Americans Slaughtering their own Mirror their leaders’ Indelible Marks of Slaughter Abroad

(Brand USA)

• Bush2 ordered unspeakable obliteration citing nonexistent WMDs. 
• Obama kept a hit list and ordered foreign executions. 
• Trump ridiculed peoples and nations; withdrew from peace treaties and ordered assassinations.
• All of these men and partners threw up barricades, sanctioned, stole, starved, and terrorized by act, order, lawmaking or acquiescence.

U.S. Aggression, Death Toll Abroad 2022 update

United States leadership is directly or indirectly (by order, legislation, act or acquiescence) conducting aggression under the pretext of “fighting ‘terrorism’ in 76 countries.” 

The deadliest of these sadistic acts have reportedly occurred against the nations, peoples, institutions and cultures of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Business Insider Daniel Brown and Azmi Haroun, August 26, 2022, “The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed at least 500,000 people, according to a report that breaks down the toll,” https://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-people-have-been-killed-in-iraq-and-afghanistan

Killing Fields Update 2021

“At least 929,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan.”

Since 2001, “more than 387,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting.”

United States hysteria and reckless actions following the event occurring on September 11, 2001, in New York City and Northern Virginia have forced “at least 38 million” people from their dwellings and homelands of “Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria.” Except World War II, the displacement total “exceeds the total of people displaced by every war since 1900.”

Creating terrorist and terrorism: Countries against which the U.S. has committed aggression, destabilization and occupation have turned into laboratories “in which militant groups… hone techniques of violence and recruitment” spread across the South, Central and West Asia, and beyond. 
Source: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2019/direct-war-death-toll-2001-801000

Mirrored: Monkey see Monkey do

Sadism in the Homeland

Firearm Deaths, Injuries                                                

Year 2023 to date   

APRIL 12 UPDATE

Firearm Deaths, Injuries

•           Gun Violence Deaths (all causes) total: 11,777

•           Gun Violence Injuries total: 9,042

•           Mass Shootings: 147

Deaths, Injuries of Young people

•           73 dead children

•           411 dead teens (ages 12-17)

•           165 injured children

•           989 injured teens

                                                 
Gun Archive’s latest report April 10, 2023

• Gun Violence Deaths (all causes) total: 11,525
• Gun Violence Injuries total: 8,820
• Mass Shootings: 146

Deaths, Injuries of Young people

• 71 dead children
• 398 dead teens (ages 12-17)
• 157 injured children
• 973 injured teens

Mass Shootings Ending MARCH, Early April

KILLED – INJURED

MARCH 25- 29, 2023                                                            APRIL 1 – 10, 2023

March 25

Hempstead, New York: 0 - 4

Shreveport, Louisiana: 1-5

Macomb, Illinois: 1-10

March 26 Minden, Louisiana: 0 - 4

Little Rock, Arkansas: 2 - 5

Minneapolis, Minnesota: 0- 6

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 2 - 2

March 27

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 0 – 5

Nashville, Tennessee:  7 -0

March 29

Memphis, Tennessee:  2 – 5

April 1

Baltimore, Maryland   3 – 1

April 2

Fayetteville, North Carolina:  1 - 4

Moreno Valley, California:     0 - 4

Washington, D. C.: 0 - 4

April 3

Pueblo, Colorado: 1 – 3

Atlanta, Georgia: 1 – 3

Tennessee, Jackson: 0 - 4

April 4

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1 – 4

April 5

Virginia Beach, Virginia: 0 - 4

April 6

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 0 - 4

April 7

New Orleans, Louisiana: 0 – 4

Isle of Palms, South Carolina: 0 – 5

April 8

Houston, Texas: 0 – 4

April 9

Orlando, Florida: 3 – 2

April 10

Louisville, Kentucky:  5 - 4

April 11

District of Columbia: 1-3

https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting

Wikipedia reported “List of mass shootings in the United States in 2023” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023

APRIL 1-11 EXCERPT

1st
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
3 killed, 3 injured at shootout
Los Angeles, California
1 killed, 3 injured in retail parking lot
Baltimore, Maryland
3 killed, 1 injured

2nd
Fayetteville, North Carolina
1 killed, 4 injured at shopping center bar
Washington, District of Columbia
4 injured
Moreno Valley, California
4 injured

3rd
Jacksonville, Tennessee
5 injured discovered in automobile
Atlanta, Georgia
1 killed, 3 injured apartment complex
Pueblo, Colorado
1 killed, 3 injured

4th
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1killed, 4 injured in a neighborhood

5th
Virginia Beach, Virginia
4 injured
Kansas City, Kansas
6 injured at scene of drug investigation

6th
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4 injured in a neighborhood

7th
Isle of Palms, South Carolina
6 injured on beach
New Orleans, Louisiana
4 injured on Interstate 10
Park Forest, Illinois
1 killed, 3 injured at family gathering

8th
Harris County, Texas
4 injured in parking lot of apartment complex

9th
Orlando, Florida
3 killed, 2 injured at Easter egg hunt in park.

10th
Louisville, Kentucky
5 killed, 8 injured at Downtown bank (shooter recently terminated employee)

11th
Washington DC
1 killed, 3 injured at a funeral home

Americans’ Record Killing their Young hits Headlines.

“Gun deaths of U.S. kids up 50 percent in grim new record,” Xinhua (sourcing Canadian TN and Pew Research), April 11, 2023, Global News, Editor, https://english.news.cn/northamerica/20230411/3cc7f8cbde7d4be9aee11aff355ac3d0/c.html

Reported in 2021 were an estimated “2,590 gun deaths of children and teenagers under the age of 18.”

Statista Research Department October 19, 2022, report on Assaults in the USA - Year 2021

• “1.4 million Assaults … (using) personal weapons (e.g., hands, fists, feet)”
• “69,423 Aggravated Assaults (using) handguns

“Percentage of violent crimes reported to the police”

• Overall “45.6 percent”
• Aggravated assault reported: 60.5 percent
• Rape and sexual assault reported: 21.5 percent

https://www.statista.com/statistics/251919/number-of-assaults-in-the-us-by-weapon/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/251934/usa--percentage-of-violent-crimes-reported-to-the-police/

World Population Review “Stabbing Deaths by Country 2023”
North America (excerpt)

• “Knife-related homicides accounted for less than 20 percent
• “Firearm deaths were responsible for roughly 76 percent of all homicides

[Stabbing data indicate percentage of homicides committed using knives and sharp objects but are not indicative of the homicide rate or the total number of homicides in a given country] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/stabbing-deaths-by-country

American Leaders’ Lessons to America’s Young

The masters’ message (mirrored among the masses) is this. When something goes other than “your” way, turn on the tantrum of the child— but this tantrum must be (and is) far… far worse than any tantrum of any child. 

Commit a most heinous act (or a series of them). Kill or maim. Destroy some person, place, or thing. Destroy anything and everything. And, as you are operating in the image of and on orders from a god almighty blame-casting Exceptionalism (conjured up in your own warped mind)—expect to get away with Murder. Expect to get off scot-free—unchecked and unchastised no matter what act or how horrific the act you have committed.

There’s something seriously wrong in a homeland where homegrown powers cavalierly and boastfully slaughter over here and over there. And, on top of that, when they carry on a local-to-global business of creating killers and other destroyers.

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Private Ownership of Public Airwaves owns Public Space and Expression, Human Thought and Possibility

Koch’ed or Soros’ed Six of one half dozen of the other

NPR unconcerned about censor until Censor censored NPR

I have long dropped the privately owned “National Public Radio” from my news listening schedule. When I want to hear the views of politicians or private investors, I research the direct words of the horses.

The problem of clean and clear, accurate and well-sourced news programming does not begin or end in with hypocrisy or the labeling of this or that media source as “State-affiliated” or “State- sponsored.” The rot is infested in the all-round cycling in and out of public and private entities each paying off and kicking back, funneling or redistributing, exchanging and laundering dollars (or something else) for domain, private wealth for public policy and public space. Money plays, calls the shots: all is reduced to a price set by the highest bidder. To those who set the terms, anything is saleable or purchasable—and nothing is sacred.

The labeling (State-affiliated) that Americans and their kissing cousins have clamped onto Russian and Chinese media to effectively marginalize and censor news coverage and content that extends beyond the echo-chamber of the Washington Beltway—has attached, perhaps legitimately, to America’s National Public Radio (NPR). And NPR is squirming.

A high-tech billionaire media magnate has reportedly defined his (or somebody's) designated “State-affiliated media” as outlets where “the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.” This sounds somewhat like NPR, as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go far enough.

Far more Insidious than the State affiliation Veneer

First, the nebulous term “state” does not point specifically to people such as powerful politicians and politicians on the payroll of concentrated interests, and the names of the big shots on whose payroll are both media (again people) and public officeholders (people). No state, government, or entity is without human beings (big wigs, principals, underlings, et.al., all human beings).

Second, Washington, D.C.-headquartered NPR like much of the U.S. media (including airport noises such as CNN and the FOXes) are pretty awful and not worth listening to—except for purposes of contrast and to sort out truth from fiction, propaganda from actual facts on the ground.

Third, the cycle of concentrated ownership has corrupted and virtually destroyed the public airwaves—public space, the marketplace of ideas, even the possibility of independent thought. What is left is a state of erosion (rot) that runs from private, “nonprofit” and “nongovernmental” industries through government offices; and back again. It is a made-in-the-USA crisis, by insidious design, in corruption and error and ignorance.

Public Media, Public Office
Bought by Private Interest Koch-Soros Billionaires

A few Examples

• Koch Family member David Koch “donates upwards of $23 million to (USA) ‘public television.’”

• George Soros’ Open Society Institute “donates $1.8 million” to NPR-affiliated programming; “Soros’ foundation announces donation of “$1 million” to public broadcasting project “Media Matters.”

• 2022 Koch Industries donates “$1.5 million” to the Koch brand of congressional entities and affiliates.

• 2022 Soros donates “$128.5 million to his outside group ‘Democracy PAC’” which then funnels millions to super PACs supporting the Soros brand of candidates.

• 2022 midterm election cycle saw spending increase by nearly $2 billion compared to 2018 figures: “10 wealthy individuals poured $540 million combined into the 2022 elections (source OpenSecrets).

• 2022 An anonymous donor gives “$56 million” to Minnesota Public Radio.

 

When Public Service (Public Servants) was believed to hold Public Trust

In the 2000s, according to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) bookkeeping, the level of “Federal funding” in 2009 for USA Public Broadcasting— “of all public radio broadcasting stations” (via the CPB)—was “11.3 percent.” Three years later, Federal funding dropped to 10 percent.

In the latter half of the twentieth century (70s, early 80s), National Public Radio's majority funding came from the United States Government.

Connivance in Madness or Mad Connivance 

In their folly, the malleable and corruptible (perhaps like the delusional gambler’s impossible dream to beat the house) join with the obscenely wealthy in marshaling and maintaining a state of ignorance among the masses.

The clampdown or containment of knowledge; the restricted pursuit of knowledge is America’s downfall: its harmfulness and fearfulness, its backwardness.



Sources and notes

OpenSecrets July 25, 2022 “Supreme Court curbs EPA regulatory power after Koch-tied groups’ push,” by Jorja Siemons, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/07/supreme-court-curbs-epa-regulatory-power-after-koch-tied-groups-push/
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/koch-industries/recipients?id=d000000186
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/soros-fund-management/recipients?id=D000000306

https://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2011/05/24/136216017/worthy-cause-controversial-funding-source

Star Tribune June 8, 2022, “MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) receives $56 million from anonymous donor,” by Neal Justin and Kelly Smith Star Tribune https://www.startribune.com/mpr-receives-56-million-from-anonymous-donor/600180310/

Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) November 29, 2021, “Koch Spent Nearly $150 Million in 2020 to Extend His Influence and Promote His Agenda, by David Armiak, https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/11/29/koch-spent-nearly-150-million-2020/

Truthout May 22, 2013 “The Corporate Dictatorship of PBS and NPR: Thanks to the giant transnational corporations that own them, mainstream media outlets tailor their programming to appease their corporate backers” by The Daily Take Team https://truthout.org/articles/the-corporate-dictatorship-of-pbs-and-npr/

Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) November 29, 2021, “Koch Spent Nearly $150 Million in 2020 to Extend His Influence and Promote His Agenda, by David Armiak, https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/11/29/koch-spent-nearly-150-million-2020/

The Hill May 11, 2022 “Here are the 10 biggest donors in the midterm elections,” by Karl Evers-Hillstrom, https://thehill.com/lobbying/3720141-here-are-the-biggest-donors-in-the-midterm-elections/

PEG

RT world news April 5, 2023, “US public broadcaster gets ‘state’ tag on Twitter: NPR has reached out to have the ‘state-affiliated media’ label removed from its account,” https://www.rt.com/news/574251-npr-labeled-state-twitter-musk/

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Like a Drunkard Stumbling from crisis to crisis

Never seeing clearly or Taking Responsibility, Never Correcting course, Clearing Wreckage

A Broken, Unprepared Homeland

USA Aircraft Crashing, Falling

2022

January 24: Pilot and six sailors are injured and runway damaged when USN F-35C crashes in South China Sea after a hard landing on USS Carl Vinson.

March 18: Four-member Flight crew dies when U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B participating in military exercise crashes in Norway (Gråtådalen valley, Beiarn municipality, Nordland county)

March 23: Pilot is rescued in Central Louisiana after ejecting from a crashing Air Force F-16 assigned to the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard. An Air Force F-16 assigned to the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard crashed today in Beauregard Parish after departing from Texas for a routine training mission, according to the Oklahoma National Guard March 23, 2022, Nexstar Media Inc https://www.klfy.com/louisiana/military-retrieves-pilot-after-f-16-fighter-jet-crashes-near-deridder/

June 8: Five Marines die when Osprey aircraft crashes near Coachella Canal Road and Highway 78 on the southeast border of the United States adding to “at least 46 deaths since the military began testing the MV-22B Osprey aircraft”: 2000 (April 8) 19 Marines die during an Osprey crash in a training exercise at Marana Northwest Regional Airport in Arizona; 2014 in Arabian Sea Marine Corps crew chief dies during takeoff of Osprey aircraft https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-09/all-5-marines-on-aircraft-that-crashed-in-imperial-county-were-killed-officials-

November 12: Six people die in Dallas, Texas when a Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” and “Bell P-63 Kingcobra” collide in mid-air and crash.

2023

February 15: Two crew members die when a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter (belonging to the Tennessee Military Department) crashes on Highway 53 near Harvest, Alabama.

March 24: Two operators of a helicopter die in Southern California. Authorities quoted in news reports failed to disclose what kind of aircraft, what the operators were doing and why. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-24/2-killed-in-rural-riverside-county-helicopter-crash
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sheriff-2-dead-in-southern-california-helicopter-crash/ar-AA1932ac

March 29: Nine people die when two U.S. Army Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters collide in mid-air over Trigg County, Kentucky. https://www.albawaba.com/news/military-helicopters-collide-kentucky-1513750

USA Personnel Sick on the job

A counterintelligence and special agent of the “Pentagon Force Protection Agency” attached to the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday March 14, 2023, was found dead in a vehicle parked in a lot located north of the Pentagon across Virginia Highway 110 in the proximity to the Potomac River.

Members of the Joint Staff are comprised of all six branches of the military and serve under the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the office of the secretary of defense (currently Lloyd James Austin) and the military’s combatant commands.

The deceased was identified as Master Sgt. Juan Paulo Ferrer Bordador (age 42, Philippines-born), a husband and father of five who, in 2010, had been stationed in Iraq. The U.S. Department Defense’s “standard practice is to wait until 24 hours after next of kin are notified before a dead service member is publicly identified.”

Stars and Stripes by Doug G. Ware March 15, 2023 “Military service member found dead in Pentagon parking lot,” https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-03-15/servicemember-dead-pentagon-parking-lot-9502789.html

Military Times by Meghann Myers March 30, 2023, “Remembering Master Sgt. Juan Paulo “JP” Bordador,” https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/03/30/soldier-found-dead-in-pentagon-parking-lot-was-joint-staff-nco/

Stars and Stripes by Doug G. Ware March 29, 2023 “Soldier found dead in Pentagon parking lot was intel specialist for Joint Staff, Army says,” https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2023-03-29/pentagon-dead-soldier-parking-lot-9644467.html

Stars and Stripes sourcing Associated Press March 31, 2023 

“US Navy deploys more chaplains for suicide prevention” by Giovanna Dell’Orto: “One recently embraced prevention strategy is to deploy chaplains—(preachers instead of talk therapy psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists)—as regular members of the crew on more ships. The goal is for the clergy to connect with sailors, believers and non-believers alike, in complete confidentiality—something that has allowed several to talk sailors out of suicidal crises.” https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2023-03-31/navy-chaplains-suicide-prevention-9659368.html

USA “Thoughts and Prayers” 

“Thanks for Your Service” 

Unending War making

Cavalier callousness, Carelessness:

Chronic Sickness and, in every sense of the word, Unpreparedness

USA Rail Crashing, Spilling Poisons
Rail disasters 2023

January 28

Union Pacific train derailment in Keachi, Louisiana, spills more than 10,000 US gallons (38,000 L) of acid products. Total derailment 16 cars of which two leaked chemicals. Spill volume reported by “officials”:10,000 U.S. gallons of acetic anhydride; less than 1,000 U.S. gallons (3800 L) of propionic acid. Part of town evacuated.

February 1

Train derailment on bridge in Detroit, Michigan, causes train cars to hang over street below

February 3

Norfolk Southern freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, spills toxic chemicals (primarily vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate). Area evacuated. Ohio National Guard activated.

February 13

Train crashes into crossing 18-wheeler causing train derailment in Splendora, Texas. 18-wheeler truck drives dies. Diesel fuel spills. No reported train spills.

March 4

Norfolk Southern train (28 of 212-car) derailment at a State Route 41 crossing near Springfield, Ohio, downing power lines and causing 1,500 residents to lose power.

March 8

CSX coal train (4 engines, 22-car) derailment after colliding with a rockslide near Sandstone, West Virginia; one engine falls into the New River. An “unknown amount” or diesel fuel spills. Three train employees (crew members) sustain injuries. Other rail service between Huntington and Washington, D.C., was canceled.

March 17

BNSF Railway two-engine derailment in Anacortes, Washington, spills more than 3,000 U.S. gallons (11,360 L) of diesel fuel. Contaminated soil facing clean-up crews: 2,100 cubic yards (1600 m³); contaminated groundwater: 4,300 U.S. gallons (16,280 L). Full contamination and total cleanup are unclear.

March 27

Canadian Pacific train (31 or 70-car) derailment spills undisclosed amount of ethylene glycol and propylene chemicals near Wyndmere, North Dakota. Several roads area roads were shut down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_(2020%E2%80%93present)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_railroad_accidents

Global News The Associated Press staff “Canadian Pacific train derails in rural North Dakota, spilling hazardous chemicals,” March 27, 2023https://globalnews.ca/news/9583101/cp-train-derailment-north-dakota-chemicals/

Concentration of Private Power

Deregulation by Public Officials

Bent on Pandering for Private $'s

BNSF Railway HQ Fort Worth, Texas; subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, HQ Omaha, Nebraska); three transcontinental routes providing rail connections between the western and eastern United States

Norfolk Southern Railway HQ Atlanta, Georgia (leading subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation) with chief competitor CSX Transportation command “duopoly” on “transcontinental freight rail lines in the eastern United States.”

CSX Transportation subsidiary of CSX Corporation HQ Jacksonville, Florida, a freight railroad Class I company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec; in a joint purchase in 1999 with competitor Norfolk Southern Railway, CSX “acquired approximately half of Conrail.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNSF_Railway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Southern_Railway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire_Hathaway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_Transportation

Canadian Pacific Railway (HQ Global Calgary, Alberta, HQ USA Minneapolis, Minnesota) owns approx. 20,100 kilometers (12,500 miles) of track in seven provinces of Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver and as far north as Edmonton; its rail service network in the United States including Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Albany, New York.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway

All the Thoughts and Prayers 

Public Praying, Wringing of Hands 

All the Thanks for your Service 

Feigning concern… 

Will not Atone 

for 

Self-inflicted, Perpetual Crises

Unending Wars

Cavalier Callousness 

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Journalistic scavenger work attracts lowest sort:

Manufacturers of news who feed on every morsel of carcass 

“The Famous Ferguson Case”: a film imitates life.

Contemporary life imitates 90-year-old art.

Leading into the film are these notes (minor edit): “A Standard dictionary defines news as: ‘Fresh information concerning something that has taken place.’”

“But quite frequently events occur that by their nature are so sensational—from the angle of sex, violence, the standing of the parties involved, or what not—that they are reported in some newspapers long after there is any ‘fresh information’; and when nothing at all ‘has recently taken place.’”

“Legitimate newspapers recognize this fact: they report real developments and stop there. But others, pandering to the lowest tastes of the public, prolong such cases to the last degree.

“When news fails, they try to make news. As long as a shred of carcass remains, they feast upon it.”

… Such “journalistic scavenger work attracts only the lowest type of newspaper man [or woman]—tipsters, stool pigeons, the base and the irresponsible.

“‘The Famous Ferguson Case’ is built upon the contrast between legitimate journalism and unprincipled scandalmongering.”

Film notes

“The Famous Ferguson Case” was a 1932 film in which yellow journalism, scandalmongering descends on a town in Upstate New York after a prominent resident (a wealthy financier) is killed.

The film’s director is Lloyd Bacon; writers Courtney Terrett (story) (adaptation & dialogue), Harvey F. Thew (adaptation & dialogue), and Granville Moore (adaptation & dialogue). Among the lead actors are Joan Blondell, Grant Mitchell, Vivienne Osborne, Tom Brown, Leon Ames, Antoinette ‘Toni’ Martin https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022876/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl

In contemporary times, this film, released more than ninety years ago, has a familiar ring.

Happy Birthday, Diana Ross!

American Treasure Rises Rough, Reaches the Stars

Artist’s Artistic Origins and Songs Sung

Once upon a time there was an American female singing group born in the city of motors.

Once born they had a long run originating in Detroit, Michigan, as the “Primettes” (lead artists Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, Betty McGlown), and becoming the world renowned Supremes with twelve #1 singles on the “Billboard Hot 100.” Billboard ranked them “the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.”

The female ensemble known as the Supremes (and Diana Ross and the Supremes) was the “most commercially successful of Motown’s acts and the most successful American vocal band.” In its heyday, during the 1960s, “the Supremes achieved mainstream success with Diana Ross as lead singer and Holland–Dozier–Holland as the songwriting and production team.”

A Very Small Number of Singles titles

The Supremes

• 1964

Baby Love

Where Did Our Love Go

Come See about Me1965

Stop! In The Name Of Love

I Hear a Symphony

• 1966

You Can’t Hurry Love

You Keep Me Hangin’ On

My World Is Empty without You

• 1968

Love Child

• 1969

Someday We’ll Be Together (and Diana Ross)

I’m Gonna Make You Love Me (and Diana Ross)

Diana Ross

• 1970

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)

• 1970-1972

Remember Me

• 1976

Do You Know Where You’re Going To (Theme From ‘Mahogany’)

Lyrics I Particularly Like
Performed by Diana Ross and The Supremes

“I hear a Symphony”

Whenever you are near, I hear a symphony… Each time you speak to me, I hear a tender rhapsody … a symphony play sweet and tenderly… Whenever you are near …, a thousand violins fill the air … Whenever you are near, I hear a symphony playing sweet and tenderly (excerpt)

“Remember Me” 

Remember me as a sunny day… Remember me as a funny clown that made you laugh when you were down… Remember me as a big balloon… as a breath of spring… … as a sound of laughter … Remember me when you drink the wine of sweet success, and I gave you my best. Remember me in every song you sing. Remember me as a good thing (excerpt, minor edit).

 “Reach Out” 

Reach out and touch Somebody’s hand / Make this world a better place if you can … A little kindness … comes naturally… Encourage someone who’s lost the way… Share a problem that’s not your own … Change starts with giving… Reach out and touch Somebody’s hand / Make the world a better place if you can (excerpt, minor edit)

Diana Ross, Supremes discographies

The Supremes discography

Meet The Supremes (1962)	Where Did Our Love Go (1964)
A Bit of Liverpool (1964)	The Supremes Sing Country, Western and Pop (1965)
We Remember Sam Cooke (1965)	More Hits by The Supremes (1965)
Merry Christmas (1965)	I Hear a Symphony (1966)
The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966)	The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland (1967)
The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart (1967)	Reflections (1968)
Diana Ross & the Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl" (1968)	Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations (1968)
Love Child (1968)	Let the Sunshine In (1969)
Together (1969)	Cream of the Crop (1969)
Right On (1970)	The Magnificent 7 (1970)
New Ways but Love Stays (1970)	The Return of the Magnificent Seven (1971)
Touch (1971)	Dynamite (1971)
Floy Joy (1972)	The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb (1972)
The Supremes (1975)	High Energy (1976)
Mary, Scherrie & Susaye (1976)

Diana Ross Discography

Diana Ross (1970)	Everything Is Everything (1970)
Surrender (1971)	Touch Me in the Morning (1973)
Diana & Marvin (with Marvin Gaye) (1973)	Last Time I Saw Him (1973)
Diana Ross (1976)	Baby It's Me (1977)
Ross (1978)	The Boss (1979)
Diana (1980)	Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1981)
Silk Electric (1982)	Ross (1983)
Swept Away (1984)	Eaten Alive (1985)
Red Hot Rhythm & Blues (1987)	Workin' Overtime (1989)
The Force Behind the Power (1991)	A Very Special Season (1994)
Take Me Higher (1995)	Every Day Is a New Day (1999)
Blue (2006)	I Love You (2006)
Diana Ross Sings Songs from The Wiz (2015)	Thank You (2021)

No one Rises without Help

Promoter with Deep South Roots
Founder of Motown Records Barry Gordy

Barry Gordy was a son of Deep South southerners, a soldier of the Korean War era, a songwriter, investor, and maker of stars. He is credited with having a “gift for identifying and bringing together musical talent;” carefully managing “his artists’ public image;” and making Motown “a major national and then international success.”

Through his Motown Label (Corporation), Barry signed the Supremes and many other artists including “Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, the Contours, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Commodores, the Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson Five.”

From its incorporation as Motown Record Corporation (April 14, 1960, formerly Tamla Records June 7, 1958) originating in Detroit, Michigan, the Motown Label had a 20-year heyday before major artists started changing to other labels in the 1980s and bigger corporations started taking ownership of Barry Gordy’s corporation. In Detroit’s deep decline, Motown has gone. Under another label, what is left of Motown is located in Los Angeles.

“Singing is my beautiful, delicious obsession” —Diana Ross—

Diana Ross began her journey in Detroit. Now approaching eight decades of life (more than six decades performing), she is one is a world-acclaimed artist: actor and singer on stage and in film. 

We take pride in our true champions.

Wherever you are—Happy Birthday, Diana Ross!

Sources

Diana Ross
Website dianaross.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Ross
https://www.dianaross.com/dianaross-story

Playback “Top Diana Ross Songs,” https://playback.fm/artist/diana-ross-top-songs
Playback “Top Supremes Songs” https://playback.fm/artist/the-supremes-top-songs

Wikipedia, The Supremes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Supremes
Reach out and Touch written by: Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/3180323/Diana+Ross+%26+the+Supremes/Reach+Out+and+Touch+%28Somebody%27s+Hand%29

Lyrics, Love Child https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2091505/Love+Child

“I Hear Symphony” Motown label Songwriter(s) Holland–Dozier–Holland; Producer(s) Brian Holland Lamont Dozier, released October 6, 1965, recorded September 22, 28–30, 1965, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Hear_a_Symphony

Barry Gordy Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry_Gordy
Motown
Official website www.motownrecords.com
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motown
https://classic.motown.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Motown_artists

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Hypocrisy Breaches Essential Boundaries, Sadists Celebrate Death, Destruction

Reprehensible Offenses of the Self-righteousness

 

Designer of Death

 a “Repulsive” 

Client of Madam 

Lauded by Insiders

The Washington Revolving door swings easily for an overt sadist (of questionable origins and personal proclivities) who justifies unspeakable barbarity; is lauded and constantly sought for his advice and opinion by influential organizations, government and media particularly in the United States of America. Though his birthplace seems unknowable, his infamous mark is indelible: the architect of the devastation of Iraq that still hurts Iraq and the entire region.

He is credited with being an old soldier deeply swamped in formulating U.S strategies of aggression during and after the Cold War; and being the “principal author” of a USA published “shock and awe” doctrine. His gigs include acting in advisory capacities to public officials in the U.S. branches of government, European and Indo-Pacific governments, and to top echelon of the U.S. tool known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He is also profiled as founder or otherwise board member attached to investment, media, security and technological entities such as “Killowen Group” (online redirects to the Sinclair media conglomerate) and “CNIguard,” a high technology merchant in war-sounding investigative and security services, energy, and data monetization.

Harlan Kenneth Ullman is also credited with being among the clientele of “D.C. Madam” Pamela Martin & Associates.”

2003 “Shock and Awe” Days 

“The highest intensity of civilian killings (daily basis) over a sustained period occurred during the first three ‘Shock and Awe’ weeks of the 2003 invasion.” 

Civilian deaths during this period “averaged 320 per day and totaled more than 6,735 by April 9, 2003—nearly all attributable to US-led coalition-forces.

By the time of U.S. President George W. Bush made his May 1, 2003. “Mission Accomplished” speech, casualties among Iraqis had reached 7,446.

Callously Slaughtered

More than half of the civilian deaths caused by US-led coalition forces “occurred during the 2003 invasion, and the 2004 sieges of Fallujah.”

2003 -2023

A Call to Mourn

The invasion of Iraq by the United States (this instance of crime originating with what U.S. officials broadcast as “Shock and Awe”), extending from 2003 through 2023, left millions of people dead, displaced, wounded (even the those unborn or being carried in the womb) and widowed, jobless, homeless, and stateless. The numbers vary and are uncertain because invaders (sadists) pride themselves in killing, causing to be killed, ordering and legislating slaughter; and failing to keep count.

“No one has revealed more about the Iraq War’s deadly impact than Julian Assange. And no one is paying a higher price for doing so” writes Josh Dougherty, Senior Iraq Body Count researcher and analyst, in “Punishing the publisher” (December 2020).

The research, recordkeeping and analysis site Iraq Body Count shows 2003-2023 documented civilian deaths from violence ranging from 186,736 to 210,090.

The total violent deaths including combatants estimated at 300,000. The site notes that “further analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs may add 10,000 civilian deaths.”

Brown University Costs of War Project notes that no one knows with certainty how many people have been killed and wounded in Iraq since the 2003 United States invasion. What is known is that from 2003 through October 2019 “between 275,000 and 306,000 civilians have died from direct war-related violence” caused by the United States of America, U.S. “allies,” Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces.

In addition to direct causes and consequences of the 2003 U.S. invasion are indirect causes and consequences such as the brain drain and rape and rupture of relations internal and regional and equally relentless, the unrepaired

• Damage to systems that provide food, health care and clean drinking water” and
• Conditions such as illnesses, infectious diseases, and malnutrition that could otherwise have been avoided or treated.

United States policy actions toward Iraq extended to the 1960s furthered in brutal economic sanctions of the 1990s; and were grossly compounded by the devastatingly barbaric 2003 invasion and its aftermath and occupation. The brain drain (loss of educators, scientists, creators) and the human and regional divisiveness and animosity (where there was none) continue to devastate the country. To the present day, many areas of Iraq still lack even the basics of “access to clean drinking water and housing.”

1993-2008

Deadly Departed D.C. Madam Martin Et.al

Servicer of Washington Inmates Betrayed

Deborah Jeane Palfrey media labeled “the D.C. Madam” was founding director and CEO of “Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency situated in the District of Columbia.

According to Vanity Fair (2008), the company’s clients included “men ranging from C.E.O.’s to store clerks….” Among them were “former Deputy Secretary of State (also responsible for the Bush administration’s foreign aid programs) Randall Tobias (age 66); Pentagon adviser and author Harlan K. Ullman (age 67); and U.S. Senator (from Louisiana) David Vitter (age 47). Tobias, “whose mandate included withholding grants from countries with legalized prostitution,” resigned.

Women employed by the company (“virtually all” of them) “were in it for … the money: ‘They needed to pay off college loans, or put themselves through college or their children, or pay for that condo their day jobs couldn’t get for them,’ Palfrey said. …; and, in general, Palfrey felt a little sorry for the men who called. “…  [I]t takes a certain amount of loneliness for anyone to call the number advertised,’ she said.” In one instance, “a former lobbyist (had written) to her …(saying): ‘I am not ashamed I used Pamela Martin & Associates.’”

“On March 1, 2007, Deborah Jeane Palfrey was indicted for running a prostitution enterprise” (a charge she had disputed, repeatedly, and turned down a “plea deal”). She then “threatened to sell the agency’s phone records to the highest bidder” (and) “gave four years’ worth …to ABC News.”

At trial, thirteen former escorts and three former clients testified. To a reporter who asked, two women who worked for the agency said the company was known for being “the highest-quality operation of its kind in Washington, D.C., thanks to Palfrey’s professionalism.” A life-ending chronology went like this. 

• May 2007, an ABC news team “reported on their efforts to determine the identities of Palfrey’s clients from her phone records.
• May 4, 2007, Palfrey appeared on ABC’s 20/20 as part of an investigative report.
• July 9, 2007, Senator David Vitter acknowledged his patronage of Pamela Martin & Associates escort service.
• April 15, 2008, a jury found Palfrey guilty of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and racketeering.
• May 1, 2007, Mrs. Blanche Palfrey, at her home in Tampa, Florida, found the body of her daughter, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, “hanging from a metal bar in a shed.”

In the posthumous article, Vanity Fair reporter Vicky Ward wrote that D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey “played a risky game in catering to Washington’s power brokers with her upscale escort service;’ and that Palfrey’s “suicide … marked a tragic—and not unexpected—end for a complicated woman who believed she was unfairly victimized.”

The deceased was a native of Charleroi, Pennsylvania (pop. 5,000). She was a baccalaureate graduate in criminal justice; had studied law and had completed a paralegal course.

At one point in the prosecutorial process, the deceased had sought testimony from one senator, Senator Patrick Leahy, because of “his knowledge of the ‘corruption’ of the (U.S.) justice system by political influence.” Deborah Jeane Palfrey seemed to have believed that the U.S. justice system failed her.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey March 18, 1956 – May 1, 2008

 

Many years ago, I remember thinking…

We Americans should get down on our knees and ask forgiveness for the unconscionable things we have done to peoples, countries, nations, and lands around the world. Make a solemn promise to do better and mean it.  

Then I remembered… 

Sadists never say sorry. Never work, earnestly, to correct their path or mend their ways or end the harm they inflict.

Consider their film images and their awards for those horrid images, their broadcasting and videos and podcasting; their offhanded violence and vulgarity of language.

Sadists relish the letting of blood (other people's blood), and the forced cry of Uncle. 

The sadists (and wannabes) commit death and destruction; and celebrate death and destruction.

Sources 

Peg: On March 20, 2023, Harlan Ullman was the guest on RT’s “Going Underground” with interviewer Afshin Rattansi the edition headlined “Iraq War 20th anniversary: ‘Shock & Awe’ architect says invasion was Desert Storm on steroids” https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/573218-harlan-ullman-iraq-war-anniversary/

Sources
Harlan K. Ullman
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/01/2137289/0/en/Senet-Collaborates-with-CNIguard-and-Semtech-to-Deliver-LoRaWAN-Natural-Gas-Leak-Detection-and-Utility-Infrastructure-Monitoring-Solutions.html
https://thealphengroup.com/harlan-ullman/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_K._Ullman

Iraq Body Count
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/beyond/punishing-the-publisher/

Costs of War: Iraq https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/iraqi

Vanity Fair Magazine “The Oldest Profession” May 6, 2008, Issue “No Way to Treat a Lady,” https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/05/madam200805

Deborah Jeane Palfrey Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Jeane_Palfrey

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph