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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:01:38 GMT -5
Here it is! I think I have found the inspiration to finally join the "Top Ten Thread" Phenomenon - with a sort of twist. More often than not I will not be making ranked lists per se, but this will be more of a collection of the seriously silly, stupid, strange, bizarre, weird, gritty and often ugly side of existence on this planet and other worlds...I am rather fascinated by such lurid tales and topics, and I welcome you to join in the conversation, or to suggest different ideas for exploration. So, without further ado, cue the Theremin and let me issue the same kind of warning as actor John Noble in one of my favorite TV series Dark Matters: Twisted But True This is your one and only warning: This thread will soon be filled with stories of real topics that some may find controversial and disturbing  I'll try not to be too graphic for those with weak constitutions - but you all know what topics interest me the most.... So here we go -- Item Number 1 for your consideration:I am very interested in crime and justice - this week I am watching a trial on Television which I find most interesting. This one reminds me a great deal of the recent Casey Anthony trial - I doubted that one would end as it did, but in a twist of the inconceivably bizarre, Ms. Anthony was found "Not Guilty" of death her daughter Cailee. We have not seen the last of that though - Anthony was found guilty of four charges of lying to police - she has already served the sentence for those charges, but she is currently back in court appealing the convictions. Why? Because, although she is a confirmed cronic liar, she also faces defamation charges for blaming a Zenaida Gonzalez (Zanny the Nanny) for abducting the child - Gonzalez turns out to be a real person who had death threats and lost work due to the false accusations. Anthony may have to testify in that case and vacating her convictions, may ease her further liability in that pending case, and the cases of causing the expense to the county for court costs, as well as the case filed against her for expenses incurred by Texas Equusearch - for drawing all of this out while knowing her daughter was not actually missing. The recent court proceeding is asking the question of whether or not Anthony was read her miranda warnings (and was free to leave) before the lies to the police were given. That, and the fact that she was given a ride - by the police - to investigate her claims when she lied may have led hear to believe she was not free to go. It realistically could be overturned - which means in all that mess she could be guilty of nothing - yet a child is still dead and she did nothing about it for an entire month before anyone pinned her down to discover her lies. (I'll keep you updated on that one...) But I digress - the case I am watching now is -
Arizona v Jodi Arias (Yes, that is her smiling in her official mug shot) :rolleyes: Arias is an almost 30 year old woman who was born and raised in Yreka, California. By what I have heard she had a descent childhood. Dropped out of high school, and has had a lifetime interest in photography. The Charge: Murder in the first degree (there are also lesser included charges that could be considered instead) With the aggravating factor of cruelty and suffering of the victim. The Victim: Travis Alexander of Mesa, Arizona. A 30 something young man who had a bad childhood that he rose above. He was a very driven person and was a member in good standing of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held a respectable position therein. He was also a top salesman in, I forget what organization, but it sounds like one of those AMWAY types of situations where they have frequent seminars, and have sales competitions with prizes, and you gain by drawing other salespeople into it below you etc,... The Basics: Arias was trying to advance and find direction in life and decided to go to a sales seminar - where she met Alexander. He introduced himself to her and impressed her by bringing her into the advanced meetings for the high sellers of the organization, and they started to get to know each other better and go places. Three weeks later Alexander persuaded her to convert to the LDS church, and actually was in a position to be the one who baptized her - this impressed her even more - and they began dating.... and apparently having sexual encounters (not that the church allows that, but so be it). They carried on their relationship and eventually he decided he was getting older, and was driven to get married and have children as the church encourages - but he did not feel she was marriage material and eventually broke it off with her, and dated someone else a few times - decided to be friends with this second woman, but invited her to Cancun and she accepted once she found out they would be sleeping separately and everything was ok. Meanwhile, Arias moved to Arizona after the break up, and began a campaign of causing trouble and allegedly doing things like slashing Alexander's tires and basically stalking him. But finally she moved back to Yreka to her grandparents house. Major Events: 1) In 2008 Arias grandparents reported a burglary - missing was $30 of Arias', a few odds and ends of the grandparents belongings - AND a .25 caliber gun. Nothing else of value was missing 2) A short while after (early in the next month) The victim was found by friends (including the woman he was going to take to Cancun the very next morning) dead in the shower in his apartment. 3) Arias called the police in Arizona (twice) that next day saying she had heard Alexander had died and offered any assistance she could. Claim Number 1: I haven't seen him in a couple of months and have not been in Arizona recently. The Crime Scene: Alexander was found to have been stabbed @ 29 times - His throat was slit from ear to ear - and he was shot above the eye by a .25 caliber (sound familiar?) weapon. It was a very bloody scene, and the victim wandered about the bedroom and bathroom while being attacked (as evidenced by the blood patterns). Parts of the scene had been cleaned (or an attempt was made), the body was showered so there was not much blood left, or powder burns from the discharge of the weapon. A load of laundry had been done and was in the dryer - a second load was found in the washer - including the victim's new digital camera. The first person his friends pointed at was Arias - saying she had been harassing him - Slashing tires, following him, and hacking his Facebook account 4) The camera was examined and the memory card was fixed - on it were several time stamped pictures of both Arias and Alexander - nude, and having fun in and around the shower - and a few "Accidental" shots apparently taken when the camera was dropped and stepped on - during the crime (because one picture had a bloody victim in it). The time stamp was from 4 days prior to the date the body was found (oops, there goes Claim Number 1 right out the window.) 5) a bloody hand print at the scene led back to Arias by DNA Claim Number 2: She admitted she was there and they were having casual sex - but a man and woman came in and murdered him and warned her not to tell anyone because they saw her license and her family was in danger. She was completely unable to describe the man and woman (lol) 6) The police started investigating her, and found she had rented a car from 90 miles away from her home (although right in town there were two places she could rent from) 7) She made out with a friend in Salt Lake City, Utah she visited on the way home - he stated she had bandages on her fingers - she said she cut them at her restaurant job. 8) She was arrested a month after for the murder. The gun and knife haven't been found Claim Number 3: She says she was abused by him and when she dropped his camera he went ballistic and she thought he was going to kill her - so she is claiming self defense. (Must be why she traveled 1.000 miles to visit an ex) And while in jail she gave several interviews - her best quote is "No jury will convict me."Police say her motive was jealously at being dumped and planning a trip with another woman There's a whole lot more to things - but the trial has only been going on for a week so far - I don't see how she can get out of this, but with the Casey Anthony case results - one can only hope justice isn't still blind.  ok, that's my rave for today  |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:02:44 GMT -5
Yes, yes I do, and thanks. It comes from having entirely too much free time on my hands - I think it gives me an opportunity to examine and observe things that others might miss in their active lives. "It sometimes pays to watch the grass grow." ======================== And for those of you who found an interest in reading through the last post... Additional developments in the Arizona V Jodi Arias case: The defense has made a motion for Mistrial and to vacate the charges and begin again. This is a Death Penalty case because it has the aggravating circumstance of suffering by and cruelty to the victim. The defense claimed that since - in pretrial the lead detective had said there were three potentially fatal wounds inflicted - and that the specific order was the Shot to the face, a stab wound to the heart, and then the slitting of his throat. It turns out that the detective testified that way due to the misinterpretation of the coroner's advice, and this time he reversed himself, in this trial stating that the order was most likely - Heart stab, slit throat, and finally the shot to the face. The defense argued that since the aggravating factor was based on false testimony in pretrial the charge leading to the death penalty no longer applies. The judge dismissed the motion stating that the order really made no difference considering the blood trails in evidence, and the defensive wounds on the victim - he had obviously been conscious for at least two out of three of the fatal attacks, and did suffer greatly. Some of the details of the autopsy report: (I did warn you ) 27 to 29 stab wounds to the trunk of his body (including 9 stabs to his back - and there were some to back of the head too) - some of which were 6 inches in depth.
This included a wound to the cartilage of the sternum, piercing the pericardium (a fibrous sac that encases the heart), and nicking one of the main arteries that carry blood away from the heart to other locations in the body. This wound is not necessarily immediately fatal unless gone untreated - the victim could still be conscious following such a wound, but eventually would become so due to loss of blood.
The Slit to the throat - this wound was from ear to ear, about six inches deep - meaning that it went down to the spine, and severed the jugular vein, the victim's esophagus below the larynx, and the carotid artery, rendering the victim unable to speak and creating a rapid and great volume of blood loss resulting in rapid unconsciousness in much less than a minute.
The .25 caliber slug entered the skull above the victim's right eye, and was found lodged in the left cheekbone - it certainly went through brain matter, but it is not known if the victim was still conscious at this point as any blood evidence had been washed away. There was some evidence of stippling, which was harder to see because of the four days of decomposition of the body. Stippling = burn marks left on the skin from fragments of burning gun powder hitting the flesh. This happens when a gun is discharged in somewhat close range to the target. It varies from weapon to weapon as to the exact distance, but in this case may have been from a distance of roughly 3 feet. Hard to say exactly without testing the actual weapon. This wound was not necessarily one that would render the victim immediately unconscious, but eventually it certainly would.
The defensive wounds - these are cuts to the arms and hands of the victim in an effort to fend off the attacks and an attempt to wrestle the knife away from the attacker. The victim had a deep gash to the palm of his hand as he tried to grab the blade - that was the most severe of those cuts. Final Cause of Death: Major blood loss. The victim was stabbed near the shower, tried to escape down a hallway while bleeding - there was a massive pool of blood in the end of the hallway where the throat was slit, and the victim moved to the sink (several feet away) where a great deal of splatter was found - as well as the shell casing of the .25 caliber slug (which was found on top of coagulated blood - meaning he was shot after the other attacks). The blood also shows that she dragged his body back to the shower where it was later found. This may also be one event captured on film - the photo shows a bloody neck with the victim's head and arm raised out of the picture range - the picture also shows a leg and foot of Arias - she was wearing sweatpants at the time of the incident. So yeah... the case moves on as planned. A couple of notes to not appear one sided (well, not entirely lol) Ms. Arias did gain her GED while in jail awaiting trial these last four years, and has taken time to do some other projects available to inmates. (What else are you going to do in jail while trying to maintain your innocence, huh? Argue with people and go nuts like Casey Anthony? Oh yeah, that worked for her. ) A Jailhouse contest - So angelic I can almost see wings (yeah, and I have a bridge I can sell you - but you'll have to go to Brooklyn to get it) As to Mr Alexander - I do give him a lot of credit for rising above his upbringing with druggies for parents and having to scramble to eat even rotten food to stay alive as a kid - finding inspiration through the church and his Aunt, and striving to be successful in work as well. Yes, but he was a young guy still sowing his wild oats and had somewhat of a reputation of playing the field with the ladies, but picked the wrong time and one to dump harshly through an e-mail... so he really didn't do himself a favor in that case - especially seeing as how he still met with her for casual sex. Pobody's Nerfect though. A note about the weapons - Arias claimed the gun was his and was at the scene already. Hard to tell but there is no evidence he had owned either the gun or the knife. Hard to tell though - seeing as how in Arizona one does not even need a permit for a gun. Another reason, in my humble opinion, for national gun laws that apply to all states rather than encouraging each state to have their own version - making a patchwork of the entire country with regards to firearms - which can lead to people getting weapons in states with fewer laws, and transporting them to states with stricter laws - thus causing problems for everyone regardless of what jurisdiction you live within. One other odd note - that make out friend in Salt Lake City had also said that they were driving to one of those sales seminars there (Arias had been later than expected and gave some bogus excuses) and the police pulled her rental car over because one of the plates was missing, and the other had been put on the car upside down - no idea why she would have done that - other than a failed attempt at obscuring the plate number from observers. She made a lame excuse about teenagers hanging around the car while she was at a store, and they must have removed the plates and done it. M'OOOOOOOkay.... EDIT - found out Alexander was a salesman for Prepaid Legal Insurance (still sounded like AMWAY lol) He was also a motivational speaker - logical seeing his upbringing and later success. Coming into evidence soon - more of the 'paper trail' of Arias' travel to Arizona and back. |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:03:21 GMT -5
Court is closed on most weekends and In Session is a weekday program - so, in lieu of any major revelations in the case of Arizona v Jodi Arias, today we move somewhat away from Crime and Justice - yet, not entirely.
There are many secrets kept from the public in the interest of keeping the peace, and easing the public's piece of mind to make us feel more safe and secure and trustful of those in positions of power - but there are incidents where the public was kept in the dark while the more sinister designs of those in charge ran afoul in order to save expense, gain profit, and avoid liability - to advance discovery for the public welfare - or merely to shape the world in their own point of view.... so, here is but a single selection of the many examples:
Horrifying Concealed Secrets of Science and industry
Case #1
The Radium Girls (1917-1928)
In 1917 a company called the U.S. Radium Corporation won a defense contract from the government to hand paint the dials of watches and other instruments for use of the military. Back then, watches and unlit cockpit dials were used in the timing of sorties during the first world war - a very primitive system when compared to today's high tech radar and computer operated systems, but necessary at the time, and indispensable especially in dark hours of operations.
The small dials of the watches needed to be painted by hand also due to the limitations of manufacturing of the day - and so, the company hired thousands to paint the details on the dials using small camel hair brushes and a luminous paint marketed as "Undark"
The ladies were expected to produce 250 painted watches per day for about a penny and a half per dial (@ 27 cents per dial these days). They dipped their brushes in the paint and marked the fine details - this required a brush with a very fine point, so the ladies would often stick the brushes in their mouths and twirl them to reestablish the point of the brush - this procedure (which was encouraged by the company) would allow the women to quickly continue working to maintain their daily quota.
They noticed that their teeth and tongues took on the glow, and were soon playing with the paint - rinsing their mouths in the substance, and using it to paint on their lips, faces, and nails for fun as they went out dancing in the evenings, having a laugh and drawing the attention of the boys at their social gatherings.
The scientists and chemists who mixed the combination of glue, water, and radium for the paint had always used gloves and aprons, lead screens and tongs, and took other precautions to protect themselves from the radioactive substance they knew to be dangerous - at the same time assuring the women that they were completely safe.
Later, many of these women began to suffer from symptoms such as:
Bone Fractures
Anemia - loss of red blood cells that carry much needed oxygen to every part of the body. This has many symptoms that can include fatigue, weakness, poor concentration, and a great sense of feeling out of sorts - eventually, this will lead to limping, heart problems possibly ending in cardiac arrest.
Necrosis of the Jaw - this is where the skin and bone of the jaw withers and dies - possibly leaving the victim without the jaw as it deteriorates.
Chronic Body and Head Aches
One by one, the women got sick, became hospitalized, and died painfully, and very slowly.
In early cases some of the women got unsolicited attention from a particular set of doctors - free of charge. This gave them hope as they were being well taken care of - so they thought.
A social worker and lawyer for one of the patients found that the identity of this "help" led directly back to the US Radium Corporation (Dunn, dunn, duuuuunnnn!)
These "Doctors" were there at the behest of the company - to come up with some other reason for the sicknesses the women were suffering - including a smear campaign to blame the women themselves by saying they had been promiscuous and were suffering because they had contracted syphilis (the causes of which was not widely understood by the public at the time).
The company also fought tooth and nail to cover up any reports of danger found in research on the substances used - but eventually the true information was obtained - and it was found that they knew fully well of the dangers they had exposed their workers to - right from the start.
There was a great struggle to even bring the case to court - and even with the wide media coverage - unusual for the time. A total of 5 women were finally in court with a lawyer who was one of the few to even want to take the case against the defense contractor.
They were successful and in 1928 the women were awarded $10,000 ($135,349 in today's terms) and a $600 per year annuity ($8,121 per year in today's terms) while they lived - and all their medical and legal bills paid.
The case also went very far in advancing worker rights and safety for decades to come, enabled many laws protecting people to be enacted, and gave the scientific community a lot more insight into the effects of radiation exposure to the human body...after all, they had well over 2,000 subjects to examine.
More to follow...stay tuned
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:04:18 GMT -5
"War is hell."
That very true and well worn phrase dates its usage back to at least an address made by William Tecumseh Sherman to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy (19 June 1879).
In case #1 we find that war does not only touch the soldiers in combat, but those who support their effort at home. Did their sacrifice make a difference? And was the cost way too high? Just because something works...should it be used even at the cost of lives?
We will examine some of these questions as the cases continue in...
Horrifying Concealed Secrets of Science and industry
Most of you have heard of the famed Tuskegee Airmen - and if not, they were a group of black servicemen in World War 2 - members of the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Corps.
They served with honor and distinction in the face of a segregated government who for the most part, did not believe they had the capabilities and requirements to serve as well as they actually did. After years and years of being ignored, some of these men have finally been honored for their service and sacrifice - though, like most heroes, most of them will tell you that the real heroes are those that did not return.
But there is another sacrifice made by those from the Tuskegee area - those who never entered war, those who were unaware of the circumstances of their sacrifice, in experiments you would most likely find taking place in Nazi Germany....not in the good old USA, right?...Well, read on...
Case #2
The Tuskegee Public Health Service Syphilis Study (1932 to 1972)
600 poor sharecroppers from Macon county were enrolled in a study run by the Public Health Service in conjunction with the Tuskegee Institute, in an effort to study the progression of the disease of syphilis.
Of those initially in the program, 399 of them had contracted the disease prior to being offered free medical care, meals, and free burial insurance for their participation. They were told that they were suffering from "bad blood" a local term used by the poor for a variety of health problems.
The plan was to leave the disease untreated for several months and then proceed to treat it with penicillin to see if that would work in curing it.
That was the original plan - it soon turned into an extended observation only experiment. Several subjects were asked for consent to undergo such painful and dangerous procedures as spinal taps, in order to examine the neural progression and properties of the disease as it went unchecked by any kind of real medication or treatment.
They did describe the spinal tap as a "special free treatment" however, so who wouldn't want to be treated?
The people in charge of the study also eased the subject's worries by hiring some black personnel to give them a boost of confidence that everything was on the up and up. Most of those hired were not given a clear understanding of what was really happening and were thrilled to be a part of something that was really helping the pook black people of the region.
One nurse became a primary figure in easing their fears and concerns - she was Nurse Rivers - she had been fully informed of the parameters of the study, and despite some misgivings, decided that the benefits gained outweighed the ethical problems. She became a frequent, central, and comforting figure to many of the test subjects, as they were given free rides to the clinic, and free treatment for their minor ailments - still - no real treatment for the syphilis that many had continued to die from through the many years and decades of the study.
A release of the first study of the clinical data occurred openly in 1934 - penicillin was not yet confirmed as a reliable treatment for syphilis - not that that mattered to the Tuskegee group as they weren't even testing its use.
When the war started, many of the test subjects went to try and enlist to fight in the war effort - they were diagnosed with syphilis and turned away and ordered to obtain treatment for their disease before they could enlist - the people at the Tuskegee experiment actively tried to prevent them from getting any real chance at a cure for the disease, but some did manage to get real treatment for the illness. In later years, the Tuskegee subjects were also prevented in getting other government offered treatment programs for venereal diseases when treatment became available to the people in the county.
When the experiment ended in 1972 only 74 of the original test subjects were still alive - 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 children had been born with congenital syphilis.
The question is: Why did the experiment continue for 25 years after penicillin had been determined (in 1947) to be a safe, reliable, cure for syphilis?
This, and other such experiments gone awry have resulted in the establishment of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research and the National Research Act.
On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized and held a ceremony for the Tuskegee study participants: "What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful, and I am sorry ... To our African American citizens, I am sorry that your federal government orchestrated a study so clearly racist."
Stay tuned for more coming soon to a thread near you...well, this one anyway.
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:07:13 GMT -5
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:07:59 GMT -5
Oh yeah - love that one - if I'm not watching that, I'm usually over on Investigation Discovery, or watching similar shows on OWN or A&E or BIO. I also watch quite a few shows about the paranormal. Like I said - I have waaaay too much free time on my hands And thanks BTW  Oh, if you like True Crime Books as well, two of my favorites are Beyond Bad by Sandra Lee, and Perfect Poison by M. William Phelps. They are also about women who have killed. I found the first book rather grisly and the second book jaw dropping and admittedly somewhat funny - if you have that kind of sense of humor (it made me giggle in amazement and disbelief ). They're also available in Audio book form. |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:08:37 GMT -5
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:09:15 GMT -5
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:10:05 GMT -5
That's a good suggestion - I will work on that one to see how much info I can gather. I am also thinking about George Zimmerman’s upcoming trial - and some other scandalous cases I have in mind where there are some odd claims that seem a wee bit out there... I can't wait until I spot a good Dalia Dippolito audio book - that case was nuts. Working on my next case at this time - since I'm full of caffeine and raring to zoom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be back soon....stay tuned |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:10:38 GMT -5
Homicide - as defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
1: a person who kills another
2: a killing of one human being by another
Homicide is measured by the law in many varying degrees, depending upon the aggravating and mitigating factors...
Murder in the First Degree: Usually premeditated and intentional. Premeditated means that it is planned - a short term or long term plan usually makes no difference, as one can form a plan in nearly an instant (not quite an instant, but at a very rapid pace).
Premeditating and intentionally meaning to kill one person, and accidentally killing an unintended person usually makes no difference - you had the intent to kill, and you formed a plan - "The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry", as the saying goes.
Murder in the Second Degree: Usually when there is a lack of intent - "occurring in the heat of passion".
Manslaughter: Is a killing that falls short of either premeditation and intent, but does include reckless or criminally negligent action taken by the perpetrator, i.e., Involuntary Manslaughter.
If the killing is a "crime of passion" but there was no premeditation, then the killing is Voluntary Manslaughter.
Legal Homicide - Sometimes lethal force is necessary to defend one's self, or others who can prove they were in immanent danger and feared for their lives.
Those are the basics - different places have different variations, and plea bargaining can change the actual charge carried out by the courts - this is both good and bad, as it lessens the severity of the penalty paid, but relieves the state of having to carry out the trial, and potentially any claims at appealing the conviction, and it also avoids putting the people involved in the case through the mental anguish of reliving or learning the details of the death of someone they knew.
But that's it in a nutshell.
-------
Now, here's a question....Can a homicide be cause for a grateful nation?
I'm not speaking of the assassination of a public figure - although, most of the world would have been grateful had someone like Hitler actually been assassinated (and there were several attempts....several).
I am talking about someone killed in their sleep...read on.....
James and Amber Cummings -
Who knows what Amber really found to like about her future husband - perhaps back then he was more sane then he eventually became.
In any case, James was a trust fund millionaire - his father had been murdered by a business partner or someone, and James came to possess a fortune worth $10 million when he obtained it.
The couple had started their lives together in California, and soon they had a daughter. As Amber puts it, the point at which her husband started losing his grasp on reality is when his fortune started dwindling to much less than the $10 million it had been - he was sure the people that he had managing his finances had been taking it for themselves bit by bit. This did unnerve him quite a bit, but it was only the beginning.
James was a deviant person. He was enamored with child pornography, and would often call his wife to the computer to make lewd comments about what he had found online, and try to engage her in conversation about it. (wouldn't that just make you really secure about having a daughter living in the house with that?)
James not only also beat Amber and sexually abused her - he was also too stern and rough when beginning to discipline their daughter for the smallest infractions. Amber usually took an extra beating onto herself in order to distract his attention and fury away from the child.
In 2007 they moved to a fixer-upper in Belfast, Maine - she had talked him into the move - possibly for a fresh start? Who knows? In any case, he'd decided he'd always wanted to live in a small town in Maine. Unfortunately, a big part of an abusive relationship includes the isolation of the person(s) being abused - it's part of the total control power trip abusers like because of feeling out of control in other aspects of their lives.
Oh, did I mention that James had become an obsessive Nazi fanatic? He had a massive collection of memorabilia and historical pieces actually owned by Hitler and his cronies. Death's Head rings of the SS, uniforms, flags, banners, medals...knives, guns, and other weapons of the Third Reich as well. He had them all carefully displayed in a special room. Another unnerving part about their isolation was that their daughter was being home schooled - primarily by James, and particularly exposed to his Nazi views of the world.
On the morning of December 9th, 2009 Amber rose with her daughter and had breakfast - then Amber went to her room - the couple had had separate bedrooms each with their own gun - she sat down on the bed, and put the barrel of the gun in her own mouth - and then suddenly thought of her daughter....she was only nine years old, and would be left with him - and no mother to protect her.
She got up, went into James' bedroom where he was still sleeping that morning - and shot him twice in the head.
In court she took a plea deal, and pled guilty to manslaughter. She was given an eight year suspended sentence, and six years probation - ending her, and her daughter's long traumatic nightmare.
But that's not all...
The police found all the things I've mentioned in this story, plus evidence of his Nazi rantings - Amber had also told police that James had threatened not only their lives, but he had also planned to go to President Obama's inauguration with a present for the entire gathering...
The police had to contact the FBI - not just because of her story - but because along with all the things he had collected and stored in their fixer-upper house were the complete plans for making a dirty bomb...
.....And every last chemical and piece of equipment he needed to make one - including different types of radioactive materials to make it a fairly nasty weapon that could have killed and/or contaminated plenty of victims in Washington, D.C.
...and the authorities had no idea of this....James was not on their lists of potential threats.
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:11:14 GMT -5
How many cars are there out there? One estimate I found says the following:
"...in 1900, when somewhere between 4,142 and 8,000 passenger cars existed in the United States (the only country to manufacture cars at that time). In 1985, there were 375 million passenger cars and 109 million commercial vehicles worldwide. Just 85 short years resulted in 6 million percent growth. Not too shabby.
A 1997 report claimed that in that year, over 600 million motor vehicles existed in the world. It went on to predict that if the existing trends continued, that number would double in the next 30 years. So in 2030, we could see 1.2 billion cars."
Who really knows, however that is a lot of fuel being used just for that purpose alone - gasoline is also used in many other ways as well - but let's focus on car engines...
Gasoline is used for fuel in combustion engines and it is composed of organic compounds (a fancy way of saying it comes from the earth). These compounds are created by separating the material into its components by raising the temperature and distilling the petroleum and introducing certain additives.
That procedure is some of what regulates the rate at which it burns, as well as the intensity - and can also account for the level of toxins burning the product produces.
Octane Rating - ever wonder what that was? Well, it so happens that it is at the center of this...
Horrifying Concealed Secrets of Science and industry
Case #3
Engine Knock (1921-1996)
Octane is an expression used in the measurement of the controlled spark of the pistons of an engine. But if the fuel mixture isn't balanced right this will cause an uncontrolled, and ill-timed spark and imbalance the timing of the pistons, making an engine knock violently - possibly resulting in damage and/or a shortened life to the engine.
So how is that fixed? The aforementioned additives.
Enter, Thomas Midgley. Midgley was a key figure in the team of engineers and chemists that found a substance that would eliminate the knocking of engines. He began working at General Motors in 1916 and in 1921 he discovered that if you added etraethyllead (TEL) to the mixture, then the knocking stopped.
The company called the additive "ethyl" to avoid any connection with the word "lead" -- Some personnel had been unfortunately been made sick by working in enclosed spaces while experimenting to find this substance and in working with it to refine their procedures in making sure the correct amount was formulated - I believe some motorists were also stricken with what was lead poisoning from enclosed prolonged contact with engines that used the additive.
In 1923 Midgley himself had to take an extended vacation to Florida to recover from some of his symptoms of prolonged exposure. And in those years, and some of the following ones - I believe deaths had also occurred in the public sector.
So Midgley and team scrambled to find an alternative, safer substance that would eliminate the knocking - they discovered Ethanol would also stop the knocking.
Unfortunately, production costs of enough Ethanol would cut too drastically into the profit margins of GM, DuPont, so they touted the leaded additive as being the superior solution, and kept their not so little corner of the market secure.
Deaths continued at the DuPont plant and lead poisoning continued to be troublesome for the public as well - DuPont was too slow in production so the higher ups thought, so GM and The Standard Oil Company teamed up to speed up production - not only did these few companies watch their profit levels - they also held the patents.
Public concern grew so they made a showing of their product in 1924 worthy of P.T. Barnum - because there really is a sucker born every minute. Midgley demonstrated to the press that gathered that they could trust the safety of TEL - by pouring it all over his hands, and then sniffing an open bottle for several minutes to show there was no detrimental results. He didn't mention his retreat to Florida at the conference, nor did they find out it took him a year to recover in Europe from all the lead poisoning from his little side show event.
In 1941, the American Chemical Society gave Midgley its highest award, the Priestley Medal. This was followed by the Willard Gibbs Award in 1942. He also held two honorary degrees and was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 1944, he was elected president and chairman of the American Chemical Society
Leaded gas continued to be used in the USA until The Clean Air Act was passed in 1990 - unleaded gas was ordered to be phased out of use by 1996.
Lead is still used as an additive in some countries in the world today, but with all of that use - all of those decades - by all of those engines....There is not one spot on earth's entire surface left untouched in some way by lead poisoning of some level.
Unfortunately, that isn't the end of Thomas Midgley's story in chemistry.
The same man who caused that untold damage to life and the environment was called upon once again to solve a different problem. Frigidaire (also a company owned by General Motors) had problems with their toxic refrigeration and air conditioning systems, and set about to find safer cooling systems for their products (which had caused serious injuries, illnesses, and deaths when they broke down) - also one that didn't become aflame and/or explode, by the way.
Midgley and team decided that trying to introduce flourine to a hydrocarbon should be a safe, non-toxic (so they thought) solution to the problem - and ended up creating dichlorofluoromethane, the first chlorofluorocarbon (or CFC)
CFC's must sound familiar? You know, that big old hole in the ozone layer - the same Ozone layer that keeps us from being completely radiated and fried by our life giving sun.
Yeah - that thing. The same man who helped cover the world in lead, then put a hole in the Ozone Layer
Use of CFC's have also become regulated and restricted since then
In 1940 Midgley contracted a form of polio and was severely handicapped and bedridden - being the engineer he was, he created a complicated system of pulleys to make his bed not only adjustable, but to also help his health care workers be able to easily lift and move him.
Four years later he was found strangled to death by his own bed pulley system.
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:11:51 GMT -5
Some updatesBut first, a short rant about Nancy Grace. I do not as a habit watch the Nancy Grace Show (or anything else she appears on for that matter - Dancing With The "Stars" *cough-cough*), but I do check it from time to time when a sensational case hits the airwaves. Sensational - being one of the key words as to why i despise her on air persona. I have no doubt that she is a sincere person, and probably pretty nice to her friends and loved ones - but at the same time she is a total self important drama queen who rants on air and quite often misstates the facts a tad. People are the sum total of their life experiences, and Grace is no exception - in her life she has gone through a life changing tragic event - her fiancee was murdered when she was 19. That is why she decided to turn to law and become a lawyer. She earned her law degrees and became an advocate for victim's rights, wrote several articles that were published in periodicals, taught litigation at Georgia State University College of Law, and spent almost ten years as a prosecutor focusing on serial murder and rape cases and other gruesome crimes. She, however, was cited in two different cases for misconduct, and gained the opinion from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that she far exceeded the scope of final arguments allowed, and disregarded the notions of fairness and due process - and blatantly disregarded ethical duties of the office she held - even to the point of knowingly using false testimony to gain a conviction in one case - and had a conviction in one of her cases overturned. That's why she's not in court, but talking about it on TV instead - where mostly everyone is safe from her overzealous tirades - mostly everyone that is.... She still makes those wild claims in quite a few cases (often with no proof) In September 2006, 21-year-old Melinda Duckett committed suicide following an interview conducted by Grace concerning the disappearance of Duckett's 2-year-old son Trenton - like I said - mostly everyone is safe - but her conduct is still pretty harsh especially in this one case of a grieving mother already at wits end. She basically accused Duckett of committing the crime herself. In my opinion, Nancy Grace is to law and broadcasting, as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are to politics and broadcasting So I hope you appreciate my sacrifice and suffering in trying to bring you all the details ==================================== Now on to Arizona v Jodi AriasFirst I found this Blog of Travis Alexander's which gives further details of his childhood in his own words - www.myspace.com/tvalexander/blog/391540168And as I said in my previous posts - he does deserve a lot of praise for trying to overcome all his demons - but continuing to string along someone who had been stalking you, and that you have described as "not wife material", and continuing to have sexual relations with her - was not one of the smartest decisions of his life. Corrections: 1) The wound on Travis' neck was only 4.5 inches deep - duh I know few people who would have a 6" neck just back to the spine. Small mistake, but the knife still was apparently capable of inflicting six inch deep wounds. 2) Arias grew up in Northern California - which is where she was living with her grandparents after moving back from mesa Arizona when she finished stalking Alexander - but when they met, she was living in Southern California about 3oo miles or so from Mesa when they were dating - she moved to Mesa after Alexander sent her that message about her not being wife material. Can't think of any other corrections I need to make but there are some new details and speculations from people who knew the victim and know Arias that I can report. In Court Today - the pictures are revealed to the jury - the forensic computer expert testified s to how they make a copy of the original in order to preserve the original - they also run it through a blocker that does not allow the original to be changed - if they merely looked at the original, the information as to when things were added or changed to the stored would be compromised - so they work from the mirror copy to keep it all intact. Yes, there are N00dz as they say online lol none of them are very flattering - the naked poses and whatever else they took pics of - happened most of that afternoon - and then apparently Travis wanted some beefcake photos of himself - and from the last of these photos to the time of the first of the 'accidental photos' is a matter of seconds - really not enough time to say "Oh he's going to kill me" and grab a knife to start stabbing him - but clearly no more than about 90 seconds after that photo of the light fixture on the ceiling of the room - he is very bloody, laying on the floor, and quite probably being dragged to the shower where he was found - and probably already dead. I don't know how that is self defense. Especially when she used two weapons - self defense is where you defend yourself and get the heck out of dodge asap. Opinions of others: Yeah opinions can be bias, false, etc., but here they are. Friends of Travis Alexander - nice guy, driven, and yes, kind of a ladies man or a player - the woman who was going to go to Cancun said he was really persistent in his pursuit of contact with her - that leads me to think maybe he held some kind of influence over Arias - BUUUUUTTTTT....yeah there's two sides to that coin. Other acquaintances have verbalized their opinions of Arias as - creepy, distant and quiet - one said that the only info he ever got out of her about her background is where she grew up. One said she was way too inappropriately cozy with Travis in certain situations.  Friends of Arias: not that many of them have spoken up but,... one lady alleges that a friend left his cat with her while he was going on a trip so the cat would be taken care of --- allegedly the cat was emotionally weirded out from the experience when its owner picked it back up. The stressed cat brings me to another aspect of things - mental disorder - specifically psychopathy - when you have a bad psychopath (and yes, there are 'good' ones who are mostly law abiding) you generally run across some form of animal abuse. Another trait of psychopathy that can be exhibited is using others for your own means without forming real attachments - apparently Arias has the reputation of using guys to get what she wants, and in my opinion that seems to be true - seeing as how she was already making out with someone else in Salt Lake City right after the crime without any sign of having gone through trauma or being affected in any other way. Another comment from one of Travis' friends was that within seconds he was creeped out by her dark dead eyes - there seemed to be no soul within her as he put it - they were completely dark voids. That can also be a sign of a psychopath if you look rather closely (Ted Bundy for example - very likeable, very personable, engaging - yet, go search for a picture and you can see his dead eyes). Oh - one detail of her stalking of Travis Alexander I didn't report earlier - she (more than once) crawled through the dog door of his apartment in order to sleep on his couch without permission. (wow) I don't know of they filed charges of lying to police in this case, as they did in the Casey Anthony case, but there she is on a police interrogation tape played in court today - saying she doesn't even know what a .25 caliber gun looks like, she'd never seen one. but grandpa said it looked like a toy. And she is now admittedly lied about the gun - AFTER she was read her Miranda warnings. Yay, Az Cops! Nailed her on that one. EDIT - forgot - the prosecution got rather dramatic today when he dropped the actual camera on the floor to ask about the timing of Travis Alexander's 'attack', and Jodi Arias' 'defense' of herself, and the final moment of his death as possibly shown in the last picture - as that is one of the state's contentions (that she dropped the camera - which brought on his alleged attack) That action brought on another attempt by the defense to have the judge declare a mistrial - it didn't work of course. EDIT 2 - I see there is a plethora of texting and online communication that went on - as well as Arias snooping around at the messages on his phone - but I haven't really heard details yet. ============== Oh, KU I found quite a bit on James Eagan Holmes - probably post some of that by next week at the latest.
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:12:58 GMT -5
[/quote]
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:23:24 GMT -5
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:24:15 GMT -5
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:25:06 GMT -5
Harry Reid huh? He wasn't on my radar but he sounds like a real winner Ack! I misspelled Egan (I blame Ronald Reagan ) so far I am up to his preparation for the shooting Someone new to the Bottom Feeders list: Lance ArmstrongI had had a lot of faith in him - right up until he started his "I did it" tour. Yup he confessed to Oprah. Armstrong, now worth reportedly somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million - has confessed to doping "because everyone else was doing it" - that doesn't fly in Baseball, and should also not fly in football where a blind eye is usually turned to the use of steroids. Cycling may be a sport where many are trying to barely keep ahead of all the rigorous testing - but it has no place in competitive sports - PERIOD. Seven Tour de France races have now been upended and people who should have won have now lost their day of celebration and the rewards that go along with being truly the best. Not only that, but in the process of denying the cheating for so long, Armstrong and company have successfully slandered people who turned out to be correct, AND successfully sued one accuser The Sunday London Times - well, they settled out of court, and now last month The Times has filed suit for $1.5 million to recover the settled amount plus the court costs incurred in the original case. Armstrong apparently also settled with SCA Promotions an another court case for $7.5 million. And late this year he was asked by SCA and partners for the return of about $12 million in bonuses awarded to Armstrong and Tailwind personnel. Armstrong's people made a counter offer of $1 million to be returned - mighty big of them huh?The list of twisting and turning the screws to people and organizations who accused him of the doping is far greater than I am going to recount here - but is rather extensive beyond my rant. Armstrong and company also spent a bundle covering his doping tracks by buying off various entities, and investing in duplicate equipment as the doping commissions use for testing - so as to experiment in order to keep ahead of them. You can't overcome 600 drug tests you complete turd! It has only begun to hit the fan and fly back in your face Many civil and criminal suits could be brought about - provided that the statute of limitations hasn't run out on some of them - and he will certainly be brought up on perjury charges for when he testified under oath and lied countless times (I'm sure the courts will count for accuracy on that though). Unfortunately, the one good thing he did in all of this may also pay a heavy cost for the association of this unethical monster - his Livestrong Foundation which to date has raised over $500 million to aid in the fight against cancer and to help those struggling with the disease. (strong enough for ya this time, Drac? ) |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:26:30 GMT -5
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:27:44 GMT -5
Daniel - it sounds like he was one of those guys where it was just a matter of time before he went off on someone - seeing his previous activity with women.
I see this all too often on the true crime programs I watch - protection orders are just a piece of paper to this type of crazy bottom feeder. The measure of protection in repeat cases has to be upped at some point so that these predators are not free to terrorize again.
As for hearing nothing about the case since 2011, it usually takes roughly 4 or 5 years for a case to come to court as the prosecution and defense need time to organize a strategy, find witnesses who will testify, have their experts lined up with the proper evidence and displays for the jury, and to have the suspect examined to try to diagnose any mental problems that may come into play.
Both sides will also go through several pretrials in order to be able to submit their best evidence in front of a jury, and to try to get the opposition's evidence be declared inadmissible so the jury has no ability to consider it in their decisions.
I will keep my eye out for his name though, as it does sound like an interesting case.
Thanks for posting that - I'm not quite certain if I have personally met someone who has been arrested for murder - I heard rumors once about the son of one of my junior high school math teacher's sons who allegedly killed his wife - but I only heard the rumor once and haven't seen the guy since 1979 anyway. he didn't seem like the most mature person for his age group at the time though. and everyone at school was scared of his father - they really did not like being in his class lol.
Other than him, I did know someone for two years who had a teardrop tattoo (he stayed weekends at a house I shared with a friend). Teardrop tattoos are usually gang related and can mean that one of your brothers in the gang was killed, but more often than not it means that the person who bears the tattoo was the person who pulled the trigger on someone the gang wanted dead. That was pretty scary to know, but he seemed like a nice guy, and I know that by the time that I knew him he had already been 'jumped out' - in other words, left the gang. That usually means that one of the only ways you are allowed to leave the gang and still be alive is to be group beaten severely by the gang.
===========================
Be back tomorrow morning with a little that I have heard in the Arizona v Jodi Arias case - I am playing catch up on what happened today because of different interruptions throughout the day. Or I may just wait until tomorrow afternoon when I have more to report.
Stay tuned..
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:28:09 GMT -5
Ahh ok then, I have just finished watching what I missed in yesterday's Arizona v Jodi AriasThere was Verizon testimony about what the records of Travis Alexander's phone showed Someone, we all know who, hacked into his voice-mail and spent about 16 minutes reviewing his recent messages - pretty close AFTER his time of death (this takes a private pin number) Several hours AFTER his death Arias leaves him a message talking about her being on a road trip and getting lost, and also having her phone die for hours - explaining why no one has been able to contact her - AND talking on and on about several plans to go to this event and that event the next time he comes to visit her. All in an effort to first check up on what women he was recently talking to, and to set up an alibi of course. They also played selections of the first of two police interrogation tapes - they showed the policeman going over her steps from renting the car she took - and going over each and every stop she made - she had kept all of her receipts in an apparent effort to back up her alibi, trying to say they were all part of her business expense records - because who usually keeps a ton of receipts right? Anyway, in going through all of her stops, and tracing the routes, and even adding in the time where she claimed she had gotten lost and took a nap on the side of the road in her car - she was still short of accounting for about 12 to 18 hours of her nearly 3,000 mile trip. And she could not account for that successfully. Also, they tracked her cell phone and found that it conveniently was shut off at a certain point and then turned on - and you can pretty much tell that she was going somewhere toward his house - and back away from his house when it came back online and started pinging the towers along the way again. For this she claimed she had lost track of the charger - but you'd think she would have plugged that sucker on to charge when she "got lost and took a nap" - nope - apparently it took hours before she even searched the rental car - so her claim goes. Next - the police said - you were there Jodi - there are pictures of you there - she said, "Are you sure they're of me?" - yup he showed her one clear as day that was her face. She then said - maybe they're from another time because I haven't had sexual contact with him since (whenever it was).... Nope, time stamped and "we have your palm print in your own blood"... well, are you sure? because I cut my hand when I dropped a glass a couple of months ago when I was there.... Nope - "we have your hair with Travis' blood on it" .... the interview goes on and on like that with her trying to quickly excuse everything away.... All during this time she's hiding her face in her hands and with her head down and wiggling about like she's really in distress like she's upset and crying. Then after hours of this, the cop leaves the room - this is standard proceedure because they want to go observe you from another location, and see what you do when you think you are alone. Usually, when they do this people remain stressed out and shake their heads, and cry and do other things to wrack their brains to try to figure a way out of all this trouble they are in... Arias remains calm and relaxed, fixes her hair, and even does yoga type stretches, and lays her head down on the table like she's going to take a nap. This exhibits psychopathic behavior - a psychopath's brain works at a lower level than a normal person's brain - that's why they are driven people, driven for anything that stimulates their brain activity and excites them - i.e. controlling others, making them feel afraid, and manipulating others to their will. Arias seems to get off by manipulating men to do what she wants, to get what she wants out of them. She has had several boyfriends and seems to enjoy toying with them for her own ego and purposes. This is one reason why she has given so many interviews and just won't shut up - she thinks she is a master manipulator and can pull the wool over everyone's eyes. This is why I am certain, she will take the stand - after all, she is facing a mostly male jury, and even if the prosecution rips her a new one - I'll bet she is pretty confident she can win over one of the male jurors and get off Scott free - because one juror is all it will take - you have to have a unanimous decision in order to have a conviction. Oh, about that cut she says she got from dropping a glass at Travis' apartment? She told her make out buddy in Vegas that she cut her hand dropping a glass at her job at Margaritaville - there is not even a restaurant near where she lives by that name. I have another quote for Tolkien, 'cause I know he loves those :funny: "If I hurt Travis, If I killed Travis, I would BEG for the death penalty. Another thing she said during her interrogation was, "I've had plenty of boyfriends in the past, and they're all still alive." :eek: She did have a major breakdown when a previous boyfriend broke up with her though. More words from people who know Travis and Jodi: Someone called in to the HLN programs and said she used to work with Jodi - and she could remember Jodi sitting in her car one time - all upset and refusing to go into work because she couldn't reach Travis on the phone. The brother of the person who introduced the two, had them over to he and his wife's house for a few days, and they called Travis upstairs to talk to him alone about Jodi (while she was downstairs doing something) and their concerns about her - after a while Jodi popped through the door and cheerfully said, "Is everything alright?" She had been standing on the other side of the door listening to every word - and the look on her face was pretty scary from what they had said. Another person had recounted a time when Arias had kicked a dog - animal abuse is one of those signs I'd previously mentioned. Next - the day after the first interrogation - she contacted the police and said she wanted to tell them what really happened - set of lies #2 - the Ninja explanation - I'll get into that on my next update. Stay tuned... |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:28:59 GMT -5
Holy Chrome!!!!
I just watched the first episode of Dangerous Persuasions on Investigation Discovery and if that one episode is any indication, I have a new show to become completely absorbed in watching.
The episode was all about this one woman's experience within the Scientology organization. I knew they were completely nuts from that South Park episode where they explained the beliefs behind the idea, but more than that - they use tactics on par with the Gestapo and the NKVD.
They do not engage in assassinations and that sort of thing, but all the interrogation and mind control tactics they can bring to bear on those who aren't complete sheep is vile disgusting and beyond comprehension - I cannot believe they are allowed to operate in the United States - or anywhere else as they do.
They have their own branch of spies who sign billion year contracts to infiltrate and spy on anyone they feel is in any way going to tarnish their reputation (watch I'll be followed next for posting about it here lol).
Once they gather information, they may then go about doing anything and everything they can to discredit and slander those who oppose them, even to the point of causing them legal trouble if they feel it is necessary - and ANYTHING they do is not out of line because they are protecting the future of mankind - so they say.
This lady went into it to as they put it "Make a Better World"
and as any impressionable 20 year old with no real direction in life, that sounded great to her - of course anyone would want to make the world a better place.
They gave her the literature and signed her in for about $25 and her first duty was to sell books to anyone and everyone she saw. Then she worked 7 days a week at their HQ trying to sell other crap like audits for thousands of dollars to gullible people. They also separated her from all her family and friends - Scientology is more important than family and friends (she is kicking herself now, because she did not even attend the funeral of her grandmother - the family member she was closest to) - this is one of the first major things Cults do to people - isolate them and make them work raising funds. It's not the only cultist thing they do - just one of many things to bring you in and keep you with them.
Soon she was approached by their secret police (whom she was told could read thoughts) and signed that billion year contract - was assigned to a hospital to bring home any documents about psychiatrists or anyone else who might go against "the church", and make copies of the documents and return them to the office.
She also got an assignment to follow someone - and was told what her target was going to be wearing when she saw her ( one of the people the target was living with was a secret plant who knew what she had planned to wear - but this new spy person didn't know that at the time - so it was an 'amazing show of their power')
in any case, after months of this secret stuff - they showed her a document stating that hubbard basically equated himself with a messiah - and watched her reaction. She was supposed to completely believe every piece of hogwash they wanted her to swallow - but this person wrote her up, and she ended up living in a parking garage with others and told what she needed to do in order to redeem herself - including eating the scraps and leftovers the Scientologists in good standing left after they ate their regular meals - they also controlled when you were able to use the bathroom, and after a certain amount of time you had to write a paper saying how you have redeemed yourself and gather a certain number of signatures from members in good standing before you could go back to your job at their secret police organization.
They were then promoted to another position where she got to schmooze with celebrity Scientologists at their gatherings to try to get other well known and rich people to join and give up thousands of dollars to "the church"
Somehow she "screwed up" again and was going to be sent back to the parking garage - oh, by the way, she had met her future husband in the police organization and they married and she was with child in her first visit to the parking garage when she was eating table scraps like a dog. - forgot that.
Anyway, she and her husband were not going through that again, and went through the procedure of getting out of that billion year contract, and they were allowed to remain regular Scientologists - as long as they always gave 10% of their income to "the church".
Soon she wanted out of that as well - and she was interrogated and yelled at for hours, day after day, after failing one of their question sessions about being a true believer - it was so bad it gave her a mental breakdown - what a horrible mess!
They are both out and much happier with their lives and raising their son.
By the way, celebrities and rich people don't often see the darkest parts of Scientology - until they leave or have a hard time because they really didn't believe it in the first place - after all, they're the ones adding the big bucks to the organization.
It was a mind blowing look inside and I didn't even talk about the different strange ways you are made to act depending upon your standing - I'm still shaking my head in amazement and disbelief that people can be so completely controlled and brainwashed.
It's really about nothing more than Money, Control, and Power
EDIT- I cannot believe they actually badgered the IRS so badly that they were given tax exempt status - they must have found the goods on someone with their spies, because usually the IRS acts with an iron claw in the face of that kind of action.
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:29:11 GMT -5
I haven't watched all of last night's HLN programs that I recorded last night yet - just half of Nancy Grace so far (the other two being Velez-Mitchel's show and Drew Pinski's show).
Speaking of Nancy Grace again - If I were a defense attorney invited to be on her show I would either flat out refuse - or use the opportunity to quickly remark as to why she is no longer a Prosecutor in a real court of law :funny:
Any defense attorney who goes on her show is asked a question and then within 2 or 3 seconds of beginning an answer, is immediately cut off and called a fool - why have people with an opposing view point on the program if you are not going to allow them to answer questions you pose to them? She's a complete narcissistic idiot.
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Ok on to some new information about Arizona v Jodi Arias
The Ninjas Did It!
Ok so only the commentators are using the word 'ninja', but the story Arias gives in her second police interrogation the very day after spending her first night in jail, is complete nonsense.
Jodi Arias is not as good a liar as Casey Anthony is.
Casey Anthony is quick on her feet and can make up complete stories without missing a beat or batting an eye - and looks you straight in the face while doing it.
Jodi Arias makes up a vague story and hides her face from you and pauses a lot while she considers what to say next. She also tries to ramble on and fill in the details when asked, but fails miserably to make sense and keep the details straight while she rambles on to try to please the person not believing her story.
She tends to try to be demure and sweet hoping she can have her way with you and charm your socks off.
Mistake 1 - she was looking at the camera to review the thumbnails of the photos she was taking of Travis in the shower - and says she heard a shot ring out and then there were two men who rushed in dressed in black wearing masks
in her next sentence or two this changes to a man and a woman
She says one was small in build to cover the mistake when asked by the cop, and says they were arguing with each other so she realized one was female.
Mistake 2 - first the woman has a gun, and then she has a knife
it happened all so fast was her excuse and she may have been briefly knocked out
Knocking someone out doesn't happen like it does in the movies - you don't wake up after a short time and shake it off - there is real trauma to the head and brain that needs medical care and time to recover.
Mistakes galore - She's acting out the details by now, standing up and showing exactly where she was and where they were and then things get more vague - so the detective draws a diagram of the crime scene, and prompts her to point at where things are happening.
She's pretty much lost the flow of her story and says contradicting things about where she was, where Travis was and where the ninjas were.
She begins to say she moved away from where Travis was but was stopped by the male and a gun was held to her head while travis is moaning in the distance but still alive.
What follows is a chilling account of what she probably did to Travis - substituting one or the other ninja for what she had probably done to him.
At one point she starts to say "I" but stalls and changes her train of thought to say "she"
Meanwhile the policeman is letting her ramble until she stops to think, and then prompts her to continue by saying "What happened next?" and she obligingly fills in more details slowly.
Next major mistake - the male threatens her life, and the female says something like she's not our target - thus sparing her for the moment, while the male goes through her stuff, steals her money, and spots her identification - then warns her they're going to give her one chance to leave, but don't tell anyone or we'll hurt you and your family - so she says she goes down stairs or something, and waits for them to go (after some more BS details I can't recall right now it was so thick).
Somewhere in all this she goes through this dramatic scene where she sees Travis again and he is still conscious and tells her to go get help or something - and one thing leads to another and she is left with not much but her backpack and escapes or something - it is a really bad story - she should have spent more than one night putting it together but after all, she can control men when she wants to and the police interrigator is a male who will be under her power and believe everything that she says - not gonna happen - he doesn't buy it at all, because it doesn't match all of the evidence - nowhere near it.
One major thing he tells her is - if someone goes to kill someone and there is an unexpected witness there when he was supposed to be alone - they ALWAYS kill the witnesses. They're not just gonna let you go :funny:
I think Arias forgot to bring a shovel big enough for that load of bull. Also, her body language is much different this time - she has her feet up on the chair and is hugging them kind of like sitting in a fetal position - this is classic lying body language - she is not being open and honest at all - and this time she is certainly worried (no yoga exercises that day, and no nap time either)
The defense asked the detective about his tactics because the detective told her "Jodi, I don't think you meant to do this - tell me the truth"
That's a legitimate police tactic to try and bring your suspect to relax and begin to admit they did it. you pretend to be a buddy and ease them into telling you the truth.
The defense lawyer was trying to get him to say that he really thought she didn't do it.
But the police can use a lot of tactics like that to get you to confess - even outright lie to you. That is a legitimate toll the police use - and there's nothing wrong with it.
the defense has to try everything though to cover their bases for trying to get the case dismissed and to file any and every motion they can, so that they have set a basis for an appeal down the line in case of a conviction this time.
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The Rental car representative - they called in the man who rented the car to Arias about 90 miles from her hometown even though there were two rental agencies there where she lived.
She had platinum blonde hair when she showed up to rent a car, but her black hair when she was next seen by the make out buddy in Vegas. Part of her disguise because she was known as a platinum blonde in Mesa, Arizona.
The rental agent asked her where she was going to travel as he always does with everyone - she told him she was just going to tool around right there in town.
When he got the car back though, there was almost 3,000 miles on the car - you don't go the distance from like Los Angeles to New York City if you are tooling around town lol.
Also, he offered her a flashy red car, she said she'd rather have a lighter car - in other words, she didn't want one that stood out should one of Travis' friends spotted her around Mesa.
Also when he got the car back - the back seat looked like it had Kool-aid stains all over it, he thought she may have had kids in the car and went ahead and cleaned the stains away. Cleaners will also obfuscate any trace of blood, so no definitive evidence could be gathered there.
All four floor mats were gone when he got the car back as well - every car he rents has them. So she obviously got rid of them.
It's showtime! - a big part of any case is theatrics. The defense lawyers want to control their clients. They tell them to dress neatly and conservatively and business like. Arias is also wearing glasses - she never wore glasses in any of her other appearances - I think that is meant to make her appear like a smart educated woman - it is also meant to obscure her eyes from the jury so they cannot tell if she is crying or not when she acts upset at the defense table. Another thing the defense like to do with their clients is make them look smaller and more demure than they actually might otherwise be - this was also done in the Anthony case - they adjust her chair so that it is lower than everyone else's.
WOW - I am listening to the case on TV in the next room, and the prosecution suddenly rested - the jury has been excused for an almost two weeks now while motions are made in court by the defense to argue that the prosecution did not prove their charge and either toss out the case, or dismiss the top charges to substitute or add lesser included charges - this means the jury might have the option to give her Manslaughter instead after the defense is done, and the prosecution gives their rebuttal case.
well, that's about all I have for now (hope it all made sense because I've been writing all of this off the top of my head - so please pardon any mistakes)...stay tuned.
EDIT _ In comparing what I typed with the video - I have made mistakes in my recounting of the interrogation - but it's so convoluted It really makes little difference lol
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Ramplate
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:29:41 GMT -5
Well, this is what I have so far (No real earth shattering new tidbits in there as of yet I think) on background for the case of...
Colorado v James Holmes
James Eagan Holmes, 24 was Born December 13, 1987 and raised in Castro, California, attended a Lutheran church growing up, but now is listed as an Agnostic according to court records.
A bright person he was an intern at the Salk Institute for Biological while attending high school - but he never completed the computer programming project he was assigned at the Institute. He graduated high school in 2006 and attended the University of California, Riverside and in 2010 received an undergraduate degree with highest honors in neuroscience in the top 1% of his class with a 3.949 GPA and was described there by the administration as a leader who took an active role in his education, and a great group leader.
He also worked as a camp councilor for a summer camp, working with about a dozen children ages 7-10 with no apparent problems.
In 2011 he enrolled in the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora in order to gain his Ph.D. in neuroscience. He recieved funds to attend that school, but he was offered full scholarship to attend University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign , but declined the offer - also sending a picture of himself with a llama to the university with his decision.
(uh-huh, a llama because nothing says "no thank you" better than you standing next to a fuzzy weird looking animal )
In 2012 his grades declined - the university was not about to expel him, but he dropped out a few days after failing an oral exam on June 7th.
Sanity - that's the million dollar question in this trial and there are conflicting sources and views upon whether or not he was seeing any psychiatrists and if so, how many - three have been reported and denied depending upon which side you are speaking to. Several students were convinced he was nuts and could be dangerous.
One student was apparently sent a text message asking if he had ever heard of something called dysphoric mania and warned to stay away from him because he was bad news.
dysphoric mania can include symptoms of mania and depression which occur simultaneously with things, such as agitation, anxiety, fatigue, guilt, impulsiveness, irritability, morbid or suicidal ideation, panic, paranoia, pressured speech and rage.
Holmes also showed an obsession with Batman, and decorated his apartment with said articles - and made several calls to "Diggity" Dave Aragon from MTV's Pimp My Ride - Aragon wrote, directed, and stared in a film about a vigilante who shoots down bad guys.
Preparation - Holmes bought a Glock .22 pistol (May 22nd), a Remington Model 870 shotgun (May 28th), a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle (June 7th right after he failed that oral exam), and a second Glock pistol (July 6th).
All legally at various places in Colorado. He also bought 3000 rounds of ammunition for the pistols, 3000 rounds for the M&P15, and 350 shells for the shotgun over the Internet.
On July 2, he placed an order for a Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest, two magazine holders and a knife online
He also e-mailed an application to join a gun club in Colorado, but was never home to receive the phone calls to come down for orientation - his voicemail was described as "bizarre, freaky", "guttural, spoken with a deep voice, incoherent and rambling,"
"It was like someone was trying to be as weird as possible," the manager said.
The shooting July 20th 2012:
After allegedly setting off canisters, Holmes then (allegedly) opened fire 1n the theater killing 12 and wounding 58 at the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises
Police arrested him behind the theater standing next to his car.
It was then that Holmes told police that he had booby trapped his apartment.
I'll be looking into pretrial hearings, and looking to find out more about what he did to his apartment in future installments
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Meanwhile - I am working on another case in history - be back with that once I get it straightened out in my head - stay tuned
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:30:23 GMT -5
Sorry too medicated and in a fog to write something in great detail today but here are the some of highlights Arizona V Jodi Arias this week started with a prosecution misconduct hearing - so far it's a pretty flimsy case that the defense put forward to try and get everything stopped. They say that the Prosecutor contacted a witness on the defense list to get him to change his testimony or to not testify all together - the prosecutor has some surprise witnesses of their own and the defense had to ask for a recess to prepare lol - so that is going on outside the jury while the defense has started their case with the jury. So far they're trying to paint her as a sweet innocent girl who had a boyfriend and a house, but then got mixed up with deviant Travis Alexander and everything went downhill from there. The ex has been on the stand and the prosecution got him to admit that Arias asked him over and over again for gas cans for her trip = supposedly so she wouldn't have to buy gas anywhere near Mesa AZ. - she didn't answer his question of why she needed them at first but eventually told the ex-bf that she was going to LA (didn't happen) He "couldn't recall" a comment he made to police about her saying that Travis had been killed and she didn't have an alibi. He was obviously trying to shield her. Oh, before the case began, the Defense put forth a plea deal for second degree murder, but the prosecution refused - why? Because if she had done the deal she would be out in 16 years - and they rightfully said no way! |
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:30:44 GMT -5
Continuing- The gas cans were so that she didn't have to stop for gas near Travis' location and leave any record of her being there - so the prosecution says. Sounds like it to me too. as the next time she bought gas was in Vegas where she met with her makeout buddy.
More on the relationship she left for Travis Alexander - the guy was 20 years older, divorced and with a son. He was her boss for a while until she got promoted at the resort where they worked, then became coworkers and started to get closer uuntil a relationship developed.
They moved in together and bought a house together. This was a four year relationship, nearer the end she stopped keeping up with bills and was looking to make more money than she could at her two jobs - it was them she gout out the information about the Prepaid Legal stuff, and then when she went to the convention everything in their relationship fell apart even though they remained friends.
Third witness for the defense yesterday was the girl Travis thought was marrying material - they has a relationship that was on and off a few times mainly because he wasn't respecting her - grabbing her butt in public, among other things like not listening to her, wanting her to change for him, and cheating with Arias. She was just 19 when they started seeing each other in their Mormon singles social group and he was almost turning 29 at the time and was looking to settle down - and she felt she was too young to settle down just yet.
She did meet Arias as they were at a gathering at Travis' house - she was not dating him at the time - but she said she saw Arias being clingy and trying to hold hands or be in physical contact with Travis and he basically ignored her that evening with everyone around.
Defense strategy - smearing Alexander as a deviant who thought of women as objects
I haven't heard too much more on the Proprietorial Misconduct Hearing, but I doubt that is going to halt the proceedings.
Meanwhile Nancy Grace is still an idiot - she visited the Maracopa County Jail where Arias is being held - dressed up as a prisoner, and interviewed a guard while testing out the lifestyle - She layed down in a cell on the bedding and after 2 seconds declared "well this isn't bad" - yeah Nancy, try it for 20 years or so lol.
Then she was taken to the mess hall and shown what the prisoners were given to eat and she raved that they get nice oranges and while listening to the guard, started grazing on the example tray they presented to her lol
foolish foolish:D
QUICK EDIT _ just found out this morning that after televised portions of testimony yesterday - the prosecutor shocked the court by adding up all of the things the Girlfriend had said about Travis, he asked did he deserve this? And all of a sudden flashed the picture of Travis with a slit throat onto the court screens.
He could have warned people, because no one was expecting that and Travis' three siblings in the gallery quickly left. The witness looked rather shocked too - hand over her mouth. He could have done it differently, but it brought the focus back on what was done to Alexander versus what kind of young guy with overactive urges he had.
He did get her to say that she didn't really understand men at the time and their urges and such, and she admitted being pretty harsh on him in her last e-mail the last time they broke up.
This is also the girlfriend who got her tires slashed by someone and noticed Arias following them
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Post by Ramplate on Oct 2, 2014 13:31:07 GMT -5
Not much to report but...
near the end of the court day, the defense called someone who knew both Travis and Jodi and went on a couple of trips with them and the witnesses sister (she briefly testified but she didn't have much to add - she was young at the time).
He reported that Travis didn't abuse her in front of them - but an abuser doesn't usually have an audience.
There was one trip where Jodi borrowed this guy's extra back pack for a hike they were going to go on that day and he picked it up to take it to the car, and found it was way too heavy for hiking, so he opened it up and started taking out unnecessary things she had packed - mostly beauty products.
She would not need those for hiking - she came down stairs and saw all her makup and shampoo and lotions on the counter and threw a fit. She and Travis started arguing and she ran upstairs - Travis went up after her to calm her down, and the witness said he didn't hear anything specific but it was an argument that was shortly over and they were on their way.
So far the defense is going to have to pull a rabbit out of their hat in order to save Arias - because nothing solidly pointing to abuse from Travis has been presented - there was a neck mark and a broken finger she was asked about, and she said Travis did it, but that doesn't amount to much really.
Speaking of rabbits being pulled out of their hats - the defense called a forensic computer specialist to look at the computers and so on - and the defense whipped out an exhibit they said was found on Travis Alexander's laptop - it was a picture of an erect penis.
The judge immediately called the end of the court day, told the jury "ok, that's it for today see you all on Monday" the prosecution was about to object and she didn't want the side show in front of the jury. lol
Mostly what the defense has shown is that Arias was a willing participant in her and Travis' activities.
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I'll try not to be too graphic for those with weak constitutions - but you all know what topics interest me the most....
