Thursday, December 5, 2019
"OR BOOKS IS TEN" SALE!
Monday, December 2, 2019
Louis Jolyon West and the CIA's MKULTRA Project
What follows is an excerpt from Tom O'Neill and Dan Piepenbring's 11-24-19 The Intercept article entitled "INSIDE THE ARCHIVE OF AN LSD RESEARCHER WITH TIES TO THE CIA’S MKULTRA MIND CONTROL PROJECT":
At the trial [of Jimmy Shaver], [Louis Jolyon] West made only a minimal effort to exonerate Shaver. The airman was found guilty [of murdering a three-year-old girl named Chere Jo Horton]. Though an appeals court later ruled that he’d had an unfair trial, he was convicted again in the retrial. In 1958, on his 33rd birthday, he was executed by the electric chair. He maintained his innocence the whole time.
The trial, which hinged on Shaver’s testimony, might have ended differently had the jury known about West’s past. According to newly surfaced papers from West’s archives, the psychiatrist had some of the clearest, most nefarious ties of any scientist to the CIA’s Project MKUltra. West’s files — especially his correspondence with the CIA’s longtime poisons expert, Sidney Gottlieb — shed new light on one of the most infamous projects in the agency’s history. Likely comprising more than 149 subprojects and at least 185 researchers working at institutions across America and Canada, MKUltra was, as the New York Times put it, “a secret twenty-five year, twenty-five million dollar effort by the CIA to learn how to control the human mind.” Its experiments violated international laws, not to mention the agency’s charter, which forbids domestic activity.
At the trial, West maintained that Shaver had suffered a bout of temporary insanity on the night of Chere Jo Horton’s killing, but he argued that Shaver was “quite sane now.” In the courtroom, Shaver didn’t look that way. One newspaper account said he “sat through the strenuous sessions like a man in a trance,” saying nothing, never rising to stretch or smoke, though he was a known chain-smoker.
Large portions of West’s truth serum interview with Shaver were read into the court record. The doctor had used leading questions to walk the entranced Shaver through the crime. “Tell me about when you took your clothes off, Jimmy,” he’d said. The transcript of the interview, which survived among West’s papers, also showed West trying to prove that Shaver had repressed memories: “Jimmy, do you remember when something like this happened before?” Or: “After you took her clothes off, what did you do?”
“I never did take her clothes off,” Shaver said.
The interview was divided into thirds, and the middle third hadn’t been recorded. When the transcript picked up, it said: “Shaver is crying. He has been confronted with all the facts repeatedly.”
West asked, “Now you remember it all, don’t you, Jimmy?”
“Yes, sir,” Shaver replied.
Though lawyers scrutinized Shaver’s medical history, little mention was made of the base hospital where West’s archived letters indicate he had conducted his MKUltra experiments. Shaver had suffered from migraines so debilitating that he’d dunk his head in a bucket of ice water when he felt one coming on. His condition was severe enough that the Air Force had recommended him for a two-year experimental program. The doctor who’d attempted to recruit him was not named in court records or transcripts.
On the stand, West said he’d never gotten around to seeing whether Shaver had been treated in the experimental program. Lackland officials told me there was no record of him in their master index of patients. But, curiously, according to the base’s archivist, all the records for patients in 1954 had been maintained, with one exception: the file for last names beginning with “Sa” through “St” had vanished....
To read O'Neill and Piepenbring's entire article, click HERE.
For more information about the crimes of Dr. Louis Jolyon West, read Chapter Two of my 2012 book CRYPTOSCATOLOGY: CONSPIRACY THEORY AS ART FORM (entitled "Honey, Did You Leave Your Brain Back at Langley Again?").
At the trial [of Jimmy Shaver], [Louis Jolyon] West made only a minimal effort to exonerate Shaver. The airman was found guilty [of murdering a three-year-old girl named Chere Jo Horton]. Though an appeals court later ruled that he’d had an unfair trial, he was convicted again in the retrial. In 1958, on his 33rd birthday, he was executed by the electric chair. He maintained his innocence the whole time.
The trial, which hinged on Shaver’s testimony, might have ended differently had the jury known about West’s past. According to newly surfaced papers from West’s archives, the psychiatrist had some of the clearest, most nefarious ties of any scientist to the CIA’s Project MKUltra. West’s files — especially his correspondence with the CIA’s longtime poisons expert, Sidney Gottlieb — shed new light on one of the most infamous projects in the agency’s history. Likely comprising more than 149 subprojects and at least 185 researchers working at institutions across America and Canada, MKUltra was, as the New York Times put it, “a secret twenty-five year, twenty-five million dollar effort by the CIA to learn how to control the human mind.” Its experiments violated international laws, not to mention the agency’s charter, which forbids domestic activity.
At the trial, West maintained that Shaver had suffered a bout of temporary insanity on the night of Chere Jo Horton’s killing, but he argued that Shaver was “quite sane now.” In the courtroom, Shaver didn’t look that way. One newspaper account said he “sat through the strenuous sessions like a man in a trance,” saying nothing, never rising to stretch or smoke, though he was a known chain-smoker.
Large portions of West’s truth serum interview with Shaver were read into the court record. The doctor had used leading questions to walk the entranced Shaver through the crime. “Tell me about when you took your clothes off, Jimmy,” he’d said. The transcript of the interview, which survived among West’s papers, also showed West trying to prove that Shaver had repressed memories: “Jimmy, do you remember when something like this happened before?” Or: “After you took her clothes off, what did you do?”
“I never did take her clothes off,” Shaver said.
The interview was divided into thirds, and the middle third hadn’t been recorded. When the transcript picked up, it said: “Shaver is crying. He has been confronted with all the facts repeatedly.”
West asked, “Now you remember it all, don’t you, Jimmy?”
“Yes, sir,” Shaver replied.
Though lawyers scrutinized Shaver’s medical history, little mention was made of the base hospital where West’s archived letters indicate he had conducted his MKUltra experiments. Shaver had suffered from migraines so debilitating that he’d dunk his head in a bucket of ice water when he felt one coming on. His condition was severe enough that the Air Force had recommended him for a two-year experimental program. The doctor who’d attempted to recruit him was not named in court records or transcripts.
On the stand, West said he’d never gotten around to seeing whether Shaver had been treated in the experimental program. Lackland officials told me there was no record of him in their master index of patients. But, curiously, according to the base’s archivist, all the records for patients in 1954 had been maintained, with one exception: the file for last names beginning with “Sa” through “St” had vanished....
To read O'Neill and Piepenbring's entire article, click HERE.
For more information about the crimes of Dr. Louis Jolyon West, read Chapter Two of my 2012 book CRYPTOSCATOLOGY: CONSPIRACY THEORY AS ART FORM (entitled "Honey, Did You Leave Your Brain Back at Langley Again?").
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Amazon's Neighborhood Watch
From Sam Biddle's 11-26-19 The Intercept article entitled "AMAZON’S RING PLANNED NEIGHBORHOOD 'WATCH LISTS' BUILT ON FACIAL RECOGNITION":
Ring,
Amazon's crimefighting surveillance camera division, has crafted plans
to use facial recognition software and its ever-expanding network of
home security cameras to create AI-enabled neighborhood “watch lists,”
according to internal documents reviewed by The Intercept.
The
planning materials envision a seamless system whereby a Ring owner
would be automatically alerted when an individual deemed “suspicious”
was captured in their camera’s frame, something described as a
“suspicious activity prompt.”
It’s
unclear who would have access to these neighborhood watch lists, if
implemented, or how exactly they would be compiled, but the documents
refer repeatedly to law enforcement, and Ring has forged partnerships with police departments throughout the U.S.,
raising the possibility that the lists could be used to aid local
authorities. The documents indicate that the lists would be available in
Ring’s Neighbors app, through which Ring camera owners discuss
potential porch and garage security threats with others nearby.
To read Biddle's entire article, click HERE.
Boston Dynamics
What follows is an excerpt from Ally Jarmanning's WBUR.org 11-25-19 article entitled "Mass. State Police Tested Out Boston Dynamics’ Spot The Robot Dog. Civil Liberties Advocates Want To Know More":
To read Jarmanning's entire article click HERE.
Compare the telltale movements of "Spot" (and friends) with Dion Fuller's sighting of a pack of robots in San Diego, as described to me in extensive detail back in 2003. What follows is an excerpt from my 2015 nonfiction book CHAMELEO (pp. 46-47): "The next night [they] saw what Dion described as a dozen or so robots marching down the beach, in jerky, stop-start motions like a Dynamation figure from a 1950s Ray Harryhausen movie. Dion said he wasn't sure how to describe it, but it looked like the things were leapfrogging sideways. For a moment it seemed as if the creatures were going to topple over, then they would suddenly leap up about fifteen to twenty feet in the air. These things appeared quite creepy marching along the moonlit beach, so Dion and his friend got the hell out of there quick."
Compare Dion's description with this Feb. 2009 video (which originated as a segment on the Army news channel The Benning Report) uploaded from the Boston Dynamics website. Note the comment made at 1:39 by Lieutenant Colonel Matthew England: "They're pushing the envelope on reality as we know it." It's doubtful that even Lt. Col. England understood the full implications of that statement.
While you're at it, review this 4-20-09 Boston Business Journal article entitled "Big Dog Maker Tests Humanoid ‘Petman’ Robot, Hopping ‘Bot":
Here's Boston Dymanics' description of the above video: "The PETMAN robot
was developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from the DoD CBD program.
It is used to test the performance of protective clothing designed for
hazardous environments. The video shows initial testing in a chemical
protection suit and gas mask. PETMAN has sensors embedded in its skin
that detect any chemicals leaking through the suit. The skin also
maintains a micro-climate inside the clothing by sweating and regulating
temperature. Partners in developing PETMAN were MRIGlobal, Measurement
Technology Northwest, Smith Carter, SRD, CUH2A, and HHI."
Cops have long had dogs, and robots, to help them do their jobs. And now, they have a robot dog.
Massachusetts State Police is the first law enforcement agency in the country to use Boston Dynamics' dog-like robot, called Spot.
While the use of robotic technology is not new for state police, the
temporary acquisition of Spot — a customizable robot some have called “terrifying”
— is raising questions from civil rights advocates about how much
oversight there should be over police robotics programs.
The
state’s bomb squad had Spot on loan from the Waltham-based Boston
Dynamics for three months starting in August until November, according to records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and reviewed by WBUR.
The
documents do not reveal a lot of details on the robot dog’s exact use,
but a state police spokesman said Spot, like the department’s other
robots, was used as a “mobile remote observation device” to provide
troopers with images of suspicious devices or potentially hazardous
locations, like where an armed suspect might be hiding.
“Robot
technology is a valuable tool for law enforcement because of its
ability to provide situational awareness of potentially dangerous
environments,” state police spokesman David Procopio wrote.
To read Jarmanning's entire article click HERE.
Compare the telltale movements of "Spot" (and friends) with Dion Fuller's sighting of a pack of robots in San Diego, as described to me in extensive detail back in 2003. What follows is an excerpt from my 2015 nonfiction book CHAMELEO (pp. 46-47): "The next night [they] saw what Dion described as a dozen or so robots marching down the beach, in jerky, stop-start motions like a Dynamation figure from a 1950s Ray Harryhausen movie. Dion said he wasn't sure how to describe it, but it looked like the things were leapfrogging sideways. For a moment it seemed as if the creatures were going to topple over, then they would suddenly leap up about fifteen to twenty feet in the air. These things appeared quite creepy marching along the moonlit beach, so Dion and his friend got the hell out of there quick."
Compare Dion's description with this Feb. 2009 video (which originated as a segment on the Army news channel The Benning Report) uploaded from the Boston Dynamics website. Note the comment made at 1:39 by Lieutenant Colonel Matthew England: "They're pushing the envelope on reality as we know it." It's doubtful that even Lt. Col. England understood the full implications of that statement.
While you're at it, review this 4-20-09 Boston Business Journal article entitled "Big Dog Maker Tests Humanoid ‘Petman’ Robot, Hopping ‘Bot":
Boston Dynamics Inc., maker of the YouTube sensation BigDog robot, reports it is developing two robots: A humanoid robot to test soldier uniforms and a hopping robot for navigating urban environments.
The humanoid robot, PETMAN (protection ensemble test mannequin), is planned to be used for high-fidelity testing of chemical protection suits under chemical warfare agent exposure conditions. The robot is intended to balance itself and walk, aim, crawl and perform suit-stressing calisthenics. The robot will also mimic human physiology within the protective suit, simulating the act of sweating, for example.
The PETMAN robot is a $26.3 million U.S. Army project. Boston Dynamics is working with the Midwest Research Institute, Measurement Technology Northwest, Smith Carter USA and HHI Corp. on the robot, which is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2011.
The Waltham robotics company also reports it has landed a deal from the Sandia National Laboratories to develop the Precision Urban Hopper, a four-wheeled robot with one leg to facilitate jumping over obstacles. The robot is intended to navigate autonomously and jump 25 feet in the air.
Development of the robot is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
Immediately below is an official Boston Dymanics video entitled "PETMAN Tests Camo" (uploaded to YouTube on 4-5-13).
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Ray Bradbury's "The Screaming Woman"
One of the most memorable thrillers ever aired on SUSPENSE (a radio drama that ran from 1940 to 1962) was the November 25th, 1948 episode entitled "The Screaming Woman," scripted by a young Ray Bradbury. Bradbury later adapted his original radio play into the now classic 1951 prose story of the same title, which can be found in his 1966 collection S IS FOR SPACE. This might make for appropriate listening today, since the story unfolds over the course of Thanksgiving dinner....
Chicken Dinner Possessed By Satan
From Khaleda Rahman's 11-14-19 Newsweek article entitled "Man Who Strangles Sister to Death Believed His Chicken Dinner Was Possessed by Satan":
A man strangled his sister to death after believing his chicken dinner was possessed by the devil, a court has heard.
Khalid Ashraf, 32, choked his sister Sarah Ashraf to death after she came to visit him at his apartment in Tower Hamlets, London, in January, London's Metropolitan Police said. He later told police that he had killed his 35-year-old sister because he had been told to do so by Satan and his Buddhist leader.
The court heard Ashraf became depressed after being diagnosed with HIV in 2011, Metro reported. Prosecutors said he had worked as an auditor at KPMG for eight years until October 2018, according to the newspaper.
Police said his sister had come to stay with him in his two-bedroom flat after she became concerned about his mental health, although he had not been diagnosed with an illness.
According to Metro, Sarah Ashraf told her boyfriend about her concerns after Ashraf told her "that the chicken on his plate had been talking to him," the court heard.
Prosecutor James Mulholland said Ashraf later told police he had killed his sister and said: "Satan whispers into people's ears and he used manipulation and lies to commit acts," the website reported.
To read Rahman's entire article, click HERE.
A man strangled his sister to death after believing his chicken dinner was possessed by the devil, a court has heard.
Khalid Ashraf, 32, choked his sister Sarah Ashraf to death after she came to visit him at his apartment in Tower Hamlets, London, in January, London's Metropolitan Police said. He later told police that he had killed his 35-year-old sister because he had been told to do so by Satan and his Buddhist leader.
The court heard Ashraf became depressed after being diagnosed with HIV in 2011, Metro reported. Prosecutors said he had worked as an auditor at KPMG for eight years until October 2018, according to the newspaper.
Police said his sister had come to stay with him in his two-bedroom flat after she became concerned about his mental health, although he had not been diagnosed with an illness.
According to Metro, Sarah Ashraf told her boyfriend about her concerns after Ashraf told her "that the chicken on his plate had been talking to him," the court heard.
Prosecutor James Mulholland said Ashraf later told police he had killed his sister and said: "Satan whispers into people's ears and he used manipulation and lies to commit acts," the website reported.
To read Rahman's entire article, click HERE.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Ultima Thule
An excerpt from Issam Ahmed's 11-12-19 Phys.org article entitled "NASA Renames Faraway Ice World After Nazi-link Backlash":
Ultima Thule, the farthest cosmic body ever visited by a spacecraft, has been renamed Arrokoth, or "sky" in the Native American Powhatan language, following a backlash over the previous name's Nazi connotations.
The icy rock, which orbits in the dark and frigid Kuiper Belt about a billion miles beyond Pluto, was surveyed by the NASA spaceship New Horizons in January, with images showing it consisted of two spheres stuck together in the shape of a snowman.
Its technical designation is 2014 MU69, but the New Horizon team nicknamed it Ultima Thule (pronounced Tool-ey) after a mythical northern land in classical and medieval European literature described as beyond the borders of the known world.
That name sparked an angry reaction as it was co-opted by far-right German occultists in the early 20th century as the fabled ancestral home of "Aryan" people—the term they used to describe proto-Indo-Europeans.
Members of Thule Society founded a political party that evolved into Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, and the term remains popular in alt-right circles.
It is, for example, also the name of a Swedish white-power rock group.
The new official name, which was chosen by the New Horizons team and ratified by the International Astronomical Union, was announced in a ceremony at NASA headquarters Tuesday.
A NASA statement made no mention of the controversy.
To read the rest of Ahmed's article, click HERE.
The icy rock, which orbits in the dark and frigid Kuiper Belt about a billion miles beyond Pluto, was surveyed by the NASA spaceship New Horizons in January, with images showing it consisted of two spheres stuck together in the shape of a snowman.
Its technical designation is 2014 MU69, but the New Horizon team nicknamed it Ultima Thule (pronounced Tool-ey) after a mythical northern land in classical and medieval European literature described as beyond the borders of the known world.
That name sparked an angry reaction as it was co-opted by far-right German occultists in the early 20th century as the fabled ancestral home of "Aryan" people—the term they used to describe proto-Indo-Europeans.
Members of Thule Society founded a political party that evolved into Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, and the term remains popular in alt-right circles.
It is, for example, also the name of a Swedish white-power rock group.
The new official name, which was chosen by the New Horizons team and ratified by the International Astronomical Union, was announced in a ceremony at NASA headquarters Tuesday.
A NASA statement made no mention of the controversy.
To read the rest of Ahmed's article, click HERE.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)