Actress & Author Geri Jewell  Her Latest Book: "Geri's Jewels & Gems" is a collection of columns Jewell wrote for Ability Magazine over six years, along with photos she chose from her life. Jewell is best known for her role as Cousin Geri on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life, where she was the first person with a disability to have a regular role on a prime-time series. In Geri's Jewels & Gems, Jewell shares insights on life from her unique perspective, combining deep reflection with her signature humor.  Books: "Geri" ''I'm Walking As Straight As I Can" "Geri's Jewels & Gems" ----------------------------------------- TV & Film Credits Include: Carol of the Bells Deadwood: The Movie Glee My Gimpy Life Pie Head: A Kinda' True Story Child of the '70s (w/ Bruce Vilanch) Alcatraz Deadwood The Night of the White Pants Strong Medicine The Young and the Restless The New Lassie 21 Jump Street Sesame Street The Facts of Life Two of a Kind Irene Mental Patient  The Righteous Apples  

RANTS & RAVES  YUP. THAT'S WHAT IT IS!!!

WAS JESUS A REAL HUMAN BEING? Contemporary scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed, and biblical scholars and classical historians view the theories of his nonexistence as effectively refuted. Yes, almost all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus was a real person, and the idea that he was mythical is considered a fringe theory. The most significant evidence for Jesus' existence comes from historical references by Christian, Jewish, and Roman writers. These references leave little doubt that Jesus lived and died, though scholars disagree about his beliefs and teachings, and the accuracy of the Bible's accounts. The only two events that nearly all scholars agree on are that Jesus was baptized and crucified.      While billions of people believe Jesus of Nazareth was one of the most important figures in world history, many others reject the idea that he even existed at all. A 2015 survey conducted by the Church of England, for instance, found that 22 percent of adults in England did not believe Jesus was a real person. Among scholars of the New Testament of the Christian Bible, though, there is little disagreement that he actually lived. Lawrence Mykytiuk, an associate professor of library science at Purdue University and author of a 2015 Biblical Archaeology Review article on the extra-biblical evidence of Jesus, notes that there was no debate about the issue in ancient times either. “Jewish rabbis who did not like Jesus or his followers accused him of being a magician and leading people astray,” he says, “but they never said he didn’t exist.” Archaeological evidence of Jesus does not exist. There is no definitive physical or archaeological evidence of the existence of Jesus. “There’s nothing conclusive, nor would I expect there to be,” Mykytiuk says. “Peasants don’t normally leave an archaeological trail.” “The reality is that we don’t have archaeological records for virtually anyone who lived in Jesus’s time and place,” says University of North Carolina religious studies professor Bart D. Ehrman, author of Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. “The lack of evidence does not mean a person at the time didn’t exist. It means that she or he, like 99.99% of the rest of the world at the time, made no impact on the archaeological record.”

IS THERE A ONE TRUE GOD OVERVIEW: There are many sources of information that people use to infer what might be true about God, including observation and revelation: Observation Some say that general observations of the universe support the existence of God, such as the idea of a non-eternal universe as shown by the Big Bang theory. Other observations that might support God's existence include the Earth's weather patterns, which some say are finely tuned to support human life, and the way nature works to form life. Revelation Some say that God may have entered the universe and told us true things about himself, morality, and how to have a relationship with him. This includes the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The Bible also includes passages that some say indicate that God has made evidence of his existence so obvious that there is no excuse for denying him.  IS THERE PROOF OF GOD'S EXISTENCE? The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion.[1] A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God can be categorized as logical, empirical, metaphysical, subjective or scientific. In philosophical terms, the question of the existence of God involves the disciplines of epistemology (the nature and scope of knowledge) and ontology (study of the nature of being or existence) and the theory of value (since some definitions of God include "perfection"). The Western tradition of philosophical discussion of the existence of God began with Plato and Aristotle, who made arguments for the existence of a being responsible for fashioning the universe, referred to as the demiurge or the unmoved mover, that today would be categorized as cosmological arguments. Other arguments for the existence of God have been proposed by St. Anselm, who formulated the first ontological argument; Thomas Aquinas, who presented his own version of the cosmological argument (the first way); René Descartes, who said that the existence of a benevolent God is logically necessary for the evidence of the senses to be meaningful. John Calvin argued for a sensus divinitatis, which gives each human a knowledge of God's existence. Islamic philosophers who developed arguments for the existence of God comprise Averroes, who made arguments influenced by Aristotle's concept of the unmoved mover; Al-Ghazali and Al-Kindi, who presented the Kalam cosmological argument; Avicenna, who presented the Proof of the Truthful; and Al-Farabi, who made Neoplatonic arguments. In philosophy, and more specifically in the philosophy of religion, atheism refers to the proposition that God does not exist.[2] Some religions, such as Jainism, reject the possibility of a creator deity. Philosophers who have provided arguments against the existence of God include David Hume, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Bertrand Russell. Theism, the proposition that God exists, is the dominant view among philosophers of religion.[3] In a 2020 PhilPapers survey, 69.50% of philosophers of religion stated that they accept or lean towards theism, while 19.86% stated they accept or lean towards atheism.[4] Prominent contemporary philosophers of religion who defended theism include Alvin Plantinga, Yujin Nagasawa, John Hick, Richard Swinburne, and William Lane Craig, while those who defended atheism include Graham Oppy, Paul Draper, Quentin Smith, J. L. Mackie, and J. L. Schellenberg. Traditional religious definition of God In classical theism, God is characterized as the metaphysically ultimate being (the first, timeless, absolutely simple and sovereign being, who is devoid of any anthropomorphic qualities), in distinction to other conceptions such as theistic personalism, open theism, and process theism. Classical theists do not believe that God can be completely defined. They believe it would contradict the transcendent nature of God for mere humans to define him. Robert Barron explains by analogy that it seems impossible for a two-dimensional object to conceive of three-dimensional humans.[7] In modern Western societies, the concepts of God typically entail a monotheistic, supreme, ultimate, and personal being, as found in the Christian, Islamic and Jewish traditions. In monotheistic religions outside the Abrahamic traditions, the existence of God is discussed in similar terms. In these traditions, God is also identified as the author (either directly or by inspiration) of certain texts, or that certain texts describe specific historical events caused by the God in question or communications from God (whether in direct speech or via dreams or omens). Some traditions also believe that God is the entity which is currently answering prayers for intervention or information or opinions. Ibn Rushd, a 12th-century Islamic scholar Many Islamic scholars have used philosophical and rational arguments to prove the existence of God. For example, Ibn Rushd, a 12th-century Islamic scholar, philosopher, and physician, states there are only two arguments worthy of adherence, both of which are found in what he calls the "Precious Book" (The Qur'an). Rushd cites "providence" and "invention" in using the Qur'an's parables to claim the existence of God. Rushd argues that the Earth's weather patterns are conditioned to support human life; thus, if the planet is so finely-tuned to maintain life, then it suggests a fine tuner—God. The Sun and the Moon are not just random objects floating in the Milky Way, rather they serve us day and night, and the way nature works and how life is formed, humankind benefits from it. Rushd essentially comes to a conclusion that there has to be a higher being who has made everything perfectly to serve the needs of human beings.[8][9] Moses ben Maimon, widely known as Maimonides, was a Jewish scholar who tried to logically prove the existence of God. Maimonides offered proofs for the existence of God, but he did not begin with defining God first, like many others do. Rather, he used the description of the earth and the universe to prove the existence of God. He talked about the Heavenly bodies and how they are committed to eternal motion. Maimonides argued that because every physical object is finite, it can only contain a finite amount of power. If everything in the universe, which includes all the planets and the stars, is finite, then there has to be an infinite power to push forth the motion of everything in the universe. Narrowing down to an infinite being, the only thing that can explain the motion is an infinite being (meaning God) which is neither a body nor a force in the body. Maimonides believed that this argument gives us a ground to believe that God is, not an idea of what God is. He believed that God cannot be understood or be compared.[10] Non-personal definitions of God In pantheism, God and the universe are considered to be the same thing. In this view, the natural sciences are essentially studying the nature of God. This definition of God creates the philosophical problem that a universe with God and one without God are the same, other than the words used to describe it. Deism and panentheism assert that there is a God distinct from, or which extends beyond (either in time or in space or in some other way) the universe. These positions deny that God intervenes in the operation of the universe, including communicating with humans personally. The notion that God never intervenes or communicates with the universe, or may have evolved into the universe (as in pandeism), makes it difficult, if not by definition impossible, to distinguish between a universe with God and one without. The Ethics of Baruch Spinoza gave two demonstrations of the existence of God.[11] The God of Spinoza is uncaused by any external force and has no free will, it is not personal and not anthropomorphic. Debate about how theism should be argued In Christian faith, theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas made a distinction between: (a) preambles of faith and (b) articles of faith.[12] The preambles include alleged truths contained in revelation which are nevertheless demonstrable by reason, e.g., the immortality of the soul, the existence of God. The articles of faith, on the other hand, contain truths that cannot be proven or reached by reason alone and presuppose the truths of the preambles, e.g., in Christianity, the Holy Trinity, is not demonstrable and presupposes the existence of God. The argument that the existence of God can be known to all, even prior to exposure to any divine revelation, predates Christianity.[clarification needed] Paul the Apostle made this argument when he said that pagans were without excuse because "since the creation of the world God's invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made".[13] In this, Paul alludes to the proofs for a creator, later enunciated by Thomas Aquinas[14] and others, that had also been explored by the Greek philosophers. Another apologetical school of thought, including Dutch and American Reformed thinkers (such as Abraham Kuyper, Benjamin Warfield, and Herman Dooyeweerd), emerged in the late 1920s. This school was instituted by Cornelius Van Til, and came to be popularly called presuppositional apologetics (though Van Til felt "transcendental" would be a more accurate title). The main distinction between this approach and the more classical evidentialist approach is that the presuppositionalist denies any common ground between the believer and the non-believer, except that which the non-believer denies, namely, the assumption of the truth of the theistic worldview. In other words, presuppositionalists do not believe that the existence of God can be proven by appeal to raw, uninterpreted, or "brute" facts, which have the same (theoretical) meaning to people with fundamentally different worldviews, because they deny that such a condition is even possible. They claim that the only possible proof for the existence of God is that the very same belief is the necessary condition to the intelligibility of all other human experience and action. They attempt to prove the existence of God by means of appeal to the transcendental necessity of the belief—indirectly (by appeal to the unavowed presuppositions of the non-believer's worldview) rather than directly (by appeal to some form of common factuality). In practice this school uses what have come to be known as transcendental arguments. These arguments claim to demonstrate that all human experience and action (even the condition of unbelief, itself) is a proof for the existence of God, because God's existence is the necessary condition of their intelligibility. Protestant Christians note that the Christian faith teaches "salvation is by faith",[15] and that faith is reliance upon the faithfulness of God. The most extreme example of this position is called fideism, which holds that faith is simply the will to believe, and argues that if God's existence were rationally demonstrable, faith in its existence would become superfluous. Søren Kierkegaard argued that objective knowledge, such as 1+1=2, is unimportant to existence. If God could rationally be proven, his existence would be unimportant to humans.[citation needed] It is because God cannot rationally be proven that his existence is important to us. In The Justification of Knowledge, the Calvinist theologian Robert L. Reymond argues that believers should not attempt to prove the existence of God. Since he believes all such proofs are fundamentally unsound, believers should not place their confidence in them, much less resort to them in discussions with non-believers; rather, they should accept the content of revelation by faith. Reymond's position is similar to that of his mentor Gordon Clark, which holds that all worldviews are based on certain unprovable first premises (or, axioms), and therefore are ultimately unprovable. The Christian theist therefore must simply choose to start with Christianity rather than anything else, by a "leap of faith". This position is also sometimes called presuppositional apologetics, but should not be confused with the Van Tillian variety. THE HISTORICAL JESUS According to Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God as chronicled in the Bible's New Testament, and in most Christian denominations He is held to be God the Son, a prosopon (Person) of the Trinity of God. Christians believe him to be the messiah, or a saviour (giving him the title Christ), who was prophesied in the Bible's Old Testament. Through Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, Christians believe that God offers humans salvation and eternal life,[1] with Jesus's death atoning for all sin, thus making humanity right with God. The commonly held belief among Christians is the phrase, "Jesus died for your sins," and thus they accept that salvation is only possible through him.[2] These teachings emphasize that as the Lamb of God, Jesus chose to suffer nailed to the cross at Calvary as a sign of his obedience to the will of God, as an "agent and servant of God".[3][4] Jesus's choice positions him as a man of obedience, in contrast to Adam's disobedience.[5] According to the New Testament, after God raised him from the dead,[6] Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father,[7] with his followers awaiting his return to Earth and God's subsequent Last Judgment.[8] According to the gospel accounts, Jesus was born of a virgin, instructed other Jews how to follow God (sometimes using parables), performed miracles and gathered disciples. Christians generally believe that this narrative is historically true. While there has been theological debate over the nature of Jesus, Trinitarian Christians believe that Jesus is the Logos, God incarnate (God in human form), God the Son, and "true God and true man"—fully divine and fully human. Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin.

