington, Tuesday’s complaint is led by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The group notes that spraying a plant with a systemic pesticide like a neonic makes everything inside the plant toxic to pests and other wildlife. When it rains, the NRDC says, a pesticide’s neonic active ingredients — acetamiprid, dinotefuran, and imidacloprid — then leach into the soil and work their way into groundwater.

Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly (Photo via Washington Fish and Wildlife) Streaked Horned Lark (Photo via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) A rusty-patched bumblebee on Culver’s root in the arboretum at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. (Photo by SUSAN DAY via UW-MADISON ARBORETUM)
Dozens of endangered species whose continued survival is threatened by the ubiquity of neonics are listed in the complaint.

“The collapse of bee and other pollinator populations in the last decade, like that of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, is one consequence of this contamination,” it says. “The chronic presence of neonics in ground and surface water also threatens aquatic species.”

Introducing the court to eight members who make it a point to observe creatures like the American burying beetle and the San Bruno elfin butterfly, the NRDC says its interests “are and will be directly, adversely, and irreparably affected by defendants’ violation of the law.”

Claiming that the failure of the EPA to consult with Fish and Wildlife about the pesticide registrations violates the Endangered Species Act, the environmentalists want those registrations vacated until the required consultations occur.

The NRDC is represented by in-house counsel Aaron Colangelo.

Oregon Spotted Frog (Photo via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Oregon branch) Yellow-billed cuckoo (Photo via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Oregon branch) Hine's emerald dragonfly (Photo credit: P. Burton via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
“EPA ignored endangered bees, butterflies, and birds when it approved the widespread use of neonics,” Rebecca Riley, a senior attorney with NRDC out of Chicago, said in a statement. “Massive pollinator die-offs across the country show that these pesticides cause serious harm to wildlife. It’s time for EPA to do its job and make sure our most vulnerable species are protected from the products it approves,”

In addition to the rusty-patched bumble bee and the San Bruno elfin butterfly, endangered species mentioned in the complaint include the black-capped vireo, Taylor’s checkerspot, the Oregon silverspot butterfly and the Oregon spotted frog, several species of yellow-faced bees from Hawaii, and two blue butterflies.

The dwarf wedgemussel, the vernal pool fairy shrimp, the rabitsfoot mussel, the Hine’s emerald dragonfly, the yellow-billed cuckoo, the streaked horned lark, the red-cockaded woodpecker and the pallid sturgeon are each mentioned as well.

A representative with the EPA has not responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit.




https://www.courthousenews.com/crabbing ... alifornia/

Crabbing Blamed for Whale & Turtle Deaths in Calif.
By NICHOLAS IOVINO
The state of California lets Dungeness crab fishermen inadvertently kill endangered whales and sea turtles by authorizing fishing gear that traps the threatened creatures, environmentalists claim in a new lawsuit.

[msfreeh]

http://fortune.com/2017/12/01/michael-f ... watergate/
Former FBI Agent: Liberals, Relax. Flynn's Guilty Plea Isn't the Next Watergate.


https://apnews.com/f5daa9a053174f87a38b ... ille-fired

Cop who wrote ‘Hahaha love this’ after Charlottesville fired



SPRINGFIELD, Mass. A Massachusetts police officer has been fired for writing “Hahahaha love this” on Facebook in response to a story about a car striking and killing a counter-protester at a white supremacist rally in Virginia in August.






https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cr ... rime-data/

NOV. 30, 2017 AT 12:24 PM
Criminologists Are Asking Jeff Sessions To Release FBI Crime Data

As Trump tweets, government acts. Welcome to Meanwhile, our recurring look at what federal agencies are up to and how their work affects people’s lives.

When data goes missing, researchers take notice. On Tuesday, a research alliance representing two professional associations of criminologists lodged a formal statement of concern with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and acting FBI Director Christopher Wray over a number of data tables that were missing from the FBI’s 2016 Crime in the United States report. FiveThirtyEight obtained a copy of the letter, which was signed by Peter Wood, chair of the Crime & Justice Research Alliance, a joint project of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and which called for the FBI to “immediately revise the 2016 report to make this data available.” (You can read the full letter here.)

FiveThirtyEight first reported in October that the 2016 report, the first of its kind to be put out under the Trump administration, was missing numerous data tables. The FBI claimed that the removal of data tables had been in the works for years, but further reporting found that there was little evidence to back up that argument.

The Crime & Justice Research Alliance’s letter to Sessions and Wray noted that the report’s reduction in data tables “has significant implications for the justice research community.”

“Given this administration’s public statements about addressing violent crime, victims’ rights, the opioid epidemic and terrorism,” the letter states, “it is unfortunate that the 2016 report removes key data about these topic areas.” The letter goes on to point out that data used to track intimate partner violence, gang homicides, and arrests relating to narcotics — including heroin and synthetic opioids — is now missing from the report.

The ranking members of the House and Senate judiciary committees and members of the House and Senate subcommittees on commerce, justice and science appropriations were also sent the letter.

The statement of concern from the criminologist community came as President Trump announced that the new head of the Bureau of Justice Statistics will be Jeffrey Anderson, a former professor of political science with no apparent statistical background besides helping create a system to assess the strength of college football teams, adjusted for their schedule difficulty.1 In May, Anderson, a former fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, was appointed to be the director of the Office of Health Reform at the Department of Health and Human Services. The White House’s announcement of his posting to the Bureau of Justice Statistics noted that in his previous role he led efforts “to reduce insurance premiums, regulatory burdens, and opioid abuse.”

Anderson’s appointment comes after five former heads of the Bureau of Justice Statistics sent a letter to Sessions this spring urging him to appoint a director of the BJS who had “scientific skills; experience with federal statistical agencies; familiarity with BJS and its products; visibility in the


http://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/30/di ... -to-death/


Disabled Florida inmate was gassed to death after begging for medical help, lawsuit says


November 30, 2017 at 8:10 pm
Randall Jordan-Aparo spent four days begging for medical help. He suffered from a severe blood disorder and was showing signs of a dangerous flare-up: rapid heart beat, fever and debilitating bodily pain. He needed to go to a hospital, he said.

Medical staff were dismissive at the Carrabelle, Florida, prison where Jordan-Aparo was serving a 20-month sentence for credit card fraud. Drink water, take some Tylenol and get some rest, they told him, court records show.

When the 27-year-old protested, correctional officers put him in an isolation cell, then sprayed him with a “chemical restraint agent,” according to court documents. Inmates would later testify that they heard him scream, “I can’t take the gas.”







https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... -dismissed

6,000 drug cases tainted by lab scandal to be dismissed




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3671333

Benghazi panel paid $150G in taxpayer money to aide allegedly axed for not investigating Hillary Clinton





https://apnews.com/4174e87239324d2cb01f ... s-untested
Indiana police uncertain why 2,500 assault kits untested


INDIANAPOLIS At least 2,500 untested rape kits are languishing for reasons unknown at police departments and in evidence rooms across Indiana, according to an audit released Friday by law enforcement officials.







http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3670807
SEE IT: Amazon delivery driver caught on video pooping in front of home
BY MINYVONNE BURKE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, December 1, 2017, 2:50 PM





https://apnews.com/08e69b633f1044faa753 ... pons-theft
Former Colorado police chief pleads guilty to weapons theft




LEADVILLE, Colo. — A former police chief in a small Colorado town has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing weapons from his department and its evidence room and then selling them to pawn shops.




https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... ping-case/

King County Sheriff won’t face charge over alleged groping


Li!
SEATTLE — Prosecutors won’t file criminal charges against King County Sheriff John Urquhart based on a former deputy’s accusation that Urquhart groped him in 2014 outside a restaurant.





https://apnews.com/ad6b21c96c05460598de ... eprimanded
Officers assigned to light rail system reprimanded


Link copied!
CLAYTON, Mo. — An internal investigation by St. Louis County police has resulted in written reprimands for 11 officers assigned to patrol the region’s light rail system.

Police announced the reprimands on Friday following a 16-week investigation. Some of the reprimands are for loitering in security offices for MetroLink, while others are for covering security cameras inside those offices.





Link du jour

http://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/ ... egal-drugs


http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/articl ... 395703.php


http://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/30/as ... -bullying/

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bro ... -1.3669268



http://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/30/ch ... -piercing/



http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/L ... 399257.php

Wants justice for Negron
Connecticut Students for a Dream (C4D) stands against the criminalization of communities of color....






http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2017/ ... g_pol.html
Charges dropped for cop accused of siccing dog on woman


TOMS RIVER, N.J. Charges against a New Jersey police officer accused of commanding his dog to attack a 58-year-old woman during a traffic stop have been dropped.

NJ.com reports authorities on Thursday dismissed an indictment against 35-year-old Tuckerton police officer Justin M. Cherry after his lawyer argued that prosecutors never told a grand jury that the woman was never treated for dog bites.

Officials say the woman failed to stop her car when Cherry tried to pull her over in 2014.

Prosecutors say that Cherry didn’t need to let the dog loose and then he allegedly lied about the incident on police forms.






http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/ ... entat.html



Cleveland police union's tentative contract may clash with city's court-enforced reform efforts

Updated 10:06 PM; Posted 6:11 PM





https://apnews.com/586f21929abf405f9ef3 ... complaints
NAACP seeks Tulsa police records on use-of-force, complaints


TULSA, Okla. — The NAACP has filed an open records request with the Tulsa police department seeking documents related to use-of-force incidents and complaints it’s received from citizens.

The country’s oldest civil rights organization announced the request Friday, and is also seeking copies of training manuals, community policing guidelines and records on stops and searches of suspects.

The nonprofit says it has been monitoring citizen concerns about excessive force since last September, when a white Tulsa police officer fatally shot an unarmed black man.

The officer, Betty Jo Shelby, was charged with manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher and was acquitted in May by a jury.




http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3628 ... -hatch-act
Grassley suggests deputy FBI director may have violated Hatch Act
12/01/17 09:49 PM EST
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is raising questions about whether FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe violated a law barring federal officials from using their offices to campaign for or against political candidates.

In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday, Grassley suggested that McCabe may have used his government email account to advocate for his wife Jill McCabe's 2015 Virginia state Senate campaign.

Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that could constitute a violation of the Hatch Act, pointing to Justice Department guidance forbidding employees from using "any e-mail account or social media to distribute, send or forward content that advocates for or against a partisan political party."

"However, the e-mail communications released by the FBI show that Mr. McCabe did precisely that during his wife’s Virginia Senate campaign," Grassley wrote.

"For instance, in an August 19, 2015, e-mail from his FBI e-mail account to an undisclosed recipient, he wrote: 'Jill has been busy as hell since she decided to run for VA state senate (long story). Check her out on Facebook as Dr. Jill McCabe for Senate.'"

Grassley has long pursued McCabe for possible conflicts of interest. In another letter to Rosenstein earlier this year, Grassley called McCabe's independence into question while he was serving as the FBI's acting director.


https://apnews.com/9aae54a8c22340caba17 ... rovocation
Lawsuit: Police used stun gun on man without provocation



!
CLEVELAND

A black man says in a federal lawsuit that police officers in a Cleveland suburb used a stun gun and pepper spray on him without provocation.

The civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday by 36-year-old Lamar Wright says two Euclid police officers lied and falsely charged him with crimes after he pulled into a driveway to use his cellphone in November 2016. Police claimed they suspected Wright of being involved in drug trafficking and feared he had a gun.

No drugs or weapons were found in Wright’s rental car.


The lawsuit is the latest accusation of excessive use-of-force against Euclid police. A police officer was fired in October after dash cam footage showed him repeatedly punching an unarmed black man during a traffic stop. The family of 23-year-old Luke Stewart, who was black, sued Euclid in October after an officer fatally shot him while they struggled for control of a car.

“I filed this case to stand up against police brutality, and to stand with other victims of senseless attacks by officers from the Euclid Police Department,” Wright said in a statement. “These officers’ illegal treatment of people in the city must stop.”

The lawsuit accuses the officers of violating his civil rights. It also accuses the Euclid Police Department of engaging in a pattern of excessive use of force and malicious prosecution, especially against black people, along with a failure to hold officers accountable for misconduct.

Police spokesman Mitch Houser said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation. He said neither of the officers involved in Wright’s arrest, Kyle Flagg and Vashon Williams, were disciplined afterward.

Wright feared the two officers, dressed in street clothes, were carjackers and started to drive away but stopped and raised his hands when he realized who they were, the lawsuit said.

Body camera footage shows Wright immediately complying when Flagg opens the driver’s door and orders Wright to turn off the engine. Flagg is then seen grabbing Wright’s left arm and pushing him against the steering wheel.

Wright can be heard yelling that Flagg was hurting his arm while Flagg orders him to show his right hand. The lawsuit claims Wright tried to tell the officers he had a colostomy bag and staples in his stomach when Flagg uses a stun gun on him and Williams squirts him in the face with pepper spray. Wright, who had surgery several weeks before the incident, is then seen getting out of the car and dropping to the ground.

[msfreeh]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-fri ... 69787.html


Formerly-‘Gagged’ FBI Whistleblower Details Congressional Blackmail, Bribery, Espionage, Corruption in Remarkable Videotaped Deposition

By Brad Friedman
Sibel Edmonds’ full under-oath testimony transcript from Ohio election case, details explosive allegations against key members of Congress and other high-ranking State and Defense Department officials...

Just over two weeks ago, FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds was finally allowed to speak about much of what the Bush Administration spent years trying to keep her from discussing publicly on the record. Twice gagged by the Bush Dept. of Justice’s invocation of the so-called “State Secrets Privilege,” Edmonds has been attempting to tell her story, about the crimes she became aware of while working for the FBI, for years.

Thanks to a subpoena issued by the campaign of Ohio’s 2nd District Democratic U.S. Congressional candidate David Krikorian, her remarkable allegations of blackmail, bribery, espionage, infiltration, and criminal conspiracy by current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials, and agents of the government of Turkey are seen and heard here, in full, for the first time, in her under-oath deposition. Both the complete video tape and transcript of the deposition follow below.

Though there was much concern, prior to her testimony, that the Obama Dept. of Justice might re-invoke the “State Secrets Privilege” to keep her from speaking, they did not do so. Nor did they choose to be present at the Washington D.C. deposition.

The BRAD BLOG covered details of some of Edmonds’ startling disclosures made during the deposition, as it happened, in our live blog coverage from August 8th. The deposition included criminal allegations against specifically named members of Congress. Among those named by Edmonds as part of a broad criminal conspiracy: Reps. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bob Livingston (R-LA), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), Tom Lantos (D-CA), as well as an unnamed, still-serving Congresswoman (D) said to have been secretly videotaped, for blackmail purposes, during a lesbian affair.

High-ranking officials from the Bush Administration named in her testimony, as part of the criminal conspiracy on behalf of agents of the Government of Turkey, include Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Marc Grossman, and others.

During the deposition — which we are still going through ourselves — Edmonds discusses covert “activities” by Turkish entities “that would involve trying to obtain very sensitive, classified, highly classified U.S. intelligence information, weapons technology information, classified Congressional records...recruiting key U.S. individuals with access to highly sensitive information, blackmailing, bribery.”

Speaking about current members of Congress during a break in the testimony, Krikorian told The BRAD BLOG that “for people in power situations in the United States, who know about this information, if they don’t take action against it, in my opinion, it’s negligence.” (More video statements from Krikorian, Edmonds and attorneys from all parties, taped before, during, and after the 8/8/09 testimony, are available here.)

Edmonds’ on-the-record disclosures also include bombshell details concerning outed covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson’s front company, Brewster Jennings. Edmonds alleges the front company had actually been shut down in August of 2001 — three years prior to Bob Novak’s public disclosure of the covert operative’s identity — following a tip-off to a wire-tap target about the true nature of the CIA front company. The cover was blown, Edmonds alleges, by Marc Grossman, who was, at the time, the third highest-ranking official in the U.S. State Department. Prior to that, Grossman served as ambassador to Turkey. He now works “for a Turkish company called Ihals Holding,” according to Edmonds’ testimony.

An unclassified FBI Inspector General’s report, released on her case in 2005, declared Edmonds’ classified allegations to be “credible,” “serious,” and “warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI.” In 2002, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), then the senior members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, co-wrote letters on Edmonds’ behalf to Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and DoJ Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, calling on all of them to take action in respect to her allegations. And in a 2002 60 Minutes report on Edmonds’ case, Grassley noted: “Absolutely, she’s credible...And the reason I feel she’s very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story.”

The 8/8/09 deposition was brought by Krikorian as part of his defense in a case filed against him before the Ohio Election Commission (OEC) by Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH). The 2nd district Congresswoman has accused Krikorian, an Armenian-American who ran against her as an independent in 2008, of “false statements” during the campaign last year alleging that she had accepted “blood money” from Turkish interests. Krikorian says that Schmidt, co-chair of the Congressional Turkish Committee, accepted more money from Turkish interests during last year’s campaign than any other member of Congress, despite few, if any, ethnic Turks among her local constituency. He has suggested she may have been instrumental in helping to hold off a Congressional vote on a long-proposed, much-disputed resolution declaring the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians during WWI as a “genocide” by the Turks.

Edmonds herself happens to be a Turkish-American, though she was recently attacked by the Turkish Lobby, following her long-sought, long-blocked testimony.

The complete transcript of Sibel Edmonds’ under-oath testimony, may now be downloaded here [PDF]. The complete video-taped testimony follows, in five parts, below...

PART 1 (appx. 51 mins) - Direct


PART 2 (appx. 35 mins) - Direct continues


PART 3 (appx. 17 mins) - Direct continues


PART 4 (appx. 43 mins) - Cross


PART 5 (appx. 54 mins) - Redirect & Recross






https://popularresistance.org/how-many- ... ckmailing/

HOW MANY POLITICIANS IS THE FBI BLACKMAILING?

There Is A Long History Of Elected Officials Being Spied On By US Intelligence And There Are Indications It Is Going On Today
David Sirota – When I asked U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) if the NSA was keeping files on his colleagues, he recounted a meeting between NSA officials and lawmakers in the lead-up to a closely contested House vote to better regulate the agency:
“One of my colleagues asked the NSA point blank will you give me a copy of my own record and the NSA said no, we won’t. They didn’t say no we don’t have one. They said no we won’t. So that’s possible.”

Grayson is right: presumably, if the NSA wasn’t tracking lawmakers, it would have flatly denied it. Instead, those officials merely denied lawmakers access to whatever files the agency might have. That suggests one of two realities: 1) the NSA is keeping files on lawmakers 2) the NSA isn’t keeping files on lawmakers, but answered vaguely in order to stoke fear among legislators that it is.

Regardless of which of these realities happens to be the case, the mere existence of legitimate fears of congressional surveillance by an executive-branch agency is a serious legal and separation-of-powers problem. Why? Because whether or not the surveillance is actually happening, the very real possibility that it even could be happening or has happened can unduly intimidate the legislative branch into abrogating its constitutional oversight responsibilities. In this particular case, it can scare congressional lawmakers away from voting to better regulate the NSA.

Washington’s Blog – During the Vietnam war, the NSA spied on two prominent politicians – Senators Frank Church and Howard Baker – as well as critics of government policy Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, and a Washington Post humorist.

A recently declassified history written by the NSA itself called the effort “disreputable if not outright illegal.”

The main whistleblower who revealed the Vietnam-era spying was Christopher H. Pyle. Pyle told Rob Kall of OpEdNews:

“If the NSA was targeting people like Sen. Frank Church, who were in a position to oversee the NSA — is that happening now? That is, are people like intelligence committee chairs Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and other congressional leaders — who are supposed to be providing oversight themselves — compromised in some way by the NSA? If so, as seems quite certain from the recent Edward Snowden revelations, then how can they conduct genuine oversight of the NSA with their committees?”

The NSA has been tracking people’s porn in order to discredit them. The New York Times reports that this type of behavior has been going on for a long time: “J. Edgar Hoover compiled secret dossiers on the sexual peccadilloes and private misbehavior of those he labeled as enemies — really dangerous people like … President John F. Kennedy, for example”.

A high-level NSA whistleblower says that the NSA is spying on – and blackmailing – top government officials and military officers, including Supreme Court Justices, high-ranked generals, Colin Powell and other State Department personnel, and many other top officials

Another very high-level NSA whistleblower – the head of the NSA’s global intelligence gathering operation – says that the NSA targeted CIA chief Petraeus

And it’s not just the NSA.

Last year, Eric Holder refused to say whether the Department of Justice was spying on Congress.

Wikipedia – The Lavender Scare refers to the fear and persecution of homosexuals in the 1950s in the United States, which paralleled the anti-communist campaign known as McCarthyism. Because the psychiatric community regarded homosexuality as a mental illness, gay men and lesbians were considered susceptible to blackmail …. Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson has written: “The so-called ‘Red Scare’ has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element . . . and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals.”

NY Times – J. Edgar Hoover compiled secret dossiers on the sexual peccadillos and private misbehavior of those he labeled as enemies — really dangerous people like … President John F. Kennedy, for example.

Alfred McCoy, Tom’s Dispatch – In the Obama years, the first signs have appeared that NSA surveillance will use the information gathered to traffic in scandal, much as Hoover’s FBI once did. In September 2013, the New York Times reported that the NSA has, since 2010, applied sophisticated software to create “social network diagrams…, unlock as many secrets about individuals as possible…, and pick up sensitive information like regular calls to a psychiatrist’s office, late-night messages to an extramarital partner.”

…By collecting knowledge — routine, intimate, or scandalous — about foreign leaders, imperial proconsuls from ancient Rome to modern America have gained both the intelligence and aura of authority necessary for dominion over alien societies. The importance, and challenge, of controlling these local elites cannot be overstated. During its pacification of the Philippines after 1898, for instance, the U.S. colonial regime subdued contentious Filipino leaders via pervasive policing that swept up both political intelligence and personal scandal. And that, of course, was just what J. Edgar Hoover was doing in Washington during the 1950s and 1960s.

Washington’s Blog – FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds alleged under oath that a recently-serving Democratic Congresswoman was secretly videotaped – for blackmail purposes – during a lesbian affair. There have been allegations of blackmail of gay activities within the U.S. armed forces for years.

NSA whistleblower Bill Binney said his agency targeted “Supreme Court Judges, other judges, Senators, Representatives, law firms and lawyers, and just anybody you don’t like … reporters included”

Washington’s Blog – NSA whistleblower Russell Tice (akey source in the 2005 New York Times report that blew the lid off the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping), says:

The NSA is spying on and blackmailing its overseers in Washington, as well as Supreme Court judges, generals and others
The agency started spying on Barack Obama when he was just a candidate for the Senate
Washington’s Blog – The Washington Post’s report shows that the NSA also collected information on President Obama, both as president-elect and as president:

A “minimized U.S. president-elect” begins to appear in the files in early 2009, and references to the current “minimized U.S. president” appear 1,227 times in the following four years.

…Of course, the NSA has pretty much admitted to spying on Congress. And see this.

…..The NSA is spying on and blackmailing its overseers in Washington, as well as Supreme Court judges, generals and others

The agency started spying on Barack Obama when he was just a candidate for the Senate.





https://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/25/c ... in-public/

Cities and volunteers clash over feeding homeless in public








http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Sta ... 453299.php


Status quo versus shakeup for cop commission


Sunday, December 24, 2017



BRIDGEPORT — The debate over whether the city’s police commission answers to citizens or the political powers-that-be is coming to a head.

Last week, Mayor Joe Ganim forwarded the names of four of the seven members — Daniel Roach, Matthew Cumminotto, Thomas Lyons and Edwin Farrow — to the City Council for reappointment.
While the council’s public safety committee must review the request before they are re-seated, critics of the police department and its oversight body worry that reappointing long-time commissioners supports a status quo they say has failed the community.
Some activists and council members, galvanized by the shooting death of 15-year-old Jayson Negron last May by a rookie cop, have wanted a more pro-active and engaged police commission. They see an opportunity for a shake-up — or, at the very least, a chance to hold the commissioners more accountable and demand more of them.
“I have not seen a robust oversight, a deep-level questioning,” by commissioners of Police Chief Armando “A.J.” Perez and his department, said Callie Heilmann, founder of civic group Bridgeport Generation Now, echoing general complaints from other residents, who also want to see reforms to equipment and training for Bridgeport’s




http://www.vindy.com/news/2017/dec/22/e ... ?nw&mobile

Police chief charged with assault, theft



: Fri, December 22, 2017 @ 10:55 p.m.

A former Lowellville police chief assaulted his then-girlfriend multiple times and stole $2,500 from a home while picking up a body as a coroner’s investigator, according to an indictment.

Richard Jamrozik, 41, of Campbell faces three counts each of felonious assault and possession of criminal tools and two counts each of tampering with evidence and theft in office.

A Mahoning County grand jury secretly indicted Jamrozik on those charges Thursday.

The indictment accuses him of striking his live-in girlfriend in the head with a golf club, splitting open her skull; hitting her in the face and head with a piece of furniture, causing her to loose a tooth; and striking her in the ear with a long lighter causing hearing damage.





https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... -but-true/


Traitorous but true

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES - - Sunday, December 24, 2017
ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Although it’s been more than 53 years since President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the questions and conspiracy theories persist regarding what, if any, involvement the FBI and American intelligence agencies had in that murderous act. Similarly, regarding the emails of FBI and Justice Department employees conspiring to undermine the will of the American people in a free and constitutional election, to what ends were these traitors willing to go to ensure President Trump was never seated as the 45th president of the United States?





http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/lethbr ... elegation/

U of L student part of iGEM delegation





DECEMBER 24, 2017.



A University of Lethbridge student has joined a group presenting at a biological weapons convention.

The U of L iGEM team fared very well at November’s annual iGEM jamboree in Boston, providing the springboard for one U of L student to participate on the world stage.

Chris Isaac is a biochemistry master’s student who has participated in the International Genetically Engineered Machine — or iGEM — since he was a Grade 11 student at Chinook High School.

He said the iGEM team’s project focused on ways to make synthetic biology safe and available for everyone.

“We presented these results in Boston and we drew the attention of iGEM itself, the FBI and the Dutch Institute for Public Health,” he stated in a recent news release. “Our team was trying to develop a cell-free synthetic biology system to bring this technology to as many people as possible and make sure that it’s democratically spread out.

“Then we realized that this tool, as useful as it is, also opens up unforeseen biosecurity risks.”

The iGEM ambassador to Latin America approached Isaac who was asked to apply to the iGEM delegate program.

He did, and was chosen to be part of the iGEM Foundation’s delegation to the Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva from Dec. 4 to 8.

Isaac was one of five students in the delegation. They attended the plenary sessions and presented to delegates from around the world at a side event.

“We spoke to delegates over lunch and talked about our experiences in iGEM and how they relate to biosecurity and provided our thoughts about how to make biosecurity practices better,” stated Isaac.


There are theoretical risks to making genetically recoded cell-free systems, but, according to Isaac, the tools are on the horizon given advancing technology.

While cell-free synthetic biology has the possibility of doing great good, there is also the potential for great harm if proper controls are not in place.

“The issue that we’ve identified with this technology is that it might allow individuals to bypass current screening procedures in terms of DNA synthesis, which is a service that researchers around the world rely on extensively,” he stated.

When researchers request a certain DNA sequence from a bioscience company, the company’s software analyzes the request and will deny it if the requested sequence is too close of a match to a toxin, such as anthrax or botulinum toxin (botox).

Using a novel genetic code to interpret a sequence would allow a request to bypass the current screening protocols in place at synthesis companies.







http://tapnewswire.com/2014/05/lbj-kill ... wn-sister/


LBJ killed his own sister

LBJ KILLED JFK


After 50 years, the sad truth is revealed…
Unknown to the general American public and never mentioned in history books is the fact that a Texas Grand Jury has officially indicted and found Lyndon Baines Johnson guilty as a co-conspirator (from his association with Malcolm Wallace, Billie Sol Estes and Edward Clark) in the following nine (9) murders:


The killing of Henry Marshall (the Agriculture Secretary)
The killing of George Krutelnik (an FBI informant who worked for Estes)
The killing of Ike Rogers and his secretary
The killing of Harold Orr (an FBI informant who worked for Estes)
The killing of Coleman Wade (an FBI informant who wqorked for Estes)
The killing of Josefa Johnson (LBJ’s own sister!)
The killing of John Kinser (Josefa’s boyfriend)
The killing of President John Kennedy


Read the complete article here(several pages):

http://www.viewzone.com/lbj/indexx.html

Here’s an interesting quote from LBJ:

“Control of space means control of the world. From space, the masters of infinity would have the power to control the earth’s weather, to cause drought and flood, to change the tides and raise the levels of the sea, to divert the gulf stream and change temperate climates to frigid. There is something more important than the ultimate weapon. And that’s the ultimate position. The position of total control over the Earth that lies somewhere in outer space.”

Future President Lyndon Johnson, Statement on Status of Nation’s Defence and Race for Space, January 7, 1958

TAP – That quote matches well with David Icke’s view that earth is controlled by a Saturn-Moon matrix under Archontic control. Archontic human crossbreeds are able to do dastardly deeds with no conscience. The so-named bloodlines. Killing your now sister would fit in with the psychopathic profile.


====
If me or you started babbling like this, people would think we’d gone a little bonkers; Lyndon Baines Johnson spoke the above words, not even in private, but in public. Then, a few years later, he’s made U.S President…after murdering the previous U.S President.





https://www.thedailybeast.com/fbi-direc ... of-the-fbi

FBI Director Hoover’s Dirty Files: Excerpt From Ronald Kessler’s 'The Secrets of the FBI'
The FBI director kept infamous files on politicians’ sex lives—including a new book’s revelations of RFK’s secret meetings with Marilyn Monroe.





https://www.theepochtimes.com/native-am ... 23538.html



Native American Awakes From War Trauma Speaking Russian, Paints Like Dead Russian Artist
By Tara MacIsaac, Epoch Times
July 29, 2014 3:09 pm Last Updated: July 29, 2014 3:09 pm




http://honestreporting.com/idns-12-24-2 ... el-unesco/

ISRAEL DAILY NEWS STREAM
Israel to Quit UNESCO

BY PESACH BENSON DECEMBER 24, 2017



https://theintercept.com/2017/12/22/sno ... ur-laptop/

EDWARD SNOWDEN’S NEW APP USES YOUR SMARTPHONE TO PHYSICALLY GUARD YOUR LAPTOP
Micah Lee
December 22 2017, 7:00 a.m.





https://theconversation.com/slow-death- ... omen-62264

Slow death: Is the trauma of police violence killing black women?
July 11, 2016 9.58pm EDT







http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gra ... -1.3720379


Granny who says she was held hostage by cops inside Brooklyn home for 10 hours plans to sue
BY CHRISTINA CARREGA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, December 25, 2017, 4:29 PM



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3720639

Police remove hate group’s ‘shrine’ for Australian woman shot dead by Somali-American cop
BY JESSICA CHIA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, December 26, 2017, 12:56 AM



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/t ... -1.3720459

SEE IT: Topless activist tries to steal baby Jesus statue at the Vatican
BY ELIZABETH ELIZALDE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, December 25, 2017, 7:05 PM



https://www.news-journal.com/news/2017/ ... ast-texas/

FBI pushes for hiring diversity in East Texas
Longview News-Journal
The FBI is taking an "aggressive stance" to diversify hiring in Texas and in this region, a different philosophy than that taken by Longview police in filling its ranks. "We want to look like the communities we serve," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson, who oversees the Dallas division of the FBI, which includes East ...







https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-revi ... -standing/

LAST MAN STANDING
The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt
by Jack Olsen

The affecting story of Geronimo Pratt, an innocent man confined in California’s roughest prisons for 26 years.

Pratt’s life divides, roughly, into two parts: the first ends with his murder conviction in 1972, the second concludes with his release from prison in 1997. Olsen (Hastened to the Grave, 1998, etc.) begins in Morgan City, Louisiana, where Elmer Gerald Pratt was born in 1947. With six siblings, an industrious and principled father, and a mother who preached education, Pratt seemed headed to college. But the community elders, anticipating racial violence and seeing a shortage of young African-Americans with military training, encouraged Pratt to join the armed forces. He signed on with the 82nd Airborne and fought bravely in two tours in Vietnam. After his return stateside he enrolled at UCLA, where he became friends with “Bunchy” Carter, the founder of the Southern California Black Panther Party. Carter nicknamed Pratt “Geronimo”—not after the American Indian, but from an African tribal name meaning “warrior.” Around this time the Black Panthers were under heavy surveillance; the LAPD harassed their community work, while the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) planted spies, fomented internal dissension, and finally, the author claims, framed Pratt for the murder of a white woman in 1968. While the author’s focus is on Pratt, his background sketches of Vietnam and L.A. in the late 1960s are vivid and fascinating. Represented by Johnnie Cochran and Stuart Hanlon (who, along with Pratt, are the author’s main sources), Pratt was convicted and sent to jail. Hanlon appealed the sentence for 26 years—during which time two men confessed to the murder, the leading witness for the prosecution was found to have links to the FBI, and credible sources reaffirmed Pratt’s alibi. But the courts did nothing. Finally, a last appeal succeeded in 1997.

A powerful story of individual fortitude and bureaucratic pigheadedness.





https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/ ... ue-kenneth

Oklahoma City bombing centre stage in brother's court battle
The Guardian-Jul 27, 2014
The Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was brought by a Salt Lake City attorney, Jesse Trentadue, against the FBI. He says the agency will not release security camera videos that show that a second person was with Timothy McVeigh when he parked a truck outside the Oklahoma City federal building and ...



https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/22 ... yone-care/

DECEMBER 22, 2017
The Electrical Abuse of Women: Does Anyone Care?

Many Americans are unaware that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)—more commonly known as electroshock—continues to be widely utilized by U.S. psychiatry. In the current issue of the journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, psychologist John Read and co-author Chelsea Arnold note, “The archetypal ECT recipient remains, as it has for decades, a distressed woman more than 50 years old.”

In a comprehensive review of research on ECT, Read and Arnold report that there is “no evidence that ECT is more effective than placebo for depression reduction or suicide prevention.” They conclude, “Given the well-documented high risk of persistent memory dysfunction, the cost-benefit analysis for ECT remains so poor that its use cannot be scientifically, or ethically, justified.”

This begs the question of why this brain-damaging electrical abuse of predominantly middle-aged women, unlike the sexual abuse of younger women and girls, is not today addressed by most high-profile feminists. One renowned feminist who did speak out against ECT was Kate Millett (author of the 1990 book Loony Bin Trip), but she died in September 2017 after receiving little attention in recent years. There continues to be women such as psychologist Bonnie Burstow (author of the 2006 article “Electroshock as a Form of Violence Against Women”) who do see ECT as a hugely important issue for women, but Burstow is renowned only among ex-patient “psychiatric survivor” activists and dissident mental health professionals.

Today, many self-identified feminists, like most other Americans, apparently have uncritically accepted the American Psychiatric Association’s proclamation that “extensive research has found ECT to be highly effective for the relief of major depression”—a promulgation that has no scientific basis. In recent years, psychiatry’s assertions have been uncritically accepted, perhaps because the APA has quite effectively marketed the idea that questioning psychiatry is like challenging evolution, global warming, and science itself.

The reality is that the APA and mainstream psychiatry has, for quite some time, disregarded science, specifically the standard scientific methodology by which treatments such as ECT are evaluated. Standard scientific methodology requires a placebo-control group, without which it cannot be determined as to whether the treatment itself or mere patient expectations result in positive outcomes. Psychiatry has long abandoned studying ECT utilizing a placebo-control, no doubt because in the past such methodology showed ECT to be ineffective.

Prior to 1986, there were 10 placebo-controlled experiments done on ECT use on depressed patients. The placebo utilized in these studies was a simulated ECT (SECT) in which the general anesthetic is applied but the actual electricity is withheld. Read and Arnold report that none of these studies showed ECT effectiveness beyond the end of treatment.

Among these 10 placebo-controlled studies, 6 reported immediate benefits for a minority of ECT recipients (perceived as benefits sometimes only by psychiatrists and not by other raters), and 4 studies reported there were no immediate differences between ECT and SECT. Most importantly, none of the 10 studies reported any differences in effectiveness between ECT and SECT beyond treatment. Only 4 studies followed participants beyond the end of treatment, and none of these studies found differences between ECT and SECT subjects.

It is troubling that since 1985 there have been no placebo-controlled studies examining whether ECT has any benefits for depression beyond the treatment period. In that last 1985 study, researchers found no differences in effectiveness between ECT and SECT groups at either 1 month or 3 months after treatment. While there have been studies done on ECT for depression since 1985, none have been placebo-controlled, so they do not allow for scientific conclusions on effectiveness. (Recent ECT studies have commonly looked at predictors of ECT responses, including examining procedural differences in ECT delivery.)

While psychiatry quotes studies stating a high percentage of patients improved with ECT, lacking a placebo-control, these studies are scientifically meaningless. A significant number of patients with depression will report improving with any kind of treatment. Much of the effectiveness of any depression treatment has to do with faith, belief, and expectations. That is why it is critical to compare a treatment to a placebo so that it can be teased out what part of improvement had to with the treatment itself vs. faith, belief, and expectations. In a similar vein, one can find many patient testimonials for ECT, as one finds testimonials for any treatment; but in science these testimonials are referred to as anecdotal, and mean only that a person believed a treatment worked for them, not that the treatment has been proven to be scientifically effective.

Psychiatry is well aware of ECT’s negative public image, so today the administration of ECT is not as painful to observe. Patients are administered an anesthetic and given oxygen along with a muscle relaxant drug to prevent fractures. However, the goal of ECT is to create a seizure, and these ECT “procedural improvements” raise the seizure threshold, thereby necessitating a higher and longer electrical charge, potentially resulting in even greater brain damage. The standard “electrical dosage” is from 100 to 190 volts but can rise to 450 volts. Thus, while ECT no longer appears quite as torturous to observers as it appeared prior to these procedure changes, ECT’s effects on the brain are as—or more—damaging than ever.

Even ECT advocates such as the APA recognize ECT’s adverse effects on memory, but the APA tends to minimize the extent of this damage. However, in 2007, the journal Neuropsychopharmacology reported a large-scale study on the cognitive effects (immediately and six months later) of currently used ECT techniques. The researchers found that modern ECT techniques produce “pronounced slowing of reaction time” and “marked and persistent retrograde amnesia” (the inability to recall events before the onset of amnesia) that continue six months after treatment.

Just how widespread is ECT treatment? In 2009, the Journal of Psychiatric Practice reported, “approximately 100,000 people in the United States and over 1,000,000 worldwide receive ECT.” However, this is only an estimate. Not all U.S. states require ECT reporting, but Texas does require it and documented earlier this year: “In fiscal year 2016, 22 of the 25 facilities in Texas with registered ECT equipment performed treatments and provided the required patient reports to the state. There was a 1.1 percent increase in the number of treatments in fiscal year 2016 compared to 2015.” Texas reports 2,675 “aggregate quarterly reports of patients who received ECT” (if patients received ECT in multiple quarters over the course of the year, they may have been counted more than once). There is wide variation of ECT use within the United States, as the journal Brain and Behavior reported in 2012 that, among the Medicare population in the United States, ECT treatments were twice as common in urban areas as in rural areas, and ECT was more common in the Northeast than the West.

“Women are subjected to electroshock 2 to 3 times as often as men,” notes Bonnie Burstow. There is no controversy that women are far likelier to receive ECT treatment than men. The 2016 Texas report noted females received 68% of the ECT treatments. While men too are treated with ECT, similar to the statistics on sexual abuse, men receive ECT at a much lower rate. With respect to age, Texas reported that 61% of those who received ECT were 45 years and older (age within gender was not broken down in the Texas report).




http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserv ... ethod=Full


Volcanic activity increases with warming: scientists
Climate Change Likely To Increase Volcanic Eruptions, Scientists Say

NPR.org, Dec. 22, 2017

A warming planet due to human-induced climate change will likely contribute to an increase in volcanic activity, according to a recent study in the journal Geology.

While a relationship between climate and volcanism might seem counter-intuitive, it turns out that pressure exerted by thick glaciers on the Earth's crust — what geologists call "surface loading" – has an impact on the flow of magma below the surface.

The correlation affects "magma flow and the voids and gaps in the Earth where magma flows to the surface as well as how much magma the crust can actually hold," the study's lead author Graeme T. Swindles, an associate professor of Earth system dynamics at the University of Leeds, wrote in an email to Scientific American.

In the study published last month, Swindles' team examined the geologic record of eruptions of Icelandic volcanoes 5,500 to 4,500 years ago – a period in Earth's history when the climate was cooler, but still not a full-blown ice age. The level of volcanic activity was discerned by looking at the record of ash that settled on the peat bogs and lakes that fell over Europe, Swindles says.
Comparing the volcanic record with glacial coverage, the team found that the number of eruptions dropped significantly as the climate cooled and ice cover increased. The eruptions that did occur also tended to be smaller in magnitude.

"There's a big change in the record in the mid-Holocene [epoch], where we see no volcanic ash in Europe and very little in Iceland," says Swindles. "This seems to overlap with a time where there's cold climate conditions, which would have favored glacial advance in Iceland."

Swindles says his team found about a 600-year lag between advancing glaciers and diminished volcanic activity. "That's because it takes a long time to grow ice masses," he told the magazine.

In reverse, the team found that as the climate warmed and glaciers melted, there were more and bigger eruptions.

"After glaciers are removed the surface pressure decreases, and the magmas more easily propagate to the surface and thus erupt," Swindles says.

There was also a lag between retreating glaciers and increased volcanic activity, but it was shorter, the team found — although the study cautions there could be other climate-related factors that contributed to the compressed lag time.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... ntists-say





Link du jour

http://www.politicalresearch.org/#

http://www.publiceye.org/network/caq.html


https://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/21/d ... year-2017/


http://pubs.acs.org/journal/bichaw#/toc/bichaw/56/51



https://www.greencarreports.com/news/11 ... n-the-dust




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3721617

Utah newspaper calls on Orrin Hatch to step down, criticizes him for 'lack of integrity'
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, December 26, 2017, 12:13 PM

[msfreeh]

https://www.westernjournal.com/top-gop- ... stigation/

POLITICS
Top GOP Rep. Says FBI Kept Evidence That Could Torpedo Trump Investigation



http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html




Latino motorists describe anger at being stopped on 5 Freeway by sheriff’s unit seeking drugs

By BEN POSTON , ANDREA CASTILLO and JOEL RUBIN
OCT 15, 2018 | 3:00 AM








http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

Married LAPD sergeant and detective are charged with animal cruelty
A husband and wife who both work as Los Angeles police officers pleaded not guilty Monday to felony animal cruelty charges stemming from allegations they failed to care for their elderly Labrador retriever.




https://citizentruth.org/kansas-city-co ... risonment/

LAWSUIT ACCUSES KANSAS CITY COP OF DECADES OF EXTORTION, SEX ABUSE AND WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT
Posted by Lauren von Bernuth | Oct 14, 2018 |



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/n ... story.html
Black suspect killed by white Nashville police officer was shot three times from behind, autopsy shows

By DAVID BOROFF
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
OCT 14, 2018 | 11:55 AM



http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencen ... story.html
SCIENCE
So many people have had their DNA sequenced that they've put other people's privacy in jeopardy

By DEBORAH NETBURN
OCT 12, 2018 | 3:00 AM





http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-o ... story.html

The truth about stop-and-frisk: An education for President Trump

By JAMES O'NEILL
OCT 12, 2018



https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-o ... d=58420204


Fired official Andrew McCabe accuses FBI of stalling his upcoming book

By MIKE LEVINE
Oct 11, 2018, 8:46 AM ET






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... story.html




FBI employees in Asia reportedly brought back stateside amid allegations of partying and prostitution

[msfreeh]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XXTUP11Ekfk

Forbidden Archaeology They Would Rather You Didn't Know About



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ ... story.html

Ex NYPD officer charged with murder in New Orleans

By LEONARD GREENE

| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 28, 2019 | 11:22 AM



https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/eye-on-g ... 1fF--Sjgw/


Az. Cops Sued for Searching Woman's Body Cavities Over Weed, Hospitalizing her





https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la- ... story.html


Here are the stories about police misconduct uncovered so far by a new media partnership

By BEN POSTON and MAYA LAU

MAR 19, 2019 | 10:50 AM





https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/ ... 555785002/

When police misconduct occurs, records often stay secret. One mom's fight to change that.
A police officer is accused of playing with her dead son's body after he was shot. An angry California mother wants secret cop records to go public.
Marco della Cava, USA TODAY





https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/nat ... 71731.html

Parkland Victim's Parents Claim FBI Failed to Prevent Shooting: Suit
"We have no comment on pending litigation," the FBI said in a statement



http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/Haas_LWOP.pdf

Justice Policy Coalition Norfolk Lifers Group
LIFE
WITHOUT
PAROLE
A Reconsideration


https://www.rt.com/news/461647-mcafee-b ... ent-taxes/

‘I’ll f**king bury you!’ McAfee vows to expose corrupt US officials & CIA agents if ‘disappeared’
Published time: 12 Jun, 2019 00:23
Edited time: 13 Jun, 2019 12:36
Get short URL



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/ ... record-45c


France records all-time highest temperature of 45.9C
Record for mainland France falls in southern commune of Gallargues-le-Montueux as Europe swelters in heatwave
* What is causing the European heatwave?






https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html


Out! Two cops arrested for harming complete strangers while off-duty leave NYPD

By THOMAS TRACY

| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUL 01, 2019 | 7:00



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

Hundreds of gallons of oil still flow daily from 2004 spill in Gulf of Mexico, report says

By TIM BALK

| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 30, 2019 | 2:31 PM






https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ ... story.html



Ex-criminal justice lecturer and Bureau of Prisons employee arrested for three rapes committed more than 25 years ago

By DAVID BOROFF

| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUL 02, 2019 | 9:52 AM



https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

Ex-NYPD detective who became head of gambling, prostitution operation sentenced to 4-to-12 years in deal to spare his family

By TREVOR BOYER  and LARRY MCSHANE

| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUL 02, 2019 |



https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/02/apple ... takedowns/

Close Screen
Apple reveals App Store takedown demands by governments
Zack Whittaker@zackwhittaker / 14 hours ago



https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-o ... agent-iran

Russian oligarch says he spent $20M after McCabe asked him to help free retired FBI agent from Iran



https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 17b7fbbfbb

Justice Department watchdog to investigate decision to cancel FBI headquarters plan

[msfreeh]

https://www.madcowprod.com/2019/08/05/i ... -campaign/

Is Russian Mob drug money going to Trump re-election?
By Daniel Hopsicker -
August 5, 2019
0
729
It’s nearly two months since a container ship was busted at the port of Philadelphia loaded with so much cocaine that even PEOPLE magazine wrote about it.

The MSC Gayane was carrying 19 tons of cocaine, and the highest ranking person arrested so far is still the ship’s Second Mate, whose credit is probably not strong enough to warrant anyone fronting him seven shipping containers filled to bursting with cocaine.  

Then yesterday came news of the largest cocaine seizure ever in Germany, 4.5 tons, at the port in Hamburg.
But German authorities only saw fit to let the public know about it yesterday. The drugs were discovered more than two weeks ago.
Moreover the customs office in Hamburg didn’t even disclose the name of the ship the cocaine containers came from.

In the Philadelphia container ship bust, the warrant for the arrest of sailors from the ship was shown in local news coverage. Then it disappeared.
The next day a Federal Court Clerk stated the entire case had been sealed retroactively. Why is a drug bust being treated—not as a crime—but as a “sensitive” matter of national security?
 
Resorting to an old technique
What’s being hidden? What’s the explanation for the two huge drug moves? They’re totally out of character, and defini



https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... ce-budget/

Recovering over a billion in unpaid taxes in 2018, IRS Whistleblower’s Office operates on a budget of just over $6 million
by JPat Brown
August 07, 2019
In 2016, the Internal Revenue Service reported that unpaid taxes cost the federal government over $400 billion a year. According to documents recently released through FOIA, that same year, the IRS Whistleblower’s Office, which offers compensation to individuals who report on tax evasion, had a budget just over $6 million.
Read More



https://www.madcowprod.com/2019/08/01/t ... a-scandal/

The Jeffrey Epstein Social Network Mega Meta scandal
By Daniel Hopsicker -
August 1, 2019
5
2286
The Jeffrey Epstein scandal is a ‘meta’ scandal that smaller scandals fit into like Russian dolls.  “Meta” means about the thing itself. “Meta news” is news about the news.

It reveals the higher network workings of lesser scandals, like the “Container Ship Crime Wave!” scandal, which fits into it neatly.
Names in Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book connect with people involved with the illicit drug trade. Like Adnan Khashoggi.
What the Jeffrey Epstein scandal would reveal, were its details to become public, is an industrial three shifts-daily powerhouse blackmail operation using hidden cameras to catch unsuspecting elite deviants engaging in what are known in the trade as “Unspeakable Practices, and Unnatural Acts.”



FBI FOIA request
From: Emma Best
03/12/2019
Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request: Harbhajan Singh Khalsa
Portal

To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Files mentioning Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, AKA Harbhajan Singh Puri, AKA Yogi Bhajan, AKA Siri Singh Sahib August 26, 1929 – October 6, 2004).
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Emma Best

Yogi20Bhajan2C20752C20Boss20of20Worlds20Spiritual20and20Capitalistic2C20Dies20-2.pdf
View An eye View Embed Opening and closing brackets with a diagonal slash through the middle. Embed Download An arrow pointing down Download


Fee20category20and20search20parameters.pdf
View An eye View Embed Opening and closing brackets with a diagonal slash through the middle. Embed Download An arrow pointing down Download

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
04/02/2019
Subject: eFOIA files available
Portal
There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

E31658051f96fb10001976b869f807491058a4d63_Q52954_D2231093
View An eye View Embed Opening and closing brackets with a diagonal slash through the middle. Embed Download An arrow pointing down Download

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
08/07/2019
Subject: eFOIA files available
Portal
There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

E31658051f96fb10001976b869f807491058a4d63_Q52954_R348684_D2313985
View An eye View Embed Opening and closing brackets with a diagonal slash through the middle. Embed Download An arrow pointing down Download


E31658051f96fb10001976b869f807491058a4d63





https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.or ... up-a-stone

To Stand Up a Stone

Submitted by robert.shetterly on 04 August 2019 - 07:22pm
The following blog post originated as an address given by Robert Shetterly at the Brunswick [Maine] Peace Fair,
August 3, 2019.

I was talking with my friend Roger Kirby recently about his work. He’s a painter. He’s English and summers in Brooksville [Maine] near me. He told me he’s become fascinated with the ancient standing stones located  in over 1,000 sites around the U.K. and Brittany. These mysterious stones, often arranged in circles, date from the Neolithic and Bronze
. Roger is attempting to make paintings - not depicting the stones so much as how he feels in the presence of them. 
In the midst of our conversation, after I had asked him about the significance of the stones,  Roger said, “The original human creative act is to stand up a stone.” I thought, What an interesting thing to say and how might that true? 
The stone at rest  has been sleeping for centuries. Dreaming since the last ice age.  Its placidity may call attention to its beauty and its integration into nature. In some sense, then, might it be presumptuous to stand up a stone? Intrusive?   But stand it up and its role changes. It’s invigorated, individuated, inspirited. Has potency. It has ritualized its space. Sanctified - perhaps like an altar without a church. It  commands and shapes the space. It focuses attention. Calls the residents of the area to be in relation to it. It teaches a kind of adherence to its posture. It casts a shadow. And the shadow becomes the keeper of time, the arbiter of time. 
Its standing role is not to dominate but remind one to be present, to be conscious, reminding one of one’s consciousness.  Perhaps it is creative because it is the result of a newly conscious mind, the mind with a will to rearrange nature.   Or, perhaps the act of standing the stone up created that new consciousness - the way any truly creative act does. A creative act always challenges one to think and feel, sometimes act, differently in response to it. The landscape with a standing stone becomes a conscious landscape, conscious of its own history in time. The standing stone is the ambassador of the mute world to the conscious world. The messenger, the emissary. It offers a spiritual partnership, a conversation between the land and the mind. It is not destructive or exploitative; rather, it’s a call to harmony. It anchors. Provides an address, signifies home. The standing stone sounds the awakened land’s first clear note of human creativity in relation to nature’s. Most of the neolithic  stones are in circles, like seasons and cycles, like congregations in conversation, like restorative justice circles, praying, chanting. They amplify the land’s heartbeat by sounding the human. The standing stone is the sentry for what is above and what is below. To stand a stone may be the first creative act; it may also be the first committed act. It commits to taking the materials of nature and crafting human identity, community and dignity. I say dignity because the stone seems a declaration of pride. Pride more than egotism. Not separate from but in relation to. 
An act of moral courage is like  a stone stood up. An act of moral courage rearranges a social space and redefines community. A person standing up resists the mythology and propaganda of violence, of separation, of racism, of dehumanization, of exploitation, of power and of the  justified injustice of the status quo - the way a shadowless pasture of conformity and corporate docility becomes redefined by the standing stone of the iconoclast, the truth teller. The paddock of slavery redefined by Harriet Tubman. The field of status quo history reorganized by the standing stone of Howard Zinn’s A People's History.  The long metallic arc of male dominance re-bent by the militancy of Alice Paul. The massive  bloom of invisible secrets made visible by the standing stone of Daniel Ellsberg.  
The original creative act of the common good is the standing-up person, the signal that justice has a heartbeat, the truth that compassion requires courage. The standing stone of moral courage evolves the consciousness of the community. It exposes the truth that power hates ceding control, scorns equality, will do practically anything to subvert real democracy. The standing stone envisions and makes possible the dignity of other stones. The crazed murderers at My Lai discover their shame in front of the standing stone of Hugh Thompson.  A poor Palestinian home remains standing because Rachel Corrie’s standing, once enacted, cannot be knocked down with a bulldozer no matter how many times the driver runs over her. In jail Camilo Mejia says now he is finally free because he has followed his conscience and refused to continue  participation in an illegal, immoral war. His stone stands in prison. He says he was a coward - not for refusing to fight, but a coward for having accepted taking part in the war in the first place, a coward for fighting. Right here in Brunswick, Bruce Gagnon stands up in the backyard of Bath Iron Works and General Dynamics demanding conversion from warship militarism to sanity and green infrastructure sustainability. Consciousness changes, a community grows. A standing stone is a creative act, a committed act.

William Sloane Coffin said, “”Socrates had is wrong; it is not the  unexamined but finally the uncommitted life that is not worth living.”  The standing of moral courage creates its place, its address in history, because it creates value, creates worth. It makes  a claim to nobility that would otherwise be preposterous.
Think how power has tried to deface the standing of Chelsea Manning. The more mud they sling, the more hateful graffiti scrawled on her,  the more law wielded like shears to cut her stature down, the taller and more adamant she stands - revealing now not only crimes against humanity but the oppressive crimes committed to make her silent and invisible. 
There is a kind of meaning, a claim to stature, in our lives that can only be purchased with courage.
Think of Samantha Smith, a ten year old frightened of nuclear holocaust, who launches a letter like a kite, and she clings to  the tail of that kite until, floating above us, she is teaching adults how to recognize the absurd manipulations of the Cold War. A standing stone. 
In 1969 Fred Branfman, a young American teacher in Laos, recorded  the terrifying experiences of poor rice farmers fleeing from round-the-clock U.S. carpet bombing on the Plain of Jars. He returned to the U.S. and testified about this Secret War being mercilessly and illegally waged by the U.S. against these voiceless civilians. A standing stone.
Standing stones are cairns. They mark the track of justice and morality in an otherwise baffling and trackless landscape. They are the dots we need to connect.  They are the map of the narrative we must tell. Without them our consciousness cannot evolve beyond the propaganda of power. Without them justice has no heartbeat.  The original human creative act is to be a standing stone.

[msfreeh]

https://www.courthousenews.com/en-banc- ... 49868a628e

En Banc 11th Circuit Hears Bid to Release Lynching Records
October 22, 2019





https://www.sciencenews.org/article/set ... s-to-watch


Seth Shipman recorded a movie in DNA — and that’s just the beginning
He is developing tools that may reveal hidden biological processes



https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.or ... -symposium

USM hosts symposium on active bystandership and inclusivity featuring Libra Scholar, Dr. Ervin Staub


The University of Southern Maine welcomes Dr. Ervin Staub professor emeritus of psychology and founding director of the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to present a public talk and symposium on active bystandership and inclusive communities on October 24 - 25 on USM’s Portland Campus. In addition, he will be holding training sessions for USM faculty, staff and students, as well as community leaders on October 23 on the USM Gorham Campus.
Dr. Staub has studied the roots of violence between groups, especially mass killings, genocide and terrorism, as well as reconciliation after violence and its prevention. He has published numerous articles and chapters on helping behavior and altruism, the passivity of bystanders in the face of others' needs, the development of caring, and ways to reduce aggression in children. Dr. Staub has applied his work in numerous real world settings. For example, he created a training program for California police officers in the wake of the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles; he also worked in Massachusetts schools on a project assessing bullying and school climate in an effort to promote more caring schools. 





http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board2/ ... 33&t=37950

Sidebar from NameBase NewsLine, No. 5, April-June 1994:

Marion Pettie and his Washington DC "Finders": Kooks or Spooks?

by Daniel Brandt
In August 1984, two twenty-something young men wearing ties knocked on my door and gave their names: Steve Usdin and Jeff Ubois. A tiny newsletter had mentioned the database I was developing, and they were interested. They began pumping me on my activities and associates, and took notes. Their questions reflected a familiarity with obscure leftist personalities and publications that is found only among seasoned activists, and even more curiously, they expressed no politics of their own. Usdin and Ubois had to be "sent men."

But they wanted to be helpful. My own attempts to interest progressives in my project had been met with quizzical looks, because at the time most leftists were still using typewriters. These two fellows at least knew all about microcomputing. So I rewarded them with the first edition of what today is called NameBase. At the same time I mentioned that I needed the IBM BASIC compiler to get the program transferred from CP/M, and a few weeks later they came by with just what I needed, complete with a photocopied manual in a binder. I probably should have asked them for new computers and an office.

They said their group went by the name of "Information Bank," and they wanted to approach certain organizations in the Washington DC area and volunteer their technical skills. The following June I visited their warehouse headquarters and met Randolph A. Winn and Robert M. Meyer. I asked questions about who or what was behind it all, but their answers were evasive. From their perspective, I was a potential recruit.

In July 1985 I got a call from Kris Jacobs, a DC activist who did research on the right-wing. She said that Ubois was caught looking in her office files, and when she confronted him, he claimed to be from the National Journalism Center. Since NJC is a right-wing group that was then doing research on the left, his answer didn't pacify her. Ubois had been dropping my name to talk his way into certain places, so Ms. Jacobs wasn't happy with my excuses either. I alerted two other organizations who were getting assistance from the Information Bank. The next time Ubois came over in early 1986, I casually brought up the name "National Journalism Center" in a different context, and asked him if he had ever heard of it. "Nope." That's when I opened my own file on the Information Bank.

Louis Wolf helped me check crisscross directories and we visited the recorder of deeds. Several group names were listed under each address, and the two properties we knew about were both in the name of Robert G. Terrell, Jr. While returning from the recorder of deeds office, cross my heart, we spotted Usdin walking with an older man. He didn't see us so we followed them on foot for about two miles like Keystone Kops (they kept stopping at store windows), but eventually lost them. Sometime later Ubois dropped in on Wolf (they never call ahead) and whipped out a business card that read "Hong Kong Business Today." He wanted to know how to get a visa for Vietnam. It was clear by then that most group members were world-class travelers, which included travel to numerous Eastern Bloc countries. It was all a game to them. This was a small group -- perhaps 40 adults -- but they had no visible income to support their far-flung activities.

In February 1987, two young men from the group were arrested in Tallahassee, Florida because the van they were driving contained six children with dirty faces. The term "child abuse" was trumpeted in all of the media, all over the country, for several days. Customs, the FBI, and DC police raided three group properties and made off with their files and computers. The group (it was a "cult" to the media) was called the "Finders" (years earlier they had been known as the "Seekers"), and it was run by Marion David Pettie, then 67 years old. At least now I knew who the older man was and I had another name for the group. No charges were filed and the children were soon returned to their mothers in the group. After realizing that they had been feeding on a nonstory, the media suddenly dropped everything with no apologies. I called the Washington Post city desk at the height of the hysteria and explained that there was another angle, but when their reporter called back he was only being polite.

Three years later I obtained a three-page nongovernment memo of undetermined origin that summarizes Pettie's intelligence links. Most of it seems to check out. According to this memo, Pettie began his career with assorted OSS contacts, served as a chauffeur to General Ira Eaker, became a protege of Charles Marsh (an intimate of FDR and LBJ who ran his own private intelligence network), and was trained in counterintelligence in Baltimore and Frankfurt, Germany. His wife worked for the CIA, and Pettie himself was run by Col. Leonard N. Weigner (whose September 1990 Washington Post obituary confirms that his career was spent in air force intelligence and the CIA). Pettie's case officer was Major George Varga, who relayed Weigner's instructions until Varga died in the 1970s. The memo says that on Weigner's advice Pettie resigned from the military and surrounded himself with "kooks" so that he could infiltrate the "beat," human potential, and now the New Age movements.

Okay, so file this memo under "P" for "Paranoia." Except that in December 1993, first the Washington Times (which was picked up by AP), and then U.S. News and World Report, both carried essentially the same story. It seems that the Finders investigation was stopped cold shortly after it started in 1987, and now the Justice Department has formed a task force to figure out what's going on. Why was it stopped? This is from an internal "Memo to File" written by a Customs agent who participated in the raids, dated 13 April 1987:

CIA made one contact and admitted to owning the Finders organization ...but that it had "gone bad." ... the investigation into the activity of the Finders had become a CIA internal matter. The MPD [DC police] report has been classified Secret and was not available for review. I was advised that the FBI had withdrawn from the investigation several weeks prior and that the FBI Foreign Counterintelligence Division had directed MPD not to advise the FBI Washington Field Office of anything that had transpired. No further information will be available. No further action will be taken.



https://news.yahoo.com/in-trump-pitch-a ... _test=1_02

In Trump pitch at black college, its students were largely absent

Brittany Shepherd
National Politics Reporter
Yahoo NewsOctober 25, 2019



https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Ex ... 563144.php

Trumbull cop pleads guilty to stalking, sexual assault of teen
By Daniel Tepfer Published 4:24 pm EDT, Friday, October 25, 2019
* 



https://mynorthwest.com/1569375/seattle ... offenders/?


Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best on cop morale amid prolific offenders



https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evj8 ... est-people

This $2 Test Identified Bird $#!% as Cocaine. Cops Keep Using It to Arrest People.
Donut crumbs also once tested positive for meth.

By Emma Ockerman
Oct 25 2019, 12:11pmShareTweetSnap


https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/10 ... n-in-2018/


San Bernardino Cop Fired After Fatal Shooting Of Unarmed Man In 2018
October 26, 2019 at 1:00 am
Filed Under:Fatal Shooting, Officer Fatally Shoot






https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/cri ... story.html

Report finds Chicago cops revising reports on street stops, sometimes multiple times

By ANNIE SWEENEY

CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
OCT 25, 2019 | 7:10 AM


A review by a former federal judge of how Chicago police conduct street stops has found a troubling trend — supervisors assisting officers in revising hundreds of reports, sometimes multiple times, all in an effort to make it appear the stops were constitutional.
One officer rewrote a report as many as s



https://reason.com/2019/10/25/judge-say ... shootings/

Judge Says Cops Need Qualified Immunity To 'Stop Mass Shootings'
In fact, the legal doctrine lets cops to get away with outrageous conduct.
BILLY BINION | 10.25.2019 2:55 PM



https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/c ... -own-cops/


Chicago's Top Cop to Shun Trump Speech, Irritating His Own Force
BY JACK DUNPHY OCTOBER 25, 201






https://gothamist.com/news/do-cops-serv ... piggy-bank

Do Cops Serve The Rich? Meet The NYPD’s Private Piggy Bank
BY JOSMAR TRUJILLO
OCT. 24, 2019 12:24 P.M. • 56



https://books.google.com/books/about/Pr ... ead_button



Protectors of privilege





https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/ ... story.html

Documents show Boston police officer worked closely with ICE

By Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff,October 25, 2019, 8:17 p.m.




https://boingboing.net/2019/10/24/bosto ... -hour.html

Boston cops clocked 9,000 hours of overtime at the "Straight Pride" parade — and none of it with body cams

Thanks to WBUR, we now know that that cost included 9,000 hours of overtime work for local police officers—the equivalent of 4 years of full-time policing service. And none of it was officially caught on film, despite the police aggressions caught on social media and the 3 dozen counter-protestors who were arrested during the parade.


But what makes this particularly egregious is what happened after the "Straight Pride" Parade. District Attorney Rachel Rollins—who just took office this past year—declined to charge most of the protestors who were arrested at the event. Normally, this would be the end of it. Except, somehow, the judge overseeing the case decided to ignore the DA, arrest a defense attorney, and continue prosecuting the protestors with the utmost zeal. That same judge, Richard Sinnot, once shot someone at City Hall under shady circumstances when he was working in the DA's office, and is also the son of Boston's other famous conservative Judge Richard Sinnot, also known as the "city censor." Unsurprisingly, the Boston Police Patrolmen Union petitioned to make sure that those darn rascally protestors got what's comin' to 'em, to




https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne8k ... ourt-rules

Cops Need a Warrant to Access Your Car's Data, Court Rules
Georgia Supreme Court declares that warrantless access to your vehicle data constitutes an unconstitutional intrusion

https://www.foxnews.com/media/jason-cha ... ed-records

FBI agents probing Michael Flynn acted with 'nefarious' intent in manipulating records, says Jason Chaffetz



http://www.startribune.com/fbi-will-fin ... fresh=true


FBI will seek 'way forward' on body cams for task forces
By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press OCTOBER 26, 2019 — 1:05PM

CHICAGO — FBI Director Christopher Wray vowed Saturday to "find a way forward" to allow police officers who serve on federal task forces to wear body cameras, affirming that the government will try to reverse a policy that has strained its relationship with some law enforcement

[msfreeh]

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2 ... -of-christ

Trump Calls on Americans to 'Exemplify the Teachings of Christ'
12-26-2019
Benjamin Gill






https://www.huffpost.com/entry/woman-ac ... efdba6a0a6


POLITICS 10/09/2019 12:52 pm ET
Woman Accuses Donald Trump Of Grabbing Her Vagina Without Consent In Early 2000s
Karen Johnson made the allegation in an upcoming book, which reportedly includes 43 new sexual misconduct accusations against the president.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-runnin ... 2c043a7212

U.S. Edition

WOMEN 12/12/2017 04:31 pm ET Updated Oct 09, 2019
A Running List Of The Women Who’ve Accused Donald Trump Of Sexual Misconduct
All their stories in one place.





https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html


Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005



https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06 ... lationship



FROM THE MAGAZINE AUGUST 2017
HOW DONALD TRUMP AND ROY COHN’S RUTHLESS SYMBIOSIS CHANGED AMERICA

In 1973, a brash young would-be developer from Queens met one of New York’s premier power brokers: Roy Cohn, whose name is still synonymous with the rise of McCarthyism and its dark political arts. With the ruthless attorney as a guide, Trump propelled himself into the city’s power circles and learned many of the tactics that would inexplicably lead him to the White House years later.




https://forward.com/schmooze/357185/7-c ... ut-ivanka/


7 Creepy Things Donald Trump Has Said About Ivanka

[msfreeh]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/12/27 ... t-scoville



Karen Daniel, champion of the wrongly convicted, lived a life in full
“Even in my darkest hours, Karen made me feel like everything was all going to be OK,” one of her clients wrote. “That justice hadn’t left me behind.”
By CST Editorial Board Dec 30, 2019, 5:56pm CST

There is an impromptu curbside memorial in Oak Park near the corner of Pleasant Street and Scoville Avenue.
At first, there were a few candles. Then the memorial grew, with flowers and more candles and a sign.
The memorial honors Karen L. Daniel, an attorney and former director of Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. Last week, a pick-up truck struck and killed Daniel as she walked her dog across that intersection in Oak Park, where she lived. She was 62.
Editorials
We would like to add to that memorial, so spontaneous and heartfelt, with this editorial. We admired Daniel. We believed in her work. And we hope to continue to champion that work as it is carried on by others.
As director and/or co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions from 2013 to 2018 and co-founder of a center project that focuses on falsely convicted women, Daniel and her team won freedom for more than 20 people in Illinois. Daniel’s painstaking and nationally recognized work sought to balance the scales of justice in our state, scales that can be calibrated against black and brown people, women and anybody who has no particular power or money.
“Karen’s legacy is indelible in the minds of all who knew and loved her — and in the annals of criminal justice reform,” former CWC staff attorney and Women’s Project co-founder Judy Royal wrote last week in an essay for Injustice Watch.
On social media, Maurice Possley, a senior researcher at the National Registry of Exonerations, a joint project of the University of Michigan and Michigan State law schools, called Daniel a “hero to many, an inspiration to even more.”
Daniel’s work won new trials and overturned convictions for those who had been sent to prison on the word of faulty eyewitnesses, prejudicial testimony and overzealous prosecution.
In 2018, in a typical case, she helped win the freedom of Marcel Brown, who was serving a 35-year sentence for a 2008 murder. Brown was not the gunman, but prosecutors argued that he confessed to driving the killer — his cousin — to the park where the homicide was committed.
But Daniel and her Center on Wrongful Convictions team found that the police had interrogated Brown, who was 18, while holding him in a windowless room without access to a lawyer for 34 hours — until he confessed.
Brown was freed after a decade in prison.
“If you were one of the lucky ones, she would agree to help free you, choosing your case from the thousands that she was asked to address in a given year,” Julie Rea wrote in a letter to the Sun-Times after Daniel’s death. “And if she took your case, she would freely offer not only her lawyerly acumen, but also herself: her integrity, her commitment, and her friendship.“
Rea would know. In 2002, she was sentenced to 65 years in prison for stabbing to death her 10-year-old son Joel in their home in downstate Lawrenceville. Two years after the conviction, an appellate court ordered a new trial after finding prosecutors had hid evidence that contradicted their case.
Daniel and her team represented Rea at the new trial and challenged the state’s forensic evidence. They also introduced a confession from a serial killer and drifter, Tommy Lynn Sells — then on death row in Texas — that he had killed Rea’s son.
“She walked with me during my own battle for exoneration — a centering, reassuring force that was part Harvard-trained analytical mind, part motherly comforter, part sisterly reassure — and fought [in] my corner until she won,” Rea wrote to the Sun-Times. “That’s just how she was made. Even in my darkest hours, Karen made me feel like everything was all going to be OK — that justice hadn’t left me behind — and then she went ahead and made everything OK.”
Rea was freed in 2006.
“Karen was articulate, wise, masterful in a courtroom,” Rea wrote. “But beyond the awards and accomplishments, she was a deeply human being. Perhaps that’s what made her the lawyer she was.”
If the best measure of a life is the good we do for others, Karen Daniel lived a life in full.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/12/30 ... -editorial

[msfreeh]

https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2019/f190514.pdf

SUMMARY

Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Attorney for Shoplifting at the United States Marine Corps Base Quantico Exchange
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an investigation of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attorney based on information that the attorney was arrested in February 2018 for shoplifting at the United States Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico Exchange.
The OIG substantiated and the FBI attorney admitted to placing numerous cosmetic items, valued at $257.99 and belonging to the MCB Quantico Exchange, into her purse without the intention to pay for them and did not pay for them before leaving the store. The FBI attorney further admitted that between February 2016 and her arrest in February 2018 she had shoplifted at the MCB Quantico Exchange one to two additional times, and at other private retailers in the area on two to three occasions.
The OIG concluded that the FBI attorney had violated federal criminal law and FBI policy regarding unprofessional conduct. Criminal prosecution was deferred pending the FBI attorney’s completion of 125 hours of community service, after which all charges were dismissed.
The OIG has completed its investigation and has provided its report to the FBI and the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility for action they deem appropriate.



https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/video- ... cal-masks/

Video shows cop trailing two black men after asking them to leave Walmart for wearing surgical masks


Published 14 mins ago on March 25, 2020




Wednesday, March 25
Julian Assange's lawyers to apply for bail, citing virus risk
Andy Bruce, Reuters
Those who intentionally spread coronavirus could be charged as terrorists
Josh Gerstein, POLITICO
Chicago Mayor Pressures Judge To Release Fewer Detainees As Coronavirus Spreads In Cook County Jail
Kevin Gosztola, Shadowproof
Face Surveillance Is Not the Solution to the COVID-19 Crisis
Matthew Guariglia, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Empty the Jails Now
Jonah Walters, Jacobi






https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/03/20/c ... g-covid-19

Coal Industry Group Asks Federal Lawmakers to Cut Funding for Black Lung Program, Citing COVID-19
Read time: 5 mins
By Sharon Kelly • Friday, March 20, 2020 - 16:17



https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-ov ... d-off-cop/

Judge Overturns Verdict Against Man Who Flipped Off Cop
March 25, 2020




https://www.businessinsurance.com/artic ... rozco-v-Co


Workers Comp
High court rules death of cop while off duty compensable
Louise Esola
March 25, 2020





https://yonkerstimes.com/peekskill-cop- ... ual-abuse/

PEEKSKILL COP CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ABUSE
March 25, 2020



https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/ind ... ss-country

Delhi top cop admits to misconduct by police during lockdown; harassment reported from across country
A large amount of milk, and fresh produce items were thrown away as the police thrashed and harassed the delivery persons, even some of the warehouses of on line delivery platforms were asked to shut


http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-denton/e ... 74399.html

Essays on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
By David Denton





https://bangordailynews.com/2020/03/25/ ... ding-doom/

Maine Focus
Inside Maine’s largest prison, inmates watch coronavirus inch closer with sense of ‘pending doom’



https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/26/ ... s-scandal/

Actress Lori Loughlin, other defendants allege government misconduct in college admissions scandal

By Jeremy C. Fox Globe Correspondent,Updated March 25, 2020, 3 hours






https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/us/misso ... index.html

Man under investigation for plotting an attack at a hospital believed to be treating Covid-19 patients was killed during an FBI investigation


Updated 11:01 PM ET, Wed March 25, 2020




https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/us/i ... tless.html

The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings




https://www.theatlantic.com/national/ar ... ev/277040/

Why the FBI Shouldn't Be Trusted to Investigate the Death of Ibragim Todashev
For at least 20 years, its inquiries have never found fault with a fatal shot taken by an agent.





https://www.documentcloud.org/documents ... chive.html


documentcloud.org › documents › 2902671-Savage-NYT-FOI...
www.documentcloud.org › documents › 2902671-Savage-NYT-FOI...

1. Cached
They include both Shooting Incident Review Team (SIRT) reports ... based on these documents, including The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings.





https://charliesavage.com/?p=1162

FBI Discloses 700 Pages of Internal Shooting Incident Review Reports
June 21, 2016 Charlie Savage

loses 700 Pages of Internal Shooting Incident Review ...
charliesavage.com › ...
charliesavage.com › ...

1. Cached
Jun 21, 2016 - 22, 2015; Charlie Savage and Michael Schmidt, “The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings,”New York Times, June 19, 2013.



https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-stand ... ed_of.html

LaVoy Finicum shooting: FBI agent indicted for alleged false statements
Updated Jan 09, 2019; Posted Jun 27, 2017


https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2019/f190529.pdf

INVESTIGATIVE SUMMARY
Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Unauthorized Contacts with the Media, Disclosing Law Enforcement and Other Sensitive Information to the Media, and Accepting a Gift from the Media
The Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this investigation upon the receipt of information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), alleging that a then FBI Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) had numerous contacts with members of the media in violation of FBI policy. Additionally, it was alleged that the DAD may have disclosed law enforcement or other sensitive information to the media without authorization. This matter is among the OIG investigations referenced on page 430 of the OIG’s Review of Allegations Regarding Various Actions by the Department and the Federal Bur




https://oig.justice.gov/reports/inv-findings.htm

Investigative Findings in Cases Involving Administrative Misconduct
This page contains links to summaries of our investigative findings in cases involving administrative misconduct that meet either of the following criteria: (1) cases involving as subjects members of the Senior Executive Service and employees at the GS-15 grade level or above, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys, in which the OIG found misconduct and no prosecution resulted; or (2) cases involving high profile investigations, or in which there may otherwise be significant public interest in the outcome of the investigation. A summary of investigative findings is posted following issuance to the component of our final report of investigation, after the Department, the affected component, and the subject (when appropriate) have been provided with the opportunity to review and comment on the proposed summary.
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | Prior to April 2015
2020
March 16, 2020
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Warden for Acting Unprofessionally Toward a Subordinate, Abusing the BOP Awards Program, Violating BOP Alcohol Policy, and Directing a Subordinate Not to Follow BOP Policy on the Timely Reporting of Misconduct to BOP’s Office of Internal Affairs
March 10, 2020
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a then Assistant United States Attorney for Conduct Prejudicial to the Government and Attempted Misuse of Position
January 6, 2020
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Federal Bureau of Prisons Supervisor for Engaging in an Inappropriate Sexual Relationship with a Subordinate and Related Misconduct

2019
December 19, 2019
Investigative Summary: Finding of Misconduct by a Senior Official in the Executive Office for Immigration Review for Engaging in a Prohibited Personnel Practice
November 26, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings that an Employee of a Contractor for the Federal Bureau of Prisons Suffered Reprisal for Making a Protected Disclosure in Violation of Federal Law Protecting Contractor Whistleblowers
November 18, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Then DEA Section Chief for Misusing His Position
October 17, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Senior Official for Failing to Report an Intimate Relationship with a Subordinate and for Failing to Avoid Creating the Appearance of Preferential Treatment
October 15, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a United States Marshal for Entering into a Restricted Area of a Sheriff's Office and a County Jail Without Authorization
October 2, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a then Assistant United States Attorney for Improperly Disclosing Grand Jury Materials to an Unauthorized Individual
October 2, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a then DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Failing to Report Misconduct Allegations
September 24, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a BOP Assistant Director for Engaging in Inappropriate Personal Relationships with a BOP Contractor and with a BOP Union Executive, for Misusing a BOP-issued Cell Phone, and for Lack of Candor; and by a BOP Union Executive for Engaging in an Inappropriate Personal Relationship with a BOP Assistant Director
September 17, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a FBI Special Agent in Charge for Failing to Report an Intimate Relationship with a Subordinate and for Taking Actions that Lacked Impartiality, Demonstrated Favoritism Toward the Subordinate, and Contributed to the Decline in Staff Morale
August 29, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Then Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Misuse of DOJ-Issued Computers and for False Statements
August 5, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by Two DEA Special Agents and a DEA Supervisory Special Agent for Violations of the DEA’s Confidential Source Policy
July 8, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a DEA Group Supervisor for Actions Related to a Confidential Source Including Approving Payments to the Source without Proper Justification and Engaging in an Improper Personal Relationship; and by a DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Failing to Properly Supervise the Group Supervisor
June 11, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Special Agent in Charge for Using the Office for Private Gain and Dereliction of Supervisory Responsibility
June 10, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Senior DEA Official for Violating Ethics Regulations, DEA Standards of Conduct, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and for Lack of Candor; by a Member of the DEA Senior Executive Service for Aiding and Abetting the Senior DEA Official’s Misconduct; and by a JMD Senior IT Manager for Violating DOJ Contractor Security Policy
June 6, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Unit Chief for Misusing her Position by Attempting to Ensure her Daughter Received an FBI Offer of Employment
June 6, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a DOJ Trial Attorney for Misuse of DOJ Issued Computer and Cellular Telephone
June 5, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a United States Marshal for Making an Inappropriate Comment about Shooting a Judge and for Lack of Candor
May 30, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an Assistant U.S. Attorney for Possessing, Transporting, and Consuming Marijuana Edibles; Falsely Denying Controlled Substance Use on a Security Form; and Lack of Candor
May 29, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Unauthorized Contacts with the Media, Disclosing Law Enforcement and Other Sensitive Information to the Media, and Accepting a Gift from the Media
May 14, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Attorney for Shoplifting at the United States Marine Corps Base Quantico Exchange
May 1, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Falsely Representing that the Former DAAG was a High-Level DOJ Official
April 30, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Special Agent in Charge and Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Failing to Ensure Contact with a Known Drug Trafficker was Handled According to FBI Policy for Confidential Human Sources, and for Failing to Report and Preventing the Reporting of Misconduct Allegations
April 29, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Failure to Act in a Professional Manner, and by a DEA Special Agent in Charge for Favoritism and Providing False Statements to the OIG Concerning the Allegations Involving the ASAC
March 11, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a Bureau of Prisons Warden for Directing a Prison Renovation Project Without Acquiring Required Approvals or Involving Proper Personnel
February 19, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by a U.S. Marshal and Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for Harassing and Making Retaliatory Statements About a Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal, Retaliating Against Another Deputy U.S. Marshal for Filing a Grievance, and Lack of Candor
February 5, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Supervisory Special Agent for Making False Representations, Working for an FBI Contractor, Accepting Gifts from an FBI Applicant, Assisting the FBI Applicant in the Employment Selection Process, and Misusing a Government Vehicle and Cell Phone
January 29, 2019
Investigative Summary: Findings of Misconduct by Two Current Senior FBI Officials and One Retired FBI Official While Providing Oversight on an FBI Contract

[msfreeh]

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

ACLU of Minnesota suing police for ‘deliberately targeting journalists’ covering George Floyd unrest

By NANCY DILLON

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 03, 2020 | 12:38 PM



https://www.rt.com/news/490618-scientis ... an-livers/


Scientists SUCCESSFULLY transplant mini HUMAN livers into RATS
3 Jun, 2020 17:59




https://www.rt.com/news/490613-human-ce ... nt-squids/


The invisible man? Scientists engineer human cells to become TRANSPARENT like squids
3 Jun, 2020 12:27




https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/3/21279 ... free-users



Zoom says free users won’t get end-to-end encryption so FBI and police can access calls
Businesses, schools, and other paying customers will get it
By Adi Robertson@thedextriarchy Jun 3, 2020, 2:31pm EDT



https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rosens ... a-problems


Rosenstein testifies he would not have signed FBI FISA warrant for Trump aide if he knew of problems





https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/content/n ... rry-nassar



Cornyn Asks DOJ to Release Report on FBI Coverup of Larry Nassar Pedophile Investigation

In: All News   Posted 06/03/2020
Share:

WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) sent a letter yesterday asking Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz to release his report on the Federal Bureau of Information’s investigation into Larry Nassar’s abuse of Olympic gymnasts.  
He wrote: “According to news reports, at least 40 professional athletes were abused by Nassar in the time between the USA Gymnastics made its report to the FBI and when he was publicly named as a perpetrator. An investigation into the FBI’s delays was first reported in September 2018, but nearly two years later, the report has yet to be released.”
“All victims deserve dignity and to have the crimes committed against them properly and fairly investigated. I am deeply concerned about evidence of the FBI’s lack of urgency, even as they were uncovering clear information that a predator continued to harm the athletes in his care.”
“Gymnastics has a powerful place in Texans’ hearts. I have always been proud to be a Texan and an American when watching such talented athletes compete on the world stage. What they suffered is unbearable. It can never happen again. Victims’ allegations must be investigated quickly, and their voices must be listened to. The release of this report is the first necessary step in determining how to move forward.”




https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/spor ... r-fbi.html



As F.B.I. Took a Year to Pursue the Nassar Case, Dozens Say They Were Molested





https://archive.thinkprogress.org/new-s ... e67cf6ce9/

New senate report confirms the FBI was one of Nassar’s top enablers
"The FBI failed to pursue a course of action that would have immediately protected victims in harm's way," Congress finds.





http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_n ... f3acd.html


Ferguson activist charged with inciting a riot via Facebook posts
* By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Jun 3, 2020 Updated





https://www.wbrc.com/2020/06/02/fbi-det ... -released/


‘They just scared me to death.’: Hear from one of the 2 people detained by FBI after Tuesday’s peaceful protest in Homewood




https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/b ... a-warrant/


These are the 37 Senators that voted to let the FBI seize your internet history without a warrant
Posted on May 14, 2020 by Caleb Chen


Barrasso, John (R-WY)

Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN)

Blunt, Roy (R-MO)

Boozman, John (R-AR)

Burr, Richard (R-NC)

Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV)

Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)

Cornyn, John (R-TX)

Cotton, Tom (R-AR)

Fischer, Deb (R-NE)

Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)

Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS)

Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)

Johnson, Ron (R-WI)

Lankford, James (R-OK)

McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)

Perdue, David (R-GA)

Portman, Rob (R-OH)

Roberts, Pat (R-KS)

Romney, Mitt (R-UT)

Rubio, Marco (R-FL)

Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)

Thune, John (R-SD)

Tillis, Thom (R-NC)

Toomey, Patrick J. (R-PA)

Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS)

Young, Todd (R-IN)

Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE)

Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)

Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)

Hassan, Margaret Wood (D-NH)

Jones, Doug (D-AL)

Kaine, Tim (D-VA)

Manchin, Joe, III (D-WV)

Shaheen, Jeanne (D-NH)

Warner, Mark R. (D-VA)

Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI)




https://www.wjbc.com/2019/10/30/a-state ... ince-2016/


A state lawmaker has been wearing a wire for FBI since 2016




https://narcosphere.narconews.com//note ... trick.html


DEA Prostitute Scandal Isn’t Agency’s Only Trick
Posted by Bill Conroy -
Drug-War Agency’s Latin America Operations Tarnished By A Pattern of Unaddressed Corruption Allegations


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v7gd ... -convinced


Cops Are Taking a Knee. Not Everyone Is Convinced.
For the viewer, “Good Cop” images can provide easy reassurance. And for police departments, they are a great organic source of positive PR.





https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html


California police officer kills man on his knees, mistaking hammer for gun

By LAUREN THEISEN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 03, 2020 | 9:20 PM





https://bangordailynews.com/2020/06/03/ ... -covid-19/


Portland
She was a County potato farmer born during the Spanish flu pandemic. She died of COVID-19.



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html


Asheville, NC asks why police destroyed medical supplies

By LAUREN THEISEN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 04, 2020 | 9:03 AM

[msfreeh]

https://www.kezi.com/content/news/Woman ... 87641.html

WOMAN VICTIMIZED BY FORMER COP BLASTS COURT DECISION

Eugene resident Aspen Rosen says she's outraged that Neil Halttunen can now practice law in Oregon.
Posted: Dec 27, 2020 5:57 PM
Updated: Dec 27, 2020

LANE COUNTY, Ore.--After the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Neil Halttunen would be granted conditional admission to the Oregon Bar, one woman is blasting the decision, saying it's a betrayal of her and other victims.
RELATED: FORMER SPRINGFIELD COP, ACCUSED OF MISCONDUCT, ADMITTED TO STATE BAR

Eugene resident Aspen Rosen says she's outraged, not only for herself but for the numerous women who she says fell victim to Halttunen’s actions. She said the court's decision only added more devastation.
“I was a manager of an adult club in Springfield for seven years," Rosen said. "He would swing by and see me every shift and send me pictures and inappropriate videos of S&M."
Rosen said Halttunen’s treatment of young women was “disgusting.”
"He did quite a number on young women in the Springfield area that were young," Rosen said. "He would get women in compromising positions and abuse them.”
Oregon’s Board of Bar Examiners denied his application to practice law, saying “no dispute that from 2009 to 2012 while working as a police officer, he engaged in inappropriate, unethical and dishonest conduct.”
RELATED: FORMER SPRINGFIELD OFFICER DENIED ADMISSION TO THE BAR
Even Halttunen admits he used his position of trust and authority as an officer to pursue romantic and sexual relationship with women while on duty.



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

Virginia sheriff’s deputy fired for ‘disturbing comments’ on conservative social media site Parler
By KATE FELDMAN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
DEC 27, 2020 AT 11:13 AM



https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny- ... story.html

How to hold the NYPD accountable
By FREDERICK P. SCHAFFER

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
DEC 27, 2020 AT 5:00 A




https://documentaryheaven.com/the-truth-lies-of-911/

Truth and Lies of 911




https://www.klfy.com/acadia-parish/chur ... angerment/

Church Point Louisiana cop with an arrest history jailed again for domestic abuse battery, child endangerment



https://qns.com/2020/12/traffic-cop-arr ... rn-queens/

Traffic cop cuffed after domestic dispute in eastern Queens: NYPD



https://www.timesofisrael.com/cop-filme ... k-protest/

Cop filmed punching Haredi man in head during arrest at Bnei Brak protest
Police investigating ‘inappropriate’ conduct of female officer during clashes with ultra-Orthodox demonstrators protesting arrest of draft dodger



https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/n ... 037919001/

NJ cop fired for sleeping with homeless woman sues to get his job back
Mike Deak
Bridgewater Courier News



https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/m ... 35360.html

Ex-Alabama cop on a crusade to end reform school abuse has Missouri in his sights 
BY JUDY L. THOMAS AND LAURA BAUER
DECEMBER 27, 2020 05:00



https://radiofacts.com/police-arrest-an ... man-video/

Police Arrest Another Cop for Assaulting a Handcuffed Man (VIDEO)
By Hassahn - December 28, 2020



https://theintercept.com/2020/12/27/cov ... hospitals/

HIDING COVID-19: HOW THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SUPPRESSES PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE PANDEMIC
The U.S. government has reinforced media restrictions at hospitals, reducing the flow of disturbing images of the pandemic.
Peter Maass
December 27 2020, 6:00 a.m.



https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/12/28 ... te-change/

DECEMBER 28, 2020
Religion Meets Climate Change
BY ROBERT HUNZIKER



https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/12/28 ... -@#$%!-you/

DECEMBER 28, 2020
When the Landlords Say, “@#$%! You”
BY DAVID ROVICS




https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/12/28 ... lear-gang/

DECEMBER 28, 2020
Doomsday ex Machina: Daniel Ellsberg and the Nuclear Gang
BY JOHN KENDALL HAWKINS




https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house ... s-fall-guy

Kevin Clinesmith did wrong, but why is he the FBI's fall guy?
BY MARK D. FERBRACHE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 12/28/20 02:30 PM EST



https://www.techradar.com/news/aclu-is- ... ed-devices


ACLU is suing the FBI over its efforts to break into encrypted devices
By Anthony Spadafora 2 hours ago
The ACLU wants some answers from the FBI



https://thecrimereport.org/2020/12/28/d ... -find-out/

Does FBI Have a Phone-Hacking Lab? ACLU Sues to Find Out



https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-techn ... ere-suing/

The FBI is Secretly Breaking Into Encrypted Devices. We’re Suing.



Monday, December 28
Tin Nguyen’s prison sentence was commuted, but he landed in ICE detention. Here’s his path to freedom
Vera Castaneda, The LA Times
Julian Assange supporters outnumber his critics. Who are they?
Al Jazeera
NIH Grant Supports AI Solutions for COVID-19 Testing, Surveillance
Jessica Kent, Health IT Analytics

[msfreeh]

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/0 ... olitician/

Did Jeremy Scahill’s Analysis Fumble the Ball in Its Indictment of Joe Biden as an “Empire Politician”?
By Jeremy Kuzmarov - April 30, 2021


https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/0 ... is-legacy/

Dan Ellsberg Blows the Whistle Again at UMASS-Amherst Conference to Commemorate His Legacy
By Jeremy Kuzmarov - May 7, 2021


https://bangordailynews.com/2021/05/13/ ... ard-finds/

Maine police chief created a false report to get out of meeting



https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/13/ ... iminatory/

Under new mayor, Boston continues to fight a lawsuit alleging police lieutenant exam was discriminatory
By Danny McDonald Globe Staff,Updated May 13, 2021, 1 hour ago


https://www.gazettenet.com/Amherst-Coll ... =1&slide=0

Students seek end to police at Amherst College

http://bostonreview.net/philosophy-reli ... dward-said

The World of Edward Said



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._David_Schine_in_Hell

G. David Schine in Hell


https://www.out.com/crime/2021/5/13/pol ... -fake-cops


Police Arrest Two Men for 10-Second Gay Porn Clip With Fake Cops


https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-ju ... ara-faucet

The FBI should turn off the FARA faucet


https://www.vice.com/en/article/88ng8x/ ... t-browsing

Pentagon Surveilling Americans Without a Warrant, Senator Reveals

A letter obtained by Motherboard discusses internet browsing, location, and other forms of data.


https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/0 ... f-victims/


Latest Bizarre Chapter of “War on Drugs”: U.S. Special Forces Train Drug Cartel Enforcers Linked to Rape, Torture and Decapitation of Victims
By Zach El Parece - April 29, 2021 13


https://whowhatwhy.org/2016/12/29/911-f ... e-emerges/

MORE 9/11 FBI COVERUP EVIDENCE EMERGES

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/us/p ... ritas.html

Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in
Government



https://theintercept.com/2021/05/14/isr ... onprofits/

TAX-EXEMPT U.S. NONPROFITS FUEL ISRAELI SETTLER PUSH TO EVICT PALESTINIANS
U.S. charities are funding Israeli settler organizations working to evict Palestinians from their East Jerusalem homes.
Alex Kane
May 14 2021, 6:30 a.m.


https://theintercept.com/2021/05/13/rio ... er-antifa/

MEET THE RIOT SQUAD: RIGHT-WING REPORTERS WHOSE VIRAL VIDEOS ARE USED TO SMEAR BLM
In the year since George Floyd’s murder, conservative news outlets have endlessly hyped distorted stories about violence at Black Lives Matter protests. Key videos they used come from a tight-knit group of eight young journalists.
Robert Mackey, Travis Mannon


https://theintercept.com/2021/05/12/joe ... -impunity/

JOE BIDEN: CAREER DEFENDER OF ISRAEL’S CRIMES AND IMPUNITY
Joe Biden has long facilitated Israel’s impunity. Now, as Gaza burns, he is doing it as president.
Jeremy Scahill, Paul Abowd


https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justi ... an-option/

South Carolina Is So Desperate for Executions That Firing Squads Have Become an Option
Three death row inmates soon will have to choose between two barbaric forms of execution.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... en-sinema/

From Radical Activist to Senate Obstructionist: The Metamorphosis of Kyrsten Sinema
Her rise is a political fairy tale—and nightmare.
TIM MURPHYJULY+AUGUST 2021 ISSUE


https://www.motherjones.com/environment ... l-warming/

MAY 13, 2021
Cities Are Woefully Unprepared for the Havoc of Climate Change
More than 40 percent have no adaptation plan, a global survey suggests.
* FIONA


https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/14 ... -colombia/

MAY 14, 2021
Roaming Charges: How Bio-Warfare Came to Colombia
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR


https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/14 ... ind/print/

MAY 14, 2021
13 Facts About American Prisons That Will Blow Your Mind
BY LEE CAMP

In a few minutes time you’ll want to abolish prisons. If you’re not ready for that intellectual and emotional transformation, then please stop reading now. Or put on your thunder shirt.
If you grew up in the United States, like I did, then you probably think prisons are a fact of life. We just go through our day-to-day assuming that a huge chunk our population must be hardened criminals (which is very different from hard criminals: scalawags involved in burgling while aroused) and that without prisons these delinquents would be running everywhere, breaking things, kicking squirrels in the face, and urinating in your car window while you’re at a stoplight. We just assume prisons have been around forever — as if back in caveman times they had one of the caves walled off with sticks and vines where they kept Blartho because he was a real a-hole.
Yet, the truth is that large prisons were not a thing in America or really anywhere in the world until the 1800s. That’s the first in this list of 13 facts about American prisons that will blow your mind. (Pared down and adjusted from my previous list of 1,234 facts about American prisons that will give you liver damage.)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/14 ... he-border/

How the Modern NRA Was Born at the Border
BY SIERRA PETTENGILL – ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ
A key part of the story of America’s love affair with the gun is also how a romanticized fantasy of the American hunter gets invented—you know, Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, all that. I

https://whowhatwhy.org/2021/05/08/pfize ... s-profits/

PFIZER VACCINE SIDE EFFECT: ENORMOUS PROFITS
No wonder poor countries have been last to get vaccines.

https://indyweek.com/news/northcarolina ... ored-2020/

Project Censored: 10 Stories of 2020

https://www.hstoday.us/people-on-the-mo ... es-branch/

Brian C. Turner Named Executive Assistant Director of FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch
May 13, 2021 Homeland Security Today


https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/f ... 21-045.pdf

Recommendations Issued by the Office of the Inspector General on the FBI that were Not Closed as of December 31, 2020

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/10/17 ... nt-985732/

Lou Dobbs calls out ‘active cover-up’ of Chris Wray’s FBI for hiding Biden evidence during impeachment
October 17, 2020 |


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7 ... ke-arrests

FBI Coverup of Murder by a Policeman in 1983. Case still open. FBI can still make arrests.



https://headlineusa.com/epstein-docs-ex ... -cover-up/

Unsealed Epstein Docs EXPOSE FBI Cover-Up of Powerful (Alleged) Pedos

'I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone...'

By
Ben Sellers



https://www.vice.com/en/article/88ngvx/ ... ucker-3000

How to Make Sure Your Zoom Name Isn't 'BUTTF*****3000' Before a Meeting

If you’re worried about becoming the next BUTTF****** 3000, don’t worry, Motherboard has you covered.


Thursday, May 13, 2021
COVID-19: Ivermectin tablets to be distributed among Uttarakhand residents Read more at: https://www.oneindia.com/india/covid-19 ... cialShare/ One India

 https://www.oneindia.com/india/covid-19 ... 58254.html

The Uttarakhand government will be distributing Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug, among the residents of the state as a preventive medicine against the spread of COVID-19, a senior official said. The Uttarakhand government's announcement comes after Goa and Karnataka issued similar directions. The decision was taken on the recommendation of the state-level clinical technical committee, an order issued by Chief Secretary Om Prakash to all district magistrates said.


https://rightsanddissent.salsalabs.org/ ... 910d2338ec

Take action & tell Congress:
The 4th Amendment Is NOT For Sale!
You download an app to help you level a shelf in your home and within seconds the US military has access to your moment-to-moment location data. That’s scary but it gets worse: the military is also buying location data from apps that help Muslims find out which direction to pray.
The privacy and civil rights violations are staggering. But it’s not just the US military. ICE, CBP, and the Secret Service were all recently caught buying location tracking data from shady “data mining” tech companies. They’re using a flimsy loophole to bypass the 4th Amendment and spy on all of us.
Today, Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Jerry Nadler introduced a bill to stop this practice and others like it in its tracks. Now your Congress members need to support it and pass it.
Take Action: Tell Congress to pass the 4th Amendment Is Not For Sale Act!


https://stillspying.org

[msfreeh]

https://theintercept.com/2021/08/19/afg ... try-media/

CABLE NEWS MILITARY EXPERTS ARE ON THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY DOLE
Many former military and public officials appearing in the news have more than a patriotic interest in a continued occupation.
Ryan Grim, Sara Sirota, Lee Fang, Rose Adams



https://theintercept.com/2021/08/20/mik ... ghanistan/

CONGRESSMAN SEEKING TO RELAUNCH AFGHAN WAR MADE MILLIONS IN DEFENSE CONTRACTING
Florida Republican Michael Waltz made up to $25 million from the sale of Metis Solutions, a defense contractor with a spotty record training Afghan security forces.
Lee Fang
August 20 2021, 10:19 a.m.


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... imate-bill

The planet is in peril. We’re building Congress’s strongest-ever climate bill
Bernie Sanders



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ri-mothers

Police killed their sons. Their unmovable friendship uncovered a system of lies
Their sons never even saw the officers who shot them. In grief, two mothers formed a bond of support as they sought justice for what happened

https://theintercept.com/2021/08/18/civ ... extremism/

BIDEN IS EXPANDING TRUMP’S WAR ON “DOMESTIC VIOLENT EXTREMISM” — AND IT’S SWEEPING UP BLACK PEOPLE
Far from breaking with Trump’s civil disorder prosecutions, Biden has doubled down with an expansive view of extremism.
Aaron Miguel Cantú
August 18 2021, 7:00 a.m.


https://theintercept.com/2021/08/17/afg ... iometrics/

THE TALIBAN HAVE SEIZED U.S. MILITARY BIOMETRICS DEVICES
Biometric collection and identification devices were seized last week during the Taliban’s offensive.
Ken Klippenstein, Sara Sirota

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqyz8/ ... uble-agent

Apple’s Double Agent

He spent years inside the iPhone leaks and jailbreak community. He was also spying for Apple.

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
August 18, 2021, 10:37a



https://www.vice.com/en/article/4av8bq/ ... d-to-qatar

Some Members of Afghanistan's All-Girls Robotics Team Have Escaped to Qatar

As the Taliban continues to take control over Afghanistan, the fate of women—and whether they’ll be able to access education freely—is still unknown.



https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/202 ... nt-is.html

Thursday, August 19, 2021
I said yesterday that the government is trying to destroy the health care system. Nursing homes are about to lose many staff.

No Medicaid and Medicare funds to nursing homes without fully vaxxed staff.  Yet the staff have seen what the vaccinations did to the residents, which is probably why they are the least vaccinated healthcare workers.
Woe to those who have to live in nursing homes.  Hospitals are losing staff.  This is not by chance, but by design.  The institutions of society are being decimated.  Death by 1,000 cuts.

Posted by Meryl Nass, M.D.


https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

N.J. state trooper pleads guilty to pulling over and stalking female motorist in his patrol car
By BRANDON SAPIENZA

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
AUG 18, 2021 AT 10:00 PM



https://bangordailynews.com/2021/08/18/ ... rcrowding/

Penobscot County Maine Jail risks losing its license due to overcrowding



https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/n ... r/3229427/

NY Woman Furious After FBI Raids Her Home Looking for Her Most-Wanted Grandfather
Published August 19, 2021


https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2021-08 ... age-threat

Area Businesses Increasingly Partnering With FBI To Tamp Down Chinese Espionage Threat
91.7 WVXU | By Ann Thompson
Published August 18, 2021 at 4:38 PM EDT

http://polyconomics.com/memos/mm-990809.htm

Wen Ho Lee, Designated Scapegoat


http://fbiwallofshame.blogspot.com

FBI agent who stole heroin sentenced to 3 years in prison

A onetime FBI agent who fed his drug addiction by stealing heroin seized as evidence in criminal cases was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison, a punishment far less than prosecutors and other law enforcement authorities sought.

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-te ... e-61745-1/

Healthcare Executives Invited to Engage with FBI Veteran on Cyber Threat Climate
Date:8/19/2021



https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/f ... 21-104.pdf

Report of Investigation Regarding Alleged Unauthorized Contacts by Federal Bureau of Investigation Employees with the Media and Other Persons in Advance of the 2016 Election
21-104
AUGUST 2021

I. Introduction and Background


https://oig.justice.gov/reports/finding ... -and-honor

Findings of Misconduct by a then FBI Unit Chief for Failure to Satisfy Financial Obligations and Honor Just Debts, Misuse of Position by Requesting and Obtaining a Loan from a Subordinate, and Lack of Candor in FBI and Federal Financial Disclosure Forms

https://www.nj.com/union/2021/08/nj-tow ... ptain.html

N.J. town settles former cop’s gender discrimination suit for $14K, promotes her to captain
Published: Aug. 18, 2021, 1:01 p.m.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021 ... -shooting/

Shool cop Scot Peterson emotional after hearing on Parkland shooting
Resource officer wants child neglect and perjury charges dropped

https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods ... nother-cop

Lansing cop charged with sex abuse thought he was chatting with a 15-year-old. It was another cop

https://www.9news.com/article/news/inve ... f192cf8cb1

Housemate of Aurora cop facing assault charges says he shouldn't have been hired as police officer
John Haubert is accused of beating and strangling Kyle Vinson while trying to take him into custody last month

https://www.newsweek.com/cop-murders-3- ... ay-1620903

Cop Murders 3-Year-Old Son Before Taking His Own Life, Police Say
BY KHALEDA RAHMAN ON 8/19/21 AT 4:43 AM EDT



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ ... story.html

Murder charges dropped against Hawaii police officers who killed 16-year-old Iremamber Sykap
By KATE FELDMAN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
AUG 19, 2021 AT 2:02 PM


NYPD cop indicted for fatal shooting of Long Island friend
By LEONARD GREENE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
AUG 20, 2021 AT 7:27 PM



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

Cops accused of spray-painting swastika, happy face on towed vehicle in California
By NELSON OLIVEIRA

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
AUG 20, 2021 AT 1:38 PM


https://bangordailynews.com/2021/08/20/ ... n-charges/

Mass state police captain faces child porn charges


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ate-crisis

Rain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time on record


https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... using-coal
‘Green steel’: Swedish company ships first batch made without using coal


http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg ... m%2066.pdf


Car Burnings and Assaults on Radicals
Linked to F .B .1 . Agents in Last 5 Years


https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/202 ... on-of.html

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Is the mandate a controlled demolition of many moving parts in the healthcare system? Emergency Medical Services? Ambulances when you need them?


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/miami ... NewsSearch

Miami police union posts picture of chief using same gesture that got cop suspended



https://nypost.com/2021/08/20/cop-who-h ... r-neglect/

Cop who hid during Parkland school shooting to go on trial for neglect
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
August 20, 2021 5:09pm Updated


https://lawandcrime.com/police/former-a ... ty-murder/

Alabama Cop Begs for ‘Mercy,’ Has Friends Proclaim His ‘Christian’ Values Before Sentencing for On-Duty Murder

AARON KELLERAug 21st, 2021, 11:55 am


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1151247

City cop nabbed for extortion


https://www.newagebd.net/article/147047 ... with-drugs

Cop held with drugs
Our Correspondent . Jashore | Published: 04:25, Aug 23,2021



https://www.kxly.com/nathan-nash-rape-trial/

Two rape cases against Spokane cop to be tried at same time
Posted: August 19, 2021 1:15 PM

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ag ... NewsSearch

AG Indicts Former NYPD Cop on Murder Charges in 2020 Farmingdale Shooting


https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

Trump border wall damaged by heavy flooding
By BRIAN NIEMIETZ

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
AUG 22, 2021 AT 7:22 PM



https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/titicut-follies-1968

Titticut Follies Film Review



 https://vimeo.com/22027387

Frederick Wiseman's "Titicut Follies" was filmed in 1966 at the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Mass. It was shown at the 1967 New York Film Festival, had two limited runs in New York and -- aside from a few screenings before film societies -- has had no other distribution. This is its first commercial booking outside New York.
It is not hard to understand why this is the case. "Titicut Follies" is one of the most despairing documentaries I have ever seen; more immediate than fiction because these people are real; more savage than satire because it seems to be neutral.

We are literally taken into a madhouse. Inmates of varying degrees of mental illness are treated with the same casual inhumanity. There is an old man named Jim who is constantly taunted by the guards, whose uniforms are disturbingly similar to a policeman's. While he is being shaved with fast, painful strokes by the barber, the guards needle him: "Why's your room so filthy, Jim? What's that you said, Jim?" They are bullies who have their victim pinned and helpless.
When Jim is returned to his room, it is an absolutely empty cell. And Jim is naked. It appears that the inmates are deprived of clothing much of the time because that is cheaper and makes security easier. It is not explained how naked confinement in a barren cell cures mental illness and indeed this hospital seems to come from the Middle Ages

https://bangordailynews.com/2021/08/23/ ... 1-million/

5 private Maine islands you can own for less than $1 million


https://theintercept.com/2021/08/23/sam ... icc-sudan/

USAID’s Samantha Power Reaches New Summit of Cynicism About International Criminal Court
Power recently celebrated Sudan for voting to join the ICC. She discreetly did not mention who hasn’t joined: the United States.
Jon Schwarz
August 23 2021, 7:00 a.m.

[msfreeh]

https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/202 ... lysis.html

Friday, September 3, 2021
Ivermectin Metaanalysis

Tess Lawrie's group's metaanalysis of ivermectin research papers, published in June, has received a great deal of positive attention.  It was, as expected, carefully done.  The authors graded the quality of the papers they reviewed.  
The abstract noted:
"Therapeutic Advances: Meta-analysis of 15 trials found that ivermectin reduced risk of death compared with no ivermectin (average risk ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.73; n 5 2438; I2 5 49%; moderate-certainty evidence)..." This means that using only evidence of moderately good quality (high quality is often hard to come by, especially using observational data), if 100 people sick enough with Covid to die are given ivermectin, only 38 will die, and 62% will be saved.  
"Low-certainty evidence found that ivermectin prophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection by an average 86% (95% confidence interval 79%–91%)." 
More doctors are using the drug.  More patients are hearing about it.  I have been getting more calls from patients who want to know about it.  The NY Times said pharmacists are filling 88,000 scripts a week now.
Covid

https://kpfa.org/episode/flashpoints-september-2-2021/

09.02.21 - 5:00PM
Former FBI Agent, Coleen Rowley on The 9/11, 20 Years Later

Today on the Show: Former FBI special agent and division counsel, Coleen Rowley blows the whistle on what the FBI and asserts 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if FBI HQ had just read, shared and acted on the memos addressed to them leading up to the attacks. And Greg Palast says energy, which runs the Louisiana power system, is a racketeering enterprise parading as a power company

https://whistleblowersblog.org/governme ... emary-dew/

“They will line up behind the abusers every time” – an Interview with FBI Whistleblower Rosemary Dew

byJane Turner September 1, 2021 in Gov


https://www.al.com/news/2021/09/whitmir ... -side.html

Whitmire: Bodycams reveal a good cop, a bad cop and a mayor who picked the wrong side
Updated: 10:46 a.m. | Published: 10:05 a.m.


https://wgntv.com/news/4th-chicago-cop- ... e-charges/

4th Chicago cop in weeks arrested on excessive force charges

Posted: Sep 2, 2021 / 11:27 AM CDT / Updated: Sep 2, 2021 / 11:27 AM CDT


https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/cri ... e92de.html

Porter County cop fails to dodge 4-year-old child abuse case


https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/ex- ... 2843e.html

Cop ordered back to prison, admits to using meth on probation
Traci L. Miller The Herald Bulletin 
Aug 31, 2021


https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/01/elijah- ... ghter.html

3 Colorado cops, 2 paramedics charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide in Black man’s death



https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/570 ... assar-case

Senate Committee to hold hearing on FBI's 'dereliction of duty' in Nassar case on Sept. 15
BY MYCHAEL SCHNELL - 09/02/21 02:55 PM EDT


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news ... a-cover-up

9/11 victims’ families urge watchdog to investigate FBI for Saudi Arabia cover-up
by Mike Brest, Defense Reporter |  | September 02, 2021 08:38 PM



https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids ... train.html

Defendants in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot cast FBI as a ‘runaway train’
Updated: 7:02 p.m. | Published: 6:04 p.m.


https://katv.com/news/local/hot-spring- ... estigation

Hot Spring County deputy resigns during an FBI investigation

by Marine GlisovicThursday, September 2nd 2021



https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... igate-fbis

9/11 community members ask DOJ Inspector General to investigate FBI's handling of evidence


https://www.yourerie.com/news/local-new ... -virginia/

FBI Pittsburgh accepting applications for Teen Academy programs in Western PA and West Virginia



https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindu ... 021-09-02/

D.C. court orders FBI lawyer's license suspended for one year

https://www.law360.com/whitecollar/arti ... he-bridge-

FBI Migrating Surveillance Warrant Workflow To 'The Bridge'
Law360 (September 2, 2021, 6:20 PM EDT) -- The FBI filed a seventh update with the U. S. Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court last week following court orders requiring the agency to explain how it will improve the integrity of its surveillance warrant protocols. In a letter released Monday, National Security Division's Chief Oversight Officer Kevin O'Conner advised FISC that the FBI is transferring its warrant application workflow to a new system called The Bridge, purportedly designed to increase accuracy

https://wecopwatch.org/police-cameras-q ... ance-tool/

More Copwatchers! Less Cops w Cameras!


https://www.berkeleycopwatch.org/people-s-database

The People’s Database for Community-Based Police Accountability:
A Berkeley Copwatch + WITNESS Initiative

https://www.rt.com/news/533763-snowden- ... -scanning/

‘Like remote-controlling your arm against you’: Snowden says Apple WON’T DECIDE what it scans the phones for – governments will
2 Sep, 2021 17:26 / Updated 9 hours ago

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/533646-america ... lice-guns/

Why Americans will never surrender their guns – even if it means peace with the police



https://www.rt.com/russia/533861-goliko ... d-project/

Russia building 'sanitary shield' network of labs working with dangerous viruses, to understand pathogens & develop new vaccines
3 Sep, 2021 13:01

https://www.rt.com/news/533789-moazzam- ... uantanamo/

‘To this day I can’t sleep’: Moazzam Begg, tortured in Bagram and Gitmo, talks to RT after 20-year US war in Afghanistan ends
2 Sep, 2021 19:15


https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/joe ... pollution/

JOE MANCHIN’S DIRTY EMPIRE
The West Virginia Senator Reaps Big Financial Rewards From a Network of Coal Companies With Grim Records of Pollution, Safety Violations, and Death



https://theintercept.com/2021/09/02/afg ... war-biden/

BIDEN’S BASIC QUESTION IN A 2009 WHITE HOUSE MEETING EXPOSED THE FOLLY OF THE AFGHANISTAN WAR
“If the government’s a criminal syndicate a year from now, how will troops make a difference?”
Ryan Grim
September 2 2021, 6:35 p.m.



https://thedissenter.org/listen-to-the- ... bscribers/

September 2, 2021
Listen To The Sixth Episode Of 'Primary Sources' With Thomas Drake

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-l ... ion-people

US-led global 'war on terror' has killed nearly one million people
The 'forever wars' waged by the US since the 9/11 attacks have so far cost more than $8 trillion, according to new report by Brown University



https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021 ... ta-says-no

Police Say Demoralized Officers Are Quitting In Droves. Labor Data Says No.
While other industries were devastated by the pandemic last year, police departments felt a much smaller impact.


https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021 ... or-pennies

Some prison labor programs lose money — even when prisoners work for pennies
Officials claim programs provide skills, but critics say there’s little evidence.


https://news.yahoo.com/key-fbi-agent-wh ... 00847.html

Key FBI agent in Whitmer kidnapping plot posted anti-Trump rants online during investigation
Jeremy Beaman
Thu, September 2, 2021, 10:48 PM·3 min read

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/911-f ... NewsSearch

9/11 families urge inspector general to probe FBI handling of videotape evidence

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sept- ... NewsSearch

Sept. 11 victims' families push U.S. watchdog to investigate FBI's 'lost' evidence

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2021/09/03 ... i-1128895/

Lara Logan warns troop-supporting Americans, Biden critics are at risk of punishment from FBI


https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154402

THE RELIGION OF PATRIOTISM

by Steve Hochstadt

https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/202 ... steel.html

Thursday, September 2, 2021
Moderna: visible stainless steel particles in 3 lots of Japanese vaccines won't hurt you/ Reuters

From Reuters:

"Stainless steel is routinely used in heart valves, joint replacements and metal sutures and staples. As such, it is not expected that injection of the particles identified in these lots in Japan would result in increased medical risk," Takeda and Moderna said in a joint statement.

I guess this means:  "Get used to it."  The vaccine companies are calling the shots.  "Get in line and shut up.  We decide how often you have to get it, and we decide whether our adulterated vaccines are just fine for you."
Reuters noted playfully, 

"Moderna shares were up 2.6% following the statement," and "The contamination issue gained more attention after the health ministry said on Saturday that two men, aged 38 and 30, died in August within days


https://www.pressherald.com/2021/09/02/ ... arnsworth/

Ashley Bryan to receive award from Farnsworth
The Maine in America Award is awarded for outstanding contribution to Maine’s role in American art.

[msfreeh]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/ ... edom-reads

‘It feels like the start of something’: Reginald Dwayne Betts on his groundbreaking prison library project

Black ex-con Betts, now 40, a Yale-trained lawyer and a recipient last month of the prestigious MacArthur “genius grant”, now endeavors to offer incarcerated people a similar experience with 1,000 micro-libraries in prisons across the country through his non-profit, Freedom Reads.

https://theintercept.com/2021/10/08/mad ... ense-rape/

MADDESYN GEORGE KILLED HER ALLEGED RAPIST. PROSECUTORS BLOCKED HER SELF-DEFENSE CLAIMS.
Federal prosecutors threw the book at George, a member of the Colville tribes, who didn’t fit the narrative of a “perfect victim.”
Victoria Law
October 8 2021, 7:00 a.m.


https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ ... story.html

Government issuing ‘keyword’ warrants to Google that request info about users searching certain phrases
By JESSICA SCHLADEBECK

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
OCT 06, 2021 AT 2:29 PM


https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/h ... 518088.php

Hate crime campaign launched by FBI Houston, Anti-Defamation League
A new initiative encouraging the public to report hate crimes was announced Thursday by the FBI Houston and the ...

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

Jury Concludes FBI assassinated Martin Luther King


https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

NYC correction officer busted for smuggling razor to detainee; ‘unconscionable’ says Correction chief
By GRAHAM RAYMAN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
OCT 08, 2021 AT 2:20 PM


https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

CCRB co-founder decries ‘bias’ at office where NYPD cops face civilian accusations
By THOMAS TRACY

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
OCT 08, 2021 AT 1:10 PM

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/10/08/ ... nty-jails/

Maine’s new bail law may ease the crunch for struggling county jails
The sponsors of a new law that ends cash bail requirements for most minor charges say people who are not a danger to the public shouldn't be stuck in county jails just because they're too poor to pay bail.



https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2020/his ... n-and-now/

Tracking Activists: The FBI’s Surveillance of Black Women Activists Then and Now
ASHLEY D. FARMER

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/05/13/ ... esistance/

Maine police say bill that would prohibit profiling goes too far
Law enforcement officials say profiling is unacceptable but object to the costs of a measure to mandate training and require police to collect data and investigate complaints.


https://www.ft.com/content/a0f8d8c5-ee5 ... fb383b803e

Meet the activists perfecting the craft of anti-surveillance


https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/06/gove ... pinkertons

Government Surveillance of Activists and Labor Organizers Is Alive and Well
BY
CHIP GIBBONS


https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/08/ ... s-vehicle/

Boston police give short suspension to sergeant who bragged about hitting George Floyd protesters with his vehicle
By Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff,Updated October 8, 2021,

https://inthesetimes.com/article/minnea ... ddac12031b

Minneapolis Is About to Vote on Whether to Dismantle the Police
Will the city at the center of last summer’s racial justice protests decide to remake public safety? We’ll soon find out.
LOGAN CARROLL OCTOBER 4, 2021



https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -law-firms

Fossil fuel companies paying top law firms millions to ‘dodge responsibility’
Over the last five years, the 100 top law firms in the US represented fossil fuel clients in 358 legal cases and transactions worth $1.36trillion



https://theintercept.com/2021/10/08/nob ... ria-ressa/

JOURNALIST MARIA RESSA, TARGETED BY RODRIGO DUTERTE, WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
First Look Institute’s Press Freedom Defense Fund has backed Ressa’s legal fight against the Philippine government since 2017.
James Risen
October 8 2021, 5:00 p.m.

HOW "VACCINE MAFIA" HIJACKED INDIA'S PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM/WITH LINK

https://www.bitchute.com/video/foyuCzfLcyFR

This is an URGENTt show. PLEASE SHARE IT WIDELY, particularly with researchers in US and other countries looking to understand how their nation's public health system was hijacked re the covid pandemic and with lawyers looking to make cases against the culprits. Below is a blurb describing the show in more detail: 

COVID TAKEOVER ROADMAP: HOW "VACCINE MAFIA," INCLUDING GATES FOUNDATION, HIJACKED INDIA’S PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM 
A bombshell research paper by independent researcher Yohan Tengra exposes how an organized cabal of well-funded hybrid public-private organizations, big pharma corporations, paid-off public servants and non-profit organizations, particularly the Gates Foundation, took over India’s public health system to control the nation’s Covid-19 policies for profit. Tengra’s research raises questions about whether this roadmap has been duplicated in other nations. 
Kindest regards,
Kristina


https://www.pressherald.com/2021/10/09/ ... -lockdown/

Inmates and families decry conditions in Cumberland County Jail during lockdown


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy7c_FHiEac

BBC debunks ivermectin
viewsOct 9, 2021

[msfreeh]

You can’t handle the truth



https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2 ... -says.html

Lehigh Valley Live
Phillipsburg cop had child porn pictures, videos, prosecutor saysA Phillipsburg police officer faces two counts of endangering the welfare of a child after authorities found a total

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-conduc ... 1651253728

FBI Conducted Potentially Millions of Searches of Americans’ Data Last Year, Report Says
Searches in national-security investigations came without warrants, could stoke privacy concerns in Congress




https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/2 ... t-00028178

cop running for Newark council on mayor's slate was accused of sexual assault
The allegation, which did not lead to criminal charges, was made by a fellow officer.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/us/frank ... index.html

FBI violated rights of accused subway shooter by taking his DNA, attorney says in court filing

By Mark Morales, CNN

Updated 3:39 PM ET, Thu April 28, 2022

https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/fb ... o.mp4/view

FBI Los Angeles Diversity Agent Recruitment Event Promotional Video
The FBI is seeking motivated individuals to join our diverse team of FBI special agents. FBI Los Angeles will be hosting a virtual recruiting on May 4. Candidates may apply to attend the event at fbijobs.gov. This event is open to interested applicants from all backgrounds who possess a variety of skills, including foreign language ability.


https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-dou ... -to-russia

How a Double Agent Sold Out the FBI to Russia

SECRETS AND LIES
And how it could happen again.
Lis Wiehl

Updated Apr. 30, 2022 3:36AM ET 
Published Apr. 29, 2022 11:32PM ET 


https://theintercept.com/2022/04/28/mel ... tay-texas/

MELISSA LUCIO’S LIFE WAS SPARED AT THE LAST MINUTE. WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Lucio’s execution and ordered her trial court to consider evidence of innocence.
Liliana Segura, Jordan Smith



https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/202 ... being.html

Saturday, April 30, 2022
How the Board smeared me without being subject to libel/ Miami Herald Feb 8, 2022


Excerpted from the Miami Herald/syndicated story, the phraseology is intended to leave the impression I "am or may be" a substance abuser.
“The information received by the Board demonstrates that Dr. Nass is or may be unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to her patients by reason of mental illness, alcohol intemperance, excessive use of drugs, narcotics, or as a result of a mental or physical condition interfering with the competent practice of medicine,” the evaluation order states. 
The complaints against Nass include how the board was told she engaged in “public dissemination of ‘misinformation’” about COVID-19 and vaccinations “via a video interview and on her website,” the board said about the October 26, 2021 complaint. It lists several comments Nass made that were subject to the board’s investigation. Roughly 10 days later, the board got another complaint about Nass “spreading COVID and COVID vaccination misinformation on Twitter,” it said. 
Nass called “disinformation and misinformation” a “fuzzy concept” that the board hasn’t defined for her, she said. “There’s no law that says doctors can’t express their educated opinion on any subject.” Other grounds for her suspension include how Nass treated COVID-19 patients with Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, according to the board. The board noted that Ivermectin isn’t Food and Drug Administration “authorized or approved” as a treatment for COVID-19 in the suspension order.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/corona ... rylink=cpy


Posted by Meryl Nass, M.D.




https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/30/ ... yond-bars/


As more wrongful convictions unravel, exonerees help one another adjust to life beyond bars
With a bond forged by the horror of being wrongfully imprisoned, a group of predominantly Black and Latino men have helped one another navigate the difficult transition back into the society that left them behind.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/29/ ... contracts/

The Boston Globe
FBI arrests Stoneham police officer and brother for allegedly paying kickbacks to get $36m in MassSave contractsStoneham Police Offi


DDATTers,
Here again is April's weather summary according to Ed Hummel in Garland Maine who keeps his eagle eye and meteorological instruments trained on our various atmospheres:

Garland Climatology for April, 2022 (30 year normals from 1991-2020 in parentheses): 
average max:  55.7F (54.6F) 
average min:   32.9F (31.8F) 
extreme max:  67F 
extreme min:  23F 
total precipitation:   6.34 in. (4.64 in.) 
total snowfall:  0.8 in. (4.6 in.) 
 
 
April this year didn’t come near to the unseasonable warmth that occurred last year, but it was still over a degree F higher for both the average max and min despite having a lot of extended cloudy periods and nearly 2 inches more of total precipitation than an average April.  The warmer than usual temperatures also kept most of the precipitation as rain with only two days that had a dusting of snow on each day.  All the storms that affected us during the month kept most of central Maine on their warmer side with only a few brief flurries and snow showers occurring once the storms had already passed by.  We also had some extended dry periods when high pressure became stuck over New England the same way that some low pressure systems also became stuck to bring us the wetter than usual month.  With the sluggish pattern persisting all month, it was either long stretches of relatively warm and dry conditions or else long stretches of cloudy, cool and damp conditions.  Heating degrees for the month totaled 621 compared to an average of 654 for a more “normal” month.  That compares to only 518 last year which reflected just how much warmer than usual that April was. 

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-picked-f ... on-1702432

Trump-Picked FBI Director 'Will Be Prosecuted and Imprisoned': Steve Bannon
BY JASON LEMON ON 4/30/22 AT 11:48 AM EDT



https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-ju ... dquarters/

Congress is asking the wrong questions about a new FBI headquarters
BY KEVIN R. BROCK, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/29/22 9:00 AM ET


https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/01/ ... -use-them/
EDITORIAL
Boston’s police watchdog has real teeth. It’s time to use them.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... dical-dies

Kathy Boudin, former Weather Underground radical, dies at 78
Boudin spent more than two decades in prison for her role in a fatal 1981 armored truck robbery north of New York City

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politi ... story.html

NYC’s next sheriff Anthony Miranda has ties to disgraced Queens politician Hiram Monserrate


https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

San Jose police officer who responded to kidnapping of 3-month-old baby last month was allegedly drunk at scene

[msfreeh]

https://thefederalist.com/2022/07/27/th ... isband-it/

The FBI Keeps Interfering In Presidential Elections. Time To Disband It
BY: JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON
JULY 27, 2022



https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/2 ... rds-517049

‘An outrage against democracy’: JFK's nephews urge Biden to reveal assassination records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k19cpPIlWQ

FBI role in assassination black candidate for President Martin Luther King

Dr. William Pepper: Untold Truth on Martin Luther King's Assassination

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justic ... -rcna38615

FBI failures before the Capitol siege avoided the Jan. 6 committee's scorn. Not for long.
The House Jan. 6 panel has been running a behind-the-scenes investigation into how law enforcement missed the warning signs flashing before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... atastrophe

‘Soon it will be unrecognisable’: total climate meltdown cannot be stopped, says expert



https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-ju ... -its-core/

No, Sen. Grassley, the FBI is not corrupted to its core
BY KEVIN R. BROCK, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 07/31/22 8:00 AM ET
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

https://nypost.com/2022/07/31/sen-ron-j ... den-probe/

Sen. Johnson: Can’t trust FBI to ‘get to the bottom’ of Hunter Biden allegations
By Mark Moore
July 31, 2022 2:39pm Updated


https://apnews.com/article/simone-biles ... e096a2235f

FBI open to settling claims they did nothing while gymnasts sexually abused by Nassar
By MICHAEL BALSAMO
July 28, 2022



https://www.themarshallproject.org/reco ... ab-scandal

FBI Lab Scandal
A CURATED COLLECTION OF LINKS




https://www.deathpenaltyblog.com/will-t ... new-trial/

Will Tainted FBI Crime Lab Evidence Get Death Row Inmate Oscar Bolin a New Trial?


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-lab-fl ... 000-cases/

U.S.
FBI Lab Flaws Traced To 3,000 Cases

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... ional-park

‘Wake-up call’ for climate-sceptic Czechs as blaze devastates national park
Sentiment is shifting among politicians and public as beloved region of forested mountains goes up in flames

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... tures-peak

Mediterranean ecosystem suffering ‘marine wildfire’ as temperatures peak
Parts of Mediterranean are 6C warmer than usual for time of year


https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/07 ... oam40zk0w/

Maine needs nearly 6 inches of rain in the next month to end its drought
Sudden bursts and downpours unfortunately aren’t enough to mitigate drought conditions throughout the state.


https://newstalkkzrg.com/2022/07/29/haw ... t-holders/

NewsTalk KZRG
Hawley wants answers on FBI's 'audit' of Missouri concealed ...WASHINGTON — Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray,...


https://nypost.com/2022/07/29/bidens-go ... ommentary/

Biden’s good-economy bull, FBI’s double election meddling and other commentary
By Post Editorial Board
July 29, 2022


https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/fbi- ... d/1081058/

Newsmax
Rep. Sessions to Newsmax: FBI Should Probe Hunter Biden or Face Congressional PanelPete Sessions, R-Texas, told Newsmax that the FBI ought not to invoke political bias when it comes to investigating Hunter Biden,...




https://www.judicialwatch.org/videos/fb ... ed-by-crt/

July 29, 2022

TOM FITTON'S VIDEO WEEKLY UPDATE
FBI/BIDEN COVERUP! BIDEN VACCINE & FAUCI CORRUPTION, NAVY CADETS ABUSED BY CRT?



http://www.fightbacknews.org/2022/7/30/ ... ersburg-fl

Condemn the FBI raids in St Louis, MO and St Petersburg, FL!
Defend our rights to speak and organize! Stop political repression!



https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/29/ ... ulf-maine/

A bellwether of climate change, puffins are struggling to survive in a warming Gulf of Maine
“There are real red flags — warning signs — right now for these puffins,” said Donald Lyons, director of conservation science at the National Audubon Society’s Seabird Institute in Bremen, Maine.


https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/29/ ... ords-show/

Homeland Security watchdog halted plan to recover Secret Service texts, records show
The Department of Homeland Security's chief watchdog scrapped its investigative team's effort to collect agency phones to try to recover deleted Secret Service texts this year, according to four people with knowledge of the decision and internal records reviewed by The Washington Post.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/07/29 ... from-cops/

Battenfeld: Son of State Police superintendent gets special treatment from cops


https://nypost.com/2022/07/30/man-shot- ... s-for-35m/

Long Island man shot in eye by off-duty NYPD cop sues for $35M
By Kathianne Boniello
July 30, 2022


https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/ ... 385307007/

NorthJersey.com
Ex-Paterson cop Spencer Finch indicted in alleged 2021 assault captured on video


https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

New York Daily News
Off-duty NYPD cop busted for driving with bogus plateAn off-duty NYPD cop found himself behind bars this week after he was caught driving his personal car over the Outerbridge Crossing into...



https://www.silive.com/crime-safety/202 ... riend.html

SILive.com
Report: Off-duty NYPD cop arrested, charged after firing gun in air following argument with girlfriendSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – An off-duty NYPD officer has arrested on Long Island for firing his gun in the air during an agreement with his...



https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/n ... ntral-ohio

ABC 6
New buyout approved for CPD officers as city experiences cop shortageOf those graduating, 52 of them will be CPD cops, the others are from Bexley, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington, and Westerville.



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ ... story.html

Former correctional officer sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison for sexually abusing 4 inmates

[msfreeh]

Copaganda

https://www.koat.com/article/emotional- ... t/43533301#
Meet Percy! He's a police department's emotional support bunny
Share


https://www.kbtx.com/2023/04/06/fbi-dir ... sh-school/
Rio Rancho Observer
RRPD hosts Coffee with a CopThursday's Coffee with a Cop event is one of several hosted by RRPD throughout the year intended to break down the barriers between police officers and the...

https://www.kbtx.com/2023/04/06/fbi-dir ... sh-school/
FBI Director speaks about current threats to U.S. at Bush School
By Morgan Riddell
Published: Apr. 5, 2023
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - The head of the FBI spent time in College Station Wednesday night.
Director Christopher Wray met with about 700 students and community leaders at the Bush School of Government and Public Service to discuss the importance of service and current events

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2023/04/0 ... st-vpx.cnn
Hear the police call after FBI and Army members raid wrong hotel room
Members of the FBI and the US Army Special Operations Command who were conducting a training exercise in downtown Boston raided the wrong hotel room and detained the person inside before realizing their mistake, the FBI said in a statement to CNN. CNN's Natasha Bertrand has the latest.
02:12 - Source: CNN


https://abc13.com/houston-crime-fbi-rai ... /13092058/
Parents of man shot by FBI at north Houston motel call for transparency: 'Give us closure'
Alberto Montes II's alleged accomplice, 17-year-old Josiah Jackson, is currently behind bars accused of aggravated kidnapping.
ByJessica Willey
Wednesday, April 5, 2023

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... -case-of-/
DOJ ‘inadvertently’ hid evidence in case of FBI agent accused of colluding with Russia
By Jeff Mordock - The Washington Times - Thursday, April 6, 2023
In a letter to Manhattan U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rearden, Justice Department prosecutor Damian Williams said his team mistakenly forgot to turn over four categories of evidence to ex-FBI official Charles McGonigal’s defense team during the discovery process.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rt-us-data
Greenhouse gas emissions rose at ‘alarming’ rate last year, US data shows
Noaa report shows rapid increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide
ninalakhani
Thu 6 Apr 2023

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ips-emails
Harvard professor lobbied SEC on behalf of oil firm that pays her lavishly, emails show
Environmental law professor Jody Freeman urged to cut ties with ConocoPhillips, which pays her more than $350,000 a year

https://nypost.com/2023/04/06/ex-cop-ni ... on-valley/
Cop Nicholas Tartaglione faces life in prison after murdering four men in the Hudson Valley
By Ben Feuerherd
April 6, 2023

https://www.nlg-npap.org/lewis/
Lewis et. al. v. Rosenberg Police Department et. al.|

https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/convi ... d-sergeant
Convicted Of Battery, Joliet Cop Promoted To Sergeant
Police Chief Bill Evans urged the Joliet police and fire board to make Bob Mau a sergeant despite Mau's violent past. The board voted 4-1.
John Ferak,
Patch Staff
Thu, Apr 6, 2023

https://decaturish.com/2023/04/dekalb-c ... city-site/
DeKalb County issues stop work order for Cop City site
Dan Whisenhunt Apr 6, 202

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... chool.html
Uvalde shooting victim's mom is shoved and bruised by cop at elementary school after she tried to remove her son during protest about gun violence
* Ana Rodriguez's daughter Maite, 10, was one of the victims of the Robb Elementary mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas in May 2022 
* On Wednesday, she tried to pull her son from Flores Elementary to participate in a national gun violence school walkout protest, but was stopped by police
* Video shows a Texas trooper shoving her back out the door as she tried to enter
By ANDREA CAVALLIER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
6 April 2023

https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-c ... oman-raped
April 6, 2023 8:29am EDT
California city pays $1M to settle lawsuit alleging cop arrested a woman, then raped her.
The CA woman who was arrested for DUI woke up to the cop raping her

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/b ... s-29648248
Bodycam vid released after cops shoot dead black teen while sitting behind him in car
Dalaneo Martin, 17, from Washington, US, was asleep in a parked stolen SUV car when a police officer climbed in the backseat - the teen drove off but just seconds later the cop shoots him dead
Moment US Park Police shoot black teen in stolen car
ByLiam BucklerUS News Reporter
6 Apr 2023

https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice ... ace-trial/
SF Cop Who Was Caught on Video Grabbing Woman’s Groin to Face Trial
Written by Jonah Owen Lamb


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/nyre ... urder.html
Police Officer With Bit Part in Epstein Jail Drama Is Convicted of Murder
Nicholas Tartaglione, a retired police officer who had shared a cell with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier, killed four men over a debt, prosecutors said.
By Karen Zraick
April 6, 2023

https://www.koat.com/article/farmington ... n/43535201
Farmington police shoot and kill man at wrong response location

Apr 6, 2023

https://www.police1.com/chiefs-sheriffs ... a9GjBp1mC/
Chicago's new mayor to use vacant police salaries to fund mental health outreach teams
On police staffing, Brandon Johnson has vowed to promote current officers to increase the number of detectives by 200

https://www.ksbw.com/article/greenfield ... y/43533998#
Greenfield police officer convicted of battery in off-duty attack
Apr 6, 2023

https://www.wcvb.com/article/civil-serv ... n/42686264
Metheun Police Department. Joseph Solomon ran the Methuen Police Department like the “don of an organized crime family,” relying on “humiliation, fear, intimidation, and retaliation,” according to a new city-funded investigation that found the former chief repeatedly broke the law during his 15-year tenure

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/for ... it-police/
Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson fired from Metro Transit Police
Kyle Brown KSTP
Published: April 6, 2023

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chicag ... s-election
April 6, 2023
Chicago pastor prays for 'disheartened' police after progressive mayor wins election
Johnson won mayor race because Chiacgo's teachers union is a 'powerful force,' Pastor Corey Brooks says

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/04/06/ ... e-lawsuit/
Umatilla police officer no longer works for city after negligence lawsuit
By Antonio Sierra (OPB)
April 6, 2023 10:07 p.m.
Lawsuit alleges “the police did nothing” after victim provided evidence of sexual assault