Sunday, January 13, 2013

Jan. 13 - Jan. 19, 2013 Discussions

My Sunday comment for this week was entirely about Professor James Tracy and his theory that the Sandy Hook massacre may not have actually happened, but may have been a phoney event staged by the Obama administration to help institute strict gun controls.  In my comment I provide numerous links to the writings of Professor Tracy and to two hour-long radio interviews where he speaks his mind.

Professor Tracy argues that because we haven't been shown pictures of the slaughtered children, there may have been no slaughtered children.

Professor Tracy argues that the families of the grieving victims may have been actors from crisisactors.org.

Professor Tracy repeatedly argues that because there are no pictures of hundreds of children streaming out of the school, there may have been no more than the few child actors seen in this photograph:


Professor Tracy argues that the Medical Examiner may have been an imposter, since, when he talked with the media, he didn't have all the answers to their idiotic questions and didn't even know how many boys and how many girls had been shot.

Professor Tracy also argues that the media must have been part of the conspiracy, since in their first accounts the Newtown Bee claimed they had talked with the principal of the school, yet it was later claimed that the principal was one of the first adults killed.

And he goes on and on.  Professor Tracy is a very eloquent talker, and he seemed to be on a campaign to get his beliefs reported everywhere.  It was as if he felt he could see what no one else could see, and he was out to explain things to everyone else.  I find that kind of thinking to be fascinating, and I saw a LOT of it during the past 11 years in discussions about the Amerithrax investigation.

Before I was made aware of Professor Tracy's beliefs on Saturday, I didn't have any topic to write about in my Sunday comment.  All I had was some notes about movies I saw (or didn't see) last year:

On January 1, I wrote that 2012 seemed like a terrible year for movies.  Looking at the best picture nominations for the Academy Awards, it appears that I've seen only one of the nine pictures nominated:
 
Amour
Argo  
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

But all were released near the end of the year, and only "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is currently available for rental on DVD.  (Although I watched it, it wasn't my "cup of tea.")  I'm looking forward to seeing most of the rest.   Sooner or later, I'll probably watch all but "Amour."  The movie I named as the best I saw in 2012, "My Week With Marilyn," had its theatrical release in December 2011 and was nominated for two awards for that year.  

   
I was also going to write something about coming to an end of my "poster phase."  I may or may not do one more poster.  It all depends upon what else happens.  I've got a lot of nice shots of Thailand that might make a nice poster.  Here's one of them: 


I'm also thinking of making a large copy of this picture I took of my sister and myself in 2006: 
My sister and I are in the picture in four places, bottom center, top center, left and right.  Click on the image to see a much larger version.  It's a picture of our reflections in the "Cloud Gate" sculpture in a Chicago lake front park.  Here's a shot of the sculpture from a bit further away:

I'm still searching for a project to keep me busy now that I've finished my book "A Crime Unlike Any Other."  Writing a short book about the thinking of conspiracy theorists and True Believers is a possibility, but I'd want to quote just about everything Professor James Tracy wrote and said, which could be a copyrights problem.  So, that's probably not a good idea.

Ed

16 comments:

  1. I'm surprised Mister Lake makes no mention of this recent development on the conspiracy front:
    http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/12/16474762-rfk-jr-very-convincing-evidence-that-jfk-wasnt-killed-by-lone-gunman?lite

    After all, when an event has just happened there's an understandable confusion and corresponding ad hoc efforts to explain it. But this November will mark the 1/2 century mark of the JFK assassination and yet his nephew claims it's some grand (but apparently unknowable!) conspiracy!

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  2. R. Rowley wrote: "I'm surprised Mister Lake makes no mention of this recent development on the conspiracy front ..."

    Someone else mentioned it to me yesterday or the day before. But, he also mentioned some theory JFK Jr. has about vaccinations. He wasn't clear in what he said, and I haven't had time to research it. Plus, I couldn't fit it into today's comment.

    So, I'll probably do the research and comment on RFK Jr's beliefs in a day or two.

    Thanks.

    Ed

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  3. Here it is:

    "Furthermore, in 2005, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. infamously wrote an article for Rolling Stone and Salon (since retracted) that erroneously linked vaccines to autism, a claim that, even then, had been thoroughly debunked by the scientific establishment."

    LINK

    More:

    "For instance, as the authors note, liberal activists Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jenny McCarthy and countless other left-wing journalists, celebrities and pundits maintain that vaccinations lead to autism and other disabilities, even though such notions have been debunked unequivocally by the scientific community. Bill Maher even goes so far as to claim vaccination safety “is not settled science like global warming.”

    LINK

    Ed

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  4. Hello from Spain

    .....And who killed the actress Natalie Wood?

    Bye.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joseph from Spain asks, "And who killed the actress Natalie Wood?"

    My personal feeling is it was just an accident. But, there are a lot of people who seem to want to think otherwise.

    Ed

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  6. Hello from Spain

    .....And who killed the actress Natalie Wood?
    ===================================================
    From reading about 10 years ago a biography of Wood by Suzy(?) Finstad, I gather it was her husband, Robert Wagner, who was drunk (they all were:
    Wagner, Wood, Christopher Walken, and the skipper) and who hit her (or perhaps shoved her) overboard. Flirtation by Wood with Walken enraged Wagner and his highly drunken state plus rage not only sent her overboard but he stood there immune to her cries for help (earwitnesses in a nearby moored boat-----a total of 3 witnesses---
    tell us this). I'm sure Wagner eventually regretted it, but his LA connections (with Sinatra et alia) all but precluded a serious investigation and a manslaughter conviction was unlikely even if they did go ahead with it.

    Non of the subsequent books/magazine/newspaper articles have changed this general impression I got from Finstad's book.

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  7. Hello from Spain:

    + I thought it was a joke but it seems that doubts about what happened at school are increasing.

    I have read this:

    "With the one month anniversary of the school shooting in Newtown just coming to pass, it appears as though the conspiracy theorists are out in full force. According to TheBlaze, a growing group of people are claiming that the entire tragedy was a government manufactured hoax or that it never happened at all.

    Unfortunately, we have come to expect ‘truther’ claims in the wake of inexplicable events (most notably after September 11). And on radio this morning, Glenn Beck reacted to the conspiratorial stories, blaming people’s growing distrust of the government for the trend."

    Source:
    http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/01/16/glenn-responds-to-the-newtown-%E2%80%98truthers%E2%80%99/

    + And I've also read the declaration of a parent of a student of that unfortunate school:

    "Caller ‘Pete’ called into the radio program to respond to the ludicrous conspiracy theories going around the internet suggesting that perhaps this shooting didn’t actually happen. Pete’s child goes to that school and he described the horrific events of that morning from the eyes of a father not being able to protect his son in danger."

    source:
    http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/01/16/sandy-hook-student%E2%80%99s-dad-calls-in-to-dispel-conspiracy-theories/

    I do not understand anything. What happens in the U.S.?

    Everyone gets to crazy.

    Does the FBI still can not explain why this horrible massacre happened?

    BYE.

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  8. Joseph from Spain wrote: "Does the FBI still can not explain why this horrible massacre happened?"

    First, I don't think it's an FBI matter. The FBI is a federal agency. I think the whole matter is being handled by state and local officials. Murder is not a federal crime.

    Second, I doubt that we'll ever know for certain why the guy did what he did. It seems to have something to do with his mother spending more time with the kids at the school than with her own son. But, there could be a hundred additional causes.

    Glenn Beck is a bigger nut than the conspiracy theorists. I truly dislike the guy. I don't like listening to him, and I don't even like reading what he has said. BUT, I do agree with some of what he said:

    “Here’s what happened in Sandy hook,” Glenn said. “He is a madman because he’s unstable by birth; because he’s on mind altering medications? I don’t know, maybe. Because of the combination of the two? I don’t know, maybe. Because he was playing these games all the time and he had found himself more and more isolated? I don’t know, maybe.

    I find the conspiracy theorists fascinating. I was listening to another interview with Professor James Tracy this morning. It's tempting to go through what he says word by word, sentence by sentence to try to figure out his thought processes. His thinking is like it's from another planet.

    Right after the shooting, people were wondering who the guy was who the police had on the ground, then handcuffed and put in the FRONT seat of a police car. It appears it was a father of a student, and he got out of control and tried to get into the building. Professor Tracy thinks he was one of the real shooters, and the police are covering it up.

    People were wondering who the police went after in the woods near the school. It turns out it was some guy who was out collecting firewood. He was wearing camouflage-colored pants, and the police had him in custody for awhile before releasing him. Professor Tracy thinks he was another one of the real shooters, and the police are covering it up.

    Professor Tracy is a PERFECT example of someone who can rationalize ANYTHING to make it fit his beliefs. He starts with a belief, and then distorts everything to make it fit that belief.

    I find that absolutely fascinating. I would REALLY like to see him in a discussion with someone who DISAGREES with him, instead of interview after interview with other conspiracy theorists who agree with him - or just like to hear conspiracy theories.

    Ed

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  9. Hello from Spain:

    + I was confused. The FBI has jurisdiction in child abductions and maybe I've seen too many episodes of "Criminal Minds" as this:

    PAINLESS, Season 7, episode 4
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2009816/

    Stotyline:
    "Ten years ago, Hotch and Rossi, as part of the BAU at the time, worked on a mass murder case in Boise, Idaho, where bright and well liked but narcissistic North Valley High School student Randy Slade killed thirteen of his classmates in a lunch hour shooting and cell phone detonated bombing in the school's cafeteria......"

    + Returning to the real world, there are 3 things that surprised me this terrible story:

    1- 28 people have died but there is only lamentations for 26 deaths. The mother was the first murdered and this happened while she slept. Why this disregard?

    2- He killed children. but not teenagers like him. Why kill children if they can be a threat to himself or anyone?

    3- He was a normal kid, a good kid. He did not create any problem despite the divorce of his parents and he did not belong to any group or "tribe". He had graduated and should be in college or something. His father bought him a car days before the massacre. A protective mother often isolate his child.

    What else could destabilize the mind of Adam Lanza?
    Why he killed the children of Newtown?

    + I have a theory but this means that children remain at risk of Connecticut, a not mortal danger but a danger that threatens to destroy their minds or their souls.

    1- When I see the picture of Lanza, I do not see an athlete or adult but a childish teenager and weak. What do you see?

    2- Children are not a physical danger to an adult or adolescent. So what have adult children who want to destroy or remove?

    LOVE.
    The children are loved by their parents and others who are not necessarily your parents.

    3- Who loves Adam Lanza?
    Her parents are separated. She protects and insulates. The father is relatively far but buying things for your child. What element remains stabilized his mind? o What has changed?

    He has grown up and no longer go to school because there is a child, and not interesting for some people.

    He seems to be the usual victim of a pedophile.

    He is no longer loved, his "friend" prefers boys. And he has decided to take revenge on those who have kept their "love".(Mother and rivals).

    He has destroyed the hunting ground of his "friend".

    If I have reason should have a photo or other personal items of him in his room, and very well hidden.

    The kids remain at risk.

    This is not like what happened at Columbine and Virginia Tech, is a lot worse and twisted. this is what I suspect.

    I'll wait with interest to the local police said.

    Good bye.

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  10. Joseph from Spain,

    I think a couple of your questions are easily answered:

    Lanza's mother wasn't part of the "massacre." She was divorced, and her son killed her. So, there weren't many people left to mourn her. And, people might see her as partially responsible for what happened at Sandy Hook.

    Lanza seems to have killed those children because his mother was always talking about them and liked them more than she liked her own son. That's one theory.

    It's usually very difficult to figure out why a mass murderer did what he did. Each does it for a different reason, and there are usually no common causes or conditions.

    Ed

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  11. My two cents: I think spree killers can be a whole lot harder to read than the (standard) serial killer. In the latter cases you have many iterations of the same phenomenon: the pattern(s) that the better investigators can discern tell them something about the individual even when that individual's name/identity is unknown.