Who REALLY Wrote The Bible?   WHO WROTE THE BIBLE? Over centuries, billions of people have read the Bible. Scholars have spent their lives studying it, while rabbis, ministers and priests have focused on interpreting, teaching and preaching from its pages. As the sacred text for two of the world’s leading religions, Judaism and Christianity, as well as other faiths, the Bible has also had an unmatched influence on literature—particularly in the Western world. It has been translated into nearly 700 languages, and while exact sales figures are hard to come by, it’s widely considered to be the world’s best-selling book. But despite the Bible’s undeniable influence, mysteries continue to linger over its origins. Even after nearly 2,000 years of its existence, and centuries of investigation by biblical scholars, we still don’t know with certainty who wrote its various texts, when they were written or under what circumstances. Old Testament: The Single Author Theory The Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, narrates the history of the people of Israel over about a millennium, beginning with God’s creation of the world and humankind, and contains the stories, laws and moral lessons that form the basis of religious life for both Jews and Christians. For at least 1,000 years, both Jewish and Christian tradition held that a single author wrote the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—which together are known as the Torah (Hebrew for “instruction”) and the Pentateuch (Greek for “five scrolls”). That single author was believed to be Moses, the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and guided them across the Red Sea toward the Promised Land. Yet nearly from the beginning, readers of the Bible observed that there were things in the so-called Five Books of Moses that Moses himself could not possibly have witnessed: His own death, for example, occurs near the end of Deuteronomy. A volume of the Talmud, the collection of Jewish laws recorded between the 3rd and 5th centuries A.D., dealt with this inconsistency by explaining that Joshua (Moses’ successor as leader of the Israelites) likely wrote the verses about Moses’ death. “That's one opinion among many,” says Joel Baden, a professor at Yale Divinity School and author of The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis. “But they're already asking the question—was it possible or not possible for [Moses] to have written them?” By the time the Enlightenment began in the 17th century, most religious scholars were more seriously questioning the idea of Moses’ authorship, as well as the idea that the Bible could possibly have been the work of any single author. Those first five books were filled with contradictory, repetitive material, and often seemed to tell different versions of the Israelites’ story even within a single section of text. As Baden explains, the “classic example” of this confusion is the story of Noah and the flood (Genesis 6:9). “You read along and you say, I don’t know how many animals Noah took on the ark with him,” he says. “In this sentence it says two of every animal. In this sentence, he takes two of some animals and 14 of any animals.” Similarly, the text records the length of the flood as 40 days in one place, and 150 days in another. The Old Testament: Various Schools of Authors To explain the Bible’s contradictions, repetitions and general idiosyncrasies, most scholars today agree that the stories and laws it contains were communicated orally, through prose and poetry, over centuries. Starting around the 7th century B.C., different groups, or schools, of authors wrote them down at different times, before they were at some point (probably during the first century B.C.) combined into the single, multi-layered work we know today. Of the three major blocks of source material that scholars agree comprise the Bible’s first five books, the first was believed to have been written by a group of priests, or priestly authors, whose work scholars designate as “P.” A second block of source material is known as “D”—for Deuteronomist, meaning the author(s) of the vast majority of the book of Deuteronomy. “The two of them are not really related to each other in any significant way,” Baden explains, “except that they're both giving laws and telling a story of Israel's early history.” According to some scholars, including Baden, the third major block of source material in the Torah can be divided into two different, equally coherent schools, named for the word that each uses for God: Yahweh and Elohim. The stories using the name Elohim are classified as “E,” while the others are called “J” (for Jawhe, the German translation of Yahweh). Other scholars don't agree on two complete sources for the non-priestly material. Instead, says Baden, they see a much more gradual process, in which material from numerous smaller sources was layered together over a longer period of time. New Testament: Who Wrote the Gospels? Just as the Old Testament chronicles the story of the Israelites in the millennium or so leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ, the New Testament records Jesus’s life, from his birth and teachings to his death and later resurrection, a narrative that forms the fundamental basis of Christianity. Beginning around A.D. 70, about four decades after Jesus’s crucifixion (according to the Bible), four anonymously written chronicles of his life emerged that would become central documents in the Christian faith. Named for Jesus’s most devoted earthly disciples, or apostles—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—the four canonical Gospels were traditionally thought to be eyewitness accounts of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. But for more than a century, scholars have generally agreed that the Gospels, like many of the books of the New Testament, were not actually written by the people to whom they are attributed. In fact, it seems clear that the stories that form the basis of Christianity were first communicated orally, and passed down from generation to generation, before they were collected and written down. “Names are attached to the titles of the Gospels (‘the Gospel according to Matthew’),” writes Bible scholar Bart Ehrman in his book Jesus, Interrupted. “But these titles are later additions to the Gospels, provided by editors and scribes to inform readers who the editors thought were the authorities behind the different versions.” Traditionally, 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament were attributed to Paul the Apostle, who famously converted to Christianity after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus and wrote a series of letters that helped spread the faith throughout the Mediterranean world. But scholars now agree on the authenticity of only seven of Paul’s epistles: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon. These are believed to have been written between A.D. 50-60, making them the earliest known evidence for Christianity. Authors of the later epistles may have been followers of Paul, who used his name to lend authenticity to the works. By the 4th century A.D., Christianity had been established as the dominant religion in the Western world, and the New and Old Testaments as its most sacred texts. In the centuries to come, the Bible would only become more central to the lives and faiths of millions of people around the world, despite the mystery surrounding its origins and the ongoing, complex debate over its authorship.   

LEGENDARY TELEVISION PRODUCER GEORGE SCHLATTER CREATOR OF "ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN" Throughout his long and successful career as a producer, director and writer, George Schlatter has been responsible for hundreds of hours of television series and specials. He changed the face of television when he created and produced such breakthrough series as Laugh-In and Real People. Over the years, George has received numerous honors and awards including: 25 Emmy Award nominations, three Emmys, three Image Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Television Critics Awards, Directors Guild Award, Producers Guild “Man of The Year,” and many others. On its 25th Anniversary, the Television Academy honored him for his outstanding contribution to television. In 1989, he was awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. Mr. Schlatter is a veteran of over 60 years in network television. He produced the first 5 years of the Grammy Awards plus series and specials starring Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Eddie Murphy, Cher, Elton John, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Doris Day, Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, Shirley MacLaine, Bill Cosby, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, Nat King Cole, Placido Domingo and scores of others. In 1987, George Schlatter created and for 15 years produced the American Comedy Awards, an annual televised event designed to acknowledge the contributions and achievements of comedic actors and performers. George says, “Of all the work I’ve done, I am perhaps most proud of my involvement in the early careers of performers like Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Roseanne, Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, and others who have gone on to greater heights. Working with stars is rewarding, but helping to create stars is the most fulfilling of all accomplishments.” In 1996, the Museum of Television & Radio did a special tribute to him for his contributions in the world of television. In honor of Frank Sinatra’s milestone 80th birthday, George produced the Emmy-winning critically acclaimed special, Sinatra 80 Years: My Way.  Other credits include the Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration, which also won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special in 1990, the Muhammad Ali 50th & 60th Birthday Celebrations, Welcome Home America, the USO 50th Anniversary, The People’s Choice Awards, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award Salutes to Dustin Hoffman and Harrison Ford, and both the 54th and 55th Presidential Inaugural Opening Ceremonies of George W. Bush. In 2013, Pepperdine University presented Still Laugh-In, A Toast to George Schlatter acknowledging his innovative contributions to television over many decades and in December, 2014, George was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pepperdine in recognition of his lifelong achievements. Most recently he produced a comedy collection for Sirius Radio and Still Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate for Netflix. Besides his work in television, George has been honored for his showmanship and involvement in many charitable causes including Finding a Cure… Nancy Reagan: A Love Story (for Juvenile Diabetes Research) and the Los Angeles Opera on Stage Gala starring Placido Domingo. Since 1990 he has produced every Carousel of Hope Ball for the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, which has built and benefits the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Denver, Colorado. To further his support of comedy and the people who perform it, George has become an active supporter and Board Member of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York. He has donated much of his material to them and they have named their theater The George and Jolene Brand Schlatter Theater in his honor. George’s book, Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy was released in July, 2023. In it he shares many of the hilarious adventures he had in his early years of television. George is married to former actress Jolene Brand who was a regular on the Ernie Kovacs Show and they have two daughters. Maria is an Emmy award winning television producer and is now writing for the theater. Andrea Justine is a champion equestrian rider and trainer.

