tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997602367346536622024-03-23T06:42:28.651-07:00Newz from LimboIncorporating . . . . . . . . 'Notes from Cyberia' and 'The Invisible Man' . . . . . . Paul Conant, Editor
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.comBlogger483125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-65570690782847627192016-11-20T03:04:00.000-08:002016-11-20T15:25:21.229-08:00Schroder-Bernstein in NBG@ means less numerous than or equally numerous with<br />
# means less numerous than<br />
~ means equinumerous<br />
/x/ means cardinal of x<br />
e means element of<br />
€ means subset of<br />
¥ is the intersection symbol<br />
<br />
Theorem: (x @ y)(y @ x) --> x ~ y<br />
<br />
Proof:<br />
x # y --> No bijection exists from x to y; ran(x) ¥ y is non-empty.<br />
So x e T, where T is the class of sets each of which is bijective with x.<br />
So x ~ /x/ e T and /x/ e On U 0. Likewise for y.<br />
From this, we see that<br />
x @ y equiv. to /x/ <= /y/<br />
Now /x/ <= /y/ --> /x/ € of /y/<br />
and likewise for /y/ <= /x/<br />
Thus (x@y)(y@x) -> (/x/ € /y/)(/y/ € /x/) -> /x/ = /y/ -> x ~ yPaul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-64793281063281463332016-06-08T21:17:00.003-07:002016-06-08T21:17:53.945-07:00Who stole Clinton's email?WHO STOLE CLINTON'S EMAIL?<br />
Pssst... Whoever stole Clinton's emails probably violated the Espionage Act.<br />
Here are the basics:<br />
1. An intelligence system inspector general found that some public emails on her private server concerned special access national security programs and recommended counterintelligence action.<br />
2. An unknown number of government emails went missing after State Dept. lawyers sought all her work-related emails.<br />
Most remain unaccounted for.<br />
As the FBI is already checking on Clinton's apparent violation of security protocols, it has little choice but to investigate the apparent theft of government documents, some of which could well have been highly classified.<br />
3. Clinton declined to turn over the data until she and her staff had had a chance to weed out personal emails.<br />
4. Obviously, the FBI would need to question Clinton and her aides about the missing documents. The feds would also need to look into the possibility that a foreign power hacked her account and for its own reasons erased certain documents.<br />
5. As in the Valery Plame national security leak case, which involved high-level Bush administration officials, the correct course of action would be appointment of an independent, outside counsel to oversee the investigation.Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-60205643805205897262016-04-15T14:52:00.003-07:002016-04-15T14:54:17.306-07:00Will Europe censor America's news?<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">he Euro union's new internet privacy measure may well be used to limit what news Americans can read.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In the United States, the Washington Post had the right to publish the leaked Pentagon Papers. In Britain, Publisher Katherine Graham and Editor Ben Bradlee, would have been prosecuted for violation of the secrecy law (modified in 1989).</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> "You are reminded that to publish the contents of a document which is known to have been unlawfully disclosed by a crown servant is in itself a breach of section 5 of the Official Secrets Act 1989," newspapers were warned concerning the "Downing Street" scandal. But the alternative internet press in America had no problem covering that scandal, in which it was revealed that Tony Blair had had to dissuade George Bush from bombing the Al Jazeera press offices.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The European Parliament's action to require that non-European internet companies block unwanted web sites could well mean that we in America would be prohibited from seeing material from the Snowden data trove, or from reading Hillary Clinton's emails on Wikileaks, on grounds that her position involved European secrets that the Euro union governments would prefer to keep their voters from seeing.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Britain has on the books a law that compels servers to de-list sites that "glorify" terrorism. The Euro-union presumably could order Google to black out U.S. sites that promote the second amendment.</span>Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-58052399853566331892016-04-07T21:41:00.003-07:002016-04-07T21:43:20.855-07:00<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_iv" style="line-height: 1.38; overflow: hidden;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHIEF'S FIRM<br />LOBBIES FOR RIGHTS ABUSERS</span></b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.38;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Podesta Group's client named in Panama Papers</i></span></b></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Combined from Free Beacon and Public Integrity reports</i></span></span><br />
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<b style="line-height: 1.38;">A firm with ties to senior members of the Hillary Clinton</b><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> presidential campaign registered to lobby on behalf of a major Russian bank just weeks before a massive leak exposed the bank’s role in a web of secret financial dealings that have enriched members of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.</span><br />
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The “Panama Papers” are being called “the Wikileaks of the mega-rich.” Corporate documents leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca show how world leaders have used offshore tax havens to hide their involvement in lucrative companies and business deals around the world.</div>
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Among those companies is the Russian Sberbank, whose U.S. investment banking branch recently enlisted the services of the Podesta Group. According to its lobbying registration form, the firm will work on banking, trade, and foreign relations issues.</div>
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One of the three lobbyists working on the account is Tony Podesta, a bundler for the Clinton campaign and the brother of campaign chairman John Podesta, who co-founded the firm.</div>
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Politico reported last month that Podesta and two of the firm’s other lobbyists would be working to affect “the scope of U.S. sanctions against Russia for its role in the Ukraine conflict and whether relief is possible.”</div>
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And Podesta Group took $7,067,891 from 'worst' violators of human rights, records show.</div>
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The firm was paid to spruce up the image of Azerbaijan, a country whose government represses political activists, human rights advocates and journalists.</div>
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Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after being convicted on charges including tax evasion and abuse of power — charges widely condemned by human rights groups and journalism organizations. Ismayilova is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity. The consortium unleashed the Panama Papers scandal.</div>
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Podesta Group characterized Azerbaijan’s 2013 election as a step in “strengthening its democratic society.” The human rights group Freedom House issued a report which said the election was “marred by candidate and voter intimidation … and other serious irregularities.”</div>
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Podesta Group has represented Azerbaijan since 2013, receiving $1.9 million for its services since then.</div>
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Other nations, such as communist Vietnam, along with Thailand and Egypt, have also hired Podesta Group.</div>
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<span class="_3m6-"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicintegrity.org%2F2015%2F12%2F17%2F19051%2Fus-lobbying-pr-firms-give-human-rights-abusers-friendly-face&h=-AQEVJAkO&enc=AZN32IQNi3TTWKd5vHCvv2WPus7cLlvR1qCJtg5VLZ87LPo-nDGMTgmAZKi90Vg-lfdidMegVKqUZDiZ5lrQnhilTXETHLSpRA5C1r_DzMGfZuJMtDqPFz6tyokWgwQBGaxGenoA1Pt2WFBPndmiq7Bv__EPfOqnXlUj-dWBdxGHiJZpF4-lkXiMWYc9WxsyGzH8fvZcnhBOjbNTzPI36thn&s=1" rel="nofollow" style="color: #141823; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">U.S. lobbying, PR firms give human rights abusers a friendly face</a></span><br />
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<span class="_3m6-">Countries with the worst human rights violation records have spent $168 million on U.S. lobbyists and public relations specialists.</span></div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-47798351923682579762016-03-30T14:19:00.002-07:002016-03-30T14:25:30.525-07:00Cruz ignoring Obama gag order<span style="font-size: medium;">And Americans don't seem to mind...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Would that more public figures would blow off idiotic federal no-talk rules applied for political reasons.</b></i></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
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The Senate Intelligence Committee has deep-sixed a probe into whether Ted Cruz revealed classified information when, during a presidential debate, he discussed the government’s ability to monitor phone records.</div>
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“The committee is not investigating anything said during" a Republican presidential debate, top committee members have revealed.</div>
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<br />
Thus far, Cruz has suffered no political fallout among the electorate for his purported indiscretion on national television.</div>
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<br />
The Cruz campaign justifies breaking the federal gag order on grounds that it is absurd to stay silent about anything that has already been "widely reported." This view seems consistent with the perspective of the woman or man in the street, though the liberal news commentary organization MSNBC tried to make an issue of the technicality.</div>
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“There’s nothing that Senator Cruz said" during December's debate "that wasn’t widely reported and saturated in the public domain,” a campaign spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, told NBC News.</div>
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<br />
The intelligence committee's bipartisan brush-off of the "scandal" came after panel chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) said that his staff would look into whether Cruz violated a gag order on discussing NSA surveillance. The issue came up when GOP rival Marco Rubio (R-FL) implied that Cruz had violated a secret arrangement to refrain from public mention of certain matters.</div>
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“The old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists; the new program covers nearly 100 percent,” Cruz said of the NSA's metadata surveillance system, adding that “that gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism."<br />
<br />
Rubio began his response to Cruz by saying, “Let me be very careful when answering this, because I don’t think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information.”</div>
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And, Rebecca Glover Watkins, a top spokeswoman for Chairman Burr, tweeted just after the exchange: "Cruz shouldn’t have said that."</div>
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But, as intelligence panel lawmakers understood, Cruz's judgment was to prove accurate: Federal gag orders based on technicalities get little respect from the voters.</div>
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<br />
Rubio has since dropped out of the race.</div>
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-41421054412570127792016-02-16T15:04:00.001-08:002016-03-01T14:13:39.897-08:00Sy Hersh's blemished recordSeymour M. Hersh still regards himself as an investigative reporter. In a London Review of Books article published in May, he quoted an intelligence source who trashed the White House account of the killing of Bin Laden. <a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/<wbr></wbr>seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-<wbr></wbr>of-osama-bin-laden</a><br />
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Hersh's report was derided because only one anonymous source was used. In his defense, I observe that one true insider is worth a dozen anonymous sources who are less well placed. The issue is whether Hersh believed his source and whether the reporter had an ax to grind.<br />
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<a href="http://communications.yale.edu/sites/default/files/tumblr_md2cxhbwkX1qdtt31o1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://communications.yale.edu/sites/default/files/tumblr_md2cxhbwkX1qdtt31o1_500.gif" height="320" width="242" /></a></div>
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<b> Seymour M. Hersh</b></div>
<div>
Surely it is disturbing that all photographs of events inside the Bin Laden compound were either deliberately destroyed or handed off to the CIA, which, unlike other federal entities, does not have to make them public under freedom of information statutes. The fact that the body was ditched at sea rather than brought back for autopsy and secret burial on some military base adds to the aura of mystery.<br />
<br /></div>
So one may be inclined to give Hersh the benefit of the doubt.<br />
<br /></div>
On the other hand, Hersh, whose specialty is <i>investigative</i> reporting, spent five years looking into John F. Kennedy's foibles and in the process concluded that JFK had been killed by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Jack Ruby was another deranged loner. The murder of Kennedy, a man with many powerful enemies, and the silencing of Oswald were non-conspiratorial, according to Hersh.<br />
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From Hersh's book,<i> The Dark Side of Camelot</i> (Little Brown, 1997):<br />
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"Over the next thirty-five years, the nation would remain obsessed with the Kennedy assassination. Hundreds of books would be written,<i> full of feverish speculation about Oswald and Ruby and their possible links to organized crime or Soviet intelligence. </i>In five years of reporting for this book, I found nothing that would change the instinctive conclusions of Julius Draznin, or the much more detailed findings of the Warren Commission -- Oswald and Ruby acted alone."<br />
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Hersh cites one source, Draznin, who was an expert on the Chicago mob, for this conclusion, though hundreds of important sources were still available to be interviewed in the 1990s. Hersh fails to mention the investigations of congressional committees in the 1970s which did not affirm the Warren report. Hersh discredited hundreds of books with one phrase, as if none of those writers could have been fairly good investigators.<br />
<br /></div>
Hersh implies that because some books are of poor quality, they must all be bad. However, I have read many of those books and found that though some are amateurish, many are highly accurate. That doesn't mean that within thousands of details there might not be slip-ups or misinterpretations. But the weight of the evidence is overwhelmingly against the Warren Commission. </div>
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I would add that much of the controversy in the 1970s followed the line set by James Angleton, a top CIA man, that Cuban intelligence deployed Oswald as the shooter. However, CIA people involved in anti-Castro activities kept surfacing in connection with the Dallas murder.<br />
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As to possible Soviet intrigue, it is faintly possible that Hersh was ignorant of or had forgot the fact that Angleton, the CIA man who controlled what the Warren panel knew, was later named by his top aide as a probable Red mole. </div>
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Oswald was blamed for turning over U2 secrets to the Soviets but Angleton already knew that a CIA mole had betrayed those secrets before Oswald "defected." Like his friend, the British arch traitor Kim Philby, Angleton controlled the mole hunt.<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRC-qx-_LLys96N2f7oIak4nZxVPAv65aexwrLsjenZ-6hwqTBo" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRC-qx-_LLys96N2f7oIak4nZxVPAv65aexwrLsjenZ-6hwqTBo" /></a></div>
<b> James Angleton, left, and Kim Philby</b></div>
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It was Hersh who was tipped by a high-level intelligence source that Angleton had been running illegal programs to spy on Americans. Hersh's December 1974 report forced Angleton out without the CIA having to disclose that he had been identified in 1974 by his aide, Clare Edward Petty, as a probable Soviet agent.</div>
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Petty was forced to retire immediately on alerting agency bosses. Yet later, the CIA chief at the time, William Colby, said that "I couldn't find" that Angleton's unit had "ever caught a spy" and "that really bothered me."</div>
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The books that absolve the CIA of a role in Kennedy's murder and the ensuing coverup tend to misrepresent important details. Somewhere (hopefully) I have notes that point this out.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">It may of course be relevant that Hersh has long had high-level intelligence agency sources. Perhaps these sources led him around by the nose. It's a favored game among intelligence professionals to lay a trail for a "useful idiot" reporter to follow. It's also routine for reporters, as with police and intelligence people, to obtain information from people with unsavory motives, though the information still has to be checked. </span><span class="im" style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;">Curiously, soon after the 9/11 attacks, Hersh quoted an intelligence source as saying someone appeared to have laid a false trail for "useful idiot" FBI agents to follow.</span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;">At any rate, Hersh's handling of the JFK slaying issue tells us that we should read<i> The Dark Side of Camelot</i> and his other reports with great caution.</span></div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-80971971547350925882015-09-19T10:21:00.001-07:002015-09-19T10:22:32.494-07:00<div class="clearfix" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.44px; zoom: 1;">
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A Socratic dialogue on abortion</h2>
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P: Is there a fundamental right to abortion?<br />
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Q: Of course.</div>
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P: So any woman has a right to terminate her pregnancy for any reason?</div>
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Q: Undoubtedly.</div>
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P: Well, suppose the preborn being -- or perhaps we might say potential human -- experiences pain during the termination process?</div>
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Q: As the, er, being is not viable, how can it experience pain?</div>
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P: If there are physiological studies that show that the being's reactions are consistent with a viable infant's feeling of pain, would that be relevant?</div>
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Q: Well, then you are only talking about what MIGHT be.</div>
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P: So if there is a possibility that the being in the womb experiences pain during abortion, that possibility is of no relevance to society?</div>
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Q: Not to society, but that consideration might affect a woman's personal decision.</div>
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P: None of society's business?</div>
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Q: No.</div>
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P: So if a woman decides to terminate a pregnancy for trivial or shallow reasons, that is her affair.</div>
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Q: Yes.</div>
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P: In many cases, the decision for abortion is economically based, as when the family of a young woman presses her to abort so that she can go on to an economically prosperous life, or when a woman aborts the being in her womb because she has enough children and doesn't want one more mouth to feed. Is that correct?</div>
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Q: Economic issues are plainly a driving force behind abortion.</div>
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P: Also, many women resent the idea that a male-dominated society may control a woman's right to reproduce. So-called reproductive rights.</div>
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Q: Yes, very true.</div>
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P: What is it that she doesn't want reproduced?</div>
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Q: Another human, but that's only after birth. Before birth, the quality of humanity doesn't exist.</div>
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P: So you say. Others would say, before the first trimester. And there are yet other ideas. So there is little agreement about when the being in the womb becomes a bona fide human being. Anyway, wouldn't you agree that "reproduce" means reproduce oneself?</div>
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Q: Well, the child is not a clone. The father's genes contribute.</div>
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P: So she is reproducing herself and her sex partner.</div>
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Q: I suppose.</div>
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P: And that reproduction is in progress in the womb. So is she not destroying a reproduction of herself?</div>
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Q: You are just playing word games.</div>
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P: Well, you do agree that a woman has a right to terminate a pregnancy for economic reasons.</div>
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Q: Correct.</div>
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P: So then, a woman -- perhaps in consultation with her partner -- has a right to terminate a pregnancy based on the sex, or gender, of the being in the womb.</div>
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Q: I don't quite follow.</div>
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P: She has a right to terminate a pregnancy based on sex preference.</div>
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Q: It's a trivial reason, but I suppose it is none of society's business.</div>
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P: Now suppose a large number of women preferentially abort females? Would that be acceptable?</div>
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Q: It doesn't sound right, but fortunately that isn't the case.</div>
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P: What do you think feminists would think of such a practice?</div>
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Q: They would probably try to outlaw it.</div>
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P: So then society does have an interest in maintaining the life of a being in the womb?</div>
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Q: Your scenario is not the case.</div>
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P: You are wrong; it is a fact. In India, couples routinely terminate females in the womb for socioeconomic reasons. Further, there is a shortage of brides there, which is the consequence of this practice. India's laws against revealing the sex of the being in the womb have proved ineffective.</div>
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Q: Well, point. But this isn't India.</div>
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P: The original question was, Is there a FUNDAMENTAL right to abortion?</div>
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Q: Ah, I see what you mean. If we must go by cases, there isn't a fundamental, all-encompassing right.</div>
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P: So society is permitted to take an interest in the welfare of the being in the womb.</div>
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Q: I would say you have made a good case. But, unfortunately for you, most people think in memes, and won't follow philosophical arguments.</div>
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P: Agreed.</div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-80855571070190383102015-09-17T10:41:00.003-07:002015-09-17T10:46:02.136-07:00A son's suspicion about his CIA dad's role in a murder<div>
<a href="http://www.marysmosaic.net/bio.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.marysmosaic.net/<wbr></wbr>bio.htm</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.marysmosaic.net/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.marysmosaic.net/</a></div>
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Am almost finished reading Mary's Mosaic (2012) by Peter Janney, the psychologist son of Wistar Janney, a former high-level CIA officer.</div>
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The younger Janney is convinced that the CIA murdered a friend of his family, Mary Pinchot Meyer, an offspring of the powerful liberal Pinchot family and one of JFK's girlfriends. Further, Peter recalls discrepancies in his dad's behavior on the day of the murder of the socialite, who was estranged from top CIA man Cord Meyer. Specifically, after talking to his mother and brother and examining later accounts of what occurred, Janney came to believe that Wistar Janney knew Pinchot Meyer was dead before the police had tentatively identified the body.</div>
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Janney's idea is that she was killed to silence her about what she knew about JFK's assassination.</div>
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Janney has done a service by drawing together much disparate information and by contributing his own discoveries, which include the fact that a "Pentagon officer" who was a witness at the ensuing murder trial shows signs of having been a professional intelligence operative, in particular the witness has what seems to be an unverifiable legend about his past.</div>
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The government's case against the poor black suspect was weak, and he was acquitted. Nevertheless, "reasonable doubt" doesn't mean that Ray Crump wasn't a strong suspect, though Janney doesn't accept that point.</div>
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Janney, who is fully focused on the fact that the coup d'etat against the Kennedy brothers could only have been pulled off by the CIA, extends this awareness to the case of Mary Myer, whom he knew personally during his childhood. Interestingly, the CIA official who had obtained propagandistic control of much of the U.S. media was none other than Cord Myer.</div>
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The fact that James Angleton was on the spot trying to retrieve Mary's diary is explicable on grounds that he was friends with Mary's sister in law, Tony Pinchot Bradlee, and her husband Ben Bradlee, the noted Washington journalist. Yet, as various 1970s inquiries discovered, Angleton had been handling the CIA's work with the Warren commission and went on to try to sell the spin to credulous writers that Lee Oswald was the shooter, but that he may have been reporting to the Cubans or the Soviets.</div>
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The fact that an intelligence operative witness materialized to bolster the case against Crump may be seen in another light. Pinchot Meyer was a powerful Washington socialite. Her friends in the Georgetown set might have used their reach to have the intelligence system provide a false witness so as "not to let that bastard get away with murder."</div>
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But what of Wistar Janey's phony behavior when he that evening feigned surprise on getting a phone call that Mary had been killed? (In fact, Peter discovered, Wistar had earlier that day telephoned Ben Bradlee and Cord Myer with the bad news.) I can imagine this scenario: a CIA Washington unit kept tabs on the police radio in the event of anything coming up that might be of intelligence interest. Hearing that a woman had been killed on a Georgetown tow path, the CIA scrambled some people to get down to the scene and get photos. When the photos were examined, she was quickly recognized and Wistar was notified because he was close friends of Cord and the Bradlees.</div>
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The identification was withheld for several hours to allow for a CIA crew to remove from Mary's apartment and art studio anything pointing to CIA connections (Cord's identity was not yet public knowledge).</div>
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The senior Janney may have been following security protocols when he played dumb about his initial knowledge of the slaying.</div>
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One more point. A tow truck driver reported the shooting after being called to repair a stalled Nash Rambler. While the police activity was in progress, the Rambler went missing and the service station hadn't yet made any records of the incident.</div>
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One possibility is that, during the confusion, the owner returned to the scene, got in his vehicle, tried it, and found that it started (perhaps it had only been "flooded"), allowing him to drive it off. Or, perhaps the CIA confiscated the car in order to have its experts go over it looking for clues. Police know not to challenge "national security" orders. (After all, this woman was a CIA official's estranged wife.)</div>
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And Janney has not put much attention on one other possibility: An angry husband. The husband is usually a chief suspect in a wife's murder. Certainly Meyer and a few associates had the means to have Pinchot Meyer killed. This would not imply a CIA conspiracy to kill her, but rather implies a small rogue operation. I do not suggest this is what happened. However, I am hesitant to endorse Janney's conspiracy theory, despite much excellent work.</div>
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So, unless I happen upon another nugget in Janney's book, I would say he has not offered a compelling case that the CIA had Pinchot Meyer hit. In fact, Janney's speculation as to how a hit crew would have operated raises a number of puzzles that I won't entertain at this point.</div>
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Nevertheless, Mary Pinchot Meyer was slain some seven months after Kennedy's killing -- a period of sudden deaths of a number of persons with possibly important knowledge concerning the JFK assassination.</div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-59495818139393276192015-06-25T13:15:00.001-07:002015-06-25T13:33:57.553-07:00Obvious discrepancies in Oswald photos<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Use contol + to blow up pictures. Or go to<br />
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<img alt="Image result for oswald backyard photos" 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" /><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<i>C133A is on left, C133B in middle, C133C on right. </i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div>
C133A: Oswald's feet are slightly forward of a sandbag under the staircase.The top of his head is substantially above the top of the fence behind him.</div>
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<div>
C133C: Oswald's feet are in almost the same place as in A, but in C the top of his head is even with the top of the fence behind him.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
C133C did not appear in Warren Commission exhibits.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
There doesn't seem to be enough of a difference in the positions of the feet to account for the difference in head positions. The closer a person being photographed is to the fence, the more the perspective changes.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The pistol on Oswald's hip matches the fence background exactly in C133A and C133C, but his head is not even close.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The change in head perspective might be accounted for if the photographer stood at different distances from Oswald for C133A and C133C. However, the staircase perspective seems to be about the same in A and C, though A's staircase shows less than C's.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
If one were to push up C so that the feet are on the same horizontal line as the feet in A, then the staircase perspectives would be identical.</div>
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<div>
House assassinations committee experts connected to the FBI said that differences were attributable to changes in photo shooting angle.</div>
<div>
<a href="http://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1482&context=article" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://scholarworks.rit.edu/<wbr></wbr>cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=<wbr></wbr>1482&context=article</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="http://www.jfklancer.com/Rifle.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.jfklancer.com/<wbr></wbr>Rifle.html</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="http://hdblenner.com/gradual.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://hdblenner.com/gradual.<wbr></wbr>htm</a></div>
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-49016685913097420732015-03-08T19:59:00.001-07:002015-03-08T20:08:25.420-07:00<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>CIA's rogue crazy unit abolished</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u>Clandestine Services scrapped as revamp</u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u>brings agency to heel under Obama's man</u></i></span><br />
<br />
<b>The Intercept's story</b><br />
<a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/06/spies-now-cia-director-announces-major-restructuring/">https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/06/spies-now-cia-director-announces-major-restructuring/</a><br />
<br />
Babylon the Great is fallen! The sinister arm used for shadowy aims of unruly power freaks has perished. Shock waves circle the globe as power elites everywhere reassess their positions.<br />
<br />
Next miracle we hope to see: The revitalized agency getting more honest about -- or at least walking back -- the official malarkey about the 9/11 and anthrax attacks.<br />
<br />
Desperate efforts to project an illusion of power can be expected from the the disgruntled top command of the junked division, which has been a fixture of the CIA since its creation in the late 1940s. During that period it became notorious as a law unto itself, its brass hats routinely sneering at presidents and lawmakers.<br />
<br />
How will the corporate media react? Many of the rotten division's flunkies in media must be out of their minds with fear. In the meantime, expect jostling for plum jobs as those who have been overly cozy with the junked unit become vulnerable to rivals seeking their jobs.<br />
<br />
<b><u>CIA description of revamp</u></b><br />
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/2015-press-releases-statements/message-to-workforce-agencys-blueprint-for-the-future.htmlPaul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-32871741171488281582015-01-31T18:41:00.003-08:002015-01-31T18:45:59.464-08:00<font size=+0.5><i><u>Bill Gates's nightmare</font></u></i><br />
<b><font size=+3>fr</font><font size=+5><i>A</i></font><font size=+3>nkenste</font><font size=+5><i>I</i></font><font size=+3>n</font></b><br />
Microsoft founder Bill Gates joined other notables who have been warning of the potential for artificial intelligence to get out of control. Real problems could emerge within decades, he said.<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/31047780">http://www.bbc.com/news/31047780</a>Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-76913687017689306472015-01-27T15:37:00.002-08:002015-01-27T15:38:27.192-08:00<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<b><u><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Should Facebook flag its own story?</i></span></u></b><br />
Facebook and iInstagram, both owned by the Facebook company, went down for a while earlier today. Somebody at Facebook said the sites went down because of an internal glitch in a Facebook computer, and gave out that hackers weren't responsible.</div>
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Yet, at the same time, other social media sites, such as HipChat and Tinder, also went down.</div>
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I suppose that that blackout was also a result of computer glitches happening on those sites in a remarkable case of random coincidence. Couldn't possibly be true that the hacker collective Lizard Squad was, as it implied, responsible.</div>
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Well, maybe the snowstorm disrupted a common computer linkage, but, if so, Facebook isn't admitting it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Here is one excerpt from a news account:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
“This was not the result of a third party attack but instead occurred after we introduced a change that affected our configuration systems. We moved quickly to fix the problem, and both services are back to 100 percent for everyone,” CNBC reports, citing the company’s statement received via email.</div>
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Interestingly, Facebook's newsroom is mum on the topic.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
So perhaps those stories conveying the views of anonymous FB spokespersons on this incident should be flagged as "false news" put out by corporate types concerned about FB's reputation for security.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Another possibility: the other social media sites have business arrangements with Facebook to use FB technology, but FB said nothing about that.</div>
</div>
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-48044498688767311182015-01-24T18:13:00.000-08:002015-01-24T18:14:03.326-08:00<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>CIA'S black ops division</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>is going out of business</b></span></div>
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<b>The departure of the head of Clandestine</b> Services shows that the semi-autonomous division has a lost a fateful Washington power struggle, with President Obama's appointee moving to exercise firm control over the agency.</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/23/exclusive-cia-s-top-spy-steps-down.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/23/exclusive-cia-s-top-spy-steps-down.html</a></span></span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Though the proposed overhaul isn't a done deal, it seems probable that the division's support will be somewhat cool on Capitol Hill -- in the aftermath of the decision to spy on Senate staff members concerning the highly charged "enhanced interrogation" report.</div>
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It may be that some in the GOP will accuse Obama of unilateralism, but, as chief executive, he has a great deal of leeway in how departments of government are organized. Lawmakers may be more interested in making hay over the issue than in actually protecting the division.</div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-64014611561943675332015-01-07T14:35:00.002-08:002015-01-07T14:40:11.747-08:00We need a worldwide campaign to reproduce this and other such cartoons.<br />
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<img src="http://www.aina.org/images/muhimage05.jpg" />Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-62866335355054481832014-12-23T15:45:00.002-08:002014-12-23T20:00:39.462-08:00<b style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>SECRET TREATMENT</u></span></b><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>OF EBOLA PATIENTS?</u></span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Some may regard the Alex Jones web sites as unreliable. This isn't quite fair. The reliability varies. The doctor's claims in the interview linked below make sense in light of the maneuvering to play down anything to do with Ebola in America. For example, if authorities are refusing to disclose which facilities are designated for Ebola patients in order to head off "hysteria," it seems quite likely they wouldn't want attention drawn to those facilities by actual Ebola cases.</span><br />
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Plus, PrisonPlanet published my report on a 9/11 investigation by NIST. So the Jones outfit can't be all bad.</div>
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As PrisonPlanet noted:</div>
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<i>According to [Sharyl] Attkisson, a CDC representative answering questions on potential Ebola cases admitted that the agency has refused to update their website with current information.</i></div>
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<i><br />"I called CDC not long ago and I said how many cases are being monitored in the United States and they said 1,400. I said, ‘Where are these updates on your web site?’” Attkisson said. “They said they’re not putting it on the web. This is public information we have a right to know and the media should not hype it, but should cover it.”</i></div>
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<i><br />The statement comes as no surprise given an admission in Forbes last November that major media outlets had agreed to not report on potential cases for the federal government. [That statement has been modified, but, as shown below, AP has decided to play down coverage.]<br /><br />“The Associated Press and other press outlets have agreed not to report on suspected cases of Ebola in the United States until a positive viral RNA test is completed,” the article said.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i>I add that Attkinson made an excellent point: The scary publicity was beneficial, forcing the Obama administration to institute screening at U.S. airports and daily monitoring of persons at risk for Ebola.</div>
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The deal to tamp down Ebola coverage -- which as it happens followed President Obama's appointment of a political operative as "Ebola czar" -- is something the New York Times's public editor might wish to examine. However, it should be noted that the Times has at least made a show of continuing to report on Ebola matters.<br />
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<b>AP ADMITS DIALING DOWN EBOLA COVERAGE</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">In an October advisory to editors, the Associated Press told news editors of its decision to play down Ebola coverage.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"We’re increasingly hearing reports of “suspected” cases of Ebola in the United States and Europe. The AP has exercised caution in reporting these cases and will continue to do so.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"Most of these suspected cases turn out to be negative. Our bureaus monitor them, but we have not been moving stories or imagery simply because a doctor suspects Ebola and routine precautions are taken while the patient is tested. To report such a case, we look for a solid source saying Ebola is suspected and some sense the case has caused serious disruption or reaction. Are buildings being closed and substantial numbers of people being evacuated or isolated? Is a plane being diverted? Is the suspected case closely related to another, confirmed Ebola case?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"When we do report a suspected case, we will seek to keep our stories brief and in perspective."</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Where are the Ebola treatment centers? It's a state secret</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://atlantaforward.blog.ajc.com/2014/11/20/secret-ebola-treatment-centers/">http://atlantaforward.blog.ajc.com/2014/11/20/secret-ebola-treatment-centers/</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Physician tells broadcaster of strange doings</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/doctor-feds-disappearing-suspected-ebola-patients-across-u-s.html">http://www.prisonplanet.com/doctor-feds-disappearing-suspected-ebola-patients-across-u-s.html</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">A secret U.S, plan to fly more Ebola victims to America</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/29/lawmaker-claims-plans-may-be-in-pipeline-to-bring-non-citizens-to-us-for-ebola/">http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/29/lawmaker-claims-plans-may-be-in-pipeline-to-bring-non-citizens-to-us-for-ebola/</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Ebola blackout discussed on Fox News</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=69016&siteSection=breitbartprivate&videoId=28280185">http://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=69016&siteSection=breitbartprivate&videoId=28280185</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">At the very least, it is apparent that the Obama administration doesn't really believe that the American citizenry owns America, entitling it to know what's going on, especially as this matter has nothing to do with a shooting war.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CATHOLIC ONLINE WORRIED BY EBOLA 'DISAPPEARANCES'</span></b></div>
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Catholic Online</div>
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<a href="http://www.catholic.org/news/politics/story.php?id=57408" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.catholic.org/news/<wbr></wbr>politics/story.php?id=57408</a></div>
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concedes that Alex Jones's site may be playing the sensationalism card. But the publication doesn't wish to discount the reports out of hand because of its experience with press coverage of the Syrian conflict. I would never say that simply because a Catholic Online writer is troubled, we should automatically follow suit. Yet, from a political standpoint, it is noteworthy that Catholic Online publishes the Catholic Encyclopedia,</div>
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<a href="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.catholic.org/<wbr></wbr>encyclopedia/</a>.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">"There are some immediately apparent questions. Is Infowars playing up the hype for its audience? It's possible, however these claims should be considered. Not all of the news is actually news. Often, the truth is obscured by mainstream media outlets and Americans need to turn to alternative media sources for information. Catholic Online has already confirmed that some kind of coordinated censorship is happening in real time, particularly concerning the terror conflict in Syria and Iraq."</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">NEWS FLASH: MAN RUSHED TO HOSPITAL ON EBOLA FEAR</span></b></div>
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If there is any agreement to play down Ebola coverage, it appears that it isn't all that effective.</div>
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<a href="http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/man-exhibiting-ebola-like-symptoms-rushed-to-bellevue/" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: small;">http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/man-exhibiting-ebola-like-symptoms-rushed-to-bellevue/</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15.3599996566772px;">Still, this story doesn't dispel concerns about secret treatment of Ebola victims. This man was ill, but not with Ebola.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 'FALSE POSITIVES'? </span></b><br />
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Whenever blood testing is done, there is an error rate. Some errors are "false negatives" (the test fails to detect the disease) and some are "false positives" (the test wrongly indicates presence of disease).</div>
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It may seem a good thing that "false positives" aren't finding their way into news reports. Who needs groundless hysteria?</div>
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But what's wrong with this picture is that a false positive should require more than another blood test or two to be certain there is no virus present. If a person has an initially low level of virus in his system, other tests done right away could well return negative results. Hence, in a case where a person has been potentially exposed to Ebola, has flu-like symotoms and a positive tes result, the only solution is close monitoring over a period of days or weeks.</div>
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And yet, there are at present zero positive cases being reported in America, meaning there have been no recent cases eventually turn out to be false positives. This strongly suggests that either somehow the blood tests are now infallible, or there is collusion to keep Americans unaware of patients who could very well be infected with Ebola.</div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-42977722014165548402014-12-12T15:58:00.005-08:002014-12-12T16:01:14.461-08:00<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">Eurozone is poised to censor U.S. data,</span></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">claims right to control global cyber space</span></b><br />
<b style="color: #222222; font-size: small;">By Amelia Rufer</b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><br /></i></span><b style="font-size: small;">The European Union is claiming authority to regulate</b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>search results that appear on American servers in a proposal regarding the so-called "right to be forgotten," a proposition that is worrisome to U.S. journalists.<br />
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Under the current European privacy law, individuals can ask the European versions of search engines to remove links to information about themselves from search results. Sites like Google.uk and Google.de have been forced to comply with the requests unless the information serves a compelling public interest.<br />
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Users who want to access the delisted links are switching from European sites like Google.uk or Google.de to Google.com, which is hosted on U.S. servers.<br />
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In an attempt to stop the circumvention, Article 29 Working Party (WP29) — a committee of members from the European Data Protection Supervisor, national data protection authorities and the European Commission — proposed last month that individual privacy protection in the "right to be forgotten" grants them authority to regulate search engines worldwide.<br />
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The WP29 proposal’s assumption that “the impact of the exercise of individuals’ rights on the freedom of expression of original publishers and users will generally be very limited,” is flawed, according to Emma Llanso, the director of Free Expression at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), a non-profit organization that advocates for digital rights.<br />
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“This is a vast understatement; the ‘right to be forgotten’ de-listing regime essentially amounts to a notice-and-takedown system where private parties can demand the removal of links to information that is, as the [Court of Justice of the European Union] recognized, true, public, and lawfully posted online,” says Llanso. “Any legal framework that empowers third parties to interfere with others' access to lawful and public information necessarily raises significant freedom of expression concerns.”<br />
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Under U.S. law, take-down requirements usually only follow a successful libel suit, where the information has been found to be both harmful and untrue. The current European privacy statute, which was adopted in May, applies to a much broader swath of information that an individual deems “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive.”<br />
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“Journalists and others who live under such a regime may only be able to find a self-selected version of a person's history,” says Llanso. “It is particularly concerning that the European authorities continue to downplay the free expression concerns of this kind of government-authorized interference with the availability of lawful content, as this can serve to legitimize the censorship practices of other governments around the world.”<br />
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Furthermore, by regulating what appears at the top of search results, the EU’s proposal is rigging the game in a way that damages the integrity of search engines. These sites are useful to the extent that their results accurately reflect the search terms; failure to provide reliable results can prompt users to switch providers, Llanso says.<br />
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This tendency to choose a more reliable provider is the very reason for WP29’s November proposal: European-Google users who switched to Google.com rendered the original statute meaningless.<br />
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“The European de-listing regime introduces an independent third party into this mix — the person who's demanding that links be removed from searches on the basis of his name — and complicates things for end-users,” Llanso added. “The guidance from the Working Party 29 shows that there is still a significant divergence of opinion between the Data Protection Authorities and many journalists, researchers, academics, historians, and other free expression advocates.”<br />
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See more at:<a href="http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news/eu-pushes-right-be-forgotten-us-search-engines-claims-limited-effect#sthash.jv3jkmHd.dpuf" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: small;"> http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news/eu-pushes-right-be-forgotten-us-search-engines-claims-limited-effect#sthash.jv3jkmHd.dpuf</a></div>
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-77186167482261204152014-12-10T13:49:00.002-08:002014-12-10T14:50:47.484-08:00Surprise! CIA lied!<br />
<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">1. Latest pack of lies documented in Senate torture report</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b>
<a href="http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf">http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy2.pdf">http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy2.pdf</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy3.pdf">http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy3.pdf</a><br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">2. Outrageous federal distortions in anthrax case</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><u>U.S. twisted facts to pin anthrax attacks on ill scientist</u></b><br />
<a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-new-look-U-S-twisted-f-by-Paul-Conant-911_911-Commission_911-Profiteers-Political_911-Timeline-141107-793.html">http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-new-look-U-S-twisted-f-by-Paul-Conant-911_911-Commission_911-Profiteers-Political_911-Timeline-141107-793.html</a><br />
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>3. Phony investigations of 9/11 skyscraper collapses</b></span></i><br />
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<b><u>9/11 probers skipped key forensic tests</u></b><br />
<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/911-probers-skipped-key-forensic-tests.html">http://www.prisonplanet.com/911-probers-skipped-key-forensic-tests.html</a></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><u>How did the twin towers fall? Questions remain</u></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ult/znewz1/wtc.html">http://www.angelfire.com/ult/znewz1/wtc.html</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">4. The WMD deception and the desire for war</span></i></div>
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Just use Google. Also, see item 3.</div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">5. Pysops and the press: None dare call it 'conspiracy'</span></i><br />
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As one left-wing commentator noted, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">"The Intelligence Committee report includes an entire section that details the manner in which the CIA fed leaks of classified information on its interrogation program to the </span><em style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Times</em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;"> and the </span><em style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Washington Post</em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;"> to manipulate public opinion in favor of such methods. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, articles were published and television programs produced aimed at legitimizing torture."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Elsewhere we learn that then-CIA chief Michael Hayden had "blessed" a journalist friendly to the torture program with special access to CIA press managers.</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">6. NSA surveillance: A stealth attack on 4th Amendment</span></i></div>
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Check Greenwald, Poitras and others.</div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-61137420286549361902014-11-05T13:47:00.002-08:002016-03-01T19:54:22.088-08:00U.S. twisted facts to pin anthrax attacks on ill scientist<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Bruce Ivins award ceremony crop.jpg" height="640" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Bruce_Ivins_award_ceremony_crop.jpg/215px-Bruce_Ivins_award_ceremony_crop.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="476" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Bruce E. Ivins</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This page updated and corrected March 1, 2016.<br />
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<i>The 2001 Anthrax Deception -- The Case for Domestic Conspiracy</i> (Clarity Press, 2014) is a new book by Graeme MacQueen, a retired religion professor. Thoughtful people are sure to be profoundly affected by a reading of his deft analysis.<br />
I came across his book while researching the article below. I have not so much focused on conspiracy as on examples of grotesque misrepresentations by federal lawyers and others in league with them. I wanted to look at concrete examples of the government casting events in a false light, but that doesn't mean I don't consider conspiracy as something the FBI seems to have been at pains to avoid investigating.
<br />
<hr />
<b>By PAUL CONANT</b><br />
<hr />
<i>Conant is a former metropolitan New York newspaperman.</i> <br />
Permission is granted to reproduce this article in whole or in part, with or without attribution.<br />
<hr />
<div align="justify">
<b>The Justice Department severely</b></div>
distorted the facts it used to pin all blame for the 2001 anthrax attacks on a mentally ill scientist, a new review of federal documents shows. <br />
<br />
In many instances in the federal case against Bruce E. Ivins, the meanings given to facts presented by federal authorities turn out to stray far from reality or to be highly ambiguous. The government bent the usual rules of evidence and logic wildly as it tried to make a case that the attack anthrax could only have come from a flask, numbered RMR-1029, "exclusively" controlled by Ivins.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The U.S. government has released two major reports on the 2001 anthrax attacks: A Justice Department "investigative summary" and a psychiatric evaluation of the purported killer written under the leadership of a longtime FBI psychology consultant.
In addition, depositions and excerpts of depositions from a civil suit brought by the widow of the first anthrax fatality have been released under court order.
As has previously been reported, the depositions of Ivins's coworkers show that they strongly disagree with the Justice Department theory that Ivins was guilty of single-handedly carrying out the attacks. (See ProPublica, PBS's Frontline and McClatchy Newspapers.)<br />
<br />
<b>A bit of background</b><br />
The conclusions drawn from the scientific work performed by the FBI were strongly criticized by a National Academy of Sciences committee in 2011. The panel noted that though the FBI formally answered all questions, the bureau often rebuffed it with uninformative bureaucratic responses. The scientists added that, at the last minute when the bureau sensed the direction of the panel's upcoming report, the bureau suddenly reported that there was much classified information germane to the investigation and that a secret committee of White House appointees and scientists with high-level secrecy clearances had been quietly steering the FBI investigation.
<br />
<br />
The NAS panel decided against trying to review the national security data brought in at the last minute. The panel added that the FBI also suddenly introduced material supposedly pointing to potential al Qaeda involvement, but the panel decided that while authorities were welcome to seek more evidence in that matter, the rushed al Qaeda question was irrelevant to the panel's findings about the scientific methods used to directly link the attack anthrax to Ivins. The FBI had been led to the U.S. military early in the investigation because the attack spores showed that they came from the Ames strain, which was known to be used by the military in its biodefense work.
<br />
<br />
The problematic nature of the FBI's scientific work is buttressed by this writer's review of the investigative summary, which shows instances of trickery and serious distortion in its attempt to show that a pattern of circumstantial evidence strongly implied that Ivins, a federal anthrax scientist at the Army's Fort Detrick in Maryland, was solely responsible for the anthrax attacks.
<br />
<br />
Additionally, this writer's review of the psychiatric report written for the FBI, shows that its narrative portion differs greatly on an important incident from the Justice Department summary. None of the psychiatric review panelists was able to go on the record in response to queries from this writer. Other documents reviewed include transcripts of two FBI science briefings for the press and a number of released FBI reports.
<br />
<br />
The original Justice Department report was issued on Feb. 19, 2010, along with a group of FBI documents, in accord with a Freedom of Information Act request that was complied with at the formal closing of the anthrax case. However, it is apparent from the form of the summary that the document was intended for public consumption.
<br />
<br />
This analysis does not claim to exonerate Ivins. However, the idea that he could have acted alone has been vigorously challenged by his scientific colleagues working at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick.
<br />
<br />
The number of peculiarities with respect to the anthrax case is quite large, and no attempt has been made here to cover all bases.
<br />
<br />
This reporter notes that since he began researching this report in August 2014, the FBI has disabled its link to the Justice Department summary that appeared on the FBI's Amerithrax page.
<br />
<br />
This reporter has reviewed all testimony available to the public from depositions of Ivins's coworkers in a case brought in a Florida court against the Justice Department by Maureen Stevens, widow of the first anthrax fatality, Robert Stevens. The lawsuit was eventually settled after the Justice Department's criminal division forced the civil division to accept its claim that Ivins had had access to equipment for making the attack anthrax. The civil division had argued that, because there was no concrete evidence that the anthrax attacks had originated at Ivins's Army workplace, the U.S. government was not liable for a negligence damage claim.
<br />
<br />
The incidents cited below do not necessarily mean that the Justice Department and psychiatric reports are entirely inaccurate, but do show that one should beware any of their claims.
<br />
<br />
<b>A slip of the zip</b>
<br />
Item from the summary:
<br />
<br />
"On November 1, 2007, the Task Force
executed these search warrants, which resulted in the recovery of numerous items of interest,
including a large collection of letters that Dr. Ivins had sent to members of Congress and the
news media over the previous 20 years -- including one sent to NBC News in 1987 at the same
address for NBC used on the Brokaw letter."
<br />
<br />
The implication here is that it is odd that the NBC address on an anthrax letter matched an address used by Ivins decades previously. However, NBC has had the same address at Rockefeller Center since Rockefeller Center was built.
<br />
<br />
When checked on Sept. 4, 2014, the
NBC Studios address, on the Rockefeller Center web site was
<br />
<br />
30 Rockefeller Plaza <br />
(Entrance on 49th Street between Fifth & Sixth Avenues) <br />
New York, NY 10012 <br />
<br />
The zip code is incorrect. The proper code is 10112.
<br />
<br />
(The page with that address has been taken down since Sept. 4 in an overhaul of the Rockefeller Center web site. Here is a URL to a partial copy of the deleted page: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://sandeeee.blogspot.com/2014/10/partial-copy-of-rockefeller-centers-nbc.html">
http://sandeeee.blogspot.com/2014/10/partial-copy-of-rockefeller-centers-nbc.html</a> .)
<br />
<br />
However, if one had obtained the address via the NBC News web site "contact" page, the correct address was (as of Sept. 4, 2014) given: <br />
<br />
NBC News, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10112. <br />
<br />
As the deleted Rockefeller Center page said, NBC has been at Rockefeller Center since the center was built. "No major tenant has been here longer, occupied more space, or become so widely identified with Rockefeller Center than NBC" which opened its radio studios in 1933. <br />
<br />
Nationwide postal zip codes date to the 1960s. <br />
<br />
Aside from the conflicting zip codes, one other difference is that the attack letter uses "NBC TV," as opposed to "NBC News," in the address but this seems barely relevant.
<br />
<br />
So, the address that Ivins used in the early eighties would have been no different from the one the anthrax mailer used in 2001, though a number of correspondents in 2001 may have used the incorrect zip code given by NBC (yet it is not evident how long the wrong code had been up). But that is not very informative, as the attack mailer could easily have gone to the NBC News contact page to get the address.
<br />
<br />
If there were substantive differences, the summary does not disclose them.
<br />
<br />
So the insinuation is absurd. There is no strange coincidence between an old mailing address used by Ivins and the NBC anthrax letter.
<br />
<br />
<b>
Email doublethink</b>
<br />
The summary relates that in an Oct. 3, 2001 email from Ivins to a former coworker (Mara Linscott), Ivins talked about biowar scenarios but "the next day Ivins did not mention these more plausible possibilities" in an email to a CDC colleague, an email the summary portrayed as a sinister ploy.
<br />
<br />
A CDC website statement relates that on Oct. 4, 2001, the CDC "confirmed the first bioterrorism-related anthrax case identified in the United States in a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida." The CDC was initially highly uncertain as to whether a bioterror attack had occurred. Just because Ivins was aware of bioterror scenarios doesn't mean he would jump to the conclusion that the Florida case had resulted from bioterrorism.
<br />
<br />
Ivins's email to the CDC was fired off as soon as initial reports came in of Stevens's condition. But, he was writing in a professional capacity, and possibly was simply being cautious. The previous email had been sent in an informal vein to a friend.
<br />
<br />
The summary reprints the Oct. 3 email in full but paraphrases the scientist's email to the CDC selectively.
<br />
<br />
From the summary (numbering added):
<br />
<br />
"When Robert Stevens became the first victim of the anthrax attacks, Dr. Ivins sent an unexplainable [1] e-mail to a contact at the CDC on October 4, 2001, the day after [2] Stevens was diagnosed with inhalation anthrax. Dr. Ivins, one of the nation's foremost anthrax scientists, speculated that Mr. Stevens's infection could have been the result of Stevens drinking infected creek water. The proffered explanation was impossible because the anthrax had been inhaled [3]. Alternatively, he proposed to the CDC that Stevens could have contracted the disease from infected alpaca used in wool socks or a sweater [4]. Both a renowned microbiologist at another lab and a scientist at USAMRIID found these suggestions absurd. The microbiologist at the other lab described them as "laughable," and the USAMRIID scientist called them 'fishy, any reasonable scientist would say this doesn't make sense'." [5]
<br />
<br />
A footnote concedes that another anthrax researcher pointed out that everyone was wondering whether the microbe came from the environment, though no one had considered the idea of infection via ingestion of water.
<br />
<br />
Here is the Oct. 4 letter obtained from page 487 of Ivins's 2001 emails reproduced at ProPublica's Anthrax Files.
<br />
<br />
From: Ivins, Bruce E. Dr. USAMRIID <br />
To: REDACTED <br />
Subject: Florida case(?) <br />
Date: Thursday, October 04, 2001 9:57:19 PM <br />
<br />
Hi, REDACTED <br />
<br />
I just heard this evening (and read over internet news) that a
case of pulmonary anthrax may have been identified in Florida. Is this
true, or is this just hysteria? The only Florida strain of B.
anthracis that I am familiar with is V770, which is the parent of
V770-NP1-P, the strain used in production of the human anthrax
vaccine. (I believe that V770 was originally isolated from a cow in
Florida in the early 1950s.) The article said that this person was an
"Outdoorsman," and had drunk water from a creek in North Carolina. If
he really does have anthrax, could he have gotten it this way, or did
he get it by tromping around some dusty field area. (Has North
Carolina been dry this summer?) I know that in the wild in Africa,
animals are supposed to be able to get it from water holes by stirring
up spores and presumably ingesting them and possibly inhaling them as
an aerosol. Could this have happened? What if the animal had died
upstream and the stream was contaminated? (Drinking from a stream or
creek without boiling or purifying the water first is an invitation to
intestinal disease or parasites, but have any other human anthrax
cases been documented from people drinking contaminated water?) <br />
<br />
You called me several times in the recent past REDACTED with
regards to another anthrax issue. If there's anything I can help with
here (if you or coworkers are involved) please let me know. I don't
know if there's anything I can do, but I'm certainly willing to
provide whatever informational assistance I can. (I would have been
less surprised if the Florida man had been hunting deer in Texas,
where there is identifiable anthrax. I don't recall North Carolina as
having ideal soil for preservation of anthrax spores or for anthrax
cycling of spore-vegetative cell-spore-vegetative cell etc., but I
suppose there could be areas of higher soil calcium and alkalinity.)
<br />
<br />
Anyway, please don't hesitate to give me a call if there's
anything I can do. We are currently testing the virulence (in
immunized and unimmunized guinea pigs) of B. anthracis strains from
all over the world, including China, and we've come up with some very
interesting differences in virulence among the strains.
<br />
<br />
Take care of yourself, REDACTED
<br />
<br />
- Bruce
<br />
<br />
[1] After reading the email, would you call it unexplainable?
<br />
<br />
[2] The CDC says that it first confirmed that Stevens had inhalational anthrax on Oct. 4, the day Ivins wrote the email, not the day before. Hence, the dust had not yet settled and Ivins may well have been unsure the diagnosis was realistic.
<br />
<br />
[3] It's clear that he seems to distrust the inhalation diagnosis, though he is willing to entertain various possibilities -- possibilities he is thinking about in light of the news account he had read.
<br />
<br />
[4] The "alternative" explanation does not appear in the email and is not documented. However, cutaneous (infected skin lesion) anthrax is known as a disease of wool workers, and he may have wondered whether there was a slight, but not impossible, chance of transmission via infected wool clothing.
<br />
<br />
[5] It is apparent that when scientists were asked about Ivins's conjectures, they weren't privy to what he actually wrote. Even when it comes to the wild idea of anthrax contamination of drinking water, Ivins only throws out a question, which should be seen in context of his having heard of animals contracting anthrax at water holes, where they kicked up spores from the ground.
<br />
<br />
However, the Justice Department says, "This email to the CDC, fishing for information, is additional evidence of his guilty conscience."
<br />
<br />
Even if Ivins was fishing for information, is that really evidence of a guilty conscience? After all, his field was anthrax research.
<br />
<br />
<b>
No news is bad news</b><br />
The summary bills another Ivins email as indicative of inside knowledge of the anthrax attacks.
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 26, 2001 Ivins wrote a former coworker:
<br />
<br />
"Of the people in my 'group' everyone but me is in the depression/sadness/flight mode for stress. I'm really the only scary one in the group. Others are talking about how sad they are or scared they are, but my reaction to the WTC/Pentagon events is far different. Of course, I don't talk about how I really feel with them -- it would just make them worse. Seeing how differently I reacted than they did to the recent events makes me really think about myself a lot. I just heard tonight that Bin Laden terrorists for sure have anthrax and Sarin gas. You [REDACTED]."
<br />
<br />
The summary ominously notes that the public did not become aware of the first anthrax mailings until early October, about a week after this email. The email was sent six days after attack letters were postmarked in New Jersey.
<br />
<br />
The summary adds that in that same email, Ivins wrote: "Osama Bin Laden has just decreed death to all Jews and all Americans" -- language it held to be similar to the text of the anthrax letters postmarked two weeks later warning "DEATH TO AMERICA," "DEATH TO ISRAEL."
<br />
<br />
But, a point the summary omits is that there was much discussion on the internet and via other media about the possibility that bin Laden, or al Qaeda, possessed such weaponry. And, the public had been told of bin Laden's actions against Israel and his 1998 fatwa against Americans, saying they were permissible targets for attacks. In fact, the government's conspiracy theory concerning the 9/11 attacks hinges on bin Laden's death decree.
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 12, the atmosphere was set by former Defense Secretary William Cohen and CIA Director George Tenet.
<br />
<br />
A Sept. 12 report in the Guardian newspaper notes that Tenet told Americans that bin Laden had in 1998 served notice that any American was a legitimate target for attack. That same article asserts -- probably incorrectly -- that Sarin nerve gas was among "the many sinister components" of bin Laden's arsenal.
<br />
<br />
On the evening of Sept. 12, Cohen told CBS News
that he fully expected there to be a
full-scale deployment of biological and chemical "weapons of mass
destruction" very soon. This reinforced his earlier statements as
Clinton's Pentagon chief that a five-pound bag of anthrax bacteria in the
hands of terrorists would likely cause the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Americans.
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 16, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Fox News: "What they can do is use these asymmetrical threats of terrorism and chemical warfare and biological warfare and ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and cyber attacks."
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 19, a British TV station followed up another Telegraph report, and tied bin Laden, Sarin and anthrax together in one report. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.news24.com/xArchive/Archive/Germ-warfare-next-big-threat-20010917">http://www.news24.com/xArchive/Archive/Germ-warfare-next-big-threat-20010917
</a>
<br />
<br />
A Sept 24 Time magazine article on terrorism via unconventional weapons discusses anthrax, Sarin and bin Laden, though the writer does not suggest bin Laden had access to such weapons.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,176066,00.html">http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,176066,00.html
</a>
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 26, Britain's Telegraph told of a bin Laden unit's plan to use Sarin nerve gas. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340692/Bin-Laden-British-cell-planned-gas-attack-on-EU-Parliament.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340692/Bin-Laden-British-cell-planned-gas-attack-on-EU-Parliament.html
</a>
<br />
<br />
Though Ivins may not have seen the British reports, this type of information was picked up and circulated extensively on the internet and in American media.
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 26, columnist Maureen Dowd of the New York Times wrote, “Americans are now confronted with the specter of terrorists in crop dusters and hazardous-waste trucks spreading really terrifying, deadly toxins like plague, smallpox, blister agents, nerve gas and botulism." She added that women she knew "share information on which pharmacies still have Cipro, Zithromax and Doxycycline, all antibiotics that can be used for anthrax, the way they once traded tips on designer shoe bargains."
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 26, Bill Gertz of the Washington Times reports that al Qaeda was attempting to acquire Sarin and anthrax.
<br />
<br />
"Intelligence officials say classified analysis of the types of chemicals and toxins sought by al Qaeda indicate the group probably is trying to produce the nerve agent Sarin, or biological weapons made up of anthrax spores," Gertz wrote. "Sarin can be produced from the components used to make fertilizer and kills by disrupting the central nervous system. Anthrax is a highly lethal biological weapon that causes death after spores are ingested."
<br />
<br />
Gertz writes for the Washington Times, which still circulates in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, meaning that that story could well have been read by Ivins or a coworker.
<br />
<br />
It is true that none of these reports asserts that bin Laden definitely had Sarin and anthrax, but many casual listeners or readers would have assumed that bin Laden did have such capabilities. Even scientists can make rash assumptions when they are not focusing carefully.
<br />
<br />
Though the reports cited here mostly do not refer to bin Laden's death fatwa against Americans, it is safe to say various commentators had mentioned it.
And it is quite plausible that Ivins heard a compressed version of Gertz's story from broadcast news or read a garbled account on the internet. Certainly there is nothing unlikely about someone rewriting the Gertz story and adding to it the bin Laden fatwas against Americans and Jews.
<br />
<br />
Another possibility is that Ivins overheard office scuttlebutt concerning the Gertz story or that he somehow became aware of a Pentagon threat analysis of al Qaeda's purported biowar potential. After all, he worked for the Pentagon.
<br />
<br />
Of course, it is possible Ivins's email was criminally anticipatory, but not only is there no evidence of that, there is plenty of evidence that such an awareness could have been picked up from news accounts.
<br />
<br />
<b>
Lies, damned lies and polygraphs </b><br />
The summary relegated the fact that Ivins had passed a polygraph examination to a footnote. <br />
<br />
"In some sense, Dr. Ivins’s efforts to stay ahead of the investigation began much earlier.
When he took a polygraph in connection with the investigation in 2002, the examiner determined
that he passed. However, as the investigation began to hone in on Dr. Ivins and investigators
learned that he had been prescribed a number of psychotropic medications at the time of the 2002
polygraph, investigators resubmitted his results to examiners at FBI Headquarters and the
Department of Defense Polygraph Institute for a reassessment of the results in light of that new
information. Both examiners who independently reassessed the results determined that Dr. Ivins
exhibited “classic” signs of the use of countermeasures to pass a polygraph. At the time the
polygraph was initially examined in 2002, not all examiners were trained to spot
countermeasures, making the first analysis both understandable under the circumstances, and
irrelevant to the subsequent conclusion that he used countermeasures."
<br />
<br />
Jeff Stein of the Washington Post wrote in February 2011 that the the FBI's case file contradicts the summary footnote.
<br />
<br />
Ivins “did not research anything about the test, to include ways to defeat its accuracy,” the FBI’s 2002 report on Ivins says.
<br />
<br />
“Likewise, he did not take any steps to defeat the tests [sic] accuracy or use countermeasures," the FBI report says. "In fact, IVINS stopped taking his anti-depression/anti-anxiety medication 48-72 hours before the polygraph, and he offered to provide blood and/or urine specimens at the time of the test to prove he was not medicated.”
<br />
<br />
Links to the report cited by Stein are now dead.
<br />
<br />
As Stein observes, "An obvious question might be whether, of the many other possible suspects who were eliminated, any were eliminated solely on the basis of polygraph examinations."
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/02/ivins_cases_inconvenient_quest.html">http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/02/ivins_cases_inconvenient_quest.html
</a>
<br />
<br />
The polygraph method has been the subject of considerable controversy, but a National Academies of Science panel found that such examinations in the hands of skilled examiners are often effective, though far from perfect. Still, doubts remain about whether examiners know how to detect countermeasures and about the notion that psychiatric drugs are useful in that regard.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://antipolygraph.org/blog/2010/02/20/doj-rationalizes-away-polygraphs-failure-to-catch-alleged-anthrax-mailer-bruce-ivins/">https://antipolygraph.org/blog/2010/02/20/doj-rationalizes-away-polygraphs-failure-to-catch-alleged-anthrax-mailer-bruce-ivins/
</a>
<br />
<br />
A few more points:
<br />
<br />
A heavily redacted Dec. 8, 2004, FBI report shows that, despite reservations, either Ivins or an associate agreed to submit to an FBI polygraph exam. Now, supposing the report refers to an Ivins associate, one still faces the question of why the FBI did not polygraph Ivins in 2004, when he had come under new scrutiny.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://vault.fbi.gov/Amerithrax">http://vault.fbi.gov/Amerithrax
</a>
<br />
<br />
In April 2010, ProPublica reported that another Fort Detrick anthrax scientist, Henry S. Heine,
said FBI agents gave him a polygraph exam and took
statements from him several times between 2001 and 2003.
Yet the summary implies that the bureau did
not polygraph Ivins at all, but, rather, relied on Army polygraphers. So
then, what stopped the bureau from relying on Army polygraphs of Heine?
<br />
<br />
So, aside from passing an Army polygraph, either Ivins also passed an FBI polygraph test -- with the government falsely implying that the FBI had not polygrapghed Ivins -- or the FBI was waved away from polygraphing him. As a Pentagon employee with a security clearance, Ivins's ability to refuse
further polygraphing was limited, which was especially the case prior
to his being officially considered a suspect.
<br />
<br />
In June 2002, the Hartford Courant
noted that the FBI intended to
interview and conduct polygraph tests of more than 200 former and
current employees of Fort Detrick and the Army's Dugway Proving
Grounds in Utah, where biowar anthrax tests had been carried out.
An FBI source told the Courant that there were only about 25 people from Dugway on the
list of those to be interviewed and tested, meaning most
scientists to be scrutinized were from Fort Detrick.
<br />
<br />
Steven Hatfill, a former Fort Detrick scientist whom the FBI once considered a "person of interest" was among those polygraphed by the FBI.
<br />
<br />
So again, what really caused the FBI to seemingly give Ivins a waiver from polygraph testing?
<br />
<br />
It is hard to answer such questions because, as bioweapons expert Martin Furmanski observed concerning the released FBI files:
<br />
<br />
"Often the redactions are quite extensive, involving most or all of a paragraph. Generally, these carry the ‘personal privacy’ exemption notations, which seems unlikely.
In some cases the redacted material can be reasonably surmised to be of scientific
character from the context and the unredacted portions."
<br />
<br />
Furmanski, a Stanford University professor with degrees in pathology and microbiology, examined more than 2000 pages of FBI documents.
<br />
<br />
Despite his conclusion that Fort Detrick had possessed the equipment needed to make sufficient quantities of anthrax powder for the letter attacks, Furmanski noted,
"There is a larger issue regarding the robustness of the material in the FBI FOIA
documents. Although extensive, they are a selection of a much larger archive, estimated
to be over 50,000 pages."
<br />
<br />
Furmanski, in his 2010 analysis for the Federation of American Scientists, said a fermenter at Ivins's work place was large enough to have produced in two batches enough anthrax for the attacks.
<br />
<br />
But in 2011, ProPublica and its partner news organizations reported that Gerard P. Andrews, a pathologist and Army officer who headed the bacteriology division where Ivins worked, described the division's fermenter as “indefinitely disabled,” with its motor removed. Assuming the Andrews statement is accurate, someone would not only have had to get the fermenter running, but to have removed and hidden the motor, at least twice. There is no indication that Ivins was skilled in such matters. So acceptance of the FBI theory tends toward the conclusion that Ivins very likely would have had confederates.
<br />
<br />
The FBI made no attempt to give a detailed explanation of how the powders were prepared, and so the public is left with unanswered questions about other fermenters at Fort Detrick and Ivins's access to them.
<br />
<br />
At any rate,
in 2012 an NSA whistleblower, Russell Tice, revealed to Newsweek that if one has used trickery on a control question, then when the key questions are asked, the subject can daydream about something pleasant. It seems plausible that daydreaming might be easier to do if one is using psychotropic drugs.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/09/25/nsa-whistleblower-reveals-how-to-beat-a-polygraph-test">http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/09/25/nsa-whistleblower-reveals-how-to-beat-a-polygraph-test
</a>
<br />
<br />
It cannot easily be ruled out that Ivins had learned how to beat the test from associates in the Pentagon. Or, is it possible he was "passed" by confederates, which is another way of beating such tests?
<br />
<br />
One online report, quoting FindLaw.com, says that psychopaths and sociopaths (who lack empathy with other people) "may be
excluded from polygraphs as the disorders reflect individuals who can
control their emotional responses and do not exhibit a conscience."
<br />
<br />
A reader could get the impression -- though the summary is not explicit -- that Ivins's mental illness may have contributed to his ability to pass the polygraph test. In an acute paranoid schizophrenic episode, it is conceivable that an "alternate" personality could emerge which is capable of turning to murder. Later, when the "alter ego" has re-submerged, the "real Bruce Ivins" would sincerely believe that he had had nothing to do with the attacks.
<br />
<br />
For example, among the many personal emails he sent to his former coworkers Mara Linscott and Patricia Fellows, is this poem:
<br />
<br />
So now, please guess who
<br />
Is conversing with you.
<br />
Hickory dickory Doc!
<br />
Bruce and this other guy, sitting by some trees,
<br />
Exchanging personalities.
<br />
It’s like having two in one.
<br />
Actually it’s rather fun!
<br />
<br />
The summary adds:
<br />
<br />
"In the weeks that followed this e-mail, Dr. Ivins continued to discuss his 'terrifying'
mental health issues, telling Former Colleague # 1 (Mara Linscott) in an e-mail on July 4, 2000: 'The thinking
now by the psychiatrist and the counselor is that my symptoms may not be those of depression or
bipolar disorder, they may be that of ‘Paranoid Personality Disorder'."
<br />
<br />
Ivins also wrote that he was seeking help, fearing the "terrible things some paranoid schizophrenics have done."
<br />
<br />
Under pressure from the Justice Department, the civil depositions of Linscott and Fellows were sealed, meaning there is no way at present to compare government claims with the recollections of the two women.
<br />
<br />
The psychiatric panel observed that "Ivins's writings referred, at times explicitly, to depression, paranoia,
and delusional thoughts; described a sense of observing himself from
the outside (depersonalization); talked and wrote about there being
two Bruces (dissociation); described being harmed by the rejection of
KKG [a sorority] members; and worried about becoming, and being, schizophrenic."
<br />
<br />
Yet, the psychiatric panel cited neither schizophrenia nor dissociative identity disorder (in which "alter egos" emerge) in its diagnosis, but found that Ivins lacked empathy (a problem associated with "psychopaths") and suffered from "personality
disorder not otherwise specified, with narcissistic and antisocial
features" which he medicated via drug and alcohol abuse.
<br />
<br />
The government may have had a problem with the "murder-by-alter-ego" idea, as such events are not well documented in the literature and the federal prosecutors may have been reluctant to set a precedent. Still, defense lawyers have tried to use the multiple personality defense in murder cases.
<br />
<br />
For example, lawyers for Richard Angelo, the "Angel of Death" nurse, fought to prove that Angelo suffered from dissociative identity disorder, which meant he would dissociate himself completely from the crimes he committed.
<br />
<br />
The lawyers fought to prove this theory by introducing polygraph exams which Angelo had passed during questioning about the murdered patients, it has been reported. The judge however, would not allow the polygraph evidence.
<br />
<br />
Considering the emphasis put on his mental stress and neurotic behavior before the anthrax attacks, one wonders how Ivins would not have panicked at the possibility he might flub his polygraph -- countermeasures or no -- and draw investigators down on his head. But if an alternate personality had been in control during key periods, Ivins may well have passed a polygraph test when that personality was submerged.
<br />
<br />
However, such a scenario has many difficulties, including a proposed ability to switch on the murderous "alter ego" during contacts with confederates.
<br />
<br />
Also, one should not automatically dismiss the possibility that Ivins's emails had been intercepted by security agents in 2000 and brought to the attention of politically powerful persons in early 2001 who were seeking war against Iraq and other Mideastern nations, as is documented in many places, including here:
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://paulpages.blogspot.com/2011/11/fox-news-trumpet-of-israels-hard-right.html">http://paulpages.blogspot.com/2011/11/fox-news-trumpet-of-israels-hard-right.html
</a>
<br />
<br />
[Another thought:<br />
<a href="http://conantcensorshipissue.blogspot.com/2010/07/comrade-j-and-mole-menace.html">http://conantcensorshipissue.blogspot.com/2010/07/comrade-j-and-mole-menace.html</a> .]
<br />
<br />
In such a scenario, Ivins would have been used as a witting or unwitting pawn, or perhaps as a potential "fall guy." How else does one account for the government notion that Ivins was guilty and also for his colleagues' assertion that Ivins could not have escaped notice while making the large amount of anthrax powders used in the mailings?
<br />
<br />
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Seymour M. Hersh, a highly regarded investigative reporter,
wrote in the New Yorker magazine:
<br />
<br />
"Many of the investigators believe that some of the initial clues that
were uncovered about the terrorists’ identities and preparations, such
as flight manuals, were meant to be found. A former high-level
intelligence official told me, 'Whatever trail was left was left
deliberately—for the F.B.I. to chase.'
<br />
<br />
"In interviews over the past two weeks, a number of intelligence
officials have raised questions about Osama bin Laden’s capabilities.
'This guy sits in a cave in Afghanistan and he’s running this
operation?' one C.I.A. official asked. 'It’s so huge. He couldn’t have
done it alone'."
<br />
<hr />
What Went Wrong<br />
The New Yorker, Oct. 8, 2001 issue<br />
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/10/08/what-went-wrong">http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/10/08/what-went-wrong</a>
<br />
<hr />
<div align="justify">
Also see, <br />
9/11 probers skipped key forensic tests<br />
<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/911-probers-skipped-key-forensic-tests.html">http://www.prisonplanet.com/911-probers-skipped-key-forensic-tests.html</a><br />
<br />
An argument positing federal clandestine operations is made by Graeme MacQueen,
a retired McMaster University professor of peace studies,
in <i>The 2001 Anthrax Deception -- The Case for Domestic Conspiracy</i> (Clarity Press, 2014). MacQueen, who specialized in Buddhist studies, points out that curious linkages between the alleged al Qaeda hijackers and the anthrax attacks look as though they were clues planted to validate a narrative blaming bin Laden -- along with his supposed sponsor, Saddam Hussein -- for the anthrax attacks. The FBI was initially inclined to blame al Qaeda, but the quality of the anthrax sent to the Senate pointed to a military program and the bureau was forced to change direction.
<br />
<br />
Letters with bogus anthrax were sent from St. Petersburg, Fla., a 50-minute drive from Sarasota, where the reputed hijackers paid visits to a mysterious Saudi family. The reputed hijackers trained at a flight school in Venice, Fl.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110908/ARTICLE/110909586">http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110908/ARTICLE/110909586
</a>
<br />
<br />
Among the letters sent from St. Petersburg to news media was one to Judith Miller, a reporter for the New York Times, and another to Howard Troxler, a columnist for the St. Petersburg Times. Troxler, whose columns also appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, and Miller both opened their letters after the first anthrax case had become known. But a fuzzy St. Petersburg Times image appears to show a postmark date of Oct. 1, before attacks had become known.
<br />
<br />
The St. Petersburg Times reported that the cryptic letter to its columnist misspelled Troxler's name and had little punctuation. According to the paper, it said:<br />
<br />
"Howard Toxler ... 1st case of disease now blow away this dust so you see how the real thing flys. Oklahoma-Ryder Truck! Skyway bridge-18 wheels."
<br />
<br />
Less information is available about the Miller letter.<br />
<br />
In October 2011, Miller told a CNN caller, "Well, the letter was handwritten. And there was no return address. And there were misspellings. It was a threatening letter. And the Times has decided that I should only tell you that it contained a threat to the Sears Tower and to President Bush. It was a crude letter. That is all I can say."
<br />
<br />
Google searches suggest that she hasn't since revealed whether the envelope's address was similar to the attack letters or the Troxler letter or whether she has seen the envelope and letter since the FBI took custody of them. The FBI has not released copies of the letters or envelopes sent to Troxler and Miller.
<br />
<br />
A query was sent through a close associate of Miller asking her about the threat letter, but no response was received. (Miller's apparent reticence should not be taken as indicative of any violation of U.S. law.)
<br />
<br />
It is noteworthy that the Troxler letter's address is written in a blocky style very similar to, but not in the same handwriting as, the attack letters. It seems plausible that the Miller letter followed suit. Ivins is unlikely to have been able to mail the Florida letters.
<br />
<br />
Another theory is that the Obama White House did not want the investigation to dog the Obama presidency, as it had the Bush presidency, and had pressured the attorney general, Eric Holder, and the FBI director, Robert Mueller, to wrap up the investigation quickly. In an attempt to justify closure of the case, the thinking goes, a politicized Justice Department report was issued. Despite an important deviation from the Justice Department account, the behavioral analysis's narrative section reads as though it were written by a Justice Department functionary.
<br />
<br />
Though the various subsidiary points raised above are worth some thought, the main issue is that the summary gives a highly deceptive statement about the Ivins polygraph matter.
<br />
<br />
<b>
Now you see it, now you don't</b></div>
<br />
From the psychiatric report, dubbed "Report of the Expert Behavioral Analysis Panel":
<br />
<br />
"The agent then asked Dr. Ivins whether that was all the anthrax he
had. It was, Dr. Ivins said. The agent then specifically asked about
the RMR-1029 flask.
<br />
<br />
"Dr. Ivins walked back into the cooler and returned with a standard,
one-liter vessel, and labeled with a black Sharpie. The anthrax inside
was in liquid form. Unlike the two samples he had readily volunteered,
Dr. Ivins had held back the RMR-1029 — surrendering it only when
specifically requested.
<br />
<br />
"Later, Dr. Ivins’ technicians reported that they had never seen the
flask. He had been its sole custodian and presumably had kept it
concealed in the cooler.
<br />
<br />
"Soon, anthrax from the seized RMR-1029 flask was tested with
the more sophisticated assay techniques that scientists had been
developing. The question was whether the anthrax from the flask
would show the same genetic markers as the anthrax used in
the mailings."
<br />
<br />
Why this incident is problematic is that the story is corroborated neither by the investigative summary nor pertinent FBI files.
<br />
<br />
The summary reads: "So, in April 2004, the flask containing RMR-1029, along with
approximately 20 other samples of Ba [Bacillus anthracis] which Dr. Ivins maintained in his lab, were secured by the
FBI in such a manner that Dr. Ivins no longer had access to them. In June 2004, those samples
were removed from Dr. Ivins’s lab and transferred to the custody of the FBI."
<br />
<br />
A federal affidavit for a 2007 search of Ivins's property discusses the April 2004 search. It says nothing about the alleged blatant evasion by Ivins.
<br />
<br />
"On December 12, 2003, an FBI Special Agent accompanied Dr. Ivins into Suite B3 at
USAMRIID and identified additional Ames samples of Dr. Ivins's and others that had not been
submitted as part of the above mentioned response. Dr. Ivins submitted slants [test tubes holding biological material]
prepared from the newly identified samples to the FBIR [FBI repository] on April 7, 2004
<br />
<br />
"On the afternoon of April 7, 2004, an FBI Special Agent accompanied Dr. Ivins into
Suite B3, and seized the original samples Dr. Ivins had used to prepare the slants submitted to
the FBIR earlier that day. Additionally, the Agent seized the RMR-1029 flask itself. All of the
samples were secured in the B3 walk-in cold room within a double-locked safe, and sealed with
evidence tape until such time that they could be transported to the Navy Medical Research
Center (NMRC), which was under contract by the FBI."
<br />
<br />
The affidavit, as of Oct. 26, 2014, is found at
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/anthrax-amerithrax/07-524-M-01%20Attachment.pdf">http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/anthrax-amerithrax/07-524-M-01%20Attachment.pdf</a>
<br />
<br />
There is no mention of Ivins attempting to withhold the critical flask from an FBI agent during the search of the hot suite.
<br />
<br />
ProPublica's Anthrax Files site has a document (pages 73 to 79 in "The FBI Bruce E. Ivins investigation") discussing the search conducted in early April 2004 which does not verify the psychiatric narrative's account.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://projects.propublica.org/docdiver/documents/73700-c1-fbi-bruce-e-ivins-investigation-sections">http://projects.propublica.org/docdiver/documents/73700-c1-fbi-bruce-e-ivins-investigation-sections
</a>
<br />
<br />
ProPublica's research yielded nothing like the tale in the psychiatric report.
<br />
<br />
ProPublica:
<br />
<br />
"In early April 2004, Ivins was asked to help the FBI collect a complete set of cultures from Fort Detrick. Earlier, FBI agents had found 22 vials of anthrax that hadn't been turned over. On April 6, a lab assistant found a test tube of material that appeared to have been removed from Ivins’ flask.
<br />
<br />
"The assistant gave the germs to Henry Heine, a colleague of Ivins' who happened to be in the building. Heine said he checked with Ivins, who told him to send a sample from the tube to the FBI. In an April 6 email, Ivins thanked Heine, acknowledging that the anthrax 'was probably RMR-1029.'
<br />
<br />
"Heine views this moment as a sign of his colleague’s innocence, pointing out that Ivins willingly turned over a sample he thought had originated from his flask. In an interview, Heine said there were no cameras in the building, that FBI agents weren't monitoring the search and that Ivins easily could have prepared the sample himself and tampered with the evidence.
<br />
<br />
"A day later, investigators seized Ivins’ flask, locking it in a safe double-sealed with evidence tape.
<br />
<br />
"What happened next raises questions about the reliability of the FBI’s method for detecting morphs [genetic markers]. The bureau separately ordered tests on Heine’s sample and a second one drawn from the same test tube. Records show conflicting results, one negative and one positive.
<br />
<br />
"Does this mean the FBI’s tests for morphs were unreliable?
<br />
<br />
"An FBI scientist said Ivins had told investigators the anthrax in the refrigerator had been diluted. This perhaps made the morphs undetectable in testing, said the scientist, who was made available to discuss the matter on the condition of anonymity.
<br />
<br />
"Heine said the sample he sent wasn't diluted.
<br />
<br />
"'We can only go by what Bruce told us,' the FBI scientist replied.
<br />
<br />
"Heine said he sent the FBI at least two additional samples from RMR-1029 that Ivins had shared with him. He said the FBI later told him both had tested negative for the morphs. The FBI scientist said the bureau could find no record of this."
<br />
<br />
As discussed below, a Navy laboratory had measured the spore density in the seized anthrax, and obtained a count consistent with dilution. However, Ivins showed an FBI scientist that that the Navy measurement was unlikely.
<br />
<br />
On such an important matter as pronounced evasive behavior, the psychiatric report does not cite its source of evidence, whether that be an FBI document or an interview with the FBI agent who is said to have reported Ivins's suspicious behavior. In fact the redacted online report gives few if any citations for "facts" reported in its narrative.
<br />
<br />
The psychiatric report was published in 2011 by Research Strategies Network (RSN) under the leadership of Gregory B. Saathoff, a University of Virginia psychiatrist who has been an FBI behavioral consultant since 1996. The report's authors were given the mission of reviewing decades' worth of Ivins's psychiatric files and coming up with a behavioral analysis. The report was originally held under wraps, but eventually was released to the public.
<br />
<br />
Saathoff is currently RSN's president and treasurer.
<br />
<br />
Among RSN's reviewers were two American Red Cross officials with no record of mental health professionalism. Gerald M. DeFrancisco is head of Red Cross humanitarian services, who also sits on RSN's board, and Joseph C. White is a Red Cross senior vice president. Presumably, justification for their inclusion was the fact that Ivins had, late in his career, joined the Red Cross as a volunteer. Retention of these men demonstrates the political nature of the report.
<br />
<br />
Another reviewer is a fellow University of Virginia professor, Christopher P. Holstege MD, who shares with Saathoff management responsibilities at
an outfit called the Critical Incident Analysis Group
<br />
<br />
Among luminaries on RSN's board are Edwin Meese III, President Ronald Reagan's attorney general, and Charles S. Robb, the former Virginia governor and U.S. senator. Meese also sits on the board of the critical incident group.
<br />
<br />
On Sept. 4, 2014 this reporter asked most RSN reviewers (some had no publicly available email addresses) these questions:
<br />
<br />
1. What did your contribution to the psychiatric panel entail?
<br />
2. Was there any thought of or opportunity for minority opinion?
<br />
3. Did you believe that the narrative portion of the report was
reliable and gave you the necessary background for a psychiatric
evaluation? Who prepared the narrative portion?
<br />
4. Did you personally subscribe to the belief that there was strong
reason to conclude that Dr. Ivins had acted alone in carrying out the
attacks?<br />
5. Did you endorse all the findings and recommendations of the report?
<br />
<br />
No response was received from any of those emailed.
<br />
<br />
(For further information on RSN, please see Appendix A below.)<br />
<br />
<b>
Princeton puzzles</b><br />
"The letters were mailed from a mailbox in front of KKG in Princeton," the summary asserts, referring to offices of Kappa Kappa Gamma, a sorority with which Ivins was obsessed, at 20 Nassau Street.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/mailbox-in-princeton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/mailbox-in-princeton.jpg" width="640" /></a><b>Three mailboxes at Nassau and Bank streets in 2002.</b> <i>(Photo from History Commons; source: Richard Smith)</i></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/2010/02/anthrax-fbi-princeton-mailboxjpg-326cbb29044917ca_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/2010/02/anthrax-fbi-princeton-mailboxjpg-326cbb29044917ca_large.jpg" height="422" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="byline" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: "benton sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0.208px; line-height: 13px; margin: 5px 0px; text-align: left;"><i> TONY KURDZUK/THE STAR-LEDGER</i></span><span class="byline" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: "benton sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0.208px; line-height: 13px; margin: 5px 0px; text-align: left;"><b style="letter-spacing: 0.208px;">Letter Carrier Morris Johnson empties one of three mail boxes at the corner of Nassau and Bank streets in 2005 in Princeton. The center box is believed to have been replaced by authorities after the original box tested positive for anthrax spores.</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #313131; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 12.6px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<em style="color: #313131; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12.6px;"><br /></em>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXYodpmlUTVPjQYPj5JRfjUenW82DAQEr9i_8rW-EPoCzB6rbahZyursylo2UsCMuuu9mYydE-JGP1noKQjfvcZLjoKVC02JaJgJaVOcvUtK7UISkcvm9r0uKT83OU8vlCv_sBWb7ShvZ/s1600/IMG_0900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXYodpmlUTVPjQYPj5JRfjUenW82DAQEr9i_8rW-EPoCzB6rbahZyursylo2UsCMuuu9mYydE-JGP1noKQjfvcZLjoKVC02JaJgJaVOcvUtK7UISkcvm9r0uKT83OU8vlCv_sBWb7ShvZ/s640/IMG_0900.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<em style="color: #313131; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12.6px;"><br /></em>
<i>Photo by Paul Conant</i><br />
<b>The storage box on the right dates from the 1960s. It is of a different style from the box on the right in the 2002 photo. In the 2005 photo, the box on the right is painted blue, though a careful look shows that is not identical to the other boxes. In the most recent photo, the right-hand box is a storage box that hasn't been painted in many years. Green-yellow boxes were phased out decades ago.</b><br />
<br />
That's the FBI claim, based on the reported finding of spores at a mailbox a few steps from Nassau street -- a local name for Route 27 -- and Route 206. The mailbox site is at Nassau and Bank streets, across from University Place.
<br />
<br />
In 2002 there were three mailboxes at Nassau and Mercer, according to an observer, Richard M. Smith. Two were for receiving mail and one for storing mail temporarily. (Smith's URL has been deleted since this report appeared.)<br />
<br />
There is now in November 2014 one standard mailbox and the storage box. So we can assume that the presumed spore-laden box was removed. It is not apparent whether the other standard mailbox was removed and replaced, though the Wall Street Journal in August 2002 said officials had removed "the box" for further tests. Attack letter postmarks had led to the swabbing of mailboxes in the Hamilton, N.J., postal region, with swabs tested for anthrax spores.
<br />
<br />
One can perhaps assume that the singular "the box" implies that the other standard mailbox at Nassau and Mercer tested negative. It is not evident whether the right-hand storage box was removed in 2002. Press accounts are foggy on whether the mailboxes flanking the tainted box were also removed.<br />
<br />
The faded green storage box, which was manufactured in the 1960s, still stands at Mercer and Nassau.
<br />
<br />
This writer checked news reports from the period and found nothing about a decontamination operation at the busy intersection. One would think that once the site was definitively identified as anthrax-contaminated, the area around the tainted mailbox would have been decontaminated and, as a safety precaution, all other mailboxes on site removed. It seems unlikely that, had it been removed, the old storage box would have been returned to the spot.<br />
<br />
Between 2005 and 2014, one box was removed and an ancient storage box was substituted.<br />
<br />
In addition, nearby is a large shade tree, meaning that spores would have been protected from sunlight and could have posed a significant hazard for months or years. But, there seems to have been no concern about this possibility. It's possible that the local climate is inhospitable to anthrax spores. Yet, in light of the drastic anti-contaminant measures elsewhere, it seems odd that the public was allowed to stroll by the area around the tainted box.<br />
<br />
Obviously, it is possible that a decontamination was conducted very quietly, or that authorities were simply negligent about public safety. However, it seems fair to wonder whether the letters were sent from the location claimed.
<br />
<br />
This suspicion is underpinned by Glenn Greenwald's report in Salon arguing that the FBI had been forced to change its story about the Princeton mailings after he and others spotted an absurd contradiction.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2008/08/18/anthrax_7/">http://www.salon.com/2008/08/18/anthrax_7/
</a>
<br />
<br />
Greenwald challenged a Washington Post story that said, "A partial log of Ivins's work hours shows that he worked late in the lab on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 16, signing out at 9:52 p.m. after two hours and 15 minutes. The next morning, the sources said, he showed up as usual but stayed only briefly before taking leave hours. Authorities assume that he drove to Princeton immediately after that, dropping the letters in a mailbox on a well-traveled street across from the university campus. Ivins would have had to have left quickly to return for an appointment in the early evening, about 4 or 5 p.m.
<br />
<br />
"Ivins also had ample time to return to the same Nassau Street mailbox the following month, over the Columbus Day weekend, when a second group of letters was sent to Senate offices and media organizations, the sources said, offering new information that they said underscored Ivins's opportunity to commit the crime."
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080703443_pf.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080703443_pf.html
</a>
<br />
<br />
Greenwald wrote, "But almost immediately after the FBI leaked this theory as to when and how Ivins traveled to New Jersey undetected, it was pointed out in several online venues, including here, that this timeline made no sense whatsoever — that, indeed, the FBI’s own theories were self-contradictory. In the documents that the FBI disclosed two weeks ago, it itself defined the 'window of opportunity' for mailing the September 18 postmarked letters as beginning on September 17 at 5:00 p.m. (after which letters dropped in that mailbox would have received a postmark of September 18, but before which they would be postmarked September 17). Thus, based on the FBI’s own facts, it would be physically impossible for Ivins — as the FBI claimed to the Post — to have driven to New Jersey after taking administrative leave in the morning in order to mail the anthrax letters, since he returned that day to Maryland for a 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. meeting, and thus could not have dropped the letters in the mailbox after 5:00 p.m."
<br />
<br />
The Post then ran a story based on federal sources that modified the timeline, having Ivins driving to Princeton on the evening of Sept. 17.<br />
<br />
An editor might say that use of anonymous sources poses risks to a story's accuracy. And it is also possible a reporter misinterpreted what he or she was told.
<br />
<br />
But this mistake should be seen in light of a pattern of federal errors, deceptions and omissions as to its theory about Ivins.<br />
<br />
<b>
Silicon alley</b><br />
From the summary (with numbering added):<br />
<br />
[1] "Throughout the course of the investigation, repeated challenges have been raised to this
finding that the spores were not weaponized. The challenges have their root in an initial finding
by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (“AFIP”) that, upon gross examination, the spores
exhibited a silicon and oxygen signal.
<br />
<br />
[2] However, subsequent analysis of the spores by Sandia
National Laboratories, using a more sensitive technology called transmission electron
microscopy (“TEM”) – which enabled material characterization experts to focus its probe of the
spores to the nanometer scale – determined that the silica was localized to the spore coat within
the exosporium, an area inside the spore. In other words, it was incorporated into the cell as a
natural part of the cell formation process.
<br />
<br />
The summary continues,
“The spores we examined lacked that fuzzy outer
coating that would indicate they’d been weaponized,” stated Dr. Paul Kotula of Sandia, who
personally examined the spores from the 2001 attacks. When presented with these results, Dr.
Peter Jahrling, a USAMRIID scientist who had reviewed the initial AFIP results and stated
publicly in late 2001 that the spores had been weaponized, retracted his earlier statement, telling
the Los Angeles Times on September 16, 2008, 'I believe I made an honest mistake'.”
<br />
<br />
This reporter's analysis follows:
<br />
<br />
[1] There are a number of means to weaponize anthrax spores: gene-splicing or possibly cultivation to increase resistance to antibiotics; microencapsulation to shield spores from the human immune system; purification, along with possible neutralization of electric charges to make spores go airborne easily; and addition of fused silica, which is commonly used to make powders less sticky and hence easier to aerosolize. When Ivins and his immediate supervisor, Lt. Col. Jeffrey J. Adamovicz, opened the plastic bag holding the Daschle powder, they were startled to see the spores fly out all over the place, according to Stevens case testimony.
<br />
<br />
Tests of the attack matter showed that it had no antibiotic resistance, indicating that advanced weaponization had not been used. However, virologist Jahrling was alarmed by the initial silicon signal and rushed to the White House to brief top officials.
<br />
<br />
[2] The Sandia analysis of attack powders sent to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy and the New York Post showed that fumed silica was not present in either sample, but that the spores tested positive for silicon.
<br />
<br />
According to NAS scientists, the evidence they saw convinced them that the amount of silicon detected in the Leahy powder could be completely accounted for by natural spore uptake from silicon in laboratory equipment. However, they pointed out that there was substantially more silicon detected in the Post powder than could be accounted for by silicon uptake in spore coats. This fact was obviously known to federal investigators when the summary was being prepared.
<br />
<br />
[For more on the silicon uptake matter, please see Appendix B below.]
<br />
<br />
The Post powder from the envelope postmarked Sept. 18 was a much more crudely prepared form of anthrax than the Leahy and Daschle powders sent two weeks later with an Oct. 9 postmark.
<br />
<br />
Asked at an FBI science briefing about the big discrepancy between silica levels in the attack powders, FBI scientist Vahid Majidi replied,
"Well, the water in New Mexico has ten times more silicant
in it then the water in some other states..."
<br />
<br />
The NAS panel would later observe: "The high levels of silicon found in the attack powders are extremely
unusual."
<br />
<br />
A reporter at an FBI science briefing asked, "Would it
be fair to say then that the silica and oxygen presence in these
spores was, for want of a better term, accidental or not intentional
or put there by God or something, but it just happened?"
<br />
<br />
An unnamed official responded: "Well, there are scientific reasons behind it. I
mean, you know, Bacillus species often produce proteins that are --
whose sole purpose is to chellate metals and other minerals. And the
theory behind it is that it makes the spore heartier. That if the
spore mineralizes they're more -- so that's a scientific theory."
<br />
<br />
"But that's something the anthrax did, not man?"
<br />
<br />
"The understanding of that process is not well understood," the official replied.
<br />
<br />
Or, in other words, the science briefers have parried the issue about high silicon content in the Post letter without saying that its presence was regarded by microbiologists as very unusual.
<br />
<br />
A related question at that briefing: "Did you try and duplicate the process? And how close did you get to making something like, you know -- the finer preparation that appeared?"
<br />
<br />
Majidi replied, "We were able to get those spores minus the silicon signal."
<br />
<br />
At another briefing for science writers, a questioner asked whether there was any truth to news reports that the FBI had been unable to replicate the attack spores.
<br />
<br />
Majidi replied, "If I make soup at home at two different times, they are not going to taste the same. So the fact that we can't duplicate a single powder prep is not unusual in any realm." At this briefing, he kept mum about the inability to replicate the silicon signal.
<br />
<br />
The public has not been told what the FBI scientists did to reverse-engineer the attack anthrax, with Majidi having excused that opaqueness on national security grounds. But presumably the FBI's consultants used equipment comparable to what was available at Fort Detrick. Despite assuring the press that the silicon signal resulted from a "natural" process, the FBI scientists skirted around the anomalous Post result.
<br />
<br />
Ivins told the FBI that when he saw the purity of the Daschle powder. he immediately thought: "Fermenter!" He explained that fermenters tend to produce clean spore concentrations while matter grown on agar plates is much dirtier, or contaminated by other biological material.
<br />
<br />
Interestingly, the Post and NBC powders were quite crude. So the crude matter had silicon added, but silicon that would do no harm. One wonders if someone added silicon in an amateurish attempt to weaponize it, or whether someone added it to make it look as though semi-trained al Qaeda terrorists were responsible.
Of course, one can come up with a scenario in which Ivins adds silicon in a devious ruse to fool investigators. According to the summary, Ivins's seemingly odd late hours in the lab began in August, weeks before Sept. 11 (and federal officials have never explicitly said that they believe Ivins began preparing attack powder before 9/11, though that is the logical conclusion of their scenario).
<br />
<br />
After Sept. 11, the summary shows, Ivins's lab hours zoomed up and fell rapidly once all anthrax attacks were completed.
<br />
<br />
Yet one wonders why Ivins didn't bother to add silicon to the new powder, and why he was no longer concerned with making the powder look crude (grown from agar plates, which would have been within al Qaeda's capability), but now went full-bore with a fermenter (assuming he somehow got his work place fermenter up and running).
<br />
<br />
Why the change in anthrax quality? It has been reported that at the time the Senate attack letters were mailed the Bush administration was high-pressuring Senate Democrats -- in particular Leahy and Daschle -- to get swiftly behind the emergency powers, or Patriot, bill,. Otherwise, the public is left to speculate that Ivins had already planned to blame al Qaeda when he was preparing the crude powder, but after 9/11 was electrified into throwing caution to the wind by dramatically ramping up his action.
<br />
<br />
The point here is that the FBI and Justice Department blurred the matter of high silicon levels in some attack powder by deliberately confusing that issue with the fact that other attack powder had routine levels of silicon.
<br />
<br />
A paper by biologists Martin E. Hugh-Jones, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, and Stuart Jacobsen argues that the high level of silicon, along with iron and tin, detected in the attack spores suggests the possibility of microencapsulation of spores, which they say is a known method of weaponization. Rosenberg, an expert on biological weapons, has been a persistent critic of the FBI's anthrax probe.
<br />
<br />
However, if microencapsulation was used, one wonders why the cruder spore powder would contain encapsulated spores but not the purer powder sent later. (In this respect, it may be noted that the NAS panel cast a skeptical eye on other anomalies NAS scientists noticed in the spore test reports, as well as scorning the FBI's statistical analysis.)
<br />
<br />
The FBI's Amerithrax page has a link titled "Science Briefing on the Investigation," but only the opening remarks, which includes introduction of the FBI's blue-ribbon group of consultant scientists, is available. This reporter obtained transcripts of the two science briefings online after some effort, as at the time of writing they were not readily available via Google.
<br />
<br />
Aug. 18, 2008 science briefing for the general press<br />
<a href="http://sandeeee.blogspot.com/2014/11/fbi-science-briefing-for-general-press.html">
http://sandeeee.blogspot.com/2014/11/fbi-science-briefing-for-general-press.html</a>
<br />
<br />
Aug. 18, 2008 briefing for science writers<br />
<a href="http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/fredericknewspost.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/f8/df85eef6-ee4b-11e2-9630-0019bb30f31a/51e59ba745e4c.pdf.pdf">http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/fredericknewspost.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/f8/df85eef6-ee4b-11e2-9630-0019bb30f31a/51e59ba745e4c.pdf.pdf
</a>
<br />
<br />
or
<br />
<a href="http://fredericknewspost.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/f8/df85eef6-ee4b-11e2-9630-0019bb30f31a/51e59ba745e4c.pdf.pdf">http://fredericknewspost.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/f8/df85eef6-ee4b-11e2-9630-0019bb30f31a/51e59ba745e4c.pdf.pdf
</a>
<br />
<br />
<b>
Rubber sole</b>
<br />
From the summary:
<br />
<br />
"Finally, when RMR-1029 was sent over for the aerosol
challenges, it was frequently diluted substantially, usually 1,000-fold. Given the highly
concentrated material used in the mailings, experts consulted have stated that it is
extremely unlikely that such diluted material could have been used in the mailings."
<br />
<br />
This statement makes it seem as though the attack material would have come straight from the 1029 flask. But all scientists, including the FBI's scientists, were keenly aware the attack spores were grown from a seed batch of the 1029-type substrain of Ames. Scientists testified in the civil case that a 1029-type preparation could have been grown from a very low number of spores. Dilution would not have been an issue if the necessary time and equipment were available.
<br />
<br />
One must be cautious about the various Justice Department claims about dilutions, dilutions that could have been done deliberately in order to conceal the presence of the four genetic markers found in the attack spores. At one point, an FBI report says, a bureau microbiologist challenged Ivins on the Navy's finding that a 1029 sample its experts analyzed had on the order of 10<sup>9</sup> (or one billion) spores per unit milliliter. Ivins expressed skepticism and permitted the FBI scientist to stand at his side and replicate every part of Ivins's measurement process. Both Ivins and the FBI scientist obtained a 10<sup>10</sup> (or 10 billion) measure.
<br />
<br />
From the behavioral analysis:
<br />
<br />
"Dr. Ivins acknowledged that he was the sole custodian of the
'RMR-1029' flask that held the anthrax used in the attacks, and had
unrestricted and unobserved access to the 'hot suites' where work
with anthrax could be conducted anytime day or night."
<br />
<br />
From the summary:
<br />
<br />
"The evidence gathered in this seven-year investigation establishes that Dr. Bruce Ivins
was the anthrax mailer – both direct evidence that anthrax spores under his sole and exclusive
control were the parent material to the anthrax spores used in the attack and compelling
circumstantial evidence set forth below."
<br />
<br />
In fact, Ivins only acknowledged being responsible for the flask, telling the FBI that the RMR-1029 flask had always been in building 1425, where he worked, but that vials of the material were held in building 1412 for use in animal experiments. However, after Ivins died, Adamovicz, his supervisor in 2001, produced a copy of an Army document showing that the RMR-1029 flask had been stored for a while in the late '90s in building 1412. Adamovicz told a court proceeding that the FBI "didn't want you to see" that receipt copy, which he testified he had found in his personal files.
<br />
<br />
There is nothing unusual about Ivins's apparent forgetfulness or misperception, and, in fact, Adamovicz's document establishes that various people other than Ivins had access to RMR-1029 prior to the attacks. Those with access or potential access included Steven Hatfill, who was reportedly suspected of possibly obtaining waste anthrax from containers that were awaiting sterilization in an autoclave. Louise Pitt, who ran the animal experiments, and various animal handlers and others had direct access.
<br />
<br />
Presumably, these experiments were still going on in 2001, though an interim lack of funding seems to have limited them in August and early September.
<br />
<br />
Note that the summary statements above convey the impression that Ivins had control of the 1029 anthrax fluid, as opposed to the beaker in which it was held, implying that the attack spores could only have been grown from the liquid in flask RMR-1029.
<br />
<br />
However, prodded by reporters, FBI scientist Majidi conceded that material identical to the RMR-1029 material had been located at Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio. Battelle is a major CIA and defense contractor known to have worked on biological defense matters. Three biologists, citing the investigative summary, said the FBI made unwarranted assumptions that the attack anthrax could not have been made at Battelle while a buddy system was in force -- that is, the FBI assumed that only a single individual was involved -- and that Battelle and other laboratories were too far from New Jersey, where postmarks showed that the attack letters were mailed. The FBI reportedly checked commercial flight records and found nothing.
<br />
<br />
When a science writer asked where the 1029-type anthrax had been found, Majidi replied, "What we found was in RMR-1029, the repository, and then the laboratory, and the letters." Majidi was referring to the flask numbered RMR-1029, the FBI's repository of anthrax samples from numerous labs, Ivins's laboratory and the attack letters.
<br />
<br />
There is no mention of Battelle in that briefing.
<br />
<br />
Further, according to the three biologist critics, 10 laboratories showed samples that had one or more genetic markers. The fact that all four markers did not appear in these other samples does not mean none of them was a match, the trio of biologists wrote.
False negatives are a rather common problem in biological experiments.
<br />
<br />
The scientists observed that among the eight
laboratories that submitted a total of 63 samples with between one and three positive assay
results were Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, the Naval Medical Research
Center, Northern Arizona University, the Canadian Defense Research
Establishment at Suffield, and a second sample from Battelle. Also, in December 2001, federal sources told the New York Times that Fort Detrick anthrax had been sent to the University of New Mexico.
<br />
<br />
"The submitters of the other three samples have not been revealed," the scientists wrote.
<br />
<br />
The three argued that the most likely sites of production of the attack anthrax are those that worked with dry spores: Battelle, Dugway, and Suffield, and
their associated institutions and subcontractors.
<br />
<br />
"Battelle, for example, is
well-known for its aerosol study capabilities and biodefense activities,
for which dry spores are routinely needed," the three experts observed.
<br />
<br />
Ivins told the FBI that his institute never worked with dry spores because to do would pose an exceptional danger in the metropolitan area around Washington.
<br />
<br />
However, federal officials said that Ivins had had training on a lyophilizer (freeze dryer), which could have been used to dry anthrax. Ivins said he doubted use of that machine because it would damage the spore preparation too much for good quality powder. Ivins's colleagues argued that he couldn't have used the lyophilizer, which was not in a hot suite, undetected. One colleague, Patricia Worsham, testified that she would have thought non-vaccinated persons who worked in the unprotected area would have been sickened by anthrax.
<br />
<br />
Others testified that decontaminating the machine required a special mechanical process by trained technicians, and also that Ivins would have been unable to manhandle the machine into the hot suite in order to use it in a safe environment. But Paul Keim, the FBI consultant scientist whose genetic analysis pointed to flask RMR-1029, was skeptical of that argument, saying that microbiologists know how to clean up.
<br />
<br />
Though the Justice Department is unwilling to talk much about potential conspiracy, it seems as though FBI agents were not that naive. An anthrax scientist who worked at Battelle drew the FBI's interest in 2002 and quickly spiraled into alcoholism and death, relatives told the New York Times. Little is known about what caused Perry Mikesell to snap. He may have had remorse over recognition that his career choice was marked more by death than by life.
Or, he may have felt shunned by fellow workers to the point that he was unable to cope. Or, Mikesell, who had worked alongside Ivins for years at Fort Detrick, may have felt remorse over complicity in treachery and anguish about the possibility of being tried for treason.
<br />
<br />
Whether Mikesell's anguish -- so similar to that experienced by Ivins as his end drew near -- was deserved or not, it seems apparent that the FBI field agents were unconvinced by the buddy system records at Battelle, which does much classified work. Nor were they convinced by commercial flight records.
<br />
<br />
However, no covert operation -- whether authorized or rogue -- via secret military flights could be officially considered -- though the attack anthrax is apparently derived from a military laboratory.<br />
<br />
Hatfill, who was cleared by the Justice Department shortly before Ivins's death, had supervised construction of a mobile biowarfare lab while working for a major defense contractor, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC).<br />
<br />
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<b>Steven Hatfill vehemently denies involvement in anthrax terrorism.</b> (<i>A.P.</i>) </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">The New York Times reported on July 2, 2003 that the FBI had intercepted the lab months earlier on the road to Fort Bragg, where it was to be used for training for the nearing Iraq war, and tried to impound it and test it for traces of anthrax. However, after "tense discussions," the Army held on to the lab, the Times said. A July 3, 2003 Washington Post story says examinations of the lab found nothing. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">The newspaper accounts do not say whether the FBI was able to keep the lab under eyeball surveillance at all times, or whether its examiners, as opposed to Army examiners, were permitted to swab it. </span><br />
<div>
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As noted above, the behavioral analysis says: </div>
"Later, Dr. Ivins’ technicians reported that they had never seen the
flask. He had been its sole custodian and presumably had kept it
concealed in the cooler."
<br />
<br />
It continues:
<br />
<br />
"When investigators pressed Dr. Ivins's two lab technicians to describe what RMR-1029 looked like. neither of them could do so. They were aware that Dr. Ivins had created a spore preparation called the 'Dugway Spores' -- which Dr. Ivins explained to the prosecution team was another name for RMR-1029.
<br />
<br />
"However, neither lab technician was aware that the 'Dugway Spores' were contained in two flasks, and neither knew what a flask containing the 'Dugway Spores' looked like."
<br />
<br />
The idea that Ivins had been deliberately concealing the flask is somewhat blunted by the recollection of the technicians that they knew about the special anthrax material and by the testimony of Ivins's boss, Adamovicz, who said that though he couldn't recall whether he had ever observed the flask, he certainly knew of its existence. Ivins also told the FBI that he didn't supply much of that anthrax to many researchers, though many wanted it.
<br />
<br />
From the behavioral analysis:
<br />
<br />
"Do the sealed psychiatric records support or refute the Department
of Justice’s determination that Dr. Ivins was the sole mailer of the
anthrax letters?"
<br />
<br />
The thrust of the report is yes. The report takes Ivins's mental health files and comes up with a psychological scenario that seems consistent with various clues, such as those in the attack letter addresses. The speculation is couched in scientific-sounding terms. And yet, it is quite interesting that patterns of evidence pointed to others, as well: Steven Hatfill, Perry Mikesell and Joseph
Farchaus, all former Fort Detrick scientists.
<br />
<br />
A welter of intriguing associations surrounded Hatfill, prompting strong suspicions aired by Rosenberg and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Hatfill strenously denied having been involved in Rhodesia's germ warfare operations against rebels, though the Missourian returned from Africa in the 1990s and gravitated into Pentagon biological warfare work. His medical doctorate was valid but his PhD in microbiology was bogus. Nevertheless, after a two-year postdoctoral stint at the Centers for Disease Control, he went to Fort Detrick for another two-year post-doctorate as a virologist.
<br />
<br />
While there he became very friendly with the aging William Patrick, father of America's offensive biowarfare program, which had been officially scrapped by President Richard Nixon.
<br />
<br />
While at SAIC, Hatfill had commissioned a report from Patrick on risks presented by mailed anthrax that had been published in 1999. (Some observers have wondered whether the still-classified report was a "blueprint" for the 2001 mail attacks; Patrick had foreseen a low risk but had failed to consider the high-speed mail-sorting machinery that was said to have "milled" the powder into a purer form that made it highly dangerous.)
<br />
<br />
The FBI eventually ruled out Hatfill on grounds that his property and Patrick's basement, which contained a biological laboratory, were clean of anthrax.
<br />
<br />
The summary exonerates Hatfill thus:
<br />
<br />
"Ultimately, the FBI's genetic analysis of the organism used in the attacks led investigators to exclude him conclusively as a suspect. Early in the investigation, it was assumed that isolates of the Ames strain were accessible to any individual at USAMRIID with access to the bio-containment labs. Later in the investigation, when scientific breakthroughs led investigators to conclude that RMR-1029 was the parent material to the anthrax powder used in the mailings, it was determined that Dr. Hatfill could not have been the mailer because he never had access to the particular bio-containment suites at USAMRIID that held the RMR-1029. In other words, although Dr. Hatfill had access to the Ames strain anthrax while at USAMRIID, he never had access to the particular spore-batch used in the mailings."
<br />
<br />
Now it is possible that the bureau was actually basing its decision to clear Hatfill on data that have been withheld, and so one should beware leaping to any conclusions in that respect.
<br />
<br />
However, consider these points:
<br />
<br />
The government is assuming Hatfill cannot be guilty because he could not have pulled off the attacks without inside help.
<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Ivins told the FBI that he had worked on a national security case concerning anthrax "from Iraq," and had deliberately mislabeled it in order to conceal its national security status. It is not necessarily ridiculous to wonder whether Ivins was a go-to person in what he thought was a national security matter. (If so, however, Ivins apparently went to his death with his lips sealed.)
<br />
<br />
The summary's contention that Hatfill had no access to the Ames 1029 substrain of attack anthrax is countered by testimony that Hatfill had worked largely in Building 1412 where the 1029 flask was stored for a time in the nineties and where vials of the 1029 substrain were used for animal experiments. Hatfill was at Fort Detrick until 1999, but the flask-1029 material was formulated sometime between 1997 and 1999.
<br />
<br />
Another scientist, Farchaus, lived within 15 minutes of Princeton, where the attack letters were apparently mailed. Additionally, he reportedly had a relative who lived very close to an elderly Connecticut woman who died from anthrax. To stretch a point, the locales of Kendall Park and Monmouth Junction, which have a return address and a zip code that relate to the mailings, are both roughly 15-minute drives from Princeton.
<br />
<br />
In the case of Mikesell, whom the summary doesn't mention at all, we don't know what the associations were that raised FBI suspicions. But apparently it was thought that some things didn't add up.
<br />
<br />
All this is to say that patterns of circumstantial evidence can be hung around the neck of any one of these men.
<br />
<br />
<b>
Tales from decrypt</b>
<br />
The Justice Department, strongly assisted by the FBI psychiatric consultant team, made it appear that Ivins was strangely obsessed with codes and that this obsession is reflected in the code in the two Senate attack letters.
<br />
<br />
The emphasized A's and T's in the identical letters, the FBI found, relate to two of the letters used in DNA codons.
<br />
<br />
To buttress its case of a pattern of Ivins associations with DNA codons, the summary relates that on July 27, 2000, Ivins "forwarded" an email to former colleague no. 1 (Fellows), which began "Biopersonals: I have single-stranded too long! Lonely ATGCATG would like to pair up with congenial TACGTAG" along with a note "this is some cute humor for anyone who has ever had anything to do with biochemistry or molecular biology."
<br />
<br />
A number of coworkers have testified that Ivins enjoyed sending off funny emails, and the term "forwarded" implies the DNA joke was making the rounds among scientists. The joke is that in the replication process, a DNA string joins together with its inverse.
<br />
<br />
Perhaps the email would have been relevant had the joke DNA strings carried secret messages similar to the purported messages in two of the attack letters. But, following the FBI decoding procedure, the result for the first string is, "mhm" and "eee." For the inverse string, the result is "tv(stop)" and "ee(stop)" or perhaps "tvs" and "eep".
<br />
<br />
So how is the joke email relevant? It isn't. Not to worry. A footnote explains:
<br />
<br />
"This e-mail was notable not because of any particular meaning ascribed to those specific
nucleic acids, but rather because it demonstrated Dr. Ivins’s familiarity with DNA, specifically
As, Ts, Cs, and Gs."
<br />
<br />
And yet Ivins was a microbiologist who would have had at least some professional knowledge of DNA codons.
<br />
<br />
At any rate, the FBI code-crackers examined the "bolded letters" and discovered the left-to-right string
<br />
<br />
TTT AAT TAT – an apparent hidden message. The three-letter groups appeared to be codons, meaning that each sequence of three nucleic acids will code for a specific amino acid.
<br />
TTT = <b>P</b>henylalanine (single-letter designator <b>F</b>)
<br />
AAT = <b>A</b>sparagine (single-letter designator<b> N</b>)
<br />
TAT = <b>T</b>yrosine (single-letter designator<b> Y</b>)
<br />
<br />
The FBI, says the summary, gleaned two meanings from this analysis: "PAT" and "FNY."
<br />
<br />
"Pat" is short for his former technician, Patricia, with whom Ivins was allegedly obsessed, the summary says. Patricia Fellows left Fort Detrick to upgrade her education and further her career.
<br />
<br />
On the other hand, "Pat" is a common name. For example, there is another Fort Detrick anthrax scientist, Patricia Worsham. Then there is Patrick Leahy (though the coded mailings went to the media and not the Senate). Or what of the father of the U.S. bioweapons program, William Patrick?
<br />
<br />
As for, "FNY," this is taken as representative of Ivins's psychotic antipathy toward New York. But, no evidence of such an extreme hatred is produced. Rather, the summary mentions his dislike of New York City, which is a distaste shared by many Americans and the reason New York officials promoted the "I love N.Y." campaign. At another point, the summary portrays his fan loyalty, expressed in a joking manner, as a psychotic hatred of the New York Yankees.
<br />
<br />
The summary continues, "It was obviously impossible for the Task Force to determine with certainty whether either of these translations was correct." True, one can't even assign a statistical confidence interval. But, argues the Justice Department, "the key point is that there is a hidden message, not so much what that message is."
<br />
<br />
But if the FBI is unsure of the meaning, then the idea that the two messages refer to his young friend, who had gone on to pursue a medical degree, and New York City rests on air. In 2001, colleges around the nation were beginning to prepare students for the genetic engineering revolution sweeping industry and academia. Even non-biology majors were often given some awareness of DNA codons.
<br />
<br />
On the other hand, as officials assert, Ivins voluntarily told the FBI, after confiding in Fellows, that as a younger man he had broken into KKG sorority houses and stolen a decoder used for secret rituals and later the code book itself. Also, he liked to send gifts to women coworkers and let them guess who was sending them, which they usually did. The FBI sees this behavior as a desire to have the women "decode" his cryptic antics. As he was in his early thirties at the time of the sorority burglaries, such actions -- had they become known -- would have destroyed his career, underscoring the idea that the scientist suffered from a long-term mental illness.
<br />
<br />
A couple of other points:
<br />
<br />
The highlighted letters are the same as those found in Mohamed Atta's last name.
<br />
<br />
This reporter was able, by converting the T's and A's to the 1's and 0's of the binary number system and using a bit of numerology, to come up with a reading of "9/11."
<br />
<br />
But supposing the FBI's interpretation is partly correct, how do we know that the message wasn't intended simply as "FNY"? Why assume both messages were intended?
<br />
<br />
Also, why send letters overtly blaming Islamic extremists but "covertly" pointing to a "clever" scientist? The summary's theory is that Ivins was intrigued with the idea of wrapping one message inside another, as discussed in a book he owned.
<br />
<br />
Anyway, the summary relates, "Ivins showed a fascination with codes and also had an interest in secrets and hidden messages" and he "was also was familiar with biochemical codons."
As a matter of fact, large numbers of people are enthusiastic about codes. An FBI website acknowledges this public interest and invites participation of code buffs.
<br />
<br />
The Justice Department goes to absurd lengths in its desire to persuade. Consider these words from the summary:
<br />
<br />
"Finally, Dr. Ivins’s own words demonstrated that he enjoyed playing detective and
unlocking secrets. In an e-mail to Former Colleague #1 (Linscott) on June 26, 2000, he wrote:
'For me, it’s a real thrill to make a discovery, and know that I’ve
just revealed something that no one else in the world ever knew
before. I feel like a detective, and that which is unknown dares me
to try to find out about it, to decipher its code, to understand it, to
fit it into the puzzle or 'Big Picture'.”
<br />
<br />
Officials seem to be overlooking the fact that Ivins was a scientist, and this is the sort of thing scientists say.
<br />
<br />
The FBI reported that Ivins owned a 1992 copy of American Scientist that includes an article "The Linguistics of DNA,"
which discusses, "among other things, codons and hidden messages."
<br />
<br />
This reporter scanned the article by D.B. Searls and found that indeed there are a few graphs that contain codons. However, the article is a dense excursion on the DNA process as a form of information transfer. It is not concerned with secret messages or cryptography. The article is available at JSTOR. [Please see footnote on Searls background below.]
<br />
<br />
<div align="justify">
Another item owned by Ivins was a copy of the book <i>Godel, Escher and Bach -- An Eternal Golden Braid </i>(abbreviated GEB) by Douglas Hofstadter.
<br />
<br />
Consider this statement from the summary: "While the subject matter of GEB may be confusing to some, it nevertheless remains of evidentiary value to investigators." That is, the book is a complex intellectual excursion and isn't a handbook for code-crackers or spies.<br />
<br />
The book does discuss many ideas about information transfer. It might be described as a playful discussion of how mathematical logic relates to human cognition. In a word: philosophy.
<br />
<br />
Hofstadter himself told USA Today he thought the FBI conjecture was a "red herring,"
though the logician's opinion needn't be correct.
<br />
<br />
GEB does include a fun bit of code with certain letters in boldface. And elsewhere in a fat book it does talk about codons.
<br />
<br />
The summary observes: "The second relevant passage in GEB contains a series of dialogues" of creatures with names that begin with codon letters. Within one dialogue occur the names:
<br />
<br />
<b>D</b></div>
e Morgan<br />
A<b>b</b>el<br />
Bo<b>o</b>le<br />
Bro<b>u</b>wer<br />
Sier<b>p</b>inski<br />
Weier<b>s</b>trass<br />
<br />
In this passage, Achilles explains, “I believe it is supposed to
be a Complete List of All Great Mathematicians. What I haven’t been able to figure out is why
the letters running down the diagonal are so much bolder.” To which Tortoise replies that at "the
bottom it says, ‘Subtract 1 from the diagonal, to find Bach in Leipzig'.”
<br />
<br />
If one decodes this list as directed, the answer is “Cantor.” To understand this message properly, one needs to know that Bach was the Cantor of Leipzig.
<br />
<br />
This
passage is similar to the emphasized A's and T's in the anthrax attack letters, the summary writer believes.
Except that the anthrax code seems to be far less clever than Hofstadter's.
<br />
<br />
By itself the coincidence is unremarkable. So what that scientist Ivins owned a book on scientific matters that happened to contain similarities to the anthrax letter code? And the paper by Searls seems barely relevant. Also, any American capable of launching the anthrax attacks is likely to have been familiar with DNA codons, and quite a few may have owned a copy of GEB, which achieved enduring popularity in the scientific community after its appearance in 1979.
<br />
<br />
But, the summary answers such doubts by relating that, soon after a search of his house, the harried scientist in November 2007 threw out GEB and the magazine containing the Searls article.
<br />
<br />
"The night he did so, Dr. Ivins behaved in the fashion of a nervous man,
watching for the garbage truck, and then checking the garbage can to ensure that it was gone, and finally checking the bushes to see if he was being watched."
<br />
<br />
One may wonder when the video recording of this incident will be released.
<br />
<br />
The summary does not consider the possibility that, by this time, a panicky Ivins was worried that the FBI would "read something into" the book and the magazine. Another point: was Ivins really so naive as to not realize his garbage would be checked after pickup? If the written materials were so incriminating, why not wait until no one is home and burn them? Even so, it must be granted that anxious people make foolish mistakes.
<br />
<br />
At another point, the summary says, Ivins lent GEB to a female friend, recommending it enthusiastically. Upon learning sometime later that she hadn't read it, he asked for its return. This is meaningful, says the summary, because when asked by the FBI in January 2008 about books he had lent the woman, he did not mention GEB, "one of his favorites," that he had given her about a year earlier.
<br />
<br />
Granted, an alert FBI agent would see this as grounds for suspicion of evasiveness. On the other hand, human memory is notoriously fickle, especially after a year's lapse. And there remains the other possibility that an innocent man -- who as it happens suffered from episodes of clinical paranoia -- feared the government would want to read something in to his possession of GEB.
<br />
<br />
The summary adds, "Also reinforcing the importance of GEB to Dr. Ivins was the fact that he once sent an email to Janna Levin, complimenting her work, presumably referring to <i>A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines</i>, a book that discusses GEB and chronicles the lives of Godel, known as the world's greatest logician, and Alan Turing, known as an exceptional code-breaker."
<br />
<br />
A search of the novel's text via Amazon returns blanks for search terms "Escher," "Bach" and "Hofstadter."
<br />
<br />
The Justice Department chooses to emphasize Turing's code-breaking, but he was also a giant of mathematical logic, whose "Turing machine" was an intellectual exercise that, along with Godel's chief theorem, revolutionized both logic and mathematics.
<br />
<br />
In words paralleling those in the summary, Rachel Lieber, lead federal attorney in the Ivins
case, told Frontline in
2011 that the “confluence of all these things taken together, that's
the compelling evidence.”
<br />
<br />
“It's only when you take a step back and you look at all the evidence
taken together can you realize this is the right person,” Lieber said.
<br />
<br />
In August 2008, soon after Ivins's suicide, U.S.
Attorney Jeffrey Taylor, FBI Assistant Director Joseph Persichini and
other officials assured the press that the pattern of circumstantial evidence against Ivins as the sole anthrax attacker was strong.
<br />
<hr />
FOOTNOTE: Searls lists his expertise as computational and systems biology, pharmacoinformatics, macromolecular linguistics, data integration, philosophy of science<br />
Searls, D. B., 1992. The linguistics of DNA. Am.
Scient. 80: 579-591.<br />
<hr />
<b><u>Appendix A</u></b><br />
The psychiatric report lists Saathoff and DeFrancisco as chair and vice chair, respectively.
<br />
Others:<br />
David Benedek, MD, psychiatry professor at the
Uniformed Services University School of Medicine;
Anita Everett, MD, psychiatrist with the
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine;
Christopher P. Holstege, MD, a toxicologist at the
University of Virginia School of Medicine;
Sally C. Johnson, MD, psychiatry professor at
the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill;
J. Steven Lamberti, MD, psychiatry professor at the
University of Rochester Medical Center; and
Ronald Schouten, MD, a psychiatrist specializing in legal matters with the
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard University School of Medicine.
<br />
J. Patrick Walsh is listed as a
"special assistant and coordinator to the panel and its operations."
<br />
<hr />
<b><u>Appendix B</u></b><br />
An FBI official explained that the possibility of natural silicon uptake into the spore coats had been discovered during a review of scientific literature. An old published paper led investigators to the widow of of one of the authors, A.P. Somlyo, who still had her husband's samples from the experiment on hand. Analysis of the Somlyo samples confirmed the presence of silicon in the spore coats, the official said.
<br />
The Somlyo article mentioned above says the silicon spike Somlyo and his coauthors detected
was unlikely to have been solely from a contaminant, from the glass
containers or from silicon material used in freeze drying. So, the online copy leaves us to conjecture that it came from the growth medium.
<br />
<hr />
Stewart, M., A. P. Somlyo, A. V. Somlyo, H. Shuman, J. A. Lindsay, and
W. G. Murrell. 1980. Distribution of calcium and other elements in
cryosectioned Bacillus cereus T spores, determined by high-resolution
scanning electron probe x-ray microanalysis. J. Bacteriol.
143:481-491. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
<br />
<hr />
The online copy's description of method curtly says that the method is identical to that used by another research team as described in “Cytological and
Chemical Structure of the Spore” by W.G.
Murrell, D.F. Ohye and Rosalind A. Gordon. This reporter's copy of that article shows that no silicon was among chemicals tested, and there is no discussion of silicon uptake. However, the article says that a New Brunswick Scientific shaker was used. Current New Brunswick shakers come with a silicone mat.
<br />
One of Somlyo's coauthors was W.G. Murrell. He is also coauthor of another paper in which silicone antifoam is used in experimental preparations.
<br />
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2106236/pdf/579.pdf">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2106236/pdf/579.pdf</a>
<br />
<hr />
DRAFT 0: Nov. 3, 2014<br />
DRAFT 1: Nov. 5, 2014<br />
DRAFT 2: Nov. 7, 2014. Correction of a very minor inaccuracy.<br />
DRAFT 3: Nov. 13, 2014. Very minor clarification.
<br />
DRAFT 4: March 1, 2016. Updated and corrected.</div>
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-70142271011104529002014-11-04T20:54:00.001-08:002014-11-04T20:57:22.127-08:00<font size=+3><b>Udall's defeat a setback<br />
in the fight for our liberty</font></b>
<br />
<p align=justify>
<b>Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado has served the nation well</b> with his diligent opposition to expansion of central government power at the expense of traditional American liberties, as spelled out in the Bill of Rights. His defeat is unfortunate, though predictable. Friends of liberty have few allies these days.
<br /><br />
Background From Wikipedia:
<br /><br />
Udall has been an opponent of the National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs. Following disclosure of the agency's mass surveillance of Americans, Udall has been an advocate for reform. Udall, along with Senators Ron Wyden and Rand Paul, published an Op-ed in the Los Angeles Times expressing their collective desire to "end the dragnet — and to affirm that we can keep our nation secure without trampling on and abandoning Americans' constitutional rights."
<br /><br />
Udall has expressed support for permitting Edward Snowden to return to America to "make his case." After reports that the CIA had spied on senators, Udall called for the resignation of Agency Director John O. Brennan.
<br /><br />
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Udall. who served one term in the House, was one of 66 House members, to vote against the Patriot Act. In 2011, Udall voted against reauthorizing that measure. In July 2014, Udall voted against the CISPA bill, which, if enacted, would allow for the sharing of internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies. Udall expressed concern that that bill "lacks adequate protections for the privacy rights."
<br /><br />
During the 2011 debate over the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), Udall introduced an amendment to end the practice of military detention of American citizens indefinitely and without trial. In response to the amendment's introduction, the Obama administration threatened to veto the bill. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 60–38 (with 2 abstaining). Udall subsequently voted for the authorization measure in the joint session of Congress that passed it, though he remained "extremely troubled" by the detainee provision. The senator promised to "push Congress to conduct the maximum amount of oversight possible."
<br /><br />
Udall has supported PRISM, a controversial clandestine anti-terrorism mass electronic surveillance data mining program launched in 2007 by the NSA. Even so, he has favored limits on the Patriot Act. "The Patriot Act should be reformed so Americans' phone records do not get indiscriminately swept up in a federal government database," the senator has said.</p>Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-27117187287499470522014-10-31T15:59:00.004-07:002014-11-05T12:29:14.206-08:00ApologiesThere is at least a plausible scenario whereby Angelfire pulled a page of mine due to a misunderstanding. Hence, I no longer wish to make an issue of the takedown.
<br />
<br />
If you're curious, the 2003 article,
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Fox News: trumpet of Israel's hard right</u></b><br />
<br />
can be found -- for now, anyway -- at:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://paulpages.blogspot.com/2011/11/fox-news-trumpet-of-israels-hard-right.html">http://paulpages.blogspot.com/2011/11/fox-news-trumpet-of-israels-hard-right.html</a>Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-2399156037995248812014-10-25T18:42:00.004-07:002014-10-25T18:49:43.439-07:00<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-large;"><b>Governors' order fails to restrain</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-large;"><b>those who fib about Ebola contact</b></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Anyone traveling from the Ebola region -- who says he or she has had no contact with an Ebola victim -- will be monitored and, if necessary, quarantined, according to a public health order issued by the governors of New York and New Jersey.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<strong>The problem is that people who fib about such contacts might fall ill and transmit the disease before they are quarantined, as opposed to the health care workers caught in the order who are very likely to be truthful.</strong><br />
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Here is a copy of the joint statement:</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">"Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Governor Chris Christie today announced additional screening protocols for Ebola at both JFK and Newark Liberty International Airports:</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></div>
<ul style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="background-repeat: no-repeat; display: block; margin-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 12px;" value="0">•There will be real-time access to on-the-ground screening at JFK and Newark Liberty International Airports by New York and New Jersey Departments of Health staff;</li>
<li style="background-repeat: no-repeat; display: block; margin-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 12px;" value="0">•Each State Department of Health at JFK and Newark Liberty International Airports will, as permitted under applicable law, make its own determination as to hospitalization, quarantine, and other public health interventions for up to 21 days. There will also be a mandatory quarantine for any individual who had direct contact with an individual infected with the Ebola virus while in one of the three West African nations (Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea), including any medical personnel having performed medical services to individuals infected with the Ebola virus. Additionally, all individuals with travel history to the affected regions of West Africa, with no direct contact with an infected person, will be actively monitored by public health officials and, if necessary, quarantined, depending on the facts and circumstances of their particular situation;</li>
<li style="background-repeat: no-repeat; display: block; margin-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 12px;" value="0">•New York and New Jersey are establishing enhanced communication protocols between their respective state health departments to coordinate on matters pertaining to New York and New Jersey resident travelers who fly into Newark and JFK;</li>
<li style="background-repeat: no-repeat; display: block; margin-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 12px;" value="0">•The Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and Customs Border Patrol (CBP) will provide information to New York and New Jersey’s respective State Departments of Health on all screening on a real-time basis and provide a daily recap as to the status of that day’s screening and CDC determinations.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
"'Since taking office, I have erred on the side of caution when it comes to the safety and protection of New Yorkers, and the current situation regarding Ebola will be no different,” said Governor Cuomo. “The steps New York and New Jersey are taking today will strengthen our safeguards to protect our residents against this disease and help ensure those that may be infected by Ebola are treated with the highest precautions. I want to thank Governor Christie and his team for their spirit of partnership. This is an evolving situation but one that tests the ability of government to perform and as we have done in the past when facing similar challenges, we will do whatever is needed to put the health and safety of the people first.'<br />
<br />
“'I have been clear that we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the public health of the people of New Jersey which is exactly what these joint efforts with Governor Cuomo will do with additional screening and heightened standards for quarantine,' said Governor Christie. 'By demanding these enhanced measures, we are ensuring that any suspected cases are identified quickly and effectively, and that proper safeguards are executed.'<br />
<br />
"Governor Cuomo also announced the launch of a new State information line to answer public health questions from New Yorkers about Ebola. The info line is free and trained operators are available to answer the public’s questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number of the info line is <a href="tel:1-800-861-2280" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" value="+18008612280">1-800-861-2280</a>. It is important to note that this line is set up for public health information purposes only. If an individual requires medical attention, they should call their health care provider or 9-1-1 immediately."</div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
A few days previously, the CDC announced monitoring for travelers whose routes originate in the Ebola outbreak region of Africa.</div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
Here is the CDC statement:</div>
<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that public health authorities will begin active post-arrival monitoring of travelers whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea. These travelers are now arriving to the United States at one of five airports where entry screening is being conducted by Customs and Border Protection and CDC. Active post-arrival monitoring means that travelers without febrile illness or symptoms consistent with Ebola will be followed up daily by state and local health departments for 21 days from the date of their departure from West Africa. Six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia), where approximately 70% of incoming travelers are headed, have already taken steps to plan and implement active post-arrival monitoring which will begin on Monday, October 27. Active post-arrival monitoring will begin in the remaining states in the days following. CDC is providing assistance with active post-arrival monitoring to state and local health departments, including information on travelers arriving in their states, and upon request, technical support, consultation and funding.</div>
<div style="font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
"Active post-arrival monitoring is an approach in which state and local health officials maintain daily contact with all travelers from the three affected countries for the entire 21 days following their last possible date of exposure to Ebola virus. Twenty-one days is the longest time it can take from the time a person is infected with Ebola until that person has symptoms of Ebola. </div>
<div style="font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
"Specifically, state and local authorities will require travelers to report the following information daily: their temperature and the presence or absence of other Ebola symptoms such as headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite, or abnormal bleeding; and their intent to travel in-state or out-of-state. In the event a traveler does not report in, state or local public health officials will take immediate steps to locate the individual to ensure that active monitoring continues on a daily basis.</div>
<div style="font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
"In addition, travelers will receive a CARE (Check And Report Ebola) kit at the airport that contains a tracking log and pictorial description of symptoms, a thermometer, guidance for how to monitor with thermometer, a wallet card on who to contact if they have symptoms and that they can present to a health care provider, and a health advisory infographic on monitoring health for three weeks.</div>
<div style="font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
"Active monitoring establishes daily contact between public health officials and travelers from the affected region. In the event a traveler begins to show symptoms, public health officials will implement an isolation and evaluation plan following appropriate protocols to limit exposure, and direct the individual to a local hospital that has been trained to receive potential Ebola patients.</div>
<div style="font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
"Post arrival monitoring is an added safeguard that complements the existing exit screening protocols, which require all outbound passengers from the affected West African countries to be screened for fever, Ebola symptoms, and contact with Ebola and enhanced screening protocols at the five U.S. airports that will now receive all travelers from the affected countries. All three of these nations have asked for, and continue to receive, CDC assistance implementing exit screening."</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-8392103307528549332014-10-01T13:44:00.001-07:002014-10-01T13:57:14.453-07:00<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">Cameron sees 9/11 critics</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">as dangerous 'extremists'</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><i><u>His cabinet aide</u></i></span><u style="color: black; font-size: large; font-style: italic;"> is moving to limit even peaceful speech</u></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
<br />
<b>By Ian Henshall </b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Press Release from Reinvestigate 911</span></i></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><br /></i></span><a href="http://www.reinvestigate911.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.reinvestigate911.<wbr></wbr>org</a><br />
<div style="background: url(chrome-extension://bhmmomiinigofkjcapegjjndpbikblnp/skin/fusion/16_16/plain/r0.png) 100% 50% no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 16px; margin-left: 4px; padding-bottom: 2px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 16px;" wotsearchtarget="reinvestigate911.org">
</div>
<b><i>Reinvestigate 911</i>, the UK campaign calling for a thorough and</b> fully independent inquiry into the 9/11 attacks, condemns government plans to create a concept new to British public discourse: <i>non-violent extremism.</i><br />
<br />
This week Theresa May, Britain's home secretary, outlined plans for draconian legal controls on individuals not suspected or accused of advocating violence. This is not blue sky thinking or a party conference gimmick: the EU too is quietly developing a similar concept and wishes to operate an internet censorship system to deal with "esoteric" websites. David Cameron made a similar call to the UN General Assembly last week.<br />
<br />
<i>Reinvestigate 911</i> believes the true reason for the plans is that, as Hilary Clinton conceded while secretary of state, the NATO powers are losing the propaganda war and are increasingly seen as aggressors and warmongers. Rather than ask why, the easy response is to shoot the messenger. Obama official Cass Sunstein has called for organized attacks on websites which do not tow the official line, and from the Snowden leaks it seems clear that Sunstein's plans are in operation already. Here in the UK Ofcom claims the right to regulate internet news sites under little noticed passages of New Labor's Communication Act.<br />
<br />
However <i>Reinvestigate 911</i> is flattered that 13 years after the 9/11 attacks authorities still feel the need to proclaim the entirely discredited official 911 story and attempt to smear skeptics as conspiracy theorists.<br />
<br />
<i>Reinvestigate 911</i> will continue to draw attention to the impossibilities and contradictions in the official 9/11 story for as long as we are legally permitted and we call on the mainstream media to overcome the great fear we know they have. Please open this can of worms and start asking the obvious questions while it is still legal to do so.<br />
<br />
For more details of the NATO plans and 9/11 leaks, see the following article.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>David Cameron in another collision with reality</u></span></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.reinvestigate911.org/content/david-cameron-and-theresa-may-dangerous-nonsense" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.reinvestigate911.<wbr></wbr>org/content/david-cameron-and-<wbr></wbr>theresa-may-dangerous-nonsense</a><br />
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</div>
<br />
<br />
A bizarre passage, unnoticed in David Cameron's UN speech, could be the first signal of government censorship plans and may lie behind Home Secretary Theresa May's plans announced this week for a clampdown on government designated "extremists" even when they do not advocate violence.<br />
<br />
Cameron laid down the new government line in his speech to the UN. "We shouldn't stand by and just allow any form of nonviolent extremism." What on earth does this mean? UKIP? Stop the War? Surely one goal of democracy is to persuade potentially violent extremists to become nonviolent extremists? And isn't it the role of a democratic government to stand by while the democratic process unfolds.<br />
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The PM did not offer a definition but he said nonviolent extremism is characterized by "the peddling of lies: that 9/11 was a Jewish plot or that the 7/7 London attacks were staged. The idea that Muslims are persecuted all over the world as a deliberate act of Western policy. The concept of an inevitable clash of civilisations."<br />
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This statement takes smearing and guilt by association to a new level of absurdity. The Clash of Civilisation theory is the ruling theory at least in the US and Israel, Cameron only needs to read Rupert Murdoch's publications or listen to any speech by Netanyahu to see that. Presumably Cameron is not calling for "restrictions" on people like Rupert Murdoch and Samuel Huntingdon.<br />
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The idea that Muslims are persecuted as deliberate policy is also widespread. The best way of refuting that might be if Cameron and his NATO friends would bomb a non-Muslim country but since 9/11 this has never happened. If Cameron and Obama had got their way last summer Syria would have been the seventh Muslim country to be bombed since 9/11 and ISIS would quite likely now be in charge there.<br />
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A more logical candidate for the next bombing spree might be Saudi Arabia who, according the official story, supplied most of the 9/11 hijackers and, we now know, supported at least some of them in the US in the run-up to the attacks. Cameron's advisers are probably aware that the demand is growing in Congress to release the redacted part of the Congressional 9/11 probe which describes this in more detail, but the evidence is already public in the form of FBI leaks.<br />
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We are left with the most bizarre passage of all, but perhaps the part that could prove the most significant as the 9/11 truth movement continues to spread its influence globally. With his reference to "the peddling of lies: that 9/11 was a Jewish plot" Cameron is pedaling his own lies. Most in the 9/11 truth movement have an open mind as to what a genuine investigation might find. There is as much interest in the role of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and their friends in the CIA who blocked the arrest of the alleged 9/11 hijackers. The most vocal US group, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, studiously takes no position other than to demand an inquiry into the as yet unexplained collapse of skyscrapers apparently brought down with astonishing speed by two plane collisions in New York, events the Twin Towers were designed specifically to withstand.<br />
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The emerging global truth movement that is making Clinton, Obama and Cameron so nervous is fed by the unanswered questions over 9/11 and 7/7 -- but also by the lies used to start the 2003 Iraq war. If they will lie systematically to start a war, the supreme crime according to the Nuremberg tribunal, why would they tell the truth about anything else? ask the skeptics. So far no politician or newspaper editor has been jailed or even sacked for incompetence as a result of the weapons of mass destruction hoax, so that might be a good place for Cameron to make a start at "not standing by." Why not hold a public inquiry into how the media laundered the Iraq lies and why with a few exceptions they have not even apologized?<br />
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Contrary to politicians' claims, there has never been a full and thorough inquiry into 9/11 or 7/7. An inquiry cannot be genuine when the intelligence agencies, whose activities or lack of them are an essential part of the story, are obstructing justice themselves. For instance, the CIA refused any access by the 9/11 Commission to their interrogations of alleged 9/11 organisers, now Guatanamo Bay prisoners, nor to the interrogators, nor to the interrogation records which they later illegally destroyed.<br />
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The 9/11 Commission was, in the words of its chair and co-chair, "set up to fail." Commissioner Max Cleland did not even sit through the charade; he resigned, calling the inquiry a whitewash and a scandal. Does that make Cleland a non-violent extremist?<br />
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The 7/7 inquest was constrained in many ways, not least by the state counsel making it clear at the outset that they would not look into so-called "conspiracy theories." This suggests another way that Cameron could "not stand by." Why not reconvene the 7/7 inquiry with orders to look thoroughly into all the "conspiracy theories" with unlimited subpena powers against anyone they or the relatives of the survivors wish to question? Don't the victims deserve that anyway?<br />
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Perhaps the most bizarre of all Cameron's logical twists is the claim that the 9/11 truth movement is encouraging Muslim extremism. People saying Osama bin Laden was a dupe of the CIA or even had nothing to do with 9/11 are, according to the prime minister, helping recruit more jihadist supporters for Osama bin Laden's soul mates. In fact al Qaeda and the NATO alliance both agree that the 9/11 truth movement is their enemy, and have condemned it in often similar terms.<br />
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This all makes sense if the intelligence agencies have more links than they like to admit with jihadists, that the 9/11 and 7/7 stories are indeed wrong and that NATO governments are trying to find ways to use the fear factor to extend their already pervasive media control by threatening anyone who could be designated a "non-violent extremist," which could be just about anyone the government dislikes.<br />
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No need to worry about that though. It's obviously a conspiracy <a href="mailto:theory.info@reinvestigate911.org" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">theory.info@reinvestigate911.<wbr></wbr>org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/reinvestigate911org" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.youtube.com/user/<wbr></wbr>reinvestigate911org</a><br />
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We will support any new investigation of the 9/11 attacks so long as<br />
*it is run by uncompromised people with a range of opinion including those inclined to disbelieve the official 9/11 story.</div>
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*it follows the evidence wherever it leads</div>
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If it takes place in the US to be credible it will need</div>
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*full legal authority to demand immediate access to any evidence and any witness it chooses</div>
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Reinvestigate 911 is supported by Coffee Plant ( <a href="http://www.coffee.uk.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">www.coffee.uk.com</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>7 months in jail for critic of UK terror policy</i></span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/01/moazzam-beggs-terror-charges-dropped">https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/01/moazzam-beggs-terror-charges-dropped</a>/</div>
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Cameron's repressive government made its point, did it not?</div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-54029049658745073942014-09-20T14:42:00.000-07:002014-09-21T07:02:25.630-07:00<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">White House aided Moscow</span></b></div>
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<b>Robert M. Gates, defense secretary under the second </b>President Bush and under President Obama, has admitted to having been a key player in an international operation to conceal from the world the Soviet Union's gigantic, treaty-breaking germ war program, according to a trio of reporters associated with the New York Times. Supposedly Gates was trying to prevent reformer Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Gates adjudged as the West's best bet, from being weakened politically.</div>
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Yet, Gorbachev and his government were denying the existence of a monstrous threat to humanity. Maybe the military had the audacity to conceal the program from Gorbachev, was one theory.<br />
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It is true that Communist Gorbachev was threatened politically by nationalist Boris Yeltsin. And, when the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse, an alleged coup d'etat occurred, that rapidly went awry. I say "alleged" because an obvious motive of the plotters was to arrest Yeltsin, after which Gorbachev could have been restored to power.</div>
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At any rate, the point is that in 1991 the White House was meddling in press matters in order to keep a Communist from looking bad, supporting him against a nationalist known to be highly amenable to Western ideas and who publicly stated that Russia should renounce the world empire business and concentrate on homeland affairs.</div>
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On Page 126 of <i> Germs -- Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, </i>we read:</div>
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"The British were eager to expose the Soviet lies, perhaps by arranging for [high-level defector Vladimir] Pasechnik to make his charges public on a television documentary. Robert Gates, Bush's deputy national security adviser, was horrified by this idea, fearing it would humiliate Gorbachev and hamper his reform efforts."</div>
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Gates's argument prevailed, say authors Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad, who quoted Gates as saying, "The information was tightly held. And the Bush administration had a pretty good reputation for keeping secrets."</div>
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Miller now appears on Fox News and writes a column for Pundicity. Engelberg is top editor at ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news outfit that occasionally partners with the Times. Broad remains a science writer for the Times.</div>
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One might argue that helping this particular red was a rational policy. But, there are numerous other similar pointers that strongly suggest excessive communist influence at high levels in Washington.</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Joining the CIA in 1966, Gates headed the agency from 1991 to 1993, having been the agency's deputy director from 1986 until 1989. He was a national security aide to President George H.W. Bush and from January 20, 1989, until November 6, 1991. The elder Bush, who was President Gerald Ford's CIA chief for one year, approved of Gates's policy of favoring the top Soviet communist over the pro-Western nationalist Yeltsin.</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bush is still smarting from criticism of his "Chicken Kiev" speech in which he took a hard line backing reform communism over liberty.</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Here we see a CIA careerist who angled on behalf of communism over freedom, which some might interpret as lending credence to the long-held suspicion within the CIA that the agency was penetrated by moles.</span></div>
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The Soviet biowar program is discussed here:</div>
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<b><i>Biotech or bioterror? A global dilemma</i></b></div>
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<a href="http://conantcensorshipissue.blogspot.com/2013/09/this-report-was-published-in-2006-and.html">http://conantcensorshipissue.blogspot.com/2013/09/this-report-was-published-in-2006-and.html</a></div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-30504447014796374592014-09-09T20:03:00.001-07:002014-09-09T22:56:13.180-07:00<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">Top NSA whistleblower sees</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">federal 'fraud' in 9/11 probes</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/911-truth-grtv-interview-nsa-whistleblower-william-binney-joins-ae911truth-richard-gage-in-calling-for-new-911-investigation/5400435" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.globalresearch.ca/<wbr></wbr>911-truth-grtv-interview-nsa-<wbr></wbr>whistleblower-william-binney-<wbr></wbr>joins-ae911truth-richard-gage-<wbr></wbr>in-calling-for-new-911-<wbr></wbr>investigation/5400435</a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>William Binney, a top-tier official who quit the NSA</b> soon after 9/11 over President Bush's surveillance policies, has denounced the government investigations of the collapses of World Trade Center towers as "scientific fraud."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Binney, who spent 30 years in the code-cracking business, told an interviewer he was convinced by a physicist and another scientist that the government had committed fraud in its 9/11 probe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Binney said was approached to listen to the case for fraud after receiving an award on behalf of Laura Poitras, who was instrumental in breaking the Edward Snowden story.</span></div>
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He scorned the National Institutes for Standards and Technology for avoiding what he considered important areas of inquiry, noting that if crypto-analysts thought that way, codes would go uncracked.</div>
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Several years ago, Glenn Greenwald, then with Salon and later to team with Poitras in exposing NSA dragnet surveillance, strongly criticized the federal claims about Bruce Ivins, a federal scientist who committed suicide in 2008 after being accused of being the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. A 2011 National Science Foundation report found that FBI and Justice Department claims concerning the scientific evidence against Ivins could not be substantiated.</div>
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<b><u>Frontline interview of Binney</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/united-states-of-secrets/the-frontline-interview-william-binney/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/<wbr></wbr>frontline/government-<wbr></wbr>elections-politics/united-<wbr></wbr>states-of-secrets/the-<wbr></wbr>frontline-interview-william-<wbr></wbr>binney/</a></span></div>
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<b><u>German interview of Binney</u></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.dw.de/binney-the-nsas-main-motives-power-and-money/a-17862571" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.dw.de/binney-the-<wbr></wbr>nsas-main-motives-power-and-<wbr></wbr>money/a-17862571</a></div>
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<u><b>USA Today talks to Binney, 2 other NSA veterans</b></u></div>
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<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowden-whistleblower-nsa-officials-roundtable/2428809/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.usatoday.com/story/<wbr></wbr>news/politics/2013/06/16/<wbr></wbr>snowden-whistleblower-nsa-<wbr></wbr>officials-roundtable/2428809/</a></div>
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<b><u>Wikipedia biographical sketch of Binney</u></b></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_(U.S._intelligence_official)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_(U.S._intelligence_official)</a></div>
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<b>The first 17 minutes of this video are impressive.</b> Wayne Coste, who identifies himself as an engineer, points out visible evidence of controlled demolition of one of the twin towers.</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V0MC_Ckqoc" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=0V0MC_Ckqoc</a></div>
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The video of a tower collapsing shows ejecta exploding sideways from the building floor by floor. The reason the pancake theory doesn't work is because you can see this happening a split second BEFOREarrival of the leading edge of the debris cloud at the same height. But the debris cloud is falling at maximum velocity; nothing can fall faster. So the floors can't pancake faster than the debris cloud falls, which is what the video shows them doing for, as he says, about 20 floors.</div>
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Now a quibble might be that the force transmitted through the steel frame can travel faster than free fall. But it seems very doubtful one would see such an elegant pattern from that consideration. Another worry is that we don't know the provenance of this copy of the video, though there is no reason to doubt that the imagery is faithful to the original. Still, one can imagine federal officials shrugging their shoulders and suggesting that perhaps the clip has been tampered with.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><span style="color: blue;">Scientist troubled by cognitive dissonance among citizenry</span></b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Josh Mitteldorf, who has a background in physics</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">, biology and computer simulation, reports that his similation of a trade center tower's collapse yielded a rate of fall far slower than what was observed</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline;">http://mathforum.org/~josh/</span></div>
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He comments on the problem of lack of public awareness of the 9/11 issues thus:</div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>I don't know anymore how to bring people aboard. I think anyone who can be convinced by arguments from science or common sense physics is already convinced. The problem now is that all our media are steeped so deeply in a vast charade that once the belief cracks, everything falls apart. Few people have the strength to confront the fact that the social and economic basis for their lives are built on lies of Orwellian scale. It is the edge of madness to think </i></span></div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><i>that the politics we've discussed with our friends is a carefully-crafted illusion, </i></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><i>that the economic system where we define our success and our value in the world has no legitimacy </i></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><i>that progressive and liberal commentators who we admire are paid (or coerced) by the CIA to avoid 9/11 and other sensitive areas</i></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><i>that the vote count in major elections is systematically corrupted, always pulling toward the right</i></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><i>that all the non-profit advocacy groups that we support, the major environmental and civil rights and peace groups are working within a system that is unresponsive to them by design.</i></li>
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<i>About half my friends have figured this out and share conspiracy stories with me, but the other half (including my daughters and my ex-wife) won't tolerate me talking about politics. </i></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;"><i>Spiritual aside:</i> The Battle of Armageddon by Hank Williams</span></b></div>
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699760236734653662.post-33848167514291319202014-08-29T09:18:00.001-07:002014-08-29T09:29:18.263-07:00<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">'Paranoid' CIA conspiracy theorist</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">was right about red pull at the top</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-size: 13px;">The CIA's counterintelligence chief, James Jesus Angelton</b><span style="font-size: 13px;">, had been discredited as a "paranoid schizophrenic" toward the end of his career. The mole-hunter had been forced aside before his death in 1987.</span></div>
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However, a CIA inspector general later found that CIA directors under Presidents Reagan, Bush (the elder) and Clinton had been under strong KGB influence and had been passing Communist disinformation to the White House. Bush had been CIA chief under President Ford, and had also been Reagan's "co-president" for national security (at least until the Iran-Contra scandal flared).</div>
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This bit of history comes from the writer Edward Jay Epstein, as posted on Cryptome.</div>
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<a href="http://cryptome.org/2014/08/snowden-deception-question.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://cryptome.org/2014/08/<wbr></wbr>snowden-deception-question.htm</a></div>
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The purpose of the first excerpt on the Cryptome site is to pave the way for the second piece, which suggests that Edward Snowden's thefts involve far more than data on surveillance of Americans and that those public revelations may have been meant as a smokescreen for espionage. I don't necessarily agree with that. Why bother with the elaborate deception? Had he been a typical defecting spy, one would expect that he and his masters would have arranged a sensible escape plan in advance.</div>
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But the point I wish to make concerns the CIA inspector general verifying a major part of what many had suspected.</div>
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In a recent biography, <i>James Jesus Angleton; Was He Right?</i>, Epstein writes:</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">'In 1995, however , the CIA Inspector General found that in the 1980s and early 1990s the KGB had dispatched at least a half-dozen double agents who provided disinformation cooked up in Moscow to their CIA case officers. It further discovered that this concoction of bogus and factually true information had routinely been passed between 1986 and 1994 to three Presidents– President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. The disinformation, according to the Inspector General, became part of one of the CIA's most highly classified products, with each report signed personally by the CIA director, provided with a distinctive blue stripe to signify their importance , and sent directly to the President, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State. When the CIA Inspector General retrospectively traced out the path of this disinformation in the blue border reports, he found that the “senior CIA officers responsible for these reports had known that some of their sources were controlled by Russian intelligence.” These CIA officials apparently continued to forward the Russian disinformation to the White House because it would be too embarrassing for them to admit that they had been so badly deceived. Whatever their motive, the CIA officers who had been gulled by the KGB found a common interest with the KGB in not revealing on-going deception. The CIA Director John Deutch, who had received these blue border reports when he was deputy director of the Department of Defense, told Congress that the CIA’s failure to disclose that the intelligence was from KGB-controlled agents was "an inexcusable lapse in elementary intelligence practice."'</span></div>
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An insightful retrospective on Epstein:</div>
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<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2013/10/13/epstein-and-the-kennedy-assassination/2960611/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.usatoday.com/story/<wbr></wbr>money/columnist/wolff/2013/10/<wbr></wbr>13/epstein-and-the-kennedy-<wbr></wbr>assassination/2960611/</a></div>
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It should be noted that Epstein has often been embroiled in controversy, especially with respect to his analyses of the assassination of President Kennedy.<br />
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Paul Conanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654785692118469757noreply@blogger.com0