    But if we can make one generalization about serial killers it's this: they enjoy it. Enjoy it more than just about anything. Since there's frequently a psychosexual element, their THINKING about murder (ie fantasizing about it)etc. can begin super early, even pre-puberty. Hence you can look for the torturing of animals
    early in life as almost a staple of the background. And for the same reason (the enjoyment) it is not unusual for serial killers to enjoy the taking of pictures and other souvenirs to remind themselves of their 'triumph' and the pleasure it delivered.

    Spree killers probably rarely show that: they are more likely to look on murder as UNATTRACTIVE and only a meltdown in their characters/personalities leads to the murderous spree. Although the (frequent) final act of the spree (shooting of the self) is probably taken as simply a way to avoid a lifetime in prison etc.
    it can just as readily be interpreted as the logical extension of the spree itself: 'if my life makes no sense, if it's all such a gyp, if I'm surrounded by people who are indifferent or controlling of me, then why not end it all?'. Spree killings can be interpreted as externalized suicides.

    Adam Lanza seems to have been super-introverted: unable to connect with peers or anyone else. Since his mother was a gun-collector, he probably didn't have to do any elaborate long-range planning to come up with a course of action.....

    For what it's worth.....

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  12. Yeah. I saw an interview on TV with Adam Lanza's aunt, and she talked like a survivalist. She had guns, too, because she felt the "fiscal cliff" was going to destroy the country, and she'd need her guns to protect herself in the chaos after the country collapsed.

    You have to wonder what such people are teaching their kids.

    Push the right buttons, and you have an Adam Lanza committing a horrific massacre.

    Ed

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  13. Hello from Spain.

    + The mother of the serial killer, rapist and necrophiliac Ted Bundy died a few days.

    For years, she refused to believe the charges.

    "Ted Bundy does not go around killing women and little children!" she told The News Tribune in 1980 after Ted Bundy was convicted in the Florida killings. "And I know this, too, that our never-ending faith in Ted - our faith that he is innocent - has never wavered. And it never will."

    Source:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/09/ted-bundy-mother-dies/1821867/

    Her son's troubles took a toll, the newspaper reported. Louise Bundy and her husband, John Bundy, endured jokes and dirty looks over the years and often changed their telephone number to avoid angry calls.

    There are people who can not accept reality and there are other people who enjoy picking on whom nothing has done.

    To do justice is a very complicated matter. I believe that normal people prefer to lynch, is something more "natural".

    Obama wants to lynch the National Rifle Association?
    So the NRA is guilty?

    Bye.

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  14. Joseph from Spain wrote: "There are people who can not accept reality and there are other people who enjoy picking on whom nothing has done.

    To do justice is a very complicated matter. I believe that normal people prefer to lynch, is something more "natural".

    Obama wants to lynch the National Rifle Association?
    "

    If what you wrote made any sense, I might agree or be upset. But, it's mostly just indecipherable bad English.

    Ed

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  15. Hello from Spain.

    The Google translator is guilty.

    and is not easy to learn English:
    "America and England are two countries separated by a common language"
    George Bernard Shaw

    I'm trying to say this:

    + The murder of the mother of Lance is very important because it is the first murder. He could not kill her face to face. He waited for the appropriate time to do what he wished, when and how he wanted.

    +Obama may to reduce the use of firearms?

    +The family of Bruce Ivins is harassed or stalked by what he did?

    +The family of Bruce Ivins has left the city or state for unknown threats?

    Bye.

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  16. Joseph from Spain wrote: "The family of Bruce Ivins is harassed or stalked by what he did?

    The family of Bruce Ivins has left the city or state for unknown threats?
    "

    If those are really questions, the answer is: I don't think so.

    I know an Anthrax Truther who appears to be in regular contact with Bruce Ivins' daughter. He keeps telling what she thinks about me.

    The media might have been trying to get interviews, but I doubt that anyone else was "harassing" them. Who would harass them and why?

    You're still not making much sense.

    Ed

    ReplyDelete