The Attempted Murder of a President On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, the former president of the United States and at that time the Republican Party's presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential election, was shot and wounded while addressing a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.[5] Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania,[6][7] fired eight rounds with an AR-15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building outside the rally venue. He killed an audience member, critically injured two other audience members, and injured Trump in his upper right ear.[6] Crooks was then shot and killed by the United States Secret Service Counter Sniper Team.[8] The incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination and as a potential act of domestic terrorism.[9][10] Footage of the incident showed Trump clasping his right ear before taking cover on the floor behind the podium, where he was surrounded by Secret Service personnel. After agents helped him to his feet, photographer Evan Vucci of the Associated Press captured images of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist in the air, with an American flag in the background, that went viral on social media and have been widely praised as iconic and historically important. Trump mouthed,[11][12] or shouted,[13] the words "Fight! Fight! Fight!" as he was escorted off-stage to his motorcade.[6][14] Taken to a nearby hospital, he was released a few hours later in stable condition. He made his first public appearance after the shooting two days later at the 2024 Republican National Convention.[15] Following the shooting, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed concerns about security arrangements at the event, including the failure to secure access to the roof from which Crooks had fired the shots. Public figures called for increased security for the major candidates in the election.[16] Crooks, who had borrowed the legally purchased rifle from his father, had no criminal record and his motive for the shooting is unknown. No ideology is indicated in his social media posts or other writings,[17] and authorities have stated that it is unknown whether the assassination attempt was related to his political views.[18] Experts considered the shooting a sign of political polarization in the United States, and political figures called for a reduction in tensions.[19][20] Soon after the shooting, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories quickly spread on social media.[21] Background At the time of the incident, Donald Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.[22] The shooting occurred two days before the July 15 start of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[23] This was the second attempt at violence toward Trump during one of his rallies; the first was in 2016, when a man attempted to grab a security officer's gun at a rally outside of Las Vegas.[24] On July 3, 2024,[25] it was announced that Trump would hold a rally on July 13 at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Connoquenessing Township and Meridian, near Butler, Pennsylvania.[26][27][28][29] On July 10, an advance team began setting up for the rally, including the installation of generators in a large open field.[30] The rally was part of the Trump campaign's attempts to garner votes in Pennsylvania, which polling indicates is a swing state;[31] the state has 19 votes in the Electoral College.[23] David McCormick, the Republican nominee in the state's concurrent U.S. Senate election, was invited to appear onstage during the rally to increase support for his campaign.[32] U.S. Representative Mike Kelly said he had contacted the Trump campaign to recommend holding the rally in an area that could handle a larger crowd than the Butler Farm Show Grounds, and that their response was, "We appreciate your input but we've already made up our minds".[23] Attendees at Trump's rallies are screened for prohibited items, including weapons.[33] The Secret Service routinely screens and monitors nearby buildings and businesses, including structures outside security perimeters.[34] Four separate counter-sniper teams were assigned to the event, two from the Secret Service and two from local law enforcement.[35] The Pennsylvania State Police, which serves as the law enforcement agency for Connoquenessing Township, were also involved in security matters. Butler Township police were given traffic duties.[29] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had no information about any particular threats before the event.[36] The Secret Service had increased Trump's security detail in prior weeks due to intelligence indicating that Iran was plotting to assassinate Trump.[37][38]

THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF DONALD J. TRUMP When President Ronald Reagan was shot by an attention-seeking drifter in 1981, the country united behind its injured leader. The teary-eyed Democratic speaker of the House, Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., went to the hospital room of the Republican president, held his hands, kissed his head and got on his knees to pray for him. But the assassination attempt against former President Donald J. Trump seems more likely to tear America further apart than to bring it together. Within minutes of the shooting, the air was filled with anger, bitterness, suspicion and recrimination. Fingers were pointed, conspiracy theories advanced and a country already bristling with animosity fractured even more. The fact that the shooting in Butler, Pa., on Saturday night was two days before Republicans were set to gather in Milwaukee for their nominating convention invariably put the event in a partisan context. While Democrats bemoaned political violence, which they have long faulted Mr. Trump for encouraging, Republicans instantly blamed President Biden and his allies for the attack, which they argued stemmed from incendiary language labeling the former president a proto-fascist who would destroy democracy. Mr. Trump’s eldest son, his campaign strategist and a running mate finalist all attacked the political left within hours of the shooting even before the gunman was identified or his motive determined. “Well of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this,” wrote Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the former president. But the Trump campaign seemed to think better of it, and the post was deleted. A memo sent out on Sunday by Mr. LaCivita and Susie Wiles, another senior adviser, instructed Trump team members not to comment on the shooting. Either way, the episode could fuel Mr. Trump’s narrative about being the victim of persecution by Democrats. Impeached, indicted, sued and convicted, Mr. Trump even before Saturday had accused Democrats of seeking to have him shot by F.B.I. agents or even executed for crimes that do not carry the death penalty. After being wounded at the rally, Mr. Trump, with blood staining his face, pumped his fist at the crowd and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” What exactly drove the gunman, who was quickly killed by Secret Service counter snipers, remained a matter of speculation. Identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pa., he was a registered Republican but had also given $15 to a progressive group on Mr. Biden’s Inauguration Day, more than three years ago. The authorities said they were still investigating his motive. The shooting came at a time when the United States was already deeply polarized along ideological, cultural and partisan lines — split, it often seems, into two countries, even two realities. More than at any time in generations, Americans do not see themselves in a collective enterprise but perceive themselves on opposite sides of modern ramparts. The divisions have grown so stark that a Marist poll in May found that 47 percent of Americans considered a second civil war likely or very likely in their lifetime, a notion that prompted Hollywood to release a movie imagining what that could look like. The propulsive crescendo of disruptive events lately has led many to compare 2024 to 1968, a year of racial strife, riots in the cities and the assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Protests over the Vietnam War helped prompt President Lyndon B. Johnson to drop out of his race for re-election that year. Until now, there had been one important difference. “Of all the similarities between 1968 and 2024, the lack of political violence this year has been one of the key areas where the years diverge,” said Luke A. Nichter, a historian at Chapman University and the author of “The Year That Broke Politics,” a history of 1968. “That is no more.” Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University, said political violence had a long history in America. “As in 1968 — or 1919 or 1886 or 1861 — the violence that just occurred is rather inevitable in a society as bitterly divided as ours,” he said. “And of course there’s actually less violence in politics now than there was in those other years.” Republicans turned the tables on Democrats this weekend, arguing that if Mr. Trump was responsible for provocative rhetoric, then Mr. Biden should be as well. Speaking with donors on Monday, the president said he wanted to stop talking about his poor debate performance and instead “put Trump in a bull’s-eye.” He described his strategy as “attack, attack, attack.” “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio and a front-runner to be named Mr. Trump’s running mate, wrote on social media two hours after the attack on Saturday. “That rhetoric directly led to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

One of the most downloaded songs in America is about the book of Revelation. John Rich says he channeled the entire thing from God. Watch more here: https://watchtcn.co/49CDF2t Subscribe to the new Tucker Carlson Network channel for more exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/@TCNetwork/featured?sub_confirmation=1 Follow Tucker on X: https://x.com/TuckerCarlson Text “TUCKER” to 44055 for exclusive updates. Paid partnerships with: Heritage Foundation: https://Heritage.org/Tucker PureTalk Wireless: Get 50% off your first month at https://PureTalk.com/Tucker The Hallow prayer app. Get 3 months free at https://Hallow.com/Tucker #TuckerCarlson #JohnRich #Eminem #music #LilNasX #DonaldTrump #JoeBiden #reaction #react #Christianity #religion #debate #countrymusic #news #politics Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:41 John Rich’s Song Inspired by God 06:23 Eminem and the dark side of the mainstream music industry 19:37 The Mark of the Beast 23:42 The Attempt on Trump’s Life 31:35 The Attacks on Christianity 49:06 Reacting to the dismissal of Trump’s classified documents case 1:15:55 John Rich’s Dad Preaching in Prisons

