Day of Fun Turns Into Tragedy In Boston (WordPress Formatting Problems With Some of the Paragraphs)

A bomb explodes near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

The Boston Marathon is usually a cause of celebration, but two bombs exploding near the finish line turned the day into an unspeakable tragedy.

Earlier that day the Boston Red Sox had played the Tampa Bay Rays and the players heard the explosions as they left Fenway Park, after playing the traditional Red Sox game, that coincides with the Boston Marathon.

27,000 runners had converged on Boston to participate in the 117th running of the Boston Marathon. After the bombs exploded near the finish line nobody was even thinking of who won the race, but everyone was concerned about the three killed and 148 injured, according to the latest reports.

New York Times photo and overhead shot of where the two bombs exploded.

The mood of the crowd changed from euphoria as they cheered the runners crossing the finish line, to utter shock as two bombs exploded near the finish line. The reports of the injuries to those wounded in the bombings are too graphic to recount in this article. I heard some gruesome accounts of what witnesses saw in the aftermath of the bombing, but no need to detail their accounts, since the terrorists would enjoy hearing the gory details, of what pain and suffering was caused by the bombings.

Now the focus turns to who committed such a cowardly act, that led to loss of life and injuries that may force some of the injured to be crippled for life.

Is Anyone Really Safe?

This latest tragedy caused by terrorists once again reminds us of how fragile life is. People were having fun one minute and then utter chaos ensues after the bombs do their damage to innocent people, who only wanted to enjoy a day off from their work, only to have it end in such a tragic manner.

We don’t know whether international terrorists or national terrorists are responsible for yesterday’s tragedy, but we do know it was a terrorist act, whether by an organized group or one or two individuals.

There certainly was a state of fear on Boylston Street in Boston yesterday, when an idyllic day turned into a day that will never be forgotten, but never to be forgotten for the wrong reason.

United States has been the scene of terrorism in the last year or so, from those shot or killed at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater, to the students and teachers who lost their life in their school in Newtown, Connecticut and now this terrorist act on Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts.

Even though the theater and school murders were executed by lone gunmen they still were acts of terrorism in my book and while the bombings in Boston seem to be the work of organized terrorists we still don’t know for sure how many were involved.

What we do know is that theaters, classrooms and downtown streets are no longer safe. Is there really a safe place that can be regarded as terrorist free? The terrorists have answered that question with a resounding no.

I could point out the many places that invite terrorism, but why give terrorists ideas of how to inflict more loss of life. It is difficult to understand the mind of a terrorist, since most people may not like a situation they are in, but would never take the extreme measures, that terrorists take to inflict their will on their victims.

All we can do now is to hope that the government agencies can track down and arrest who were the masterminds, behind the tragic murders of innocent victims yesterday in Boston.

That doesn’t mean that other terrorists won’t continue to strike fear into American citizens, with other terrorist acts like the one, that was committed in Boston yesterday.

Twelve years have passed since 9/11, but the world is no safer than it was on that Tuesday morning, when terrorists ended the lives of thousands of Americans, who were on routine flights or had gone to work in downtown New York or in the Pentagon and the policemen and firemen who gave their life that day.

Life is very fragile and we learned that again, from what happened in Boston yesterday.

Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Expert Tells Prosecutor That He Needs To Be In Timeout

Juan Martinez prosecutor in the Jodi Arias trial is frustrated with the defense expert Alyce LaViolette being unresponsive.

Juan Martinez the prosecutor in the Jodi Arias murder trial has been frustrated with Alyce LaViolette, who has avoided for the most part giving direct answers, when being questioned by Martinez.

LaViolette has even went so far as to ask Martinez if he was angry at her and then earlier this week she told him, that if he was in her group that she would need to put him in timeout.

Can you imagine a witness in the O.J. Simpson trial telling Johnny Cochran that he needed to be put in timeout? Martinez is a bulldog in the courtroom relentlessly questioning witnesses and it seems to be working. LaViolette actually admitted that Travis Alexander was afraid of Arias, which could derail the self-defense theory espoused by the defense.

LaViolette has continuously refused to answer yes or no questions posed by Martinez and instead started talking about unrelated topics. Martinez then comes back and says he is not asking her about the unrelated topic. Martinez has several times complained to the judge, about LaViolette being unresponsive and Judge Sherry Stephens admonished her for her unresponsiveness.

The defense will have problems answering why LaViolette more or less took Arias at her word. She talked to Arias for 44 hours, yet never checked with anyone to see if what Arias was saying was true, since it is a well-known fact that Arias is a chronic liar, that will answer questions, in a way which correspond with her self-defense story.

Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott shown at the right of Jodi Arias is now trying to rehabilitate defense expert Alyce LaViolette after being questioned by Juan Martinez.

Jennifer Willmott one of the defense attorneys has the job, of now trying to rehabilitate defense expert LaViolette, after she admitted that Travis Alexander was afraid of Jodi Arias. Willmott also addressed the stalking issue, which was brought up by Martinez.

Stalkers are known to be serious threats to whoever they are stalking. If Arias slashed the tires of Alexander, then it stands to reason that she wouldn’t stop at anything, to exact revenge on the man who broke up with her.

The closing arguments of the prosecution will almost certainly be the death knell for the self-defense claim, since it will detail how Arias planned the trip to Mesa and how she stole a gun from the house of a relative. Personally, I don’t buy the Arias story of getting a gun off a shelf, without falling or leaving the bookshelves disheveled. Even if she did get the gun off the shelf it would have been her stolen gun being in a hiding place on the shelf, so when she needed it she would know where to retrieve it, without it being seen by Alexander.

We may never know exactly what happened during the murder, since we only have the word of Arias, on what events took place and in what order. It would make sense that she would shoot him first and then proceed to stab him, when he would offer the least resistance. If she was in any danger it seems that she could have left the house with neither of them being hurt or killed.

I can’t even begin to understand the rage she was in to shoot him, stab him almost 30 times and then slit his throat. Nobody stabs someone 30 times in self-defense. By that point it becomes overkill, eliminating any self-defense claim.

You can see that Arias is starting to realize, that she could be given a death sentence, since her defense experts have crumbled during their questioning by Martinez.

If all goes well this trial will be over in a couple of weeks, but with the way this trial has been so drawn out it may continue for another month.

The closing arguments by the prosecution should seal the fate of Jodi Arias. However, we won’t know what the jury is thinking, until they render their verdict. If Arias is sentenced to death it doesn’t mean she will be put to death. There hasn’t been an execution of a woman in Arizona, for the last 83 years and that was in 1930.

It would be a shocker of the first magnitude if Arias were to be acquitted, since there is so much evidence against her including her confession that she killed Travis Alexander, but in self-defense.

I would like to commend HLN for their excellent coverage of the trial, but it may be better to record the trial and watch it later, to prevent so many commercial interruptions.

There will be electricity in the courtroom, when the jury enters the courtroom to reveal their verdict. Let us hope justice will be served.

Jodi Arias Trial In Slow Motion

Only Jodi Arias would be smiling in her mug shot after being booked for first degree murder.

The Jodi Arias trial started on January 2 and 83 days later is still going strong, with no end in sight. Arizona permits jurors to ask questions and when they do it slows down the trial. The judge asks the witness the questions, then the prosecutor and defense in turn get to ask questions, about the questions that the jury asked.

When Jodi Arias testified on the witness stand for 18 days, then it really slowed the trial down. The defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott would ask her softball questions, then prosecutor Juan Martinez would ask her questions like ” Were you crying when you shot Travis Alexander?”, “Were you crying when you stabbed Travis Alexander?” and “Were you crying when you slit his throat?”.

He also made a very good point, when Arias was telling she couldn’t commit suicide, because it hurt too much to cut herself, then he asked her “How do you think Travis Alexander felt when you plunged the knife into his chest?”.

Martinez showed she had planned a trip to the house of Travis Alexander, with the intent of killing him. Why else would she take filled gasoline cans with her, except to avoid being filmed when she stopped to buy gas? Martinez caught her in a lie, when she said she was nowhere near Mesa, then Martinez showed her the receipts from convenience stores, where she had bought gas. Taking an oath”to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help me God” made no difference to Arias. She has a long of history of lying and wasn’t going to stop because it was in a courtroom.

Jodi Arias dressed like her defense attorney Jennifer Willmott in an effort to give a good impression to the jurors, but she is a liar no matter what she looks like.

The trial has been slowed down by the numerous sidebars, requested by the judge and the attorneys. Even worse each sidebar usually results in more commercials.

With HLN network now being the sole network broadcasting the trial the viewers are being deluged by commercials, about every 10 minutes. It seemed like when TruTV (formerly Court TV) was also broadcasting the trial, that the commercials were less frequent on that network. Somebody made an executive situation to move the trial to HLN, so more money could be made from more commercials.

Judge Sherry Stephens consults with prosecutor Juan Martinez and defense attorneys Jennifer Willmott and Kirk Nurmi during one of the frequent sidebars during the Jodi Arias trial.

Dr. Richard Samuels a witness for the defense has been one of the most discombobulated witnesses ever seen in a death penalty trial as he was totally unprepared when he testified in the courtroom.

When Dr. Richard Samuels was called to testify you could almost feel the case for the defense starting to crumble. It was bad enough that the jury had to endure 18 days of lying by Arias, but then they had to see an expert witness that was a stumble bum on the witness stand that made numerous errors, while scoring PTSD reports of Arias.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez called attention to the mistakes of Samuel numerous times, who didn’t bring all the papers he needed on the first day he testified.

The jurors had many questions for Dr. Samuels, that only gave the prosecution more ammunition in attacking the credibility of Dr. Samuels. If there is ever a class telling expert witnesses what not to do, while on the stand, then Dr. Samuels would be the poster boy.

It is crucial that the prosecutor wrap up the trial with his closing arguments. It will be interesting to see how he describes the timeline of her trip and how she more than likely brought the gun, which had been stolen from the home of a family member. It is too much of a coincidence that the gun was stolen, about the same time she was leaving to murder Travis Alexander.

The gun that Arias said Alexander owned probably did not exist and it is almost certain that Arias hid the gun in the closet, so she could get it when she was ready to murder him.

We will probably never know if Alexander became angered, when Arias dropped his new camera. We are depending on Arias telling the truth, since there are no witnesses and the only time Arias told the truth was when her lips weren’t moving.

The more I know about the case the more I think it was premeditated murder, because Arias knew she could not have Alexander and wanted to make sure nobody else would have him.

Her self-defense claims to me at least are a bunch of malarkey. If this wasn’t a planned murder, then she would have simply left the house if Alexander actually threatened her, which I doubt ever happened. Someone that felt threatened would not have hung around long enough to shoot Alexander and stab him close to 30 times.

If there was any “fog” clouding the memory of Arias it was from the cloud of lies she told detectives, in the days after the murder.

Arias may have been better claiming insanity, since it may hold more water, than her self-defense claims. Someone never stabs someone that many times, unless it is out of rage and the slitting of the throat to the spine tells me that this was the work of a woman who had been spurned and rejected by her former boyfriend. She only knew he had to pay and he paid with his life at the hands of an evil woman, who had no remorse after killing him.

The detective interviewing Arias at the police station had to have a lot of patience. Every time he presented evidence that she was there at the house the day that Alexander was killed, then she would say ” I wasn’t there”. He knew she  was feeding him nothing but lies. A less patient interrogator would have read the riot act to her, as soon as he or she would know that she was piling lies on top of lies.

When she asked the detective, if she could clean up before she was booked I knew she had no remorse for what she did. Doing hand stands in the interview room and singing a song about her memory tells me that Arias is a criminal of the worst sort.

It will be interesting to see what verdict the jury renders in this case. We can only hope if it is not over by Easter, that it will be over by the 4th of July.

Jodi Arias is not eager for the trial to be over, unless she thinks there will be one jury member, that is unwilling to send a woman to death row, but her best case scenario is life in prison with no parole. I don’t know if the world is ready for a Jodi Arias retrial, but it would be worth going through all of this again, to see her sentenced to death or life in prison.

Debra Milke, Wendi Andriano, Shawna Forde are the three women on the Arizona death row and would be joined by Jodi Arias if she is sentenced to death at the conclusion of her trial.

The lady on the left has had her conviction overturned, so Arias may be one of three women on the Arizona death row. The prison for women is located at Goodyear, Arizona, where the state prison for women is located.

This link is about the lady above who had her conviction overturned. It is a particularly hideous murder, so don’t read this link if you don’t to read about a heinous murder.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57574511-504083/debra-milke-arizona-death-row-inmate-has-conviction-overturned/

It will be interesting to see how the latest defense expert witness Alyce LaViolette fares, when questioned by Martinez, if he gets to cross-examine her today. The defense doesn’t need another fiasco, like the Dr. Samuels debacle to materialize.

Martinez did cross over the line in my estimation, when he accused Dr. Samuels of having feelings for the Arias, which infuriated Dr. Samuels as he said ” I beg your pardon”. Martinez was visibly angered when the defense asked the judge to tell Martinez to stop yelling and Martinez said “I object to the speaking objection of the defense”.

It is very doubtful that the trial will end this week, since we don’t know how long LaViolette will be on the stand and if the jurors will have questions for her.

Even if she does prove that Alexander was abusive towards Arias it won’t excuse her behavior on June 4, 2008, when she killed him in a jealous rage. If she was so scared of him why did she take such a long trip to see him? I think she caught Alexander in a moment, when he was helpless and in the shower and murdered him in cold blood.

My only hope is that Juan Martinez, in his closing arguments can convince the jury that Arias killed him in a premeditated murder.

I think America is ready for this trial to be over and the sooner the better.

JFK Assassination 50 Years Later: Still No Smoking Gun

Diagram showing key landmarks involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 and the Dallas Police Headquarters, where Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24 of that year.

50 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have passed and yet there is still no smoking gun, that proves that the crime was a conspiracy. I have read a lot of books on the subject, but still have not read anything that proves there was a conspiracy.

I still think it was a conspiracy and think the Warren Commission Report was slanted, to make the American public think Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole person, that was involved in the assassination.

My personal opinion is that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the assassination. He had the most to gain, from the assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson was very unhappy being a figurehead in the Kennedy administration and had the most to gain if the president was dead. He knew he would instantly become president, if Kennedy were to be assassinated. There are many instances, in which Johnson seemed to be involved like it was said that Johnson is the one that insisted that the presidential limousine top be uncovered. The president became an open target to any assassin, once the limousine proceeded toward the killing zone.

There is a report that Johnson told a girlfriend the night before the assassination, that the Kennedys would never embarrass him again as mentioned in this article. The article is missing some photos, but the content of the article is what is important.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2006/300806jfk.htm

One of the key parts of the article is this paragraph, in which his girlfriend mentions that LBJ was on the brink of going to prison, because of hearings going on in Washington. This testimony was supposed to be given on the day of the assassination, but when LBJ became president the hearings were stopped and LBJ averted being sent to prison, now that he had the power of the presidency to protect him, from any further hearings.

“Had the assassination not happened the day that it did, Lyndon Johnson would have probably gone to prison,  they would have gotten rid of him – he was so involved with some of this,”  said Brown.

LBJ more than other person may be the reason, that no smoking gun has ever been found that would blow the lid off a LBJ conspiracy.

Mac Wallace, whose fingerprints were found on a box in the Texas School Book Depository is thought by some, to have fired the fatal shots that killed President John F. Kennedy. The following reader’s review after reading LBJ: The Mastermind Behind The JFK Assassination connects some of the dots that lead to LBJ as the mastermind behind the killing. I read the 658 page book last fall and it details how LBJ systematically got rid of his enemies using his hit man Mac Wallace to kill them. There are some that think Wallace enlisted Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby as part of the assassination and subsequent murder of Oswald. When E. Howard Hunt mentions on his death bed that LBJ was involved in the assassination, then it makes sense, that LBJ was involved in the assassination from the beginning to the end. The book mentions that when the presidential motorcade reached the killing zone, that LBJ ducked down to make sure he wasn’t shot, while leaving his wife and Senator Ralph Yarborough D-Texas exposed, while the assassination was in progress.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and pivotal, bringing coherence to our understanding October 5, 2010

By James H. Fetzer

  From first chapter to last, this is a beautifully written, intellectually captivating, and ultimately persuasive account of the role of LBJ in the assassination of JFK.  I had more than 100 conversations with Madeleine Duncan Brown, one of his many mistresses but the only one who bore him a son.  She, too, became convinced that Lyndon was profoundly involved in the death of his predecessor.  On New Year’s Eve, six weeks after the assassination, they had a rendezvous at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, where she confronted him with rumors, rampant in Dallas at the time, that he had been involved, since no one stood more to gain.  He blew up at her and told her that the CIA and the oil boys had decided that JFK had to be taken out.  She wrote about it in her book, TEXAS IN THE MORNING.  Her account has been reinforced by Billy Sol Estes, the Texas wheeler-dealer who made mountains of money for Lyndon, Connally, and their buddies, who explains in his book, A TEXAS LEGEND, how he became convinced that Cliff Carter, LBJ’s chief administrative assistant, and Malcolm “Mac” Wallace, his personal assassin (by whom Lyndon had a dozen or more persons terminated, including one of his sisters), had been personally involved.  E. Howard Hunt, in his “Last Confessions” in ROLLING STONE, explained to his son, St. John, that LBJ, Cord Meyer, William Harvey, David Sanchez Morales, and others in the CIA had been involved in the assassination.  For an overview, enter “John F. Kennedy: History, Memory, Legacy”, and download Chapter 30.  Or visit [...], “Reclaiming History: A Closed Mind Perpetrating a Fraud on the Public”, and you will understand the context within which it took place.  For a short course, try “Reasoning about Assassinantions” via google.  I also recommend James Douglass, JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE.  Both make profound contributions to the case.

I have no doubt that Jack Ruby was in the Dallas Police station the morning of Sunday, November 24th, with the backing of organized crime and cooperation from the Dallas Police Department.. Assuming there was a conspiracy, it became incumbent for those involved to prevent Oswald from talking any more to investigators or to be brought to trial.

National columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who had interviewed Ruby was found dead and her notes about the Ruby interview were missing, when her body was found in her apartment on November 8, 1965. Her death came two weeks exactly short of the second anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.

Richard Kollmar the husband of Kilgallen was asked about his wife’s interest in the JFK assassination by a friend, but Kollmar said he would take that information to his grave.

Some interesting notes about some of the better known people, that had some connection with what happened that day in Dallas 50 years ago:

President John F. Kennedy - Was gunned down in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 at the age of 46. His death came 13 months after the Cuban missile crisis in October of 1962. His death also came one year and three months, after the death of Marilyn Monroe in August of 1962. Monroe reportedly threatened to tell the media about the sexual indiscretions by the president and Bobby Kennedy. We probably will never know if the Kennedy’s were involved in her death, but if she had disclosed the sexual escapades of the Kennedys, then John F. Kennedy would probably not have been assassinated a year later, because he probably would have been impeached.

John F. Kennedy may or may not have been involved in silencing Monroe, but at the same time he may have lived for many more years, even if he wasn’t president on the day of the assassination and would have no reason to be in Dallas that day. If Kennedy was still alive today he would be observing his 96th birthday on May 29.

President Lyndon B. Johnson – The members of the Kennedy administration were not happy, to be coerced into naming Johnson as the vice president at the 1960 Democratic Convention in 1960. Johnson chafed at being told what to do by the Kennedy staffers. So he had every motive to make sure President John F. Kennedy was erased from the American political scene. Johnson was 55 at the time of the assassination and would be 64, when he died on January 22, 1973. He would be 105 in August if still alive.

Lee Harvey Oswald – He is considered to be the lone gunman that assassinated the president on November 22, 1963. This is precisely the way President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted Oswald to be regarded. If Oswald was thought of as a lone conspirator, then it would protect President Johnson from being mentioned as a conspirator. Oswald was only 24 when he assassinated the president and on November 24, 1963,  when he would be shot in a Dallas Police station two days later.

Jack Ruby who shot and killed Oswald ended any chance of Oswald telling anyone about any conspiracy, in a trial that would have been the trial of the century, if it had been held. Instead, Ruby made sure the American people would never know, if Oswald had been involved in a conspiracy. Oswald would have been 74 in October if still alive.

Officer J.D. Tippit – Jack Ruby not only prevented us from knowing more about the Kennedy assassination, but probably also prevented Oswald from telling his story, about what happened in the J.D. Tippit murder. Officer Tippit had joined the Dallas Police force as a patrolman 11 years before the day of the assassination of the president and his own murder. There are conflicting reports about who killed Officer Tippit. Some reports say two men were involved in his murder.

William Scoggins a taxi driver said he heard three gunshots, then saw Tippit fall to the ground. Scoggins said a man with a gun passed by him saying something akin to “poor dumb cop”. At least four witnesses identified Oswaqld in police lineups, which more or less makes it a sure thing that Oswald murdered Officer Tippit. The police tracked Oswald to the Texas Theater, where he was  overpowered and apprehended by the Dallas Police. Tippit was 39 when he was murdered on November 22, 1963 and would be 89 if still alive.

Jack Ruby – On the day of the assassination Ruby was 53 years old. Ruby would be seen at Parkland Hospital, when President John F. Kennedy was taken there after being seriously wounded. He would be seen again at the Dallas Police station that night. Then on Sunday morning at 11:21 AM Dallas time, Ruby somehow gained entrance to the Dallas Police station, probably with inside help as the entrance he used was mysteriously left unguarded. When Oswald was being led to a vehicle, that was to take Oswald to another jail Ruby stepped in front of Oswald and shot and killed him. Ruby alluded to the fact that people in high places were involved with his murdering Oswald.

This makes me wonder if President Johnson was one of the officials in high places being mentioned. Ruby died on January 3, 1967. He was close friends to Sam and Joe Campisa who were associated with crime boss Carlos Marcello. Jimmy Hoffa reportedly said at one time, that Ruby was to make sure that Oswald was killed by Dallas police, while in their custody. When Ruby failed to insure that Oswald would be killed by the police, then he apparently took on himself to kill Oswald, since his own life could be in jeopardy if Oswald was not killed. Ruby would have been 102 if still alive on March 25.

50 Years Later

With the 50 year anniversary of the JFK assassination approaching in eight months we can only guess at what documents about the assassination may be released in the coming months. The fact that CIA is holding 1,171 top-secret documents about the JFK assassination tells me, that these documents could tell about any conspiracies that may have been involved during the assassination. This is only conjecture, but I think these CIA documents could tie President Lyndon B. Johnson to the assassination. Johnson has been dead for 40 years now, so can’t see any problem with documents being released, even if they connect a former president to the assassination.

I remain a conspiracy theorist, but think the government will continue to keep the JFK assassination documents sealed. The American people deserve to know everything now that 50 years have passed. My personal belief is that these documents lead straight to former President Lyndon B. Johnson and his henchmen.

Will the 50th anniversary come and go, without any documents being released? Even 10-year-old kids at the time of the assassination would be 60 this year. So a middle-aged adult between 30-49 would now be 80-99 years old, so should not be in a government position of power.

How much longer will these documents remain sealed? My only conclusion is that somebody has some dark secrets, that the government doesn’t want released in the near future.

I have no problems with any authors writing books that are pro-conspiracy or anti-conspiracy, but unless the government release these documents we have no hope, of finding out the rest of the story, about what happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

Jodi Arias: What A Tangled Web We Weave…….

A smiling Jodi Arias is pictured in her mug shot.

Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive! Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17. Scottish author & novelist  (1771 – 1832)  

Jodi Arias apparently never heard of Sir Walter Scott’s famous quotation above, because she has woven such a web of lies and deceit, that not even she can remember them all. Few criminals are smug enough to be shown smiling in their mug shots, but it is par for the course for Arias, who left a trail of lies behind after murdering Travis Alexander.

The salacious audio recordings of her and her ex-boyfriend talking about sex are a prime example of how the media has changed and how cable news networks are getting away, with foisting this stuff on the American public. The major networks would have been heavily fined for presenting the lurid details of their sexual encounters in such graphic terms.

The defense and prosecutor even played some of the same recordings, in their prosecution of and defense of Arias.

Arias Claiming Self Defense

It is ludicrous that Arias is trying to save herself from going to death row, by using the self-defense claim. It seems preposterous that she would claim self-defense, when Alexander was shot and stabbed 27 times. If it was self-defense then why would she stab him 27 times? Rage had a lot more to do with his death, than self-defense since stabbing him that many times shows that Arias  was not content with him being almost positively dead. She could have fled the house sooner if it was really self-defense, since Alexander was not in any shape to endanger her life.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez battled  with Arias for many days, while she was on the stand. She showed time and time again, that she was not capable of answering a simple yes or no question. She often pointed out any mistakes Martinez made. Martinez would ask a question and Arias would go off on a tangent that had nothing to do with his question. So he had to repeatedly ask the same questions over and over again. I doubt Martinez has ever encountered a more reluctant witness than Arias.

Martinez went into details of how Arias had lied to the detectives and showed the 48 Hours interview, which clearly showed her making up lies as she went along.

The defense allowing  Arias to testify was a formula for disaster and Thursday we saw just how a big mistake it was for her to testify. Once Martinez started questioning Arias about the day of the murder we saw her smirk disappear, because she was now being cornered into admitting more, than she wanted to admit on the stand.

Were Tears Fake?

We will never know if her tears yesterday were real or only more of her act. I think she sent herself to death row yesterday by her testimony. Martinez pointed out how well she was remembering other events on the day of the murder, but her mind was in a complete fog, when it came to remembering murdering Alexander.

Martinez mentioned earlier while questioning Aria that she had attempted to commit suicide, but couldn’t stand he pain of cutting her wrist, so Martinez asked her “If you thought that nick was painful, then imagine what pain Alexander had felt when she plunged a knife into his heart. That question rid the smirk off the face of Arias.

The key point about her mind being in a fog to me is that how can anyone stab someone 27 times and not even remember it? Her mind was not in a fog and she knew exactly what she was doing.

It was a mistake on the part of the defense to let Arias testify and she may have signed her own death warrant yesterday, with her testimony of being in a fog that day, while Martinez pointed out many discrepancies in her testimony, that showed that she was not even close to being in a fog.

My concern is that she may have been on the stand so long, that a juror may have begun to feel sorry for her and that is the only hope for Arias now to have a hung jury. I would be in complete shock if a not guilty verdict is rendered, but not so surprised to have a hung jury. Let us hope that doesn’t happen, because I don’t know if the nation would want to go through this trial for a second time.

Tried to Cover Her Tracks

Arias tried to cover her tracks by leaving voice mails, texts and email, addressed to Alexander while knowing good and well she had already killed him.

The communications pictured her as a concerned friend, who wanted to see how he had been doing and acting as if she knew nothing about his death.

There reportedly will be no trial today and court will re-convene on Monday.

We can only hope for a rapid end to this trial. Arias has to know that she should have taken the advice of Sir Walter Scott, instead of weaving a web of lies and deceit that could lead to her execution. The following poll asks the question, that if you were a juror, with your knowledge of the trial as of today, which verdict you would render…Guilty or not guilty.

Memories of a Lifetime: 2011-2013

2011 – We were living in Sulphur, Louisiana, a city of about 20,000 at the start of 2011. We were living on Live Oak Street in Sulphur and we found a home church in Calvary Baptist Church on Lewis Street. We were impressed by the pastor Rev. W.D. Darnell, who lived what he preached and only used the King James Version of the Holy Bible. We made many friends, among the members of the church. Rhonda was very involved with the activities at the church and I often sang special music on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Rhonda and me sang duets a couple of times and she sang On The Wings Of A Dove with another lady one time.

Rhonda liked living in Sulphur, since she had a sister and her mom living there. We lived close to the neighborhood, where my daughter and family had lived before moving to Groves, Texas.

I would return to working as a caregiver again in November of 2011. I worked with a disabled man with diabetes and lost the job at the end of the year, when his family changed to another caregiving company.

An international news story was when an earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan took 15,840 lives.

President Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1.

Casey Anthony was acquitted of the murder of her daughter Calee Marie Anthony, in a controversial verdict by the jury.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computers dies on October 5 of cancer.

House were renting at $955 a month in 2011.

A gallon of gas cost $2.89.

Movie tickets were selling for $8.20.

 

2012 – I worked as a crossing guard at a school in Sulphur for a few weeks, toward the end of the school year. It was interesting work and enjoyed the job. The job could turn out to be the last job I will ever work, since I haven’t worked since becoming sick a couple of months later.

We moved to DeRidder, Louisiana in July and are living in a trailer, that is about halfway between Merryville, Louisiana and DeRidder. We are living in the country and liking it so far.

Knew something was wrong when I began vomiting up blood and lost about 35 pounds in less than two months during the summer. Found out in October in Houston VA Hospital, that I had duodenal cancer. It was a very disease to diagnose, since it mimics acid reflux and duodenal ulcers. It is very rare disease with only two percent of gastrointestinal diseases being duodenal cancer.

Surgeons in Houston performed a resection surgery on Oct. 16 to remove a blockage, which was cancerous and was successful. However I found out in November, that duodenal cancer has a history of returning and has a relatively low survival rate.

Chemotherapy started at the VA hospital in Pineville, Louisiana on Dec.13 and have had three chemo IV’s since that date, with five more to go. Have finished six of a 24 week program of chemotherapy. It seems like the side effects have been worse with each chemo IV. Had difficulty walking in a straight line after the last IV and sort of lurch from side to side.

2012 was a life changing year for us, with us being evicted, moving to a new city and finding out that I had cancer and had surgery a few days later. Spent a total of 32 days in hospital in Houston.

July 20 would be the first of two mass shootings in the United States, when a gunman killed 12 and injured 58 in an Aurora, Colorado theater.

December 14 would bring the second mass shootings of 2012, when a man kills 20 children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, along with six adults, before killing himself.

A gallon of gas would rise to $3.89 during 2012. It is about 64 cents a gallon cheaper now in 2013.

House rent average goes over the $1,000 mark for the first time, as it rose to $1,045 a month.

A pound of bacon which was $2.96 in 2008 had risen to $4.48 in 2012.

 

2013 – This year should be a very interesting year, as the chemotherapy continues through May and it will be interesting to learn the results of the bloodwork after the last week of chemotherapy. May 21 will be another important date for us as we return to Houston for another C-scan, which will show if the cancer is completely gone or has returned.

We don’t know what this year holds, but we plan to remain positive, even if the news is bad and I don’t plan on being negative, regardless of what happens in 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medical Update, LBJ: The Mastermind of The JFK Assassination

MEDICAL UPDATE:

It has been a month-and-a-half since my cancer surgery at the Michael Debakey VA Hospital in Houston. Since then I have learned I was injected with steroid, which causes meningitis and am now close to starting a 24 week chemotherapy program, to try to prevent the duodenal cancer from returning.

LBJ: The  Mastermind of  The JFK Assassination: By Phillip F. Nelson

I have always thought that there was a conspiracy, behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After reading LBJ: The Mastermind of The JFK Assassination, there is no other conclusion in my mind, that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson orchestrated the planning of the assassination.

Illegal Election Involvement

My thoughts of Johnson until lately were that he was a politician well-skilled, at making whatever political maneuvers necessary to win an election. He lost the 1941 election for the U.S. Senate to W. Lee Daniel, with Daniel winning by a 311 vote margin.

The 1948 Senate election was even closer with Johnson defeating Coke Stevenson by 81 votes, out of a million votes cast. A box of ballots was mysteriously found that gave Johnson the win. George Parr a Democratic boss was the one that found the mysterious ballots, which included 99.1 percent voting for Johnson. Some of the voters were dead Mexicans. Johnson knew exactly what was going on and it was just one of many times, when Johnson would resort to criminal activity, to win an election or to get illegal kickbacks.

The 1954 Senate election was won by Johnson by a wide margin, while defeating Republican Carlos G. Watson, with 84.59 percent of the vote.

Forced JFK To Choose Him As Vice President in 1960

Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy had offered Sen. Stuart Symington the chance, to run as the vice presidential candidate.  at the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. Johnson who wanted desperately to be the vice president, then proceeded to force JFK into choosing him as his running mate, by threatening to reveal that Kennedy had been running around with some women and had the information in files kept by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Kennedy had no choice but to withdraw his offer to Symington and offer Johnson a place on the ticket, though he and his brother Bobby did not want Johnson on their ticket.

It was one of the most crooked elections in the history of the United States, when John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States. Richard Nixon, his defeated opponent refused to contest the election, even though if he had it may have revealed the extent of criminal activity in the election.

LBJ’s Hitman: Malcolm Wallace

Lyndon B. Johnson had his own personal hitman in Malcolm Wallace. When someone threatened to reveal Johnson’s criminal activity, Wallace would eliminate them, if requested by Johnson. He killed one man by shooting him in the back five times and the defense tried to say it was a suicide and Wallace was freed. The author of the book says Wallace may have been involved in as many as 17 murders, including the murder of Johnson’s own sister, who Johnson feared would disclose secrets about his criminal activity. The most shocking revelation about Wallace was that his fingerprint was found on a box found, on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

LBJ: The Unhappy Vice-President

Johnson was not a happy camper as vice president, being shunned by the Kennedy brothers. He was sent on fact-finding trips around the world, to get rid of him for an extended time. This story was not in the book, but I remember reading somewhere, that Johnson was making a speech and Bobby Kennedy forced one of his aides to tell Johnson to cut the speech short. After the aide told Johnson what Bobby Kennedy had requested, he continued to talk for another 15 minutes angering Bobby even more.

Even though he was vice president, the Kennedy brothers would not invite him to important meetings. Worst of all LBJ knew that he probably would not be able to run for president, until JFK and RFK had finished their terms as president.

Assassination Plans Started

It had to be during this time that Johnson formulated a plan to assassinate JFK and replace him as president. He pushed JFK to make a trip to Dallas. Johnson was involved in planning the route of the motorcade. He wanted Jackie Kennedy to ride with him, two cars behind the presidential limousine, but Kennedy refused the offer. LBJ wanted his enemy Senator Ralph Yarbrough to ride with the Kennedys, but that didn’t work out either.

Johnson had everything in place for him to be president. When President Kennedy and his wife Jackie started their day on Friday, November 22, 1963, they didn’t know that President John F.Kennedy would be dead that afternoon.

LBJ Hiding In The Killing Zone

The Kennedys may have not known what was about to happen that day, but Vice President Johnson knowing he was entering the killing zone and that President Kennedy would soon be shot, crouched down inside his limousine two cars behind the Kennedy, to avoid getting hit by a stray bullet. His wife Lady Bird Johnson and Senator Yarbrough were not told about the assassination, so they were sitting up and smiling and waving to the crowd. To think LBJ would put his own safety ahead of his wife’s safety tells me all I need to know about Lyndon Baines Johnson.

One mystery about that day is why the presidential limousine stopped in the middle of the gunfire that was hitting President Kennedy. Another odd thing is that Jack Ruby was seen at Dealey Plaza that day with a gun case and then would show up at the hospital and at the police station before the night was over.

There was an ugly scene at Parkland Hospital, when a gun was pulled on a doctor wanting to autopsy the body, but was overpowered as the body was taken to the airport. Another mystery is why the presidential limousine was cleaned, since it was the crime scene and it was taken to Washington and cleaned some more and wound up being rebuilt to remove any trace of evidence.

LBJ Asks Jackie Kennedy To Stand With Him For Oath

As if Jackie Kennedy hadn’t gone through enough on this day, LBJ then asked her, to stand by him as he was administered the oath of office. Johnson had now achieved his life-long dream of becoming president. Now all he had to do was cover up, what really happened on that November day in 1963.

Warren Report Whitewash

President Johnson adopted the lone nut theory, as soon as Oswald was captured. Oswald himself said he was a patsy, but Jack Ruby never let Oswald tell his story. I am amazed that Ruby was allowed in the police station, without being checked for firearms.

Ruby’s action kept Oswald from implicating any of the people, that were behind the assassination. So Ruby made it easy for the Warren Commission to issue a whitewash of a report, not including any testimony that backed a conspiracy theory.

If Johnson hadn’t become president he may have been sent to prison for criminal activity in the Billie Sol Estes and Bobby Baker scandals, since he became rich from accepting kickbacks. Matter of fact a hearing was being held in Washington on the same day that JFK was assassinated, that featured an insurance salesman named Don Reynolds, who knew that Johnson was involved with criminal activity.

J. Edgar Hoover helped the Warren Commission determine it was a lone gunman that killed President Kennedy, by holding back any information that could show, that it was a conspiracy.

Witnesses before the committee, who didn’t agree with the lone gunman theory were not allowed to have their testimony included in the report.

Summary

We may never have conclusive evidence revealed that Johnson was behind the assassination, but there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence that points only to him. He had the power, had the right connections and definitely had the motive, since he knew his dream of being president would never be realized, unless President Kennedy was eliminated from the picture.

Anyone reading this book may not be swayed to believe that Johnson planned the assassination of JFK, but they will learn the extent to which LBJ would go to have his way.

What Old Time Radio Means To Me

I was born in 1944 and lived the first 18 years of my life, during the old time radio era, which ended on September 30,1962, when the last two dramatic shows, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense were broadcast for the last time.

There are no recollections in my mind, of our family gathering around the radio, like the family pictured above, but I still can recall hearing some of the programs. I can remember hearing Dragnet, Bob Hope, Arthur Godfrey and the Breakfast Club with Don McNeill. I can also recall my mother listening to the soap operas of that era, as she listened to Just Plain Bill, Stella Dallas, Lorenzo Jones, Pepper Young’s Family and One Man’s Family.

1960 would see the last five soap operas leave the radio airwaves, including Ma Perkins and Young Doctor Malone.

Arthur Godfrey was the most popular talk show host during the old time radio era.

Arthur Godfrey Time and Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club were the two best-known early morning shows and  were often heard in our house in the mornings, though they must have been on at the same time at some point.  The last Breakfast Club was broadcast in 1968, while the last Arthur Godfrey Time was broadcast in 1972.

There was something about Arthur Godfrey, that made him seem like a family friend and he could sell anything, since he came across as being someone you could trust.

Interest in Old Time Radio Rekindled In 90′s

My interest in old time radio became rekindled in the 90′s, when my mother let me listen to a set of old time radio shows. I bought a few tapes of my own, but didn’t really start collecting old time radio shows, till I found that I could buy MP3 CD’s of old time radio shows on eBay for nominal prices.

That is when I became serious about collecting old time radio shows. Previously cassettes and regular compact discs could hold very few shows, but the MP3 compact discs made it possible to record fifty half-hour shows onto one MP3 CD. I also bought the shows at MP3 CD sellers online, who were selling the shows for bargain prices. For instance, I was able to buy over 800 Jack Benny shows for only $12. To buy that many shows on a cassette or regular compact disc would have cost hundreds of dollars, before the advent of MP3 CD’s.

One key to buying old time radio shows is to always go to lowest price plus shipping, when searching for shows on eBay. For instance 441 shows of  Boston Blackie and The Shadow on a DVD can be bid on for only 99 cents and this price includes shipping. The price could still go up, but probably not that much, since there are only three days left in the bidding, on this particular DVD.  DVD’s hold even more shows and enable a collector, to build a large collection even faster.

I also bought a lot of shows from otrcat.com, which offers a complete sample show to listen to, of almost every show available at the website. The site also has excellent descriptions of each show, so you will know the history of that show before buying it.

The front page of the website has a New Additions feature, that sells shows that have added previously unheard episodes or obscure shows, not usually sold online by any dealer.

http://www.otrcat.com/index.php

Record Keeping, Playing MP3 CD’s

I have a filing system with my collection, with about 175 MP3 CD’s inside one large folder, which holds over 17,000 shows. I keep a notebook folder with loose leaf paper, with a sheet of paper for each show. I write the name of the show, the name of the episode and when it was listened to. That prevents me from listening to the same show more than once, unless I like the show enough to listen to it more often.

At first I listened to the episodes on a portable MP3 CD player, but later switched to a MP3 player, which plays the shows after the digital  files for the shows have been uploaded into the MP3 player. Once they are in the MP3 player, the names of each episode is shown in a list on the MP3 player. After listening to the show, the show can be deleted from the MP3 player, to avoid having to go through so many shows to find one particular episode.

When I select a MP3 CD to listen to I insert the CD into the CD drive on the computer. It then shows up in the Windows Explorer files and I send the shows I want to my MP3 player, which has been connected to the tower. I can manually highlight the shows I want transfered to MP3 player and after writing the information for each episode of that show into the notebook, then manually drag the episodes of that show, into the MP3 player. In my case I use the Sony Content Transfer folder as the ultimate destination on the desktop, which is really the MP3 player.

I have a list of all my shows and how many episodes and how many CD’s and hours there are of each episode.

For example, there are 869 Jack Benny Shows in my collection on 9 MP3 CD’s which total 433 hours of Jack Benny shows.

My Favorite Old Time Radio Shows

My favorite old time radio show is This Is Your FBI, which tells true stories of FBI cases of that era and especially features stories of soldiers, who have returned from war who have been swindled out of their money, by con men who conspire to take their money.

The shows feature both the criminals making their plans and squabbling among themselves and the FBI agents working to capture the criminals. The shows are easy to listen to and keep your attention, since the shows are so well-written.

 

Boston Blackie is one of my favorites, because I enjoy the interplay between Blackie and Inspector Faraday. The inspector immediately suspects that Blackie committed whatever crime is being committed, because of Blackie’s criminal history as a safe cracker. However, the inspector is always proven wrong by the end of the story.

 Night Watch was a precursor to COPS, with the main difference, that it is an old time radio show from the 1950′s that uses a reporter in the police car to record every word spoken during a night on patrol.

The show will touch the listeners emotionally, as it touched me. One of the episodes is about a lady who leaves her kids in the car, while she goes into a bar. The older child is trying to watch out for the younger child.

Another emotional part of the shows is when parents are told, that their child is in trouble for breaking a law. This show is one of the more riveting shows of old time radio but it wasn’t on the air long, so all we can do is enjoy the shows, as the policemen question the victims and criminals to get to the truth of whatever situation is being heard. This is true reality radio at its best.

  The Great Gildersleeve is my favorite comedy of old time radio days. Harold Peary’s portrayal of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve is right on the money. His character was first heard on Fibber McGee and Molly, but he later had his own show with him, as the water commissioner of Summerfield, less than two years after his first appearance on Fibber McGee and Molly.

  Gildersleeve’s home consisted of his nephew Leroy and his niece Marjorie and the cook named Birdie. Gildersleeve comes off as a bombastic oaf, who likes to be in charge of whatever is going on at the time. He also has an eye for the girls and is intent at Christmas time to maneuver the girls, to where they will be standing under the mistletoe.

  I never tire of hearing the same Christmas shows, since they represent so well, what Christmas was like in the 1940′s and 1950′s. It is funny hearing Gildersleeve worrying about how much someone is spending on his Christmas present. He is determined to spend not one penny more than what someone spends on him

Richard LeGrand who portrays the local druggist Richard Peavey is one of my favorite characters on the show. The mild-mannered Peavey is an excellent contrast, with the more in-your-face Gildersleeve. His drugstore is an oasis away from the turbulent Gildersleeve home, which always seems to be in chaos.

Judge Hooker played by Earle Ross and Gildersleeve have a tempestuous relationship, that keeps them from being on good terms most of the time. He is also the opposite of Mr. Peavey and I can’t recall the two of them interacting much on the show.

The show to me seemed to lose its spark, when Harold Peary left the show. I have nothing against Willard Waterman, who was in a lose-lose situation trying to replace Peary, but nobody could really replace Peary.

I have only listened to 38 of the over 500 shows in the series.

CBS Radio Workshop was one of the most innovative shows during the old time radio era. I liked Program #6 The Voice of the City in which life on New York streets was recorded. I also enjoyed Evening on Broadway and it probably better depicted the sounds, of people talking to each other on a busy sidewalk.

The Enormous Radio program in the series of shows on the CBS Radio Workshop was about a radio that picked up the conversations of neighbors, instead of regular radio programs.

Ex-Urbanites was a dramatic presentation of how city-dwellers moving to the suburbs, found out that the suburbs were not as great, as they expected and the travel especially became a burden.

There are too many excellent programs to mention them all, but this first link will take you to where you can read about the CBS Radio Workshop and the second to a website, where you can actually listen to the shows.

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html

http://archive.org/details/CBSRadioWorkshop

Those who want to only listen to the shows and are not interested in buying them for themselves, there are many websites, that make it possible to hear hundreds and in some cases thousands of shows for free.

Archive.org is one of the best sites online to listen to free old time radio shows.

http://archive.org/search.php?query=old%20time%20radio

OTR.net has over 12,000 free old time radio shows to listen to, including 442 Fibber McGee and Molly shows, 610 Jack Benny shows, 468 Great Gildersleeve shows and 406 Gunsmoke shows.

http://otr.net/

Radiolovers.com does not come close to the content of the above two websites and you will notice many of your favorite shows, that are missing from the list of shows. However there are some lesser-known shows that are on the list, that may not be found elsewhere on the internet.

http://radiolovers.com/

Oldradioworld.com has a lot of the same shows found on the other websites, but still a good resource.

http://www.oldradioworld.com/

Oldtimeradiofans.com has some soap operas that aren’t mentioned in some of the other websites.

 http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/

The following website is the best resource for old time radio information, since it lists most of the shows, that were ever broadcast on old time radio. The site may not be all-inclusive, but it is the closet thing out there. There are lists of  old time radio programs and who was heard in each show and a list of actors that tells how many shows and lists the shows they were heard in.

http://radiogoldindex.com/

This website has a wealth of information about old time radio.

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2home.html

This link within the above site takes you to a list of program logs that can be found. This list doesn’t include some of the better-known shows.

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2-jukebox-main.html

This is what the Mel Blanc Show page looks like:

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Mel-Blanc-Show.html

To my knowledge there is no other website that has this many old time radio photos and ads. Someone could literally spend hours at this website.

The home page for the above sites has even more links to more old time radio information, plus has a lot of information about other nostalgic topics.

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/

What old time radio means to me can be found in the old time radio shows, that remind me of a simpler time, when families ate dinner together at home and not at a crowded restaurant, except on special occasions.

What old time radio means to me…..

 Listening to Gildersleeve arguing with Judge Hooker or Fibber McGee over the price of a Christmas present.

 Listening to Kingfish trying to pull a fast one on the gullible Andrew H. Brown on Amos and Andy.

Listening to Joe Friday questioning a witness or criminal on Dragnet.

Listening to Mrs. Brooks the teacher talk in the car, as her student Walter Denton drives her to school. How many students drive their teachers to school today?

Listening to the criminals on This Is Your Life plan their next crime.

Listening to the sounds of Broadway on CBS Radio Workshop.

Listening to a live big band radio remote, when big band era was thriving.

Listening to the incessant doorbell ringing on Fibber McGee and Molly.

Listening to the contents of the closet crashing to the floor on Fibber McGee and Molly.

Listening to Boston Blackie and Inspector Faraday make sarcastic remarks toward each other.

Listening to Richard Diamond serenade his girlfriend Helen, after solving the crime for that show.

Listening to the Bickersons bickering with each other endlessly on The Bickersons.

Listening to Chester A. Riley act like a nincompoop in front of family and friends on Life of Riley.

Listening to the great organ music on Nick Carter.

Listening to Groucho Marx ask the same question over and over to a You Bet Your Life contestant.

Listening to Johnny Dollar itemizing his expenses out loud on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Listening to the great sound on Gunsmoke…probably the best sounding old time radio show.

The First 48: Realistic Portrait of Homicide Investigations

The First 48 is one of the most realistic reality shows on television. The homicide detectives on the show race against the clock, to solve cases in the first 48 hours, after the crime has been committed.

It makes sense to act swiftly, before the suspect or suspects can find a hiding place from the homicide detectives or leave town. Another reason is that the perpetrators of the crime if there are more than one suspect are likely, to concoct a story so that if questioned by the detectives their stories will be the same.

Complaints About Predominantly Black Suspects

There has been some criticism of the show, for showing cases with mostly black criminals as the suspects. They probably could do a better job on that score, since the show has many more cases with black suspects.

Once the filming begins the show is not going to stop filming, because they find out a suspect is black.

One Suspect Fan of Show

One suspect in a show I watched yesterday looked into the camera and said he was a fan of the show and then said “Hello America”.

You would think a criminal that watches the show would ask for a lawyer from the start of the interrogation, since the detectives are able to obtain confessions if given the chance.

Suspects Forget About Miranda Rights

It is almost like the suspects have forgotten their Miranda rights which say:

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.

However, suspect after suspect will forget about the Miranda rights and forget the part about anything they say could be used against them. Instead they freely give information about a crime

The detectives are smart to not even mention attorneys during the interrogation. You can tell on the show that when a suspect asks for an attorney, that the detectives hate to see a suspect ask for an attorney.

If they are not allowed to ask any more questions, then the suspect is more or less useless to them, because the suspect’s attorney will  tell them to not talk to anyone about the case. They then have to try to find other evidence or witnesses, if the case is not strong enough to take to court.

One suspect on a recent show tired of being yelled at by the detectives and told them he is through and that they can yell at his lawyer.

Pit One Suspect Against Another

Sometimes the homicide detectives on the  will pit one suspect against another, by telling the suspect they are interviewing, that the other suspect or suspects have already told them the truth and that the suspect will find it is to their benefit to tell the truth.

On one show a suspect was being interviewed and says he only knocked on the door of the crime scene house. Later on it was revealed he was the shooter, while he portrayed himself  as an innocent bystander, when first interviewed.

More Than One Crime Scene

Most of the shows have more than one crime being investigated, but some shows do only have one crime investigated. Some of the same detectives will be seen on many shows.

The shows are centered on metropolitan areas like Cincinnati, Memphis, Miami, Houston and other large cities.

Summary 

The First 48 to me is a realistic look at how a homicide investigation is conducted. It shows how leads and tips that are called in, are followed up.

A witness in a homicide case told the detectives where the marijuana was thrown out off an interstate. Traffic was stopped on that side of the interstate, till they could search for the marijuana, but eventually the detectives called off the search.

Then when that witness is questioned again, he reveals that the marijuana was thrown in a garbage can in the neighborhood, where the crime was committed, so the interstate was closed down for nothing and the witness wound up being a suspect and was charged with murder.

Some people may think the show reveals too much about how homicide detectives solve cases and question suspects. A criminal watching the show may learn what not to do, by watching the detectives question suspects. The detectives tell the suspects to tell the truth, but if they do tell the truth they are only incriminating themselves and helping the detectives solve the case.

Anyone watching this show should be forewarned, that it can be very habit-forming, because these are real cases, that are shown from the crime scene till they are charged with murder in most shows.

Jack Webb: From Dragnet to Adam 12 to Emergency

Jack Webb 1920-1982

Jack Webb was born on April 2, 1920 in Santa Monica, California. He died at the age of 62 on December 23, 1982 in West Hollywood California.

His father left home before Webb was born and he never knew his dad. He joined the Army Air Force but asked for a hardship discharge after not making the grade in flight training.

Acted in Old Time Radio

Webb starred in an ABC radio comedy the Jack Webb Show in 1946. He then starred in several detective themed old-time radio shows. Pat Novak For Hire, Johnny Modero, Pier 23 and Jeff Regan, Investigator which were his best known radio programs prior to Dragnet.

His big break came when Dragnet was first broadcast on radio in 1949, then would run till 1954. Webb portrayed Sgt. Joe Friday as a no-nonsense detective, who didn’t mince words.  The television version of Dragnet began televising in 1952 with Ben Alexander cast as Detective Frank Smith, concurrently with the radio version till 1954, when the radio series ended. The televised version would remain on the air till 1959. There was a radio or television version of Dragnet  being heard or seen for ten continuous years.

Webb loved jazz and starred in Pete Kelly’s Blues which on radio for less than two months, but would be the predecessor to the film version, of Pete Kelly’s Blues released in 1955. Then Pete Kelly’s Blues was also shown on television in 1959, but only 13 episodes were aired, before it was cancelled.

Dragnet also had a presence in radio, television and movies and it was successful in all three forms of media. A new television version of the original Dragnet named Dragnet 1967 ran till 1970 with Harry Morgan portraying Officer Bill Gannon.

Jack Webb grew up with severe asthma yet was a heavy smoker as can be seen by this advertisement mentioning that he smoked two packs a day. Smoking two packs a day today would cost roughly $180 a month.

Webb became so involved in production, that he wasn’t seen on the television screen often. He created Adam 12 which ran from 1968-1975 and  Ohara, U.S. Treasury which was shown from 1971-1972.

Julie London former wife of Jack Webb and her husband Bobby Troup on Emergency television program that aired on NBC.

Jack Webb showed he had no animosity toward his former wife Julie London, by hiring her and her husband to appear in his Emergency television program.  They appeared in but two of the 133 episodes that were aired.

Webb was married to Julie London from 1947-1953. He then married Dorothy Towne from 1955-1957, Jackie Loughery from 1958-1964. He widowed his last wife who he was married to from 1980-1982.

Jack Webb was working on a third television version of Dragnet with Kent McCord from Adam 12 lined up to be his partner, but died of a heart attack at 62.

Chief Daryl Gates of the Los Angeles Police Department retired Badge 714 after his death and Mayor Tom Bradley ordered all flags to flown at half-mast in his honor. He would be buried with a replica Badge 714.

Jack Webb’s tombstone is typical of Webb. There is no huge ornamental tombstone, but a plain tombstone, with his name and his life span.

This article written by Ben Alexander, gives us a better idea of  what the real Jack Webb was like. This paragraph tells me all I need to know about Jack Webb. I am inserting it here for those who may not have time to read the article:

Look at Victor Rodman. He had been disabled in an accident, and one of Jack’s joys about creating “Noah’s Ark” was the chance it gave him to employ Victor in a role that didn’t require walking around. Jack was thrilled with “Noah’s Ark” because it gave Victor a chance to prove what a fine actor he is. And a big reason Jack is eager to revive the show is that Victor will be working again.

http://www.badge714.com/

The Internet Movie Database biography includes some interesting trivia about Jack Webb:

Was buried with full honors befitting a LAPD detective, including a 17-gun salute.

Had just over 6,000 jazz albums in his private collection.

At the height of “Dragnet’s” popularity, people would actually call the LAPD wanting to speak to Webb’s character, Sgt. Joe Friday. The Department eventually came up with a stock answer to the large volume of calls: “Sorry, it’s Joe’s day off.”

Was a huge baseball fan, and chose badge number 714 for Sgt. Friday because it was the number of home runs Babe Ruth hit.

 

Jack Webb has created a lot of shows since Dragnet, but will always remember him, telling us what department he was working out of in the police department.

The color version of Dragnet was good, but there was something special, about the black and white version of  the 50′s. Those shows seemed to be more simple.  Who can ever forget the show, about the boy who got a rifle for Christmas and accidentally shoots his friend? This is the three-part The Big .22 Rifle For Christmas episode. Part 3 is very emotional as the father talks to his dead son, telling him what he would have received for Christmas. Then to make it even more emotional, the father of the boy killed,then gives the presents for his son,  to the boy who shot his son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMbWZZVHYZQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl_-TNDVb7I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–94KuSo5oM&feature=related

 

 

 

Prohibition: Died At the Age of 13 in 1933

The pledge signed by many children and adults to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages.

 

Frances Willard died on February 17, 1898, which was 22 years before the 18th amendment, also known as the Volstead Act went into effect in 1920.

She had a firsthand knowledge of the effects of alcohol, when her brother became an alcoholic in the 1860′s. Willard would be one of the founders of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1874 and then became the president of the worldwide WCTU in 1888.

While concentrating mostly on her fight against the use of alcohol, Willard also became active in the fight against the international drug trading.

Her life came to an end at the age of 58 due to being an influenza victim. However, she had laid the groundwork for both the 18th amendment, which would prohibit the use of alcohol in the United States and the 19th Amendment which also was known as the Women’s Suffrage amendment.

Prohibition Becomes Law

Congress passed the Volstead Act (18th Amendment) on October 28, 1919, over-riding the veto of President Woodrow Wilson. 36 of the 50 states had ratified the 18th Amendment and went into effect on January 17, 1920.

While prohibition was a good idea, it was almost impossible to enforce with 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasies, in New York City in 1925. A speakeasy could be closed in one location, then would pop up in another location, within days of last place being closed.

The amendment was not only not being obeyed, but the U.S. government lost millions of dollars in tax revenue, while the bootleggers were keeping all the money for themselves and the speakeasy owners and patrons also avoided paying any tax.

Al Capone's power was at its heights during Prohibition with him drawing $60 million in alcohol sales in 1927 and bribing politicians with his profits to keep his machine going.

Organized crime saw that Prohibition would be a huge moneymaker for them and would deliver the alcohol and take payments, upon delivery of that alcohol, unless other arrangements had been made, prior to the delivery.

Gangsters like Al Capone saw a chance to take their cut from the illicit alcohol sales. Capone raked in $60 million in alcohol sales in 1927.

Prohibition Turns Citizens Into Criminals

The same citizens that patronize legal bars, now flocked to speakeasies to drink their alcohol, which turned them into criminals. The magnitude of lawbreakers was too much for law enforcement to contend with. Women started drinking in larger numbers, than ever before.

These speakeasy patrons from the Prohibition era don't look too concerned about being raided by law enforcement officials.

We have seen videos of the Roaring 20′s, showing women dancing the Charleston and other dance of that era. Problem is that almost all of those women were violating the 18th amendment, but in the PBS series Prohibition, by Ken Burns, these women didn’t seem to be worried about being caught by law enforcement agencies.

Why Prohibition Didn’t Work

The main reason is that Americans who wanted to drink, found ways to purchase alcohol, whether it be from an individual selling from their home, from a speakeasy where alcohol was readily available and some resorted to making their own alcohol through the moonshining process.

Moonshine stills being destroyed by law enforcement officials.

The failure to prevent organized crime, from becoming involved in sale of bootleg alcohol, may have been one of the major reasons, that bootlegging operations were so successful, despite the bootleggers, sometimes only being neighbors supplying moonshine to their neighbors in rural America.

Joseph Kennedy, the father of President John F. Kennedy and the patriarch of the Kennedy family, has been rumored for years to have gotten rich in the bootlegging industry. Frank Costello of the Mafia even testified that Joseph and him had been partners in the bootlegging industry. However, no concrete evidence of Kennedy being involved in bootlegging, has never been made public.

Law enforcement officials could only pick and choose which speakeasies to close and what moonshine stills to destroy, but the problem was that there were thousands of criminals, violating the 18th amendment and there was not enough jails and prisons, to house all the violators.

Prohibition ended when it was evident that there were millions of Americans, who were going willing to risk, although not a serious risk in most cases, going to jail, rather than stop drinking.

75 Bible References Regarding Drinking

The 75 Bible references from the Signal Press in Evanston, Illinois clearly show that God’s laws prohibit drinking. Here are just a few of them from the tract:

1) Genesis 9:20-26 – Noah became drunk; the result was immorality and family trouble.

3) Leviticus 10:9-11 – God commanded priests not to drink so that they could tell the difference between the holy and the unholy.

6) Deuteronomy 29:5-6 – God gave no grape juice to Israel nor did they have intoxicating drink in the wilderness.

10) 1 Samuel 25:32-38 – Nabal died after a drunken spree.

11) 2 Samuel 11:13 – By getting Uriah drunk, David hoped to cover his sin.

12) 2 Samuel 13:28-29 – Amnon was drunk when he was killed.

13) 1 Kings 16:8-10 – The king was drinking himself into drunkenness when he was assassinated

14) 1 Kings 20:12-21 – Ben-Hadad and 32 other kings were drinking when they were attacked and defeated by the Israelites.

17) Proverbs 4:17 – Alcoholic drink is called the wine of violence.

18) Proverbs 20:1 – Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.

20) Proverbs 23:21 – Drunkenness causes poverty.

21) Proverbs 23:29-30 – Drinking causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes.

22) Proverbs 23:31 – God instructs not to look at intoxicating drinks.

23) Proverbs 23:32 – Alcoholic drinks bite like a serpent, sting like an adder.

24) Proverbs 23:33 – Alcohol causes the drinker to have strange and adulterous thoughts, produces wilfulness, and prevents reformation.

There are too many to list them all, but the entire list can be found at:

http://www.scionofzion.com/drinking.htm

 

 

 

National Security After 9/11

Our nation was in a state of shock and disbelief, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Americans didn’t know if these attacks would be followed by other attacks.

Nobody really knew what to expect at the time. I don’t think anyone expected, that we would be safe from terrorist attack,for the next ten years.

When Osama bin Laden’s computer was seized after he was killed in Pakistan, it was found to mention upcoming terrorists attacks, that were to be carried out on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

So while we were commemorating the attacks, on the tenth anniversary, we were also wary of another attack ten years later, but it never happened.

The American intelligence community deserves praise for keeping our nation safe from terrorist attacks during the last 10 years. I am sure there have been some close calls, that were never revealed to the public, to avoid alarming our citizens.

We can never be complacent though, since the terrorists may strike again, if we revert to our lax security that was in place on 9/11. Airport security since 9/11 has been ratcheted up and has received some criticism, for being too invasive. However, as much as we dislike the stricter measures, taken by airport security, it does make it safer to fly.

It remains a mystery 10 years later to, how 19 hijackers could have boarded planes, in American airports the morning of September 11, 2001. If there had been patdowns, then the boxcutters may have been found, that they used as weapons aboard those flights.

However another mystery is how the box cutters got by airport security. It seems like they would have sounded the buzzer, at the checkpoint causing the boxcutters to be found.

We may be having to wait longer to get through the checkpoints, but it is much better than being on a plane, that has been hijacked and that is being flown into a building. It is questionable whether the passengers on those flights, should have been told by relatives and friends, that planes had already flown into other buildings.

It was bad in that the passengers had to be scared beyond belief, but on the other hand it is probably what saved Flight 93 from hitting the White House or the Capitol Building. We will never know if those were the next targets, but those were likely targets.

Nothing would have been more dramatic, than a plane hitting the White House with almost full tanks of jet fuel, especially if President Bush had been in the White House. If not for cell phones being widely used even back in 2001, the passengers aboard Flight 93 would not have known, that the other planes had already hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. That knowledge is what caused the passengers to storm the cockpit, causing the plane to crash in Pennsylvania.

We should have known when the terrorist pilots were attending flight schools, that for them not to be worried about landing the planes was a major red flag.

President Bush and President Obama both have been targets of  criticism during their presidencies, but both presidents have put in place intelligence gathering agencies, that have prevented another 9/11 attack.

We must be ever vigilant though and plan on the terrorists planning future attacks. It may not be the same type of attacks, but we can’t be too careful, since good intelligence saves lives and bad intelligence puts our nation at jeopardy.

Casey Anthony Sighted Shopping in Old Navy Store in Ohio w/photos

The following article includes a link to an article that shows Casey Anthony shopping at an Old Navy store in Ohio and includes three photos.

 The New York Post published an article today that shows Casey Anthony shopping in Ohio. A Florida judge today ruled that Anthony will not have to return to Florida today as part of a probation requirement for check fraud. She had written $644.25 of bad checks after stealing a checkbook from a friend.

Anthony was spotted shopping at an Old Navy store in Ohio and didn’t seem to be too happy to see a photographer snapping her photo. It is assumed that the photographer followed her home, so her cover may be blown. Now that the paparazzi knows where to find her, they should descend on the Ohio town in droves.

It is a mystery who is bankrolling her finances, since she has not as of yet signed any deals to tell her story. The Hustler magazine offer for her to pose nude for $500,000 apparently is still on the table. That is one way she could make money, since some interview deals, include a contingency that she be required to take a lie detector test. There is no way, she would accept a deal like that and the public outcry against any entity paying her for an interview may prevent her from telling her story for money.

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the jury returning the not guilty verdict on murder charges, but guilty charges for lying to police.

This link takes readers to the article, with photos of Casey Anthony:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/lock_up_the_kids_ohio_it_casey_zGBhWUuyWvGSEHkx2DHW3J

Marla Cooper: Key To Latest Lead on D.B. Cooper Hijacking

Marla Cooper whose uncle L.D. Cooper,may turn out to be the D.B. Cooper who hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines flight has given investigators a guitar strap and photos of her uncle. If L.D. Cooper’s fingerprints and/or DNA match those the FBI has in materials that are in FBI possession. 

Ms. Cooper recalls her uncle and another uncle planning something mysterious. The hijacking took place the day before Thanksgiving on November 24,1971. She said her uncles had left to hunt turkeys a day before the hijacking. They returned a few days later with L.D. Cooper having claimed he had been in a car accident, because he bloody and bruised.

This paragraph from the Wikipedia article on D.B. Cooper, ends with a line about someone remembering an odd uncle and that apparently is exactly what has happened.

While FBI investigators have insisted from the beginning that Cooper probably did not survive his risky jump,^[6] the agency maintains an active case file—which has grown to more than 60 volumes^[7]—and continues to solicit creative ideas and new leads from the public. “Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream,” suggested Special Agent Larry Carr, leader of the investigation team since 2006. “Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.”^[6]

 Another interesting fact about the hijacking is that the Northwest Orient flight departed from Portland, Oregon for Seattle, Washington and that Marla Cooper had suspicions that her uncles were plotting something at her grandmother’s house in Oregon. So it is plausible that her uncle could have been the D.B. Cooper that hijacked the flight.

That would also explain why no body was ever found near the money that was found. If her uncle was the one that hijacked the plane, he may have left some money at the scene, that was later found, to make it appear that he had not survived the landing.

L.D. Cooper reportedly has been dead for ten years, but if the other uncle is alive, the FBI will surely question him as to what he knows.

It is surprising that Marla Cooper has chosen to tell her story to the news media, so close to the 40th anniversary of the hijacking. It seems like the family has been protecting the uncle. This case still isn’t solved, even with the latest revelations, but if the FBI can prove L.D. Cooper and D.B. Cooper are the same person, it will be another case of the FBI getting their man, even if he died ten years ago.

There are questions surrounding the latest lead from Marla Cooper. Why did she wait so many years to go public with this information? What happened to the rest of the money that wasn’t discovered? If L.D. Cooper did have the money, how did he keep from spending the money too fast to avoid suspicion?

Had Marla or any other family members been questioned by police or FBI previously? Did they answer questions truthfully, if questioned by police or FBI?

This will be an interesting story to follow in the coming days and weeks, to see if 1971 hijacking is solved once and for all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04cooper.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

FBI Has New Suspect in D.B. Cooper Hijacking

November 24th will be the 40th anniversary of a Northwest plane being hijacked by a man calling himself Dan Cooper and more commonly known today as D.B. Cooper.

The FBI hopes to have solved the case before the 40th anniversary as they have a new suspect whose fingerprints they are currently testing.

This could be just another promising lead that fizzles out as there is a chance the item the FBI is testing may not even have fingerprints still on the item.

Still, it is good to know the FBI has a lead that could lead to the arrest of the suspect, if he is still alive.

 

 

Big Brother 9′s Matt McDonald Posts July 20 Blog From Jail

Matt McDonald tells in his blog about the day he was arrested, which turned out to be his  last day of freedom, before being arrested.

Like Matt related in the blog, he had stopped selling oxycodone eight months before he was arrested. He was at work for a meeting when he was arrested. He talks about seeing his parents in the courtroom at the trial.

It turns out that being on Big Brother 9 was not a good thing. He would never have met Adam Jasinski, the winner that year who may or may not have ratted Matt out, to avoid a longer prison sentence. Jasinski got him started selling drugs, but apparently McDonald had second thoughts about it after selling drugs, then eventually stopped selling.

His past caught up with him though and he is paying the price now for selling the oxycodone. Hopefully, McDonald will be released soon and given a chance to get his life in order. His posts from jail are very interesting and gives us an idea of what prisoners have to face, in their day-to-day lives behind bars.

He focuses in the blog a lot on the fact that the indictment said the United States vs. Matt McDonald, feeling the whole country was against him.

http://mattymcdonald.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/the-indictment/

Did Dorothy Kilgallen Know Too Much About JFK Assassination?

Dorothy Kilgallen was born July 3, 1913 in Chicago, Illinois. She started writing her Voice of Broadway column for 146 syndicated papers.

She hosted the radio program Dorothy and Dick on WOR in New York City which was first broadcast in 1945. Her husband Richard Kollmar co-starred on the program. Kollmar was known for portraying Boston Blackie on the old-time radio show with the same name as the character he portrayed.

The show was on the air for 18 years before it ended in 1963. Meanwhile she was one of the panelists on What’s My Line a CBS television show hosted by John Daly which began in 1945. She appeared on the show until her untimely death in 1965.

Kilgallen was active in newspapers, radio and television simultaneously, so was well-known long before she interviewed Jack Ruby. She hated country music with a passion and when some stars of the Grand Ole Opry appeared at Carnegie Hall, she called them “hicks from the sticks”. Patsy Cline didn’t take kindly to her words and said ” And if I have the pleasure of seeing that wicked witch, I’ll let her know how proud I am to be a hick from the sticks.”

Published Ruby’s Testimony Before Made Public

Her five minute private  interview with Ruby is supposedly the only interview he gave without the presence of sheriff’s deputies. Somehow she got hold of the transcripts of Ruby’s testimony before the Warren Commission, then had them published before the Warren Commission Report was published.

J. Edgar Hoover considered Kilgallen a threat and had her moves watched closely for 25 years before the assassination. Kilgallen charged that the mafia had been recruited by the CIA to assassinate the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. That was later proven to be true.

Ruby Met With Officer Tippett Before Assassination

The most shocking revelation revealed by Kilgallen was that Jack Ruby, J.D. Tippett (the police officer who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald) and two other men had met at the Carousel, Ruby’s nightclub three weeks before the assassination. This makes me wonder just what Oswald and Tippett were talking about before Oswalt fatally shot Tippett.

Kilgallen Found Dead With JFK Notes Missing

The JFK assassination notes of Kilgallen were gone, when her body was found on November 8, 1965. She had bragged to many people that she was about to blow the JFK assassination case sky high with the information she had.

Even in death, there was controversy surrounding her autopsy. James Luke the medical examiner who spent 45 minutes at the death scene did not sign the death certificate, as Dominick DiMaio another medical examiner signed the name of James Luke.

No Official Cause of Kilgallen’s Death

No official cause of death has been determined, with it possibly being a combination of Seconal and alcohol causing the death. It is still not known whether it was suicide or accidental. There is also a possibility she may have had a heart attack concurrently with the effects of the barbiturates.

Since no witnesses were present at her death, that we know of, it may be that she was forced to take the overdose by the same people that took her JFK assassination notes.

The following paragraph from Wikipedia’s article on Kilgallen tells me she learned something that not even her husband would discuss after her death:

One of two known comments Richard Kollmar made about his first wife after her death was later recalled by Bob Bach, who booked the mystery guests for What’s My Line?. At Bach’s home several hours after her funeral, the television producer asked the widower to discuss his wife’s interest in the assassination, and Kollmar replied, “Robert, I’m afraid that will have to go to the grave with me.”

November Marks 48th Anniversary of JFK Assassination

In conclusion, this November will mark 48 years since the death of President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza and 46 years since the death of Dorothy Kilgallen who apparently knew too much about that day, for her enemies to let her die of old age.

The day JFK was assassinated, I was a 19 year old soldier working in the company post office in Hawaii, when I heard the news of his death on the radio in the post office. I will be 67 when Nov.22 comes around this year. However, I have no more idea of what truly happened that day, than what I knew 48 years later except a U.S. president was assassinated on the streets of Dallas, Texas.

I have a feeling many people with knowledge of what really happened that day have died, many mysteriously, but as the years go by fewer and fewer of them are left. Someone 40 years old on that day would be 98, if still alive. Anyone 50 or older then probably have already taken any secrets they knew underground with them.

JFKresearch.com has more information on the life and death of Dorothy Kilgallen that may help fill in some of the gaps.

http://www.jfkresearch.com/morningstar/killgallen.htm

For those wanting to read the lengthy testimony of Jack Ruby before the Warren Commission. It is extremely long.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/ruby_j1.htm

Did Nancy Grace Go Overboard After Casey Anthony Verdict?

Nancy Grace: Covered Casey Anthony trial for HLN.

It seemed like to me that Nancy Grace went overboard with her criticism of the not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.

I can understand her disappointment in knowing that Casey Anthony who probably did kill her daughter Caylee is going to walk free, maybe as early as this week.

Reasonable Doubt

However, the American justice system still specifies that a juror must not vote guilty if  there is a reasonable doubt. There was more than enough reasonable doubt to not send Casey Anthony to her death.

The prosecution erred in asking for death penalty, given the fact that there was no slam dunk evidence presented to the jury.

If the prosecution had asked for a life sentence, the jury may have even come  back with a guilty verdict.

Not Enough Evidence

The jury simply did not have enough concrete evidence to support a death penalty.

If the jury had rendered a guilty verdict and a death sentence was given and carried out, there would be no recourse, if it later became known that Ms. Anthony had not committed the crime.

Grace Went Overboard With Comments

The reaction of Nancy Grace to the verdict went way overboard in my opinion. It was like she was waging a personal vendetta against Casey Anthony.  I can understand why she would emphasize that Caylee Anthony’s killer went unpunished. The one thing both sides can agree on is that  Caylee Anthony is dead.

It didn’t take long yesterday to tire of hearing Grace call Casey tot mom. She has a name and it is Casey, not tot mom. When Graces says tot mom, it has a derogatory sound to it.

No Fingerprints Or DNA Linking Anthony

It is one thing to want justice for a murderer. However, it is another thing to want justice so much that someone like Nancy Grace would send Casey Anthony to death row, with no fingerprints or DNA linking Casey to the crime.

Grace may be correct in saying that Casey’s lies may have led to the not guilty verdict by the jury. If she had told the truth to the detectives, she would likely either be on death row now or serving a life sentence.

Lying May Have Kept Anthony Off Death Row

The Miranda law says Casey had the right to remain silent, but by lying she may receive a four-year sentence, instead of the death penalty or a life sentence.

There was an abundance of circumstantial evidence presented during the trial by the prosecution. However, you can’t send someone to their death on circumstantial evidence.

Wanted to Stay on Good Side of Grace

It was evident that the reporters and legal analysts on the program with Grace, were being careful to not get on the wrong side of Grace with their comments,

except for  Dr. Drew saying that the prosecution did not prove motive, which I don’t think Grace agreed with.

A professional reporter and legal analyst like Grace are entitled to their opinion, but yesterday we think the professionalism gave way to a personal vendetta by Grace, against Casey Anthony.

Personally, I think the jury made the correct verdict, when considering the physical evidence didn’t link Casey to the crime. If one person is sent to death row because of circumstantial evidence, it is one person too many.

Poll Questions

The following polls ask if the jury made the correct decision and if Nancy Grace went overboard with her comments after the verdict.

Miranda Rights 45 Years Old

The Miranda rights or warning was enacted after the Supreme Court ruled that the 5th and 6th amendment rights of Ernesto Arturo Miranda had been violated when he was arrested for rape and kidnapping.

When making an arrest a police officer doesn’t have to cite the Miranda warning in a certain order, but needs to convey to the arrested person their rights, in a way they can understand.

The Miranda law was enacted after the Supreme Court ruling in the Arizona vs. Miranda decision in 1966. There have been numerous court rulings in different aspects of the law since then, but the basic Miranda rights still apply today.

Ernest Arturo Miranda whose arrest culminated in the reading of the Miranda rights to suspects when being arrested.

The state of Virginia has a line that allows a suspect being questioned to terminate the interview at any point and exercise their Miranda rights.

There are some circumstances when a suspect may be read their rights, but may not be capable of understanding what they mean because of a developmental disability. It is not clear to me what would be done in this situation, but someone reading this may be able to clarify the situation.

Sometimes a police officer has to take the safety of the public into account when arresting someone, so the Miranda warning is not read until after the suspect has been handcuffed.

The following paragraph from Wikipedia outlines the six factors needed for Miranda to apply:

The Miranda rule applies to the use of testimonial evidence in criminal proceedings that is the product of custodial police interrogation.^[10] Therefore, for Miranda to apply six factors must be present:

1. evidence must have been gathered
2. the evidence must be testimonial^[11]
3. the evidence must have been obtained while the suspect was in custody^[12]
4. the evidence must have been the product of interrogation^[13]
5. the interrogation must have been conducted by state-agents^[14] and
6. the evidence must be offered by the state during a criminal prosecution.^[15]

Undercover law enforcement officials do not have to read the rights to a suspect, since the undercover official may jeopardize his own safety by revealing he is a police officer.

ERNESTO ARTURO MIRANDA

The first time Ernesto Arturo Miranda was arrested for kidnapping and rape the Supreme Court ruled that suspects should be read their Miranda rights in the Miranda vs. Ariz. case. Miranda was retried and convicted, even with his admission of guilt being thrown out.

He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years, but was out on parole in 1972 so didn’t spend much time behind bars. Miranda saw a way to make money off his name, by selling autographed Miranda rights cards for $1.50.

Miranda was later arrested for gun possession but the charges were dropped. He was still sent back to prison for a year for violating his parole, but it is confusing as to why he would be sent to prison if the charges were dropped.

Miranda’s life would come to an end when he was stabbed during a card game in a Phoenix bar. Ironically he had several Miranda cards in his possession at his death. Even more ironically the suspect used the Miranda rights to remain silent and was released. The murderer was never apprehended.

His life ended 10 years after the Miranda rights law had gone into effect.

Readers are welcome to comment and give additional information about the Miranda rights.

FBI, Media Turned 1996 Olympic Bombing Hero Richard Jewell Into Suspect

Richard Jewell went from being a hero for discovering a pipe bomb at the 1996 Summer Olympics and apparently saving lives of many by evacuating them, but was later looked on as a suspect by the FBI and the media.

 

Richard Jewell was a 33-year-old security guard for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

 

Next month will be the 15th anniversary of that day when a terrorist put his terrorist agenda ahead of the safety of innocent bystanders there to enjoy the 1996 Olympics.

 

However, Jewell was in the right place at the right time, or the death toll may have been much higher when the bomb left by the terrorist exploded shortly after midnight on July 27.

 

 

Life Changed Forever

 

Jewell’s life would be changed forever on July 27, 1996 when he discovered a backpack underneath a bench in Centennial Park. The backpack contained a pipe bomb.

 

He immediately alerted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about his discovery and helped evacuate the area, even before Eric Robert Rudolph, who later admitted being the bomber had made his 911 call to warn about the impending bomb explosion.

 

One of the mysteries that day was how Alice Hawthorne was killed by the explosion and over a hundred were injured since the bomb didn’t explode till 13 minutes later. A cameraman also died while running to cover the situation.

 

 

Mystery Why So Many Bystanders Were Injured, One Killed

 

It may have been a case of spectators wanting to see what was going on with their curiosity getting the best of them, rather than getting as far away from the scene as possible. It seems like law enforcement officials and security guards could have made sure that the area was empty as possible, since they had 13 minutes to evacuate the bystanders.

 

Richard Jewell at first was regarded as a hero, but then the FBI and the media combined to make him the prime suspect in the bombing. Their theory was that he planted the bomb then alerted authorities so he would become a hero.

 

 Never Formally Charged By FBI

Jewell was never formally charged by the FBI with the bombing. He even reportedly passed a lie detector test, which should have cleared him of any wrongdoing. His case was that of FBI profiling gone wrong. The FBI was so intent on proving that Jewell fit the profile of a lone bomber that they were focusing on the wrong man.

 

Piedmont College President Raymond Cleere and college spokesman Scott Rawles were sued by Jewell for giving false information to the FBI with Cleere describing Jewell as a “badge wearing zealot” when he called the FBI about Jewell.

 

 

Eric Rudolph admitted to bombing at the 1996 Olympics in a plea bargain which gave him life imprisonment in exchange for the Justice Department dropping their request for the death penalty which exonerated Richard Jewell.

 

It was 1998 before the FBI even made Eric Rudolph their main suspect in the bombing at Centennial Park. It would be five more years before he would be arrested in 2003 after hiding in the woods of North Carolina.

 

Rudolph agreed to a plea bargain in 2005 admitting his guilt for the bombing at Centennial Park in exchange for the Justice Department dropping their request for the death penalty.

 

 

Filed String Of Lawsuits

 

Once Jewell had been cleared of being the Centennial Park bomber, he filed a string of lawsuits against the media who had taken a FBI leak blaming Jewell for the bombing. That lawsuit ended with him receiving an undisclosed settlement.

 

His lawsuit against NBC and Tom Brokaw resulted in him receiving a $500,000 settlement. CNN also settled with Jewell, for an undisclosed amount.

 

 

Purchased Home For Mom With N.Y. Post Settlement

 

He also received a settlement from the New York Post. It was enough to pay his legal expenses, plus he bought a new home for his mother with  the settlement.

 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was able to avoid paying Jewell a settlement in 2007 when Judge John R. Mather dismissed the case in December of that year. By then however, Jewell had died four months earlier.

 

 

Died Due to Natural Causes

 

His death on August 29, 2007 was due to natural causes. He died in Woodbury, Georgia at the age of 44.

 

It is bad enough when someone charged with a crime is tried in the media. But in Jewell’s case, he was never charged but still vilified by the media.

 

The last 11 years of Jewell’s life were a nightmare, since he was portrayed as a criminal by most of the media, without being charged.

 

Hopefully, the media learned their lesson from the Richard Jewell saga, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bank Robber Pretty Boy Floyd: Wasn’t Pretty or a Boy, But Cold Blooded Killer

Pretty Boy Floyd 1904-1934

Despite his nickname Pretty Boy Floyd was neither pretty or a boy. He was a hard-boiled criminal who was first arrested at the age of 18 for stealing roll of coins from a post office.

Floyd had been born in Adairsville, Georgia on February 3, 1904 but grew up in Oklahoma.

When he robbed a paymaster the victim told police that one of the robbers was a “pretty boy with apple cheeks” and he was Pretty Boy Floyd the rest of his life though his friends called him “Chock”. Floyd hated the Pretty Boy nickname, not exactly the way he wanted to be portrayed.

Attempted To Find Work

Floyd married 16-year-old Ruby Hargrove in 1921 and when times got tough for the young couple Floyd started his life of crime. He had tried to find work, but became discouraged after not finding work.

With no work in sight, Floyd took a train to St. Louis where he would rob a Kroger store of $16,000. but was arrested when he was seen with new clothes and a new car. Officers found what was left of the money from the robbery.

He served five years in prison. While he was in prison his wife gave birth to a son, Jack Dempsey Floyd and divorced him. There were no reports of her being arrested, since she had to have known the money came from the robbery.

Used Bank Officials To Shield Him

He sometimes made bank officials stand on running boards of his vehicle as he made his getaway to avoid being shot at by law enforcement. He was known as the “Robin Hood of Cookson Hills” a name which he liked and he said that he only robbed moneyed men. He never wore a mask to conceal his identity, sometimes even introducing himself to his victims.

Although he had sworn he would never return to prison, he was sentenced on November 24, 1930  to a 12-15 year sentence for robbing a Ohio bank. However, he escaped and in March of 1931 was a suspect in the murders of two bootlegging brothers, Wally and Boll Ash of Kansas City.

Car used by Pretty Boy Floyd while getting away from FBI.

Killed Three Law Enforcement Officials

Members of his gang or Floyd himself would kill three more law enforcement officials starting with the murder of patrolman R.H. Cashner on April 23, 1931, then went on to kill ATF agent C. Burke in Kansas City on July 22, 1931. Then on April 7, 1932 an attempted ambush on Floyd, resulted in the death of former sheriff Irv Kelley of McIntosh County, Oklahoma.

Targeted By FBI After Kansas City Massacre

It wasn’t clear that Floyd had been involved in the “Kansas City Massacre” of June 17, 1933 but he was suspected as being one of the killers who killed four police officers at the Union Railway Station in Kansas City. The FBI made an even stronger effort to arrest Floyd, although it is questionable if he was involved even though he was in Kansas City at the time.

Bank robber Alvin Karpis claimed that Floyd admitted he was involved in the massacre, but there has been so much conflicting testimony that it is unlikely we will never know what really happened.

Floyd And Accomplice Encounter Police In Ohio

Four days prior to his death, Floyd and Adam Richetti left Buffalo, New York on October 18, 1934. They were driving through heavy fog and ran into a telephone pole. They asked their female companions to get a tow truck, since they didn’t want to be recognized. The tow truck driver would then bring the females and the car back when it was repaired.

However, someone calls the police when they see the two men on the side of the road, thinking they were looking suspicious at dawn on October 19. Wellsville, Ohio Police Chief John H. Fultz and two officers arrive at the scene to investigate. Floyd’s accomplice Richetti runs into the woods with two of the officers running after him.

Floyd fires at Fultz, wounding him in the foot and then runs into the woods. Meanwhile, Richetti is eventually captured, but Floyd is still in the woods hiding from police.

Floyd Gunned Down In Cornfield

Pretty Boy Floyd’s death was as controversial as the Kansas City Massacre. The only thing known for sure is that Floyd  was killed in a cornfield on October 22, 1934 in East Liverpool, Ohio.

FBI agent Melvin Purvis regarded as the man who got John Dillinger, another notorious criminal in the era, was there when Petty Boy Floyd met his death.

To sort out the different accounts of his death, it would be easier to read the accounts at Wikipedia than for me to confuse readers, even further by my interpretation of the events:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Boy_Floyd

This website has an excellent timeline of what transpired starting with the Kansas City Massacre to the death of Pretty Boy Floyd.

http://www.gangstersandoutlaws.com/sitebuilder/images/Floyd_Lit_Digest011-409×482.jpg

Extreme Makeover Home Edition : Scammed by Family

We have seen truly needy families helped by Ty Pennington and his design crew and volunteer builders, but in this case the family given a new home turned out to be scammers that were out to get a new home for nothing not to mention a secret they kept from the researchers trying to verify if they really needed a new home.

The Chuck and Terri Cerda home was more than the family could pay for, so they moved to Oregon from Las Vegas.

The reason that ABC had the home built in the first place was that their daughters Maggie and Molly both supposedly had to wear masks to avoid the germs in their old house before the new house was built.

Six doctors said the two girls were not in any medical jeopardy. Even worse Maggie and Molly were victims of medical child abuse.

The girls apparently had been trained to feign illness when being examined by doctors, yet were able to run and play when they had the chance.

It is good that the Cerda family was not able to make the payments on their new home given to them by ABC.

When they moved to Oregon, the Oregon health system saw through their chicanery and recognized they were using the children for monetary reasons.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has helped a lot of families, but the Cerda family’s story of having two daughters who had to wear masks to avoid germs, turned out to be a lie according to the following article.

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2011/05/clackamas_county_a_case_of_med.html

Many other families who had houses built for them by ABC have had to give up their homes because they couldn’t afford the payments.

Sometimes when the families are shown their new home, someone will present them a check to pay off the mortgage for the family.

However, the families in this Wall Street Journal article, had to give up their homes and put them on the market. So when Ty Pennington says “welcome home” to the family moving into their new house,  it doesn’t mean the family always is able to live in the homes for many years to come.

ABC needs to be even more careful about who they give these new homes to, now that they know a family may only be pretending to actually need a new home.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition also needs to build smaller houses to keep the monthly payments down for the families.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304871704575160312975375930.html

Flash Mobs Turning to Crime

This flash mob turns to crime as they rob this store in an undisclosed location.

Flash mobs used to be about large groups of people freezing in place, unexpected singing in places like malls and surprise wedding mobs.

Now the criminal element is embracing the mob mentality, by entering stores in large numbers, stealing what they can get their hands on, then leaving the stores en masse.

The store employee in the above video is helpless in the face of a huge mob entering the store and stealing everything in sight, before making a mass exit. There is no way one employee can stop stealing marauders like these criminals. Hiring a security guard probably would not even help in a situation like this.

Crimes like this will force stores to place their merchandise, on shelves behind locked glass doors. The thieves may be able to break the glass but may sustain injuries that may make it easier to apprehend them if store cameras can identify them.

These flash mob thieves steal clothes from this high end clothing store.

Flash mob thieves have no respect for anyone as all they are worried about is to get their greedy hands on as much merchandise as possible.

The following article and video tell about flash mobs stealing from Chicago stores:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/03/02/mag-mile-shops-on-alert-after-flash-mob-thefts/

I am reluctant to give the mob thieves publicity that might encourage others to form mobs and steal from stores. On the other hand, it may alert law enforcement authorities to devise ways to stop this form of thievery before it starts in other cities across the United States.

Watching flash mobs on You Tube used to be fun, but now joining a flash mob to steal merchandise, may be fun for the thieves, but it won’t be fun when stores start locking them in after they enter the store with no way out, but for the police to take them out of the stores in handcuffs. These miscreants may be not be joining any other flash mobs, but instead will be joining the mobs of criminals in state prisons.

JFK May Be Alive If Oswald Had Killed General Walker

General Walker was in his home when Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to shoot him seven months before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

General Edwin Walker was a controversial conservative who commanded combat troops in World War II and the Korean War.

He was arrested by the federal government after making some inflammatory remarks when James Meredith was the first black admitted to the University of Mississippi.

General Walker was charged with insurrection and sedition, plus two additional charges.

Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to kill General Walker on April 10, 1963, seven months and 12 days before he allegedly assassinated President John F. Kennedy during a motorcade in Dallas from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

The Warren Commission Report said Oswald was the sole killer of JFK, but Oswald never faced trial since he was killed two days after the assassination by Jack Ruby.

If Oswald had killed General Walker, he probably would have been apprehended and arrested, but he never was formally charged with the attempted murder of Walker.

We do know that Oswald admitted to his wife Marina that he did shoot at Walker. If Oswald had been behind bars on November 22, 1963, it is likely that John F. Kennedy would have lived to finish his first term and possibly be elected to a second term.

JFK was 46 at the time of his death and would be 94 this month if still alive. However, if there was a conspiracy and Oswald was only a patsy to take the blame for the assassination, while someone else did the actual assassination, it would not have mattered if Oswald was behind bars.

November 22nd of this year will be the 48th anniversary of the assassination. Though the Warren Report claims Oswald was the killer, I still not fully convinced that he acted alone.

Even an 18 year old that was in Dealey Plaza that fateful day will be 66 this year, while a 40 year old that day would be 88 this year. So time is running out on any witness that might refute the Warren Report and prove it was a contrived effort by the U.S. government point the finger at one man, rather than a government of any country.

Just a few of the people and organizations that have been mentioned as the ones behind the assassination are:

Lyndon B. Johnson (who didn’t like playing second fiddle to JFK)

Cuban refugees (who didn’t like the way JFK handled the Bay of Pigs invasion and reportedly asked for less air support which halved the 16 planes being used in support of the Cuban invaders down to eight planes. Then after the invasion failed JFK pointed at the CIA for being the reason the invasion didn’t work, while he was the one that wanted less air support for the invasion. He fired several top CIA officials, including the director Allen Dulles after the invasion failed.)

E. Howard Hunt of the CIA (who reports say was at the grassy knoll the day JFK was assassinated and also took part

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2007/300407deathbedconfession.htm

Cuba/Fidel Castro

Sam Giancana

Carlos Marcello

CIA

Russian government with possible KGB involvement

Organized crime in general since Bobby Kennedy, the attorney general was fighting organized crime with a passion.

Ku Klux Klan

There is no doubt that JFK had a large list of enemies who were angry enough with him or his brother Bobby to celebrate the death of JFK.

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit for someone to point the finger at his own vice president Lyndon B. Johnson who knew he would take over the presidency if JFK was assassinated.

On the other hand 48 years have passed and no smoking gun has emerged yet. It will take a deathbed confession now, more than likely to ascertain who the killer was if it wasn’t Oswald.

Old Time Radio Poll

The last old time radio show aired on September 30,1962. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar being the last old time radio shows to be broadcast.

The poll today breaks down by age groups of people who have heard old time radio shows either live from 1920′s till September 30, 1962 or media such as MP3 CD’s and downloads:

Used Baby Racket Problem

This morning I listened to the Used Baby Racket episode of This is Your FBI on my MP3 player.

The story tells about a lady who sells her baby for $1,000 to someone who wanted to avoid the long wait to adopt a baby.

Her husband sends a recording on a record saying he is coming back home from Germany. She is worried because she has sold their baby to a stranger, and needs to buy the baby back, since her husband is coming home.

She tells her brother about her problem and he comes up with the idea of pretending to be an FBI agent, and tell the lady that the baby was kidnapped. His plan works perfectly as the lady gives the baby back to him.

They then resell the baby to another mother. Then the husband calls and says he is at the airport and will be home in 20 minutes. The lady and her brother were planning on reselling the baby again, but the husband coming back ruined their plans. So they take off with the baby, so they can sell it again.

They had a list of parents who wanted to adopt babies, making it easy for the criminals to sell the same baby several times, then use the FBI ploy to take the baby back free and then resell again.

This was a true case in the FBI files and the entire episode can be heard at this website:

http://www.dumb.com/oldtimeradio/listen/10457/Detective_This_Is_Your_F_B_I/This_Is_Your_F_B_I/47_04_04_The_Used_Baby_Racket_mp.html

The show was originally broadcast on April 4, 1947. Babies are still being sold 64 years later by criminals who are out to make money off of mothers desperate to have a baby.

Jimmy Hoffa: Still Missing 36 Years Later

These videos tell the story of the rise and fall of Jimmy Hoffa.

 

Jimmy Hoffa was born February 14, 1913 and disappeared on July 30, 1975 at the age of 62. Hoffa would be 98 years old today if he is still alive.

 

Hoffa was seen outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Deerfield, Michigan before his disappearance. His wife, Josephine, had thought her husband was unusually nervous when leaving the house, for what Hoffa thought would be a meeting to discuss his return to the presidency of the Teamsters union.

 

A 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham almost hit a truck. Then the truck driver, could see Jimmy Hoffa in the back seat, of the vehicle. He also noticed something covered up with a gray blanket, that probably was a rifle.

 

The police found out the car belonged to Joe Giacalone, the son of Anthony Giacalone, who was a known mobster. Chuckie O’Brien a Teamster was the driver of the car that day, since Joe Giacalone had loaned it to him.

 

Hoffa knew O’Brien well enough to feel comfortable getting into a car with him. We can only assume that Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone and Anthony Tony Pro” Provenzano, who allegedly were to meet Hoffa at the Red Fox restaurant, sent O’Brien to pick Hoffa up, then Hoffa was killed of and the body disposed of in a place where it would never be found.

 

We will never know if Giacalone and Provenzano participated in the death of Hoffa. They could have had O’Brien drive Hoffa to a location where a hitman would finish the job.

 

One thing for certain is that there is no way Hoffa would disappear of his own volition. He was in the midst of his quest to regain the presidency of the Teamster’s union.

 

Where he was buried remains a mystery today. These are just some of the places he may have been buried:

 

According to Ralph Picardo, the convict who fingered the conspirators, Hoffa’s body was put in a 55-gallon steel drum and carted away in a Gateway Transportation truck. Picardo said he didn’t know where it was taken.

 

According to another jail bird, Hoffa’s body was taken to New Jersey where it was mixed into the concrete that was used to construct the New York Giant’s football stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Hoffa was said to have been buried in a 100-acre gravel pit in Highland, Michigan, which was owned by his brother William.

His widow Josephine died only five years after his disappearance.

 

Trutv.com has a six page article about the disappearance of Hoffa and the events which may have led to his death.

 

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/jimmy_hoffa/1.html

 

 

Barry Bonds Trial Poll

Barry Bonds as a skinny Pittsburgh Pirate and as a bulked up San Francisco Giant after allegedly taking steroids.

The latest news reports from the Barry Bonds perjury trial, say that the trial could go to the jury, as early as this week.

This week the defense will call their own witnesses to the stand, trying to refute the testimony of the prosecution witnesses, last week.

The following polls ask questions regarding his use of steroids and the vote of the jury.

Hanging Jail: DeRidder, Louisiana

The DeRidder jail became known as the "hanging jail" after two murderers were hung there in 1928 for the robbery and murder of a taxi cab driver.

DeRidder, Louisiana is a small city of 9,000 (according to the 2000 census) but is known for its hanging jail. The jail is now 97 years old having been built in 1914.

The double hanging took place on March 9, 1928 some 83 years ago, when  Joe Genna and Molton Brasseaux hung for robbing and murdering 45 year old J.J. Brevelle, a taxi driver.

The jail was closed in 1984 which is 27 years ago, but it still is drawing interest from paranormal groups.

LA Spirits is a paranormal group that explored the facility. After setting up their equipment they said they heard footsteps, heard a shower running and could smell pipe smoke.

There is a website that give many details about the jail, the crime which caused the two murderers to be hanged and how they were apprehended.

This website also features a video taken inside the jail and the webmaster is to be commended for their research.

http://itsphotography.wordpress.com/

Kimberly Bell Relates Bonds Saying He Was Using Steroids

Kimberly Bell former girlfriend of Barry Bonds shown on the right tesified today that Bonds told her the steroids he were taking caused an injury to his elbow.

Kimberly Bell, the former girlfriend of Barry Bonds testified today, that Bonds spoke of taking steroids. This would refute the testimony Bonds gave to a grand jury in 2003 that he didn’t know he was taking steroids.

Bell’s testimony could be a key, to whether Bonds is convicted of perjury before the grand jury in 2003. However, it depends on how much weight the jury places on her testimony, whether it affects the outcome of the trial.

I am sure the defense attorneys will do whatever it takes to impugn the testimony of Bell. Right now she is the prosecutor’s main witness, unless they have some surprise witnesses that may called before the trial is over.

There is a plethora of circumstancial evidence against Bonds, but very little if any concrete evidence that he took steroids.

His chances of getting an acquittal greatly improved with the refusal to testify by his former trainer, Greg Anderson.  Anderson has spent time in prison in the past for his refusal to testify. It is possible Anderson is refusing to testify to not keep Bonds from going to prison, but to prevent from being charged with criminal offenses himself.

That raises questions as to why he would refuse to testify, while Bonds has been able to walk free.  If he walks free this time again this time, it would not be a huge surprise.

Bonds exhibited every symptom of steroids use with his shoe size increasing from 10 1/2 to 13. His cap size also increased. He exhibited the anger that usually goes with steroids use by these statements to Kimberly Bell:

“He was just increasingly aggressive, irritable, agitated, very impatient, almost violent,” Bell said.

Asked by prosecutor Jeff Nedrow what Bonds would tell her, she replied, “That he would cut my head off and leave me in a ditch.”

She testified that Bonds mode those threats more than once, and also said, “That he would cut off my breast implants because he paid for them.”

It remains to be seen whether the prosecution has a smoking gun, that could send Bonds to prison. This couldn’t have been a good day for Bonds, to hear his ex-girlfriend tell the courtroom that he admitted to her, that he was taking steroids.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2011/03/barry-bonds-trial-ex-girlfriend-talks-of-aggression-steroids-impotence/1

D.B. Cooper: Still Missing 40 Years Later

 

Forty years ago this November, D.B. Cooper hijacked a Northwest Airlines flight enroute from Portland, Oregon to the Seattle – Tacoma, Washington airport.

In January of 1971 All in the Family debuted on the CBS television network. The Colts defeated the Cowboys in Super Bowl V that same month.

That March the Ed Sullivan Show was seen for the last time. Then in April Charles Manson is sentenced to death but his sentence is commuted to life imprisonment in 1972.

Amtrak starts inter-city passenger service on May 1. On August 11 construction is begun on the Superdome in New Orleans.

Walt Disney World opened in Florida on October 1 of 1971. Then on November 24, 1971 D.B. Cooper’s hijacking of a Northwest Orient plane makes the headlines.

Still Missing After All These Years

Only D.B. Cooper knows if he is still alive. He may have succeeded in the only unsolved hijacking in world history, or he may have died the same night he parachuted out of the plane enroute to Seattle-Tacoma airport.

His ticket cost for the approximately 150 mile trip was $18.42 plus tax.

The hijacker was said to have been in his late 40′s which would place him in his late 80′s if he is still alive.

U.S. News Online published this article in 2000 that names Duane Weber as the hijacker and is considered to be the one most closely resembling the D.B. Cooper sketches:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/cooper.htm

It is almost certain that D.B. Cooper, was not the real name of the hijacker. There are many more questions than answers regarding D.B. Cooper:

Was D.B. Cooper really Duane Weber?

Did he land safely and live under the name Duane Weber or any other name the rest of his life?

Did the hijacker’s parachute fail to open and died upon impact?

What happened to the money given to the hijacker?

Was the hijacker wearing a toupee to change his appearance?

Did the hijacker suffer a lifetime injury from hitting the ground after the jump?

Was the hijacker a professional parachute jumper or was he a novice who knew only the fundamentals of parachuting?

The following Wikipedia article gives much more information assuming it is correct:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper

Southern Fried Stings

Southern Fried Stings is a scripted detective series being shown on TruTV.

Southern Fried Stings may look like another reality show, but in reality it is a scripted show that is being re-enacted for the television audience.

At least they deserve credit for being truthful, instead of trying to make us believe what we are seeing, is the way it happened.

Jay Russell is the leader of R.A.I.D. (Resistance Against Illegal Drugs). Russell is a former South Carolina state trooper who is paid to find out whatever his clients want him to find out about employees, spouses or whoever else may be suspected of  cheating, stealing or etc.

This video shows a former major league baseball player whose wife suspects he is back on steroids. As you see though he is not on steroids but is still up to no good.

While the emphasis is on drugs, Jay finds out that the one being spied on may be involved in other activities that their spouse may be intensely interested in.

How Time Flies: Barbara Feldon is 78 This Week

Barbara Feldon will be 78 later this week.

It doesn’t seem possible that Barbara Feldon, of Get Smart fame, will be 78 on Saturday of this week. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 12, 1933.

An early claim to fame for Feldon, was when she won the grand prize, on the $64,000 Question in 1957, in the William Shakepeare category.

Feldon made her television in 1964 in East Side/West Side. She appeared in many television series, as a free lance actress,  before garnering the role of Agent 99, in Get Smart which ran from 1965-1970.

It was a major accomplishment for Feldon to co-star with Don Adams, in Get Smart in only her second year, of acting in television.

After the show left the air in 1970, she acted mostly in television series, and television movies, and acted in very few theatrical releases.

25 years after the original Get Smart series aired,  the show was brought back in 1995, but only lasted for seven episodes, before being canceled. By then Don Adams was 72, and Felton was 62 which may be the reason the show didn’t catch on again.

Feldon had only five more acting jobs in the last 16 years, since the early demise of the second Get Smart.

This comment by Feldon shows she looks on her years as Agent 99 with fondness and doesn’t resent a fan mentioning it to her:

“There’s not a day when somebody doesn’t smile and say, ‘Oh, you’re Agent 99.’ I like being in a world that regards me in a friendly way.” Interview with Toby Kahn, 1983.  - Internet Movie Database

Barbara Feldon at the 2008 TV Land Awards program.

13 iPads Stolen From Fla. Wal-Mart

One of the six thieves caught on surveillance camera as he enters into Wal-Mart before the six stole 13 iPads.

Wal-Mart store in Fort Myers, Florida will be re-examining their security measures, after 13 iPads were stolen. Six people were involved in the theft with one unlocking the case with the iPads and the others helping load them into shopping carts.

This was a well planned heist since they walked into the store individually to avoid suspicion and then waited while one of them unlocked the case.

The first question is how was this case unlocked without a key. The second question is how were they able to load the iPads into a shopping cart without being detected? Maybe because of the early hour there might not have even been a clerk in the department.

Makes me wonder if one of them diverted the attention of a clerk taking them to the other end of the electronics department away from the iPads (if a clerk was in the department).

The third question is how did the six people stuff the iPads into their clothing with them being 7.31 inches wide and 9.50 inches deep. How many people have pockets inside their clothing that are 7.31 inches wide? One of the six had to be carrying three iPads assuming they each took two each with one taking three iPads.

It would arouse suspicion if the six were all walking out of the store holding their coats closed to prevent the iPads from falling to the floor.

The main question is how did they get out the door with the iPads without the buzzer going off since they were unpaid items and where was the greeter? Did they disable something on the iPads to insure they could get out of the store without being detected?

One more question is why wasn’t someone monitoring the security camera for the electronics department? If someone was watching them they wouldn’t have time to even unlock the case .

It is inconceivable that they could steal thirteen iPads valued at $8,027, stuff them in their clothing and stroll out the store undetected.

Wal-Mart has surveillance video of the thieves but need help in identifying them.

http://www.northfortmyersneighbor.com/page/content.detail/id/508630/Tips-wanted-on-WalMart-thieves.html?nav=5164

The Crime Stoppers has more photos posted at their website and the release states that the thieves entered the store at 5:55 AM on February 25 and left the store at 6:05 AM. The photos in the following release from Crime Stoppers are very clear and it should be a matter of time before the thieves are behind bars.

All they need is some names to go with the faces. It is surprising they haven’t been arrested but they could be out of the area by now, considering it is over a week later and there are no followup stories about them being arrested. They may have been traveling hundreds of miles to hit this store and may be in another part of the country by now.

http://www.swflcrimestoppers.org/Press%20Releases/2011%20Press/110303_Photos%20Released%20Of%20Thieving%20Troop%20Who%20Stole%20Thousands%20From.html

Archive.org: Great Multimedia Website

Archive.org will keep a reader entertained for hours.

Archive.org is probably the best source for audio and video online this side of YouTube.  The home page for the website as I write this article has a link to an audio version of a Grateful Dead concert at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum at New Haven, Connecticut on May 11, 1981.

The concert is only one of 803,305 audio recordings at the website.  There are 2,214 old time radio related links to old time radio shows and magazines that were printed during the height of the popularity of old time radio.

One Roy Rogers episode has been downloaded 74,882 times showing that the website is available for downloading many of the old time radio shows we grew up with.

Old time radio fans will love looking at list after list of old time radio shows available for downloading including some of the more obscure shows which have very few episodes in existence.

The live music archive features 88,813 archives while the moving image archives total 451,934.

Avid readers will enjoy knowing that there are 2.694,639 texts including books and ebooks. The new Bookreader at the site includes Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin and is the example shown of how the Bookreader works.

http://blog.archive.org/2010/12/10/2685/

There is an audio version of some books but the one I listened to was not of the best quality and seemed to be a computer generated voice which probably would be tiring to listen to for an entire book.

Most readers may not enjoy the voice and instead opt to read the books without sound. For those that like the audio they should enjoy the feature that highlights the portion of the book being read by the voice.

The Mega Reader iPhone app provides access to the 1.8 million free books at archive.org so they each iPhone user can have their own personal reader.

Each volume of the Warren Report investigation of the assassination of  President John F. Kennedy is available to read.

The site is an excellent source of reading material for educators and students who are looking for books that are no longer copyrighted.

One word of caution: it could take hours just to look at what is available at archive.org. This website may have the most content of any website online and is worth going to the website to see for yourself what is available.

http://www.archive.org/

MP3 Players: Then and Now

Creative Nomad Zen Xtra Jukebox

It has been seven years since I purchased my Creative Nomad Zen Xtra Jukebox MP3 player and it is still working great in 2011.

The 40 GB player may not be as slim as the MP3 players being sold today but it has 4,092 songs in it that I recorded from CD’s I had in my collection which has used only 14 GB of the space in the player.

I have found that Windows Media Player is best for ripping the songs from a CD into the computer and then after that process is completed going to My Computer will find the music in the My Music folder.

Right clicking on the music folder for the album and sending it to the player is all that is needed for it to copy the music into the player.

The sound quality to me is excellent and the music can be listened to in many ways. FM transmitters can be used to play the music in a stereo system, from non MP3 radios and other music sources.

However I have encountered problems getting the exact frequency on the transmitter to listen to the music so seldom even try to use them.

When my wife bought me a record player a couple of years ago it had an MP3 connection in the back enabling me to just plug one end into the MP3 player and the other into the MP3 connection on back of the record player.

There are many speakers today that are easily connected to a MP3 player. At one time Dollar Tree had one for a dollar that while it wasn’t the best sound but it did work.

Last year I found a I-Pod radio selling at a garage sale for only $3 which also has a MP3 connection in the back and it is great to listen to music and old time radio shows.

The old time radio shows on MP3 CD’s go directly into the My Music folder in Windows after the CD has been inserted into the CD drive. So with the MP3 player connected to the computer and the folder for the old time radio shows on that CD open right clicking will send the shows to the MP3 player.

Most MP3 CD’s will hold 100 old time half hour radio shows which is 50 hours of listening pleasure. For instance I have over 800 Jack Benny episodes on 8 or 9 discs.

One MP3 CD in my collection has an entire baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees in 1934 with legendary Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson as an announcer. 77 years later it is still possible to listen to a game in which Lou Gehrig is playing but Babe Ruth was out with an injury that day.

There are also MP3 CD’s that are packed with radio shows that announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor and another about the Normandy invasion and you can hear the news broadcast those days over 60 years later.

Another MP3 CD includes a typical broadcast day from 1939 which includes every show that day that was broadcast from sign on till sign off and gives an idea of what it was like 71 years ago.

With my collection of over 17,000 old time radio episodes of many different shows it is easy to transfer several episodes of a particular show to the MP3 player and then after listening to them delete them from the player since they are on a MP3 CD so I can tell immediately if I have heard a show since I have heard it the episode would have been deleted.

If someone wants to buy old time radio shows it is much cheaper to buy them in MP3 form than on a regular audio CD since an audio CD may hold only four half hour shows and a cassette tape will only have a half hour show on front and back of the tape depending on how much the tape will hold.

2GB MobiBlu Cube MP3 player.

Move the calendar ahead to 2011 and MobiBlu has on the market a very small 2GB MP3 player that  only weighs .063 ounces and it is a .94 of an inch square.

The MobiBlu player shown in the photo is currently being sold at Amazon for $111.22 which seems a bit too pricey for such a small player.

The player includes an FM radio and a clock. It also includes a built in microphone and a voice recorder.

The radio also can save music or talk shows into the player for later listening.

The price still is a little steep for a player that holds only 32 hours of MP3 music and 64 hours of WMA music.

To me it is more of a novelty than a practical MP3 player.

 

My clunky looking Creative Nomad Zen Xtra Jukebox may not be as small as the MobiBlu player but it has provided a lot of listening pleasure the last seven years.

Someday my Creative player will be obsolete since it is not compatible with Windows 7 the last I knew and I am already getting not compatible with Windows Media Player messages already but it does still work with it.

The only problem is that I have misplaced the installation CD for the player and since our computer was repaired after the virus the software is no longer in the computer so I can’t download music and old time radio shows till I find the missing software.

However I can still listen to the music and old time radio shows in the player for many years to come. Buying electronic products can produce a myriad of problems but I can truthfully say the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra Jukebox is working as well today as when I received it in the mail back in 2004.

1941 Philco console radio.

I can still listen to old time radio shows that go as far back as 1928 which is 83 years ago. The MP3 CD’s have been a amazing development that enable listeners in 2011 to go back in time to the good old days of old time radio which lasted from the 20′s till September 30,1962 the day old time radio died.

I can still recall visiting my grandparents at their Allendale, Missouri farm in 1959 and listening to radio shows and Kansas City Athletics baseball games as they were broadcast on a radio similar to this 1941 Philco console radio.

However the MP3 player enables me to relive those days 53 years later as I listen to the same great old time radio shows that were being broadcast back then.

It is exciting to listen to the old comedy shows like Fibber McGee and Molly, Great Gildersleeve, Amos and Andy and the Jack Benny show.

Detective shows of that era come alive again as Boston Blackie, Dragnet, This is Your FBI and dramas likk the Family Theater and Lux Radio Theater can be heard today bringing back memories of the good old days when life wasn’t so fast paced.

Listening to the Christmas shows from those days are a special treat like A Christmas Carol, Amos and Andy Christmas show in which Amos recites the Lord’s Prayer to his daughter on Christmas Eve. Another favorite was the Lum N’ Abner show where neighbors walk through the snow to help a destitute family.

The Family Theater Christmas episode of A Daddy For Christmas will bring tears to your eyes as a mother and her son try to make it after her husband is killed in World War II and the son’s mom winds up marrying a department store Santa Claus.

MP3 technology has made it possible for us to hear those shows on MP3 CD’s that are nominally priced with Ebay showing  621 items under the old time radio CD’s listing.

Some of the sellers are selling huge numbers of shows on MP3 CD’s and DVD’s. One seller is selling 852 episodes of Jack Benny shows for $4.89 using Buy It Now with only a $1.69 shipping charge. The only caveat is that these episodes are all on one DVD while it would take about nine MP3 CD’s for these same episodes which would drive the price higher.

These shows will play on a computer but it will take more technical knowledge than I have to play these shows on other devices but most audiophiles should have no problem.

Anyone who misses the good old days of radio can listen to the old shows at several websites if they can’t afford or don’t want to purchase an MP3 player.

OTR.NET is one of the best to listen to old time radio programs for free with over 12,000 free shows to listen to including 610 Jack Benny shows.

OTRCAT.com is one of the best places to sample shows where almost every show sold on the site has a free sample of that show.

Happy old time radio listening!!

 

William Shatner: Actor, Singer and Pitchman

William Shatner looked a lot different in this publcity shot early in his career and made his first television appearance in 1954 on Canadian television when he portrayed Ranger Bob in a Canadian version of Howdy Doody in 1954.

William Alan Shatner was born on March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Shatner made his movie debut in 1951 in The Butler’s Night Off portraying a crook in a Canadian movie that grossed $35,000.

Shatner now has been in show business for 50 years and has seldom gone more than a year without being in a movie or television show.

He was in live stage productions when television presented live plays. He has one of the most extensive resumes ever since he has appeared in several different television shows as a guest star and he appeared in the Defenders from 1961 to 1965 acting in one episode in each season portraying a different character in each season.

William Shatner as he appeared portraying Capt. James T. Kirk on Star Trek which has been the most significant role in his career.

His big break came when got the role of Capt. James Kirk in Star Trek in which he appeared in 79 episodes during the 1966-1969 run.

Star Trek returned to television in 1973-1974 and Shatner starred in 22 of those episodes. He starred in Star Trek the Motion Picture in 1979. He appeared in five more Star Trek movies with his last Star Trek movie appearance being in 1991 in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Shatner was seen in either a Star Trek television series or movie intermittently from 1966 to 1991 spanning 25 years.

Heather Locklear and William Shatner as they looked during the five year run of T.J. Hooker.

Shatner’s next long running TV series was T.J. Hooker in which he co-starred with Heather Locklear from 1982 -1986. Shatner appeared in 90 episodes of the show.

Adrian Zmed and the singer James Darren also were in the cast.

The shows can be seen on the Universal HD channel presently since he has been on the channel since September of 2010.

Both Shatner and Locklear have been seen on television for many years and should be seen for many years to come with Shatner now 79 and Locklear who is 30 years younger than Shatner is now 49.

James Spader and William Shatner in a scene from Boston Legal television series.

William Shatner would have another long running series in Boston Legal which ran from 2004-2008. He has a series being shown today on CBS network but the name is one of the worst names ever for a television series so won’t even name it.

William Shatner has reportedly been paid well for his appearances in Priceline.com commercials seen on television.

The great singer William Shatner singing Rocketman one his biggest hits. One of his albums at Amazon.com is ranked 414,000th in sales. At least he will never have to worry about making an acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards show. He still may be a shade better of a singer than the immortal William Hung of American Idol fame.

Frances Bavier: Better Known as Aunt Bee

Frances Bavier shown on lower right in photo with Ron Howard on her left and Don Knotts and Andy Griffith in the back row had a big part in the success of the Andy Griffith Show which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year.

Frances Bavier was born in New York City on December 14, 1902. She appeared in vaudeville, in old time radio in an episode of The Lone Ranger on March 24, 1955, on Broadway, in the movies and on television.

She made her first Broadway appearance in 1925 in The Poor Nut and her last appearance was in 1951 in Point of No Return with Henry Fonda.

Her first movie appearance was in Girls About Town which was released in 1931. She also appeared in The Day the Earth Stood Still twenty years later in 1951. Aliens invaded earth in the movie and earthlings were told to live peaceably or be destroyed.

One of Bavier’s co-stars in the movie was Billy Gray best known for his portrayal of Bud on Father Knows Best.

Her first television appearance was in Racket Squad in 1952. The first show I remember her from was It’s A Great Life which co-starred James Dunn, William Bishop and Michael O’Shea.

Frances Bavier is shown at the 1:49 mark in this video from Eve Arden Show which left the air in 1958.

Two years later she would appear in her most well known role as Aunt Bee Taylor in 175 episodes of the Andy Griffith Show. Bavier was in the show the entire length of its eight year run on the CBS television network that started on October 3, 1960 till April 1, 1968.

She made her last television appearance in 1970 when she appeared in 24 episodes of Mayberry R.F. D. Her last movie appearance was in 1974 when she played the lady with the cat in Benji.

When she retired in 1972 she chose to live in Siler City, North Carolina because it reminded her of Mayberry. Siler City had been mentioned in some episodes of the show.

Siler City is also known as the place where Colonel Sanders first introduced the taste of Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1939.

She was known to be difficult during the run of the show but did apologize to Andy Griffith for being so hard to work with shortly before her death.

When she first moved to Siler City she worked with charitable causes but when fans wouldn’t let her have her privacy she withdrew and became a recluse.

The following article tells about her living with 14 cats and her estate being valued at $700,000.

http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/b/Frances%20Bavier/frances_bavier.htm

She died on December 6, 1989 in her home at the age of 86 after battling cancer and heart disease.

The inscription on Frances Bavier's tombstone is very touching thought and she does still live in our hearts.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Borrowed Brunette

Perry Mason was telecast on the CBS television network from 1957-1966.

Raymond Burr will always best known for his portrayal of Perry Mason in the CBS television series Perry Mason from 1957-1966.

As far as I know Perry Mason cannot be seen on any television network today according to

This episode from the series titled The Case of the Borrowed Brunette was originally shown on December 31, 1959 according to cbs.com but it is listed as being shown first on January 10, 1959 by other internet sources and was the 52nd episode of the 271 episode series.

http://www.cbs.com/classics/perry_mason/video/