Monday, April 20

Costly Foot Paths -

In a grim coincidence, I came down with a bout of pneumonia around the same time the COVID-19 germ emerged and, as a result, I had to go into the hospital for treatment. My test results were due to be returned in three days, but didn't come back for five days.

Just giving you a heads-up;
not trying to alarm you:

I had a weird experience just before I left for the hospital when I tried to order pizza over the phone and got a loopy digital assistant "helping" me. Or maybe this is Domino's idea of a joke. What shall we call him - Dom?

Well, Dom is no Alexa! Dom is not even ready for prime time. He reminds me of an ineptly programmed call director gadget we used to nickname "phone jail" which sent you around in circles, never reaching your intended destination. Similarly, I never got to order the pizza.

Almost makes one nostalgic for Ananova . . .

# In the past, I have written here about a new kind of commodities stock exchange market established by the younger generation - trading or investing in and reselling sneakers (trainers) limited editions and collectors' designs by celebrity athletes, etc.

Recently, a Miami area teenager, Andrea Camps Lacayo, was murdered over three pairs of Adidas Yeezy sneakers with the asking price of $935. The meeting was set to take place outside an abandoned house. And tragedy ensued.

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Monday, March 9

In A Mean Interval -

Many writers who have aspired to write "The Great American Novel" have earned their daily livelihood first as reporters.

For example, John Katzenbach worked as a reporter at the Miami Herald. His movie The Mean Season gives you a glimpse of the Herald's newsroom during an earlier era.

American newspapers have encountered numerous challenges since the end of World War II when much of the population began migrating out to the suburbs. Whether they always made good choices or not can be endlessly debated.

Newspapers are part of our cultural tradition. So it comes as sad news that the McClatchy Company, parent company of the Miami Herald newspaper, has filed for bankruptcy.

# CourtTV is back!
And it's got the new Robert Durst Trial.

# Soccer luminary David Beckham is introducing his new Inter-Miami team. Its first home game is skeduled or SHED-YULED (!) for March 14th at 2:30 pm at the former Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

# Closer to home, a somewhat cold homicide case is getting attention again: the killing of 60-year-old Bruce Salituri in Fort Lauderdale last September. The alleged killer has been identified as 29-year-old Michael Schnitzerling.

But Police Chief Maglione believes that this was a murder for hire scheme and wants to know who ordered the hit; so, he is inviting the public to send him more information about the situation.

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Monday, February 3

Past Perfect Or Not -

It's been a while since I've dropped by . . .

Christopher Fowler's redoubt, so I touched bases there to see how Brexit went. Turns out they're expecting to get chlorinated chickens as a result. More on that further on,
I expect.

# Carter Page is suing
the DNC for defaming him!

# Patrick Modiano tells us about a woman who used to own a bookshop and the world she left behind.

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Sunday, February 2

Feb Fracas & Kerfuffles -

It's Super Bowl Sunday!
And what else is news?

# A thirty-ish opera singer seen dancing on top of her vehicle then blew through two checkpoints leading up to Prez Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

# Venezuelan opposition leader
Juan Guaido spoke at a rally in Miami.

# Recent news about the Miami Herald.

# Prof Jonathan Turley's
comment on the impeachment outcome.

# Laura Ingraham Investigates: An email could
show that a CIA analyst allegedly triggered
the impeachment proceedings and more.

# And then Senator Rand Paul
(R-KY) tried to ask a question.

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Monday, December 9

Artificial Apocalypse II -

I was born during WWII. Mention the term "Special Powers" to anyone in our generation and it carries very sinister baggage because that's how Hitler became the dictator of Germany. The German Parliament awarded him Special Powers. Awarding Robert Mueller Special Powers seemed ominous. And what were the results?

A gaggle of Democrats have used Mueller to trash the sanctity of the Fourth Amendment - which was what the Church Committee was trying to protect us from.

These operatives have expended vigorous efforts to obscure and obliterate the Church Committee and its Hearings altogether by claiming that this Trump situation is the sequel to the Watergate Hearings instead.

There is no connection between the current Trump Imbroglio and Watergate. There is a direct link between this current situation and the Church Committee Hearings, as it was the Church Committee which established the FISA Protocols.

Watergate was based on a Break and Entry Burglary. This situation is based on a Civil Rights issue focusing on the Fourth Amendment.

In their obliteration of the Church Committee, this gaggle of Democrats have gone beyond mere Revisionist History and are engaging in the Falsification of History. So far, this gambit seems to have succeeded, and it may well be the insurance policy Peter Strzok claimed, since some have already begun to rationalize it as an example of "Mandela Effect." Pull the other leg!

Then, after the first anecdote was popped on us, the second shoe dropped: Christopher Steele and his dodgy dossier. Did I read it? No. Long before Steele, British Intelligence had a rogue agent named Kim Philby, making us a bit mistrustful.

And long before the Trump Dodgy Dossier there was the Margaret Thatcher Dodgy Dossier, which was a similar stunt. The details were updated to be more relevant to Trump. Thus, we can only wonder if anyone from the first cast of characters was also involved with the second dodgy dossier on Trump. Hmmm...

While we still don't know the details about the murky origins of this scheme, I don't see any serious basis for impeaching this duly elected president. There can be little doubt at this point that it is the Mainstream Media which are the biggest beneficiaries of these activities.

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Artificial Apocalypse -

Trump, Russia, Mueller,
Schiff & Impeachment . . .

It comes as welcome news that A.G. Barr is determined to get to the bottom of this mess. I'm looking forward to his findings. Meanwhile, I thought we might contribute some background and context from a different angle.

Normally, I don't follow Politics very much. I'm not a Democrat or a Republican; I'm an Independent. But this situation is rooted in a Civil Rights issue.

I first heard about this situation from an anecdote reported in the news. According to my best recollection, it went something like this:

A CIA agent in their Virginia HQ was monitoring a Russian's activities on the Internet when an American suddenly appeared and began interacting with the Russian. Concerned about this pairing, the CIA employee forwarded an alert about the incident to the FBI.

This is the original version of the anecdote which has changed or evolved over time. Currently, some people are speculating that Carter Page was the American; while others are speculating that it might be George Papadopoulos. There is yet a third possibility: the American in the anecdote could be a fictive composite.

My first reaction to this anecdote was: it didn't seem very credible. But after a moment's pause, I did a double-take on it. And I thought: Wow! If this really did happen, then this CIA agent just stepped on the Third Rail of contemporary intelligence!

Let's unpack this puppy a bit: When this anecdote was first reported, it seemed strangely naked like a plucked chicken. It was very bare bones. The purpose of reporting this anecdote to the public was to justify a special FISA search warrant and/or the appointment of a special prosecutor, but on the face of it, there is nothing illegal about an American dating a Russian or socializing with a Russian or communicating with a Russian. What specific element of this situation constituted Probable Cause which would compel a special search warrant or special prosecutor?

In the 1970's, one of the most vivid highlights of the Church Committee Hearings was their robust rebuke of the CIA for engaging in surveillance on Americans. The CIA was told in no uncertain terms that they were to limit their surveillance to the foreign realm.

In the anecdote above, the CIA agent appears to have violated the Church Committee Rules, but in order to circumvent the taboo, the agent may have grabbed an FBI agent as a fig leaf and used the FBI guy as his proxy to do his dirty work for him. Is this permitted? I think not.

Also, it gives the appearance that the CIA guy may have suborned perjury from the FBI guy in a mutual agreement to leave the CIA out of the original discovery of the American connecting with the Russian, substituting the claim that it was the FBI guy who made the discovery.

 I understand that A.G. Barr is investigating whether any kind of monkey business was going on to get the special FISA search warrant. But the Special Prosecutor may be another matter.

Conclusion Follows in Part Two . . . 

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Wednesday, April 18

Relentless Redux II -

The Stormy Daniels Twist . . .

Clearly, the issue here is Boundaries which Daniels is conflating with her First Amendment rights. I recognize and try to respect the HIPAA rules - I am not going to tell you that Louise has Hepatitis, is taking medication for Depression, and suffered from a toe nail fungus a few months ago. I try to treat this topic with the utmost discretion. I do not believe that the HIPAA rules nullify my First Amendment rights. These rules cover only a very narrow scope of my general everyday discourse.

Stormy Daniels' recent behavior offers a drastic contrast. She was free to book herself into Gentlemen's Clubs all over Florida and "express" herself. She could book her exotic dancing act into the Golden Apple in Miami-Dade, the Platinum Plum in Fort Lauderdale and the Silver Peach in Palm Beach Country. But the Media reported that she additionally advertised herself ostentatiously on a taunting billboard adjacent to the Trump Estate, making her objective obvious - to disrupt and destroy the Trump Family's domestic tranquility, to humiliate and drive Melania Trump (an innocent victim) out of her home, and to stalk and harass the Trump Family.

It was this prospective projection of behavior pattern which lawyer Michael Cohen was trying to get a handle on, and I cannot criticize him for that.  Cohen, I believe, is being scapegoated. Even worse, it appears to me that he is being stitched up. It looks like a rogue prosecutor is trying to gather as much material as possible in order to manufacture some bogus crime out of it.

Daniels and her lawyer also seem to be coyly threatening to use some kind of recordings in hostile legal procedures. Florida, California and Nevada are Dual Consent states. If such recordings are produced in court, they are likely to be illegal. Once again: Boundaries.

Alas, rarely have I seen so much vitriol for no legitimate reason from the Mainstream Media acting in unison. In a previous era of reportage, numerous angles and perspectives were provided to the public as valuable assets. Today, only one dogmatic viewpoint is being delivered via an echo chamber. How did we get here?

When Google News was started as an aggregator, it gathered diverse news reports from far and wide. But legacy media organizations complained. So, Google re-tuned it and introduced their most potent weapon: the carousel. This is how we got the echo chamber. If you are not careful and resourceful, you can get trapped into this merry-go-round and read only the same thing over and over although it seems to be attributed to numerous sources.

I strongly object to any efforts to forcibly turn this country into a totalitarian banana republic cesspool. In my generation we were taught to think for ourselves. But as an increasing number of Americans are being stupefied on drugs, few younger people seem to be aware of how they are being manipulated. Let us hope this situation improves soon!

...

Relentless Redux -

The Stormy Daniels Twist . . .

In the late 1980s, David Letterman, a CBS late night TV show host, began to experience a series of disruptions to his life. A woman stole his Porsche, camped out on his property, repeatedly broke into his house, and claimed to have a relationship with him or identified herself as his wife. She was suffering from Erotomania, among other things, and really believed her claims, which resulted in her relentlessly stalking the target of her attentions. Letterman finally got relief only when she ended her life in 1998.

Have you ever experienced a relentless stalker or some variation thereof? Or have you been exposed to this phenomenon via a family member or friend? If so, a naive well-wisher might suggest you get a Restraining Order. Have you ever tried to get one? It's no cinch to get, but even if you do get one, it might not provide you with the relief you seek. Indeed, you could end up dead even with a Restraining Order.

This is why a pragmatic lawyer might try a different approach called "Go Away" money. No sophisticated observer would presume this approach to be a permanent remedy; nevertheless, it could provide stop-gap relief to the target of a relentless stalker.

It appears that lawyer Michael Cohen with his Confidential Settlement Agreement crafted for Stormy Daniels attempted to provide such relief to the Trump Family this way. And if you have ever experienced some form of relentless stalking, you might want to think twice before criticizing him for trying this approach.

The CBS TV Network, however, did a complete about-face on this matter. Whereas they never featured Letterman's stalker, Margaret Mary Ray, on a prime time segment interview, they devoted their Sunday Family Hour to Stormy Daniels and her tale of woe. Anderson Cooper, looking like an autistic praying mantis, thoughtfully questioned her and invented a fatuous pretext of why this is very serious matter. No one I know watched it and later told me they don't care how many freckles Donald Trump has on his genitals. So much for Cooper's erstwhile gravitas.

Inexplicably, instead of a very generous payment of Go Away Money providing some stop-gap relief to Melania and the rest of the Trump Family, the Media persistently referred to the $130,000 as "Hush" Money.

During the CBS interview, Stormy Daniels presented herself as a soi-disant dominatrix, ordering Donald Trump to pull down his trousers and spanking him. She seemed very pleased with herself as she described this encounter and seemed to gloat at times or even smirk. Although she assumed a dominant and aggressive role for that occasion, she then complained to Cooper that she has been oppressed.

Uh-oh! One of the signs of a sociopath is their aggressive behavior while casting themselves in the role of a victim . . .

Continued in Part II

...

Wednesday, February 14

The Markel Changelings -

TV Channel Investigation Discovery recently aired a presentation of the Dan Markel Murder Case authored by its People Magazine Investigates group.

The presentation, called MARKED FOR MURDER, was straight-forward and included cameo appearances by several of Markel's lawyer friends. It was formatted as a police procedural.

The problem with this format is that the Markel situation is bigger than the resolution of some intriguing forensic evidence. Actually, it's practically operatic. Not only was Dan Markel murdered, but it seems like his children were stolen from him as well.

Ironically, if Markel's Rolex or BMW were hijacked, this aspect of the situation might have received more publicity.

Was any new information disclosed on ID?

Yes! It was reported that the cell phone conversation Markel was having in his vehicle at the time he was shot was about a new school for his young sons. I suspect that this was what triggered Markel's murder, what we could call "the inciting incident."

It seems likely to me that the school Markel chose would be a parochial or religious day school. And if this were true, too, than it would appear that his former wife and her family may have harbored strong anti-religious sentiments which Dan Markel did not know about at the time they were married.

Exploring any such lead might yield
an additional cluster of potential evidence.

This situation is moving
through our court system very slowly.

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