When President Ronald Reagan was shot by an attention-seeking drifter in 1981, the country united behind its injured leader. The teary-eyed Democratic speaker of the House, Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., went to the hospital room of the Republican president, held his hands, kissed his head and got on his knees to pray for him. But the assassination attempt against former President Donald J. Trump seems more likely to tear America further apart than to bring it together. Within minutes of the shooting, the air was filled with anger, bitterness, suspicion and recrimination. Fingers were pointed, conspiracy theories advanced and a country already bristling with animosity fractured even more. The fact that the shooting in Butler, Pa., on Saturday night was two days before Republicans were set to gather in Milwaukee for their nominating convention invariably put the event in a partisan context. While Democrats bemoaned political violence, which they have long faulted Mr. Trump for encouraging, Republicans instantly blamed President Biden and his allies for the attack, which they argued stemmed from incendiary language labeling the former president a proto-fascist who would destroy democracy. Mr. Trump’s eldest son, his campaign strategist and a running mate finalist all attacked the political left within hours of the shooting even before the gunman was identified or his motive determined. “Well of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this,” wrote Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the former president. But the Trump campaign seemed to think better of it, and the post was deleted. A memo sent out on Sunday by Mr. LaCivita and Susie Wiles, another senior adviser, instructed Trump team members not to comment on the shooting. Either way, the episode could fuel Mr. Trump’s narrative about being the victim of persecution by Democrats. Impeached, indicted, sued and convicted, Mr. Trump even before Saturday had accused Democrats of seeking to have him shot by F.B.I. agents or even executed for crimes that do not carry the death penalty. After being wounded at the rally, Mr. Trump, with blood staining his face, pumped his fist at the crowd and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” What exactly drove the gunman, who was quickly killed by Secret Service counter snipers, remained a matter of speculation. Identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pa., he was a registered Republican but had also given $15 to a progressive group on Mr. Biden’s Inauguration Day, more than three years ago. The authorities said they were still investigating his motive. The shooting came at a time when the United States was already deeply polarized along ideological, cultural and partisan lines — split, it often seems, into two countries, even two realities. More than at any time in generations, Americans do not see themselves in a collective enterprise but perceive themselves on opposite sides of modern ramparts. The divisions have grown so stark that a Marist poll in May found that 47 percent of Americans considered a second civil war likely or very likely in their lifetime, a notion that prompted Hollywood to release a movie imagining what that could look like. The propulsive crescendo of disruptive events lately has led many to compare 2024 to 1968, a year of racial strife, riots in the cities and the assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Protests over the Vietnam War helped prompt President Lyndon B. Johnson to drop out of his race for re-election that year. Until now, there had been one important difference. “Of all the similarities between 1968 and 2024, the lack of political violence this year has been one of the key areas where the years diverge,” said Luke A. Nichter, a historian at Chapman University and the author of “The Year That Broke Politics,” a history of 1968. “That is no more.” Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University, said political violence had a long history in America. “As in 1968 — or 1919 or 1886 or 1861 — the violence that just occurred is rather inevitable in a society as bitterly divided as ours,” he said. “And of course there’s actually less violence in politics now than there was in those other years.” Republicans turned the tables on Democrats this weekend, arguing that if Mr. Trump was responsible for provocative rhetoric, then Mr. Biden should be as well. Speaking with donors on Monday, the president said he wanted to stop talking about his poor debate performance and instead “put Trump in a bull’s-eye.” He described his strategy as “attack, attack, attack.” “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio and a front-runner to be named Mr. Trump’s running mate, wrote on social media two hours after the attack on Saturday. “That rhetoric directly led to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”  

THAT'S BULLSHIT!!! Ricky "RICO" Style and Joe "Stretch"Kwiatkowski, are 2 veteran musicians and entertainers whose collective careers span almost 70 years. This unique combination of world travelers and wearysome citizens has spawned the essential talk show, "THATS BULLSHIT" with Ricky & Stretch. Join them each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. as they unload on their favorite targets of vents and rants. AND DON'T GET IN THEIR WAY.

THE REAL JERRY LEWIS STORY  with Author Rick Saphire & Guest Co-Host TV & Film Actor Eddie Deezen (Grease, Polar Express, 1941, Midnight Madness) Book Excerpt BOMBSHELL: Jerry Lewis’ second daughter, born March 23, 1992, was a blessing that brought much joy to Jerry and his wife, and rightly so. Finally, having a daughter he could love and publically call his own was very important to the man who had been previously denied that privilege. Sadly, a legal question arose during the planning stages of the adoption, causing dissension which resulted in a bitter breakup between the comedian and a close lifelong friend, one who had been instrumental in Jerry Lewis’ entrance into show business and his rise to fame. Author Rick Saphire was well acquainted with both parties in this matter and was unwittingly thrust into the middle of the firestorm. The author will discuss his personal observations in the book.   The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is not a biography of the famous American comedian but serves as an addendum to all that has been written about entertainer Jerry Lewis in the past. It offers corrections to the myriad of misinformation in past publications, media reports, and legal documents dating back to the day Jerry Lewis was born. The book exposes never-before-revealed details about Jerry Lewis' family, career, and life.   For clarity, Jerry Lewis is the alias, stage name, professional name, and theatrical name of entertainer Jerome Levitch. This book will explain, with the aid of court documentation, that Jerome Levitch’s name was never legally changed to Jerry Lewis, despite the fact that he signed that name on legal documents, including his draft card and his final will.   The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is scheduled to be officially announced on March 16, 2024, with a release date shortly thereafter. the author is entertainer and celebrity representative Rick Saphire, who first met Lewis in 1953. As a young performer, Rick Saphire was often referred to in the media as "Jerry Lewis’ protégé." Saphire appeared on network TV with Jerry Lewis in the 1960s and was his theatrical representative in the 2000s. The author also had the unique advantage of being close to Jerry Lewis' family, friends, and business acquaintances. Rick Saphire’s uncle and mentor, Ernest D. Glucksman, was the executive TV producer and director for Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis during their peak period in movies, and on television. when Jerry Lewis went solo, Glucksman remained Lewis’ executive producer while serving as the star’s personal manager.   As a child, Rick Saphire was the proverbial “fly on the wall,” witnessing much of the private interactions behind the scenes between Martin & Lewis and with Jerry Lewis himself. Saphire has also represented Jerry and Patti Lewis’ oldest son, the rock ’n’ roll legend Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis & the Playboys. He has shared his insights with Rick Saphire in preparation for this book.   BREAKING NEWS: The Forward for The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is written by Gary Lewis, who, for the first time, has authorized a frank discussion of family matters, some of which are pretty revealing and surprising.   NOTICE: A special chapter in The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is dedicated to Rick Saphire’s attempts to reunite Suzan Minoret with her biological father, Jerry Lewis. Minoret, who called herself Suzan Lewis, contacted the author by phone while she was homeless and living in her car in the State of Florida. She described herself as disabled and desperate to be acknowledged by the man she knew as her birth father. The author’s disturbing story of Suzan “Lewis” Minoret is told in-depth for the first time in chilling detail. It is a book within a book with exclusive photographs.   From beginning to end, the story of Jerome Levitch is that of a lonely child from Newark, New Jersey, who spent much of his youth hiding from himself. It’s the sad account of a man who portrayed some of the most beloved screen characters of all time, yet he spent much of his life trying to convince his fans that he was much more intelligent and far more sophisticated than the clown they loved. Although temporarily satisfying, Jerry Lewis knew that laughter and applause were no substitute for the safe, warm, and loving childhood Jerome Levitch craved but never knew. The REAL Jerry Lewis Story eBOOK LAUNCH IS JULY 4, 2024 ON AMAZON Pre-Order eBook Now. CLICK HERE THE PHYSICAL BOOK DEBUTS LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2024   York Publications: Phone/Text: 856-424-1064 Email: [email protected] Mail: Post Office Box 2903, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

THE REAL JERRY LEWIS STORY  with Author Rick Saphire & Guest Co-Host TV & Film Actor Eddie Deezen (Grease, Polar Express, 1941, Midnight Madness) Book Excerpt BOMBSHELL: Jerry Lewis’ second daughter, born March 23, 1992, was a blessing that brought much joy to Jerry and his wife, and rightly so. Finally, having a daughter he could love and publically call his own was very important to the man who had been previously denied that privilege. Sadly, a legal question arose during the planning stages of the adoption, causing dissension which resulted in a bitter breakup between the comedian and a close lifelong friend, one who had been instrumental in Jerry Lewis’ entrance into show business and his rise to fame. Author Rick Saphire was well acquainted with both parties in this matter and was unwittingly thrust into the middle of the firestorm. The author will discuss his personal observations in the book.   The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is not a biography of the famous American comedian but serves as an addendum to all that has been written about entertainer Jerry Lewis in the past. It offers corrections to the myriad of misinformation in past publications, media reports, and legal documents dating back to the day Jerry Lewis was born. The book exposes never-before-revealed details about Jerry Lewis' family, career, and life.   For clarity, Jerry Lewis is the alias, stage name, professional name, and theatrical name of entertainer Jerome Levitch. This book will explain, with the aid of court documentation, that Jerome Levitch’s name was never legally changed to Jerry Lewis, despite the fact that he signed that name on legal documents, including his draft card and his final will.   The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is scheduled to be officially announced on March 16, 2024, with a release date shortly thereafter. the author is entertainer and celebrity representative Rick Saphire, who first met Lewis in 1953. As a young performer, Rick Saphire was often referred to in the media as "Jerry Lewis’ protégé." Saphire appeared on network TV with Jerry Lewis in the 1960s and was his theatrical representative in the 2000s. The author also had the unique advantage of being close to Jerry Lewis' family, friends, and business acquaintances. Rick Saphire’s uncle and mentor, Ernest D. Glucksman, was the executive TV producer and director for Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis during their peak period in movies, and on television. when Jerry Lewis went solo, Glucksman remained Lewis’ executive producer while serving as the star’s personal manager.   As a child, Rick Saphire was the proverbial “fly on the wall,” witnessing much of the private interactions behind the scenes between Martin & Lewis and with Jerry Lewis himself. Saphire has also represented Jerry and Patti Lewis’ oldest son, the rock ’n’ roll legend Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis & the Playboys. He has shared his insights with Rick Saphire in preparation for this book.   BREAKING NEWS: The Forward for The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is written by Gary Lewis, who, for the first time, has authorized a frank discussion of family matters, some of which are pretty revealing and surprising.   NOTICE: A special chapter in The REAL Jerry Lewis Story is dedicated to Rick Saphire’s attempts to reunite Suzan Minoret with her biological father, Jerry Lewis. Minoret, who called herself Suzan Lewis, contacted the author by phone while she was homeless and living in her car in the State of Florida. She described herself as disabled and desperate to be acknowledged by the man she knew as her birth father. The author’s disturbing story of Suzan “Lewis” Minoret is told in-depth for the first time in chilling detail. It is a book within a book with exclusive photographs.   From beginning to end, the story of Jerome Levitch is that of a lonely child from Newark, New Jersey, who spent much of his youth hiding from himself. It’s the sad account of a man who portrayed some of the most beloved screen characters of all time, yet he spent much of his life trying to convince his fans that he was much more intelligent and far more sophisticated than the clown they loved. Although temporarily satisfying, Jerry Lewis knew that laughter and applause were no substitute for the safe, warm, and loving childhood Jerome Levitch craved but never knew. The REAL Jerry Lewis Story eBOOK LAUNCH IS JULY 4, 2024 ON AMAZON Pre-Order eBook Now. CLICK HERE THE PHYSICAL BOOK DEBUTS LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2024   York Publications: Phone/Text: 856-424-1064 Email: [email protected] Mail: Post Office Box 2903, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

THAT'S BULLSHIT!!! Ricky "RICO" Style and "Stretch" (Joe Kwiatkowski, are 2 veteran musicians and entertainers whose collective careers span almost 70 years. This unique combination of worls traveler and wearysome citizen has spawned the essential talk show, "THATS BULLSHIT" with Ricky & Stretch. Join them each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. as the unload on their favorite targets of vent and rant. AND DON'T GET IN THEIR WAY.

THE INEXPLICABLE TRUTHS OF TIME TRAVEL In the movies, time travelers typically step inside a machine and—poof—disappear. They then reappear instantaneously among cowboys, knights or dinosaurs. What these films show is basically time teleportation. Scientists don’t think this conception is likely in the real world, but they also don’t relegate time travel to the crackpot realm. In fact, the laws of physics might allow chronological hopping, but the devil is in the details. Time traveling to the near future is easy: you’re doing it right now at a rate of one second per second, and physicists say that rate can change. According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, time’s flow depends on how fast you’re moving. The quicker you travel, the slower seconds pass. And according to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, gravity also affects clocks: the more forceful the gravity nearby, the slower time goes. “Near massive bodies—near the surface of neutron stars or even at the surface of the Earth, although it’s a tiny effect—time runs slower than it does far away,” says Dave Goldberg, a cosmologist at Drexel University. If a person were to hang out near the edge of a black hole, where gravity is prodigious, Goldberg says, only a few hours might pass for them while 1,000 years went by for someone on Earth. If the person who was near the black hole returned to this planet, they would have effectively traveled to the future. “That is a real effect,” he says. “That is completely uncontroversial.” Going backward in time gets thorny, though (thornier than getting ripped to shreds inside a black hole). Scientists have come up with a few ways it might be possible, and they have been aware of time travel paradoxes in general relativity for decades. Fabio Costa, a physicist at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, notes that an early solution with time travel began with a scenario written in the 1920s. That idea involved massive long cylinder that spun fast in the manner of straw rolled between your palms and that twisted spacetime along with it. The understanding that this object could act as a time machine allowing one to travel to the past only happened in the 1970s, a few decades after scientists had discovered a phenomenon called “closed timelike curves.” “A closed timelike curve describes the trajectory of a hypothetical observer that, while always traveling forward in time from their own perspective, at some point finds themselves at the same place and time where they started, creating a loop,” Costa says. “This is possible in a region of spacetime that, warped by gravity, loops into itself.” “Einstein read [about closed timelike curves] and was very disturbed by this idea,” he adds. The phenomenon nevertheless spurred later research. Science began to take time travel seriously in the 1980s. In 1990, for instance, Russian physicist Igor Novikov and American physicist Kip Thorne collaborated on a research paper about closed time-like curves. “They started to study not only how one could try to build a time machine but also how it would work,” Costa says. Just as importantly, though, they investigated the problems with time travel. What if, for instance, you tossed a billiard ball into a time machine, and it traveled to the past and then collided with its past self in a way that meant its present self could never enter the time machine? “That looks like a paradox,” Costa says. Since the 1990s, he says, there’s been on-and-off interest in the topic yet no big breakthrough. The field isn’t very active today, in part because every proposed model of a time machine has problems. “It has some attractive features, possibly some potential, but then when one starts to sort of unravel the details, there ends up being some kind of a roadblock,” says Gaurav Khanna of the University of Rhode Island. For instance, most time travel models require negative mass—and hence negative energy because, as Albert Einstein revealed when he discovered E = mc2, mass and energy are one and the same. In theory, at least, just as an electric charge can be positive or negative, so can mass—though no one’s ever found an example of negative mass. Why does time travel depend on such exotic matter? In many cases, it is needed to hold open a wormhole—a tunnel in spacetime predicted by general relativity that connects one point in the cosmos to another.

Disinformation Specialists at Their Very Best Social Media:  Vessels of Misinformation Social Media — A Vessel of Untruths The entire globe is facing information wars of an unprecedented nature. Social media is the transporter of misinformation and disinformation. Big Tech has been under fire for not implementing enough measures to uphold the democratic process and increase transparency. These platforms are the primary sources of (fake)news across the globe, and even with efficient fact-checkers, they cannot filter out the untruths, which travel further and faster than facts. Summary of Perils Human beings are inherently complacent and callous about affairs that do not personally disrupt their lives. With over 2.77 million users, social media is one such universal disrupter. Digital platforms are the most convenient mode of communication to keep in touch with loved ones, entertainment news, and engaging with like-minded people and brands. However, with the advent of social media, society has been introduced to numerous afflictions like cyberbullying, teen depression, hate speech, false information surrounding democratic processes, the coordination of terrorist groups, and many more. There have been documented lynchings and deaths in many parts of India due to false news spread via social media. These attacks have been aimed at religious minorities in an effort to establish an authoritarian Hindu Nationalist government in India. In a more recent news discovery, these same Hindu Nationalists have been found to be spreading their right-wing agenda through the Indian American diaspora to influence the 2020 US Presidential election. The 2016 US Presidential election has already been tainted due to propaganda spread by external parties on social media. Our sovereignty seems to have been compromised and the 2020 US Presidential election has been described as a billion-dollar disinformation war. The Coronavirus pandemic suffered at the hand of misinformation spread via social media as well. Our leaders failed us, media outlets failed us, and misinformation on social media platforms became the nail in the coffin. Some examples of misinformation were bogus treatments and cures, conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus, and inaccurate information on testing facilities. What Next? Sinan Aral, author of “The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health — and How We Must Adapt.” aptly draws attention to move past the discussion of whether “Social Media is Good or Bad”. He encourages us to deliberate over how we must adapt and consciously nudge ourselves to be more reflective, leading with values that make us a flourishing society. The ad-based revenue model to capture audience attention, which is a precursor to persuasion, must be re-engineered. It is the 21st century and social media platforms are still allowing heinous and vile content to be published under the garb of “freedom of speech”. The people must take action and ensure these gigantic corporations running information across platforms are regulated and that they align themselves with principles and ethics that hold people accountable for malicious and irresponsible acts. Corporate corruption must cease to exist in the government. Integrity is an unknown characteristic in many global leaders today, who are willing to lie, cheat, and deceive to benefit their agenda and themselves. Therefore, people must gain awareness, protect themselves and their loved ones from these vicious establishments. Preserve our Empathy The air of racial tension around the world is burdensome. Empathy heals divides. Empathy’s most avid promoters have strongly felt its absence. The current global climate rewards the pursuit of self-serving goals. That is exactly what the big technology companies, pharmaceuticals, and corporations are doing. The world needs more than just lip-service from these organizations. I urge all of us to be more cognizant of the struggles of people different from us and hold institutions accountable for unjust activities. Parents, educators, teachers must instill future generations with a strong sense of empathy. With the current trend, we are not far from a catastrophic crisis that transcends borders and races. Digital applications do make our life more colorful, but we must be very cautious about the hype surrounding social media platforms.

THE ANATOMY OF A BULLSHIT MEETING There are good meetings, there are bad meetings and then there are bullshit meetings. Good meetings tend to happen when the person who organizes the meeting has a specific request with a specific deadline. Someone is asking for help. Telling traits of a good meeting is clear objectives, open lines of question, honest debate about underlying assumptions, opposing (and evidenced) points of view, moments of (thinking) silence, collectively-made decisions ending with the exacting delegation of concrete tasks. Including the possibility of a collective decision to abandon the work with no further tasks. Good meetings are invaluable. Bad meetings actually have many of the same traits as good meetings, but lack the clear decisions and follow-up tasks. Someone is still asking for help. Honest debate happens but do not progress the work very far. Smart things are said but without committed next steps. Bad meetings are frustrating, but often still have value because they stem from good faith effort. Bullshit meetings are when everyone shows up already confused. They show up for the sake of showing up. Someone isn't asking for help.  

Written, Presented & Compiled by Joe Ramoni https://twitter.com/joeramoni https://facebook.com/hatsoffjoe Please consider supporting me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/hatsoffentertainment Chapters: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:28 - Character Creation & Early Success 00:07:16 - The Pee-wee Herman Show (1981) 00:10:12 - Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) 00:14:38 - Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) 00:18:14 - Big Top Pee-wee (1988) 00:21:05 - Retirement of Pee-wee 00:24:38 - Comeback

Unmasking of America 6/1/2024  Some hyper-realistic face masks are more believable than human faces. Some silicone masks are now so realistic that they can easily be mistaken for real faces. Hyper-realistic masks may allow the key characteristics of a persons’ appearance to be incorrectly identified according to Dr Jet G. Sanders. In this study, led by Jet G. Sanders while at University of York  and published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, one-in-five people incorrectly guessed which was a real face and which was a hyper-realistic face mask when asked to compare two photographs side-by-side.  Being able to do so makes police investigations and identifications much harder. According to Dr Sanders: “Failure to detect synthetic faces may have important implications for security and crime prevention as hyper-realistic masks may allow the key characteristics of a persons' appearance to be incorrectly identified.   The study Hyper-realistic face masks are made from a flexible silicone material and are designed to imitate real human features all the way down to a tiny freckle and fine wrinkles. In this study by the Universities of York and Kyoto, researchers asked participants to look at pairs of photographs; one of a normal face and one of a person wearing a hyper-realistic face mask. Participants were asked to indicate which of the two they thought to be the mask, with easily-detectable low-realism masks used as controls.   Surprisingly, participants got it wrong in one in five cases. In studies such as these, limiting viewing duration is standard practice when a task may otherwise be too simple. To assess whether this may have been a limiting factor, the authors repeated the experiment with a new cohort and no time limit. For high-realism masks, responses were slower and one in five participants incorrectly judged the real face to be the mask. Data were collected from participants from both the UK and Japan to establish any differences according to race. When asked to choose between photographs depicting faces of a different race to the trial participant, response times were approximately 400 times slower and selections were 5% less accurate.     According to the researchers, this error rate likely underestimates the extent to which people may struggle to discern the difference when tested outside a lab setting, in everyday situations. Author Dr Rob Jenkins said: "We made it clear to viewers that their task was to identify the mask in each pair of images. Example masks were shown before the test began. In a real-life situation, the error rate would likely be much higher than in our study as hyper-realistic masks are extremely rare and many people may not know they exist."   Use in criminal cases Hyper-realistic face masks have most notably been used in criminal cases, with some criminals able to pass as a different age, gender or race. Being able to do so makes police invesitgations and identifications much harder. According to Dr Sanders: “Failure to detect synthetic faces may have important implications for security and crime prevention as hyper-realistic masks may allow the key characteristics of a persons’ appearance to be incorrectly identified. “These masks currently cost around $100 to $500  each and we expect them to become more widely used as advances in manufacturing make them more affordable.” The authors suggest that further research should assess difficulties in identification between real faces and partial masks used to distort particular features and whether this may also be influenced by race.   The research is published in the open access journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.

Deep Fake Meaning deep·​fake ˈdēp-ˌfāk. plural deepfakes. : an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said. ------------------------------------------------------------ Deepfakes were originally defined as synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another. The term was coined in 2017 by a Reddit user, and has later been expanded to cover any videos, pictures, or audio made with artificial intelligence to appear real, for example realistic-looking images of people who do not exist.  While the act of creating fake content is not new, deepfakes leverage tools and techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence, including facial recognition algorithms and artificial neural networks such as variational autoencoders (VAEs) and generative adversarial networks (GANs). In turn the field of image forensics develops techniques to detect manipulated images. Deepfakes have garnered widespread attention for their potential use in creating child sexual abuse material, celebrity pornographic videos, revenge porn, fake news, hoaxes, bullying, and financial fraud. The spreading of disinformation and hate speech through deepfakes has the potential to undermine the key core functions and norms of democratic systems by interfering with people's ability to participate in decisions that affect them, determine collective agendas and express political will through informed decision-making. Both the information technology industry and government have responded with recommendations to detect and limit their use From traditional entertainment to gaming, deepfake technology has evolved to be increasingly convincing and available to the public, allowing the disruption of the entertainment and media industries   Doppelganger Meaning Someone who looks eerily like you, but isn't a twin, is a doppelganger. Originally, this was a type of ghost. The word doppelganger is German and literally means double walker — as in a ghost or shadow of yourself.

WHO REALLY KILLED SUPERMAN THE STRANGE SAGA AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF ACTOR GEORGE REEVES When famous celebrities die suddenly, it is natural for human curiosity to wonder what truly happened. In 1959, George Reeves, who became a star as the original Clark Kent/Superman on television, passed away. It was said that he died by suicide but many people still believe that he was murdered. Although the entire story remains a mystery, let’s go over the facts that we do know about his strange death. Just a year after the television series Adventures of Superman ended, Phyllis Coates (who played Lois Lane in the series) received a very strange call. It was from a woman named Toni Mannix (whom Reeves had been having an affair with as she was the wife of MGM general manager Eddie Mannix) and she said, “The boy is dead. He’s been murdered.” Turns out, she was referring to Reeves, who had been found dead in his bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. There was a party going on at the time, and some say that he committed suicide because of depression and his inability to find another gig after playing Superman. After his death was ruled a suicide, his mother could not accept it and asked for the case to be reinvestigated as a homicide. They found no additional evidence that would support his death being a murder and she withdrew her request. Even so, some still believe that he was murdered. Some people believe that it could have been Eddie Mannix who had him killed as he was rumored to have connections with the Mob. However, he was also having affairs and by the time Reeves died, he had been dating another woman named Leonore Lemmon, who was there that night. She reportedly began telling party guests that her lover was going to shoot himself and when they heard a gunshot, she said, “I told you, he’s shot himself.” She later said she was “only kidding.” Film Career Reeves's film career began in 1939 when he was cast as Stuart Tarleton (incorrectly listed in the film's credits as Brent Tarleton), one of Scarlett O'Hara's suitors in Gone with the Wind.   It was a minor role, but he and Fred Crane were in the film's opening scene. (Reeves and Crane both dyed their hair red to portray the Tarleton twins.) After Gone with the Wind was filmed, Reeves returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and was given the lead role in the play Pancho.  This part directly led to his being contracted to Warner Brothers. Warner had him change his professional name to George Reeves. His Gone with the Wind screen credit reflects the change.  Between the start of production on Gone With the Wind and its release 12 months later, several films on his Warner contract were made and released, making Gone With the Wind his first film role, but his fifth film release.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In 1974, a bold Beatles fan talked his way into meeting Paul McCartney on a Tennessee farm. He ended up spending several weeks hanging out with the former Beatle's band and occasionally meeting McCartney as they rehearsed new music. Tonight, Dan Ealey will get to see McCartney once again, this time as a guest of the band when the former Beatle plays Thompson-Boling Arena. To Ealey, McCartney is like Beethoven. In music, both have the same stature, he said. "When I met Paul (in 1974) I said to my friends, Who can you meet in your life that will be remembered a thousand years from now?" Ealey told WBIR on Tuesday. "I'm certain that Paul will be one of them." Credit: Dan Ealey Dan Ealey will be holding this poster tonight when he sees Paul McCartney play at Thompson-Boling Arena. That's a photo of him with Paul at the farm in 1974. Ealey, 67, a musician and private detective in Cookeville, is a music super-fan, especially when it comes to McCartney and the Beatles. He's collected thousands of albums and singles; he's got a couple of Hofner basses signed by McCartney, and he has gathered other noteworthy items including a tea set once owned by Brian Epstein, the late Beatles manager. Related Articles Ticket to Ride: Fresh batch of tickets made available for Paul McCartney concert in Knoxville Paul McCartney plays in Knoxville, dazzling audiences Baby, you can drive my car: UTPD advises fans to get to TBA early for Tuesday McCartney concert He also has a story that few others can tell -- about going to the Wilson County, Tenn., farm of songwriter Curly Putman in June 1974, spending days hanging out with Wings musicians Denny Laine and Geoff Britton and actually giving McCartney a bass as a spur-of-the-moment gift. Ealey was 19 in June 1974. He'd fallen in love with the Beatles 10 years before as a result of their historic TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Credit: Dan Ealey Dan Ealey is looking forward to seeing Paul McCartney on Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena. He'd spotted an item in The Tennessean newspaper reporting that McCartney might be coming to the state in '74. The Liverpool native and the Beatles had split four years before. He was enjoying worldwide success with his recent album, "Band on the Run". Many more hits were to come. Ealey heard McCartney and his wife, Linda, might have taken up residence at a secluded home in Wilson County west of Nashville. He had a few clues as to where the musician might be, so he set out in his Ford Torino station wagon on the hunt. He spotted a man in overalls along a rural roadside near Lebanon, Tenn. Ealey thought the man likely wouldn't have a clue, but it was at least worth asking him. Did the man know anything about a former Beatle being in the area? Ealey inquired. You mean those guys from England? the man replied. Credit: Dan Ealey McCartney on Junior's Farm in 1974. And just like that, Ealey's adventure began. The young man found the place, which turned out to be Putman's gated spread of about 133 acres, including a main house, guest house and pond. Putman would later recall that he and his family ended up taking a trip to Hawaii, thanks to his famous guests. McCartney ended up memorializing the farm in his single that year called "Junior's Farm". He's expected to perform the song tonight with his band as part of his Knoxville set. While at the farm that June, Ealey met and befriended Laine, a guitarist and veteran of the Moody Blues, and Britton, the drummer. He got to see McCartney. He was suddenly in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Ealey made a point from then on of going out to the Putman farm every day. Sometimes he manned the gate; sometimes he just hung out, chatting and socializing with McCartney's team. Credit: Dan Ealey Ealey's personalized license plate. He still has about two hours of recordings he made while the band rehearsed Wings numbers. That happened because he decided to take his tape recorder out one day to the farm. He often brought gifts, like the time he presented McCartney with an embroidered shirt he found in Cookeville and the time he abruptly turned over his Rickenbacker bass as a present for McCartney. Ealey said one day he brought the new bass over to the farm to show it off. Laine saw it, played it and declared McCartney would likely love it. "Well, then, give it to him!" Ealey blurted. McCartney kept it a couple of weeks but ultimately returned it, gratified but telling the young man he really should have it for himself.  Credit: Live Nation The advertisement for McCartney's show May 31 in Knoxville. "You know, it would be silly for me to keep this bass," he recalled McCartney telling him. McCartney did, however, keep and wear the colorful, embroidered shirt. A thrilled Ealey spotted him wearing it one day while using binoculars on the property. Ealey said McCartney also made a point of making him feel welcome. While celebrating his 32nd birthday on the farm -- June 18, 1974 -- McCartney introduced Ealey to music legend Roy Orbison, who'd been invited to the party. Another time, Ealey brought his friend Billy Dyer to the farm on the off chance they might get to see McCartney. Sure enough, the musician drove up and when he spotted Ealey, he remarked, "How ya' doing, Dan? An astonished Dyer whispered to Ealey, "Paul McCartney knows your name!" Credit: WBIR Ealey shows off his Rickenbacker bass. After about six weeks at the farm, it was time for McCartney and the band to move on. They had music to record and plans to make. He'd never dream of doing it today, but back in the 1970s Ealey decided to sell that Rickenbacker bass -- just because. When you're 19 you don't always think of life from a long-term perspective. Of course, he soon regretted what he'd done. It took him years before he finally was able to get the bass back. He keeps it safe at home now -- one of his great treasures. After McCartney announced this winter plans to play Knoxville, the Cookeville man hoped he could get McCartney to sign the old bass for him. Credit: Dan Ealey Dan Ealey and Denny Laine in 1974 on the farm. That doesn't appear likely to happen now, but through connections he's made to people close to McCartney, he is getting two tickets to see McCartney at Thompson-Boling Arena. He and Dyer plan to be there, hopefully, close enough that McCartney will spot them from the stage. Ealey has seen McCartney in concert before, but Tuesday night will be special. He thinks he is the first person to hear the early version of Wings play live in America -- because of their rehearsals all those years ago down on Junior's Farm. He still counts himself as friends with Laine and Britton, trading occasional communications with them. What if he could speak to McCartney today? "People ask me, Do you think Paul still remembers you? Many people say I'm sure he still does because I was there all the time. "You know, I gave him the bass, I gave him the shirt. I would just want to know how much he remembers about me being at the farm, if he remembers introducing me to Roy Orbison." Maybe, just maybe, he'll get to have that conversation someday.

In marketing, celebrity endorsement is a very common phenomenon in the twenty-first century. Knoll and Matthes concluded that almost celebrities have appeared in every fifth advertisement. A study suggested that agencies have spent 10% of advertisement costs on promoting endorsements. In contrast, few multinational organizations have spent more than 25% of their promotion on endorsers. A celebrity is a personality who gains public appreciation and recognition from the name of the organization, whom they are endorsing for the purpose of promotion. Celebrities enjoy fame and popularity, influencing the endorsed brand’s image. The celebrity portrays a clear image of an organization to consumers. Brand marketing by a celebrity or a famous personality develops attractive appeal, gains more attention, and high recall. Companies use celebrities to create a distinguished position in the market and to build a positive brand image, which shapes a positive consumer attitude and a unique brand personality/organization. Marketing managers and advertisers use endorsement strategies such as celebrity endorsement for their organizations because they understand that consumer attitude toward a celebrity also transfers to the organization. Therefore, marketers and advertisers hire an appropriate celebrity because the endorsement by consumers’ accepted celebrity enhances consumers’ positive attitude. Another study also concluded that the positive association of celebrity-brand partnership and brand evaluation played a role in designing advocacy and engagement. NEW TERM: Influencer Marketing

DISHIN THE DIRT ON THE FOOD INDUSTRY Dirty Secrets of The Food Processing Industry Source: www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods... ADD TO MY ARTICLES  We have always processed our food; this is an activity that is uniquely human. We chop, soak, cook and ferment our food - as well as grind and dry - these are all types of processing. Traditional processing has two functions: to make food more digestible and to preserve it for use during times when food isn’t readily available. Nutritious, long-lasing processed foods including pemmican, hard sausage and old-fashioned meat puddings and haggis, as well as grain products, dairy products, pickles—everything from wine and spirits to lacto-fermented condiments. Farmers and artisans—bread makers, cheese makers, distillers, millers and so forth—processed the raw ingredients into delicious foods that retained their nutritional content over many months or even years, and kept the profits on the farm and in the farming communities where they belonged. Unfortunately, in modern times, we have substituted local artisanal processing with factory and industrial processing, which actually diminishes the quality of the food, rather than making it more nutritious and digestible. Industrial processing depends upon sugar, white flour, processed and hydrogenated oils, synthetic food additives and vitamins, heat treatment and the extrusion of grains. BREAKFAST CEREALS  Let’s look at the processing involved in the typical American breakfast of cereal, skim milk and orange juice. Cold breakfast cereals are produced by a process called extrusion. Grains are mixed with water, processed into a slurry and placed in a machine called an extruder. The grains are forced out of a tiny hole at high temperature and pressure, which shapes them into little o’s or flakes or shreds. Individual grains passed through the extruder expand to produce puffed wheat, oats and rice. These products are then subjected to sprays that give a coating of oil and sugar to seal off the cereal from the ravages of milk and to give it crunch. In his book Fighting the Food Giants, biochemist Paul Stitt describes the extrusion process, which treats the grains with very high heat and pressure, and notes that the processing destroys much of their nutrients. It denatures the fatty acids; it even destroys the synthetic vitamins that are added at the end of the process. The amino acid lysine, a crucial nutrient, is especially damaged by the extrusion process. Even boxed cereals sold in health food stores are made using the extrusion process. They are made with the same kind of machines and mostly in the same factories. The only “advances” claimed in the extrusion process are those that will cut cost, regardless of how the process alters the nutrient content of the product. With so many millions of boxes of cereal sold each year, one would expect to see published studies showing the effects of these cereals on animals and humans. But breakfast cereals are a multi-billion dollar industry that has created huge fortunes for a few people. A box of cereal containing a penny's worth of grain sells for four or five dollars in the grocery store--there is probably no other product on earth with such a large profit margin. These profits have paid for lobbying efforts and journal sponsorships that have effectively kept any research about extruded grains out of the scientific literature and convinced government officials that there is no difference between a natural grain of wheat and a grain that has been altered by the extrusion process. THE RAT EXPERIMENTS  Unpublished research indicates that the extrusion process turns the proteins in grains into neurotoxins. Stitt describes an experiment, conducted in 1942 by a cereal company but locked away in the company's file cabinet, in which four sets of rats were given special diets. One group received plain whole wheat grains, water and synthetic vitamins and minerals. A second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water and the same nutrient solution. A third set was given water and white sugar. A fourth set was given nothing but water and synthetic nutrients. The rats that received the whole wheat lived over a year on this diet. The rats that got nothing but water and vitamins lived about two months. The animals on a white sugar and water diet lived about a month. The study showed that the rats given the vitamins, water and all the puffed wheat they wanted died within two weeks—even before the rats that got no food at all. These results suggest that there was something very toxic in the puffed wheat itself! Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the pressure of the puffing process may produce chemical changes that turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance. Another unpublished experiment was carried out in 1960. Researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor were given eighteen laboratory rats. These were divided into three groups: one group received cornflakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the cornflakes came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water. The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. The rats receiving the cornflakes and water died before the rats that were eating the box! (The first box rat died the day the last cornflake rat died.) Furthermore, before death, the cornflakes-eating rats developed aberrant behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves of the spine, all signs of insulin shock. The startling conclusion of this study was that there was more nourishment in the box than in the cornflakes. This experiment was designed as a joke, but the results were far from funny. Most Americans eat boxed cereals today. Because these are fortified with synthetic nutrients, the USDA can claim that they are as healthy as the grains from which they are made. Many of these cereals contain at least 50 percent of calories as sugar. Those sold in health food stores may be made of whole grains and fewer sweeteners. However, these whole grain extruded cereals are probably more dangerous than their refined grain counterparts sold in the supermarkets, because they are higher in protein, and it is the proteins in these cereals that are rendered toxic by this type of processing.  

Conspiracies and Cover-Ups at Large Many Conspiracy Theories Aren't Just Theories You may have noticed that this website consciously avoids using the term "conspiracy theory." We do this not because we don't believe there are major conspiracies happening in the world. The official story of 9/11 is a conspiracy theory in that the government claims 19 hijackers conspired together to hijack four planes and create terror in the world. The WantToKnow.info website purposely avoids using words like "conspiracy theory" because many people who are not aware of the many major cover-ups being hidden from the public shut down their rational mind as soon as they hear the word conspiracy. The main purpose of the WantToKnow.info website is not to preach to the choir – those who already know about 9/11, mass media, mind control, UFOs, and other conspiracies – but rather to reach those who know little to nothing about all that is being hidden. We have found that the most successful way to reach those who don't know is to present them with reliable, verifiable information that does not overly tax their belief systems. Psychologically, most people can't handle too much disturbing information at once. Thus, we initially present only a small chunk of the conspiracy which the uninitiated can digest without being overwhelmed. Yet for those who are ready, we also offer lots more resources to go deeper. For those ready to dive into the deepest material from the vast collection of reliable conspiracy information presented here, we invite you to explore the powerful collection of essays available at this link. Though the sources used are not up to our normal high standards, these revealing essays present the big picture of what is happening on planet Earth in a deep, yet inspiring way. You can also explore some of the excellent material we've put together on such important topics as remote viewing, HAARP, Nazi secrets, Freemasons, electronic harassment, chemtrails, cults and ritual abuse, ruling bloodlines, and the afterlife. To understand the really big picture, consider exploring a sequence of mind control documents which goes way deep at this link. And for by far the best single source revealing the deepest levels of deception, explore Lifting the Veil. We have also compiled a free, powerful online course which connects the dots on the big picture of what's going on in 11 information-packed lessons. This Hidden Knowledge Course not only gives a comprehensive view of all conspiracy theories, it provides ideas on what we can do to turn it all around and make a difference in our world. Even if you are aware of the big picture, you are almost guaranteed both to find some pearls and to find more hope through this mind-expanding course. Then take a look at this link to explore other courses there which combine amazingly inspiring materials with the conspiracy material.    

PROMOTION WARS The Monday Night War[1][2][3][4] or the Monday Night Wars, was an era of mainstream televised American professional wrestling, from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001, in which the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF; now WWE) Monday Night Raw (later Raw Is War) and World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro were broadcast opposite each other in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week. It largely overlapped with the Attitude Era, a period in which the WWF used the term "WWF Attitude" to describe its programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002. The rating war was part of a larger overall struggle between the WWF and WCW, originating in personal animosity between respective owners Vince McMahon and Ted Turner. The rivalry steadily escalated throughout the 1990s to include the use of cutthroat tactics and the defections of employees between the two promotions. Throughout the war, the WWF and WCW would both adopt different concepts and narrative techniques. Meanwhile, both companies would establish both formal and informal partnerships with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), with ECW performers either appearing on WWF and WCW shows while still under contract, or outright leaving ECW to work for one of the other two companies. While WCW was the dominant promotion for much of the mid-1990s, a variety of factors coalesced to turn the tide in the WWF's favor at the end of the decade, including a radical rebranding of their formerly family-friendly product into highly sexualized and violent shows geared towards older teens and adults. WCW ultimately ran into financial difficulties as a result of the amount of money they had promised wrestlers during a hiring binge in the early and middle part of the decade, which had been aimed at acquiring large portions of the WWF's talent roster. Behind the scenes, executives who had longed to see WCW removed from the Turner organization were eventually able to see it come to fruition after Turner Broadcasting's merger with Time Warner and their merger with America Online (AOL). With Turner no longer in control, corporate executives of the combined AOL Time Warner sold WCW's assets. Despite efforts to salvage the company, it was ultimately sold to McMahon, ending the Monday Night War. In retrospect, wrestling commentators have come to see the Monday Night War as a golden age of professional wrestling, along with the 1940s–1950s and 1980s booms, with the competition between the WWF and WCW bringing out their best quality product both in terms of creativity and the performances of their wrestlers.

Notable Examples of the Mandela Effect The story of Nelson Mandela is not the only example of this type of false group memory. As the concept of the Mandela Effect grew along with Broome's website, other group false memories began to emerge. Henry VIII Eating a Turkey Leg  Henry VIII, sans turkey leg. Wikimedia Commons People had a memory that the above portrait of Henry VIII featured him eating or holding a turkey leg, though no such painting has ever existed. There have, however, been similar cartoons created. This may be related to the common knowledge of Henry VIII as a large man. Luke, I Am Your Father If you saw Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, you probably remember Darth Vader uttering the famous line, "Luke, I am your father" in the pivotal scene near the end of the film. You might be surprised to learn, then, that the line was actually, "No, I am your father." Most people have memories of the line being the former rather than the latter, and it is commonly quoted incorrectly. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall If you watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, you probably remember the line, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" As you can see from the above subtitled screenshot, the line actually began with the phrase "Magic mirror on the wall" instead. It probably doesn't help matters that Julia Roberts and Lily Collins starred in a 2012 live-action film based on Snow White called "Mirror Mirror"! Oscar Meyer or Oscar Mayer? There is some controversy over the spelling of the famous brand of hot dogs, Oscar Mayer weiners. Some people claim to remember the brand being spelled "Meyer" instead of "Mayer," which is the correct spelling. To be fair, the brand pronunciation is a closer match for the "Meyer" spelling, while "Mayer" is often pronounced differently, as in the musician John Mayer's name. Location of New Zealand Google Maps Where is New Zealand in relation to Australia? If you look at a map, you will see that it is southeast of the country. However, there is a community of people who claim to remember New Zealand being northeast instead of southeast. Berenstein Bears The famous children's book series the "Berenstain Bears" created by Stan and Jan Berenstain is not immune to the Mandela effect. Many people report remembering the name being the Berenstein Bears (spelled with an "e" instead of an "a"). This is similar to the Oscar Mayer issue and hints at perhaps an underlying cognitive reason for the Mandela Effect instead of parallel realities, as some people believe.

Government Cover Ups & Conspiracy Theories Still a Thing? -------------------------------------------- 9 Huge Government Conspiracies That Actually Happened We all know the conspiracy theories — the government's plan for 9/11, the second gunman who shot JFK, the evolution of the elite from a race of blood-drinking, shape-shifting lizards.  But the people who spread these ideas usually can't prove them.  As the years pass, however, secrets surface. Government documents become declassified. We now have evidence of certain elaborate government schemes right here in the US of A.  The US Department of the Treasury poisoned alcohol during Prohibition — and people died.  The 18th Amendment, which took effect in January 1920, banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol — but not consumption. Despite the government's efforts, alcoholism actually skyrocketed during the era. To keep up with America's thirst, bootleggers not only created their own alcohol but also stole industrial versions, rendered undrinkable by the inclusion of certain chemicals (namely methyl alcohol). Liquor syndicates then employed chemists to "re-nature" the alcohol once again, making it safe for consumption, according to Deborah Blum, author of "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York."  The US Public Health Service lied about treating black men with syphilis for more than 40 years. In 1932, the Public Health Service collaborated with the Tuskegee Institute to record the history of syphilis in the black male community, hoping to justify a treatment program.  Called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the study initially included 600 black men — 399 with the disease and 201 without. While the men were told they would receive treatment, however, the researchers never provided adequate treatment for the disease. Even when penicillin became the preferred and available treatment for syphilis, researchers kept their subjects in the dark.  Although originally planned to last only six months, the experiment continued for 40 years. Finally, in 1972, an Associated Press article prompted public outrage and a subsequent investigation. A government advisory panel deemed the study "ethically irresponsible" and research ended almost immediately. As a result, the government settled a class-action lawsuit out of court in 1974 for $10 million and lifetime health benefits for all participants, the last of whom died in 2004. Parts of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to US intervention in Vietnam, never happened. Talk of Tonkin's status as a "false flag" for US involvement in the Vietnam War has permeated public discourse almost since the time of the attacks, especially after the government admitted that the second incident may have involved false radar images.  Talk of Tonkin's status as a "false flag" for US involvement in the Vietnam War has permeated public discourse almost since the time of the attacks, especially after the government admitted that the second incident may have involved false radar images. But after resisting comment for decades, the National Security Agency finally declassified documents in 2005, admitting the incident on August 4 never happened at all. FOR THE REST OF THE LIST FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW https://www.businessinsider.com/true-government-conspiracies-2013-12

Fabulous Fads: The Craziest Fads from The Last 100 Years Flappers Flappers arose at a time when women had just gained the right to vote, and participated in workforce efforts to support World War I. These young women were symbols of independence and freedom, unbound by social constraints of former generations, dancing to jazz in prohibition-era speakeasies in signature “flapper” dresses. While older generations regarded flappers negatively, modern history has painted them in a different light, as symbols of feminist power and a changing vision of womens’ involvement in politics, sexuality, and society. The Duncan Yo-Yo Donald Duncan was an American entrepreneur who is sometimes credited with inventing the yo-yo. In actuality, the yo-yo is an ancient toy. It’s depicted on a Greek vase from the fifth century B.C., and was popular in 18th- and 19th-century France and England. The term probably derives from Tagalog, Ilocano, or some other language of the Philippines, and the yo-yo first became popular in the U.S. after a Filipino immigrant started manufacturing the toy in California in 1928. Duncan bought his company the following year and altered the string mechanism, and his Duncan Toys Company sold millions of examples. Betty Boop Betty Boop was an animated icon of flapper and jazz culture. She was the brainchild of creators Max and Dave Fleischer, who featured her in a cartoon short called “Dizzy Dishes” in 1930. With her trademark hoop earrings, short black dress, and dark curls, Betty Boop gained the love of audiences across the nation. Her style has evolved to reflect different beauty and style standards throughout the decades. Dance marathons The “hop until you drop” dance marathons of the Depression era – in which contestants paid an entry fee to dance non-stop, with the last-standing winners earning a cash prize – were more than just a source of entertainment. They also provided both participants and attendees with meals and shelter for the duration of the marathon, at a time when food and money were scarce. Many danced untill they literally died. They were soon outlawed as cruel and unusual punishment. Slinky In 1943, inspired by a spring that appeared to “walk” when it was knocked off a shelf, naval mechanical engineer Richard T. James began developing the now-classic toy known as the Slinky. He began manufacturing it in 1944, but had trouble selling it until he arranged a demonstration in the toy department of Gimbels in Philadelphia. It impressed onlookers, and sold hundreds of units the same day. The Slinky went on to become one of the most recognizable toys in the country, with more than 300 million sold in its first 60 years. Davy Crockett A five-episode 1954 miniseries on Walt Disney’s “Disneyland” and a film based on the series the following year propelled Davy Crockett to icon status in American culture. The real Davy Crockett was a frontiersman and politician who died while fighting at the Alamo in 1836, but his fictional incarnation became a folk hero to children across the country, who donned Crockett-inspired coonskin caps while imagining life on the frontier. The Coonskin Cap can still be purchased on Amazon. Hula Hoop Hoops twirled around the waist have existed for at least 2500 years. The California-based toy company Wham-O – also known for the Frisbee – started making what a friend of the firms’ owners dubbed the Hula Hoop, in 1958 and it was an instant success. Originally marketed as a new fitness tool to tone the midsection, it sold an estimated 25 million units in its first four months. TV Exercise Shows Jack LaLanne made his name as a fitness icon, He was TV first exercise guru. Others followed like Charles Atlas (worlds strongest man) and Abbye ‘Pudgy’ Stockton, the worlds strongest woman. Jack La Lannes inspiration has spawned a permanent fixture on TV, the fitness show. The Twist The Mashed Potato, the Swim, and the Funky Chicken were all inspired by the 1960s dance craze called “The Twist.” The accompanying song was written and originally recorded by R&B pioneer Hank Ballard in 1958, but the version performed by Chubby Checker two years later became a smash hit and launched the dance craze. To do the Twist, dancers swiveled their hips with their front toe in place, and their arms out. Sauna suit Sauna suits are one of many fitness items that promise to slim down users without workouts or diets. They simply make the wearer hot and sweaty and do not effectively help with weight loss, as any pounds lost through dehydration will come back once the user hydrates. Vibrating belts In advertisements, the makers of vibrating belts promised their devices would jiggle a person’s belly, legs, or rear end and vibrate the fat away. The machines were popular in the 1950s and 1960s, but sales flopped when scientists found out that they did not actually help with weight loss or shrink down any parts of a person’s body. Space Food Sticks Pillsbury designed these snacks for astronauts specifically, but they were released to the public before they made it into space. These slender, chocolate-covered cookie sticks were marketed as providing the body the perfect balance of the three macronutrients – carbohydrates, fat, and protein – and came in a variety of flavors including mint and orange. This fad plummeted by the 1970s because of fading interest in the space program, and disappeared entirely in the 1980s. They were brought back in 2006 by a different snack company, but are now gone again. Leg Beauty Kit The Leg Beauty Kit was one of the earliest examples of a widely popular fitness product using rubber resistance bands. The kit was marketed to women as an inexpensive way to slim and tone their legs. Jelly shoes Before there were Crocs, there were Jelly shoes. The colorful footwear, crafted from PVC plastic, emerged in Europe decades before coming to the U.S. The shoes were introduced to the American market as a high fashion item in the 1980s, and gained traction across the country among adults and children alike. Rubik’s Cube Originally called the “Magic Cube” by its creator, Hungarian architect Ernő Rubik, the Rubik’s Cube was a puzzler’s delight. The Cube required players to align the cube such that each face had nine squares of the same color. The game was a massive success, quickly earning a place as one of the most popular puzzles in history. The Macarena In 1996, the Macarena was the dance everyone had memorized. “The Macarena” was performed by Spanish flamenco-pop duo Los Del Río, and was named for the daughter of one of the group’s members (though Macarena is also one of the 11 city quarters in Seville, the duo’s hometown). The song topped American charts for 14 weeks, and was subsequently interpreted by numerous other performers in both English and Spanish. The Electric Slide Back in 1976, Neville “Bunny Wailer” Livingston wrote a catchy song called “Electric Boogie” for his childhood buddy, singer Marcia Griffiths. Then choreographer Silver created the electric slide, a 22-step dance to the song that incorporated grapevines and a series of forward and backward steps. Fanny pack 2018 saw a resurgence of the Fanny Pack, but the ’80s and ’90s were the belt bag’s statement decades. The fanny pack was as much about fashion as it was about utility. The concept is prehistoric: a frozen body dating back 5,000 years was discovered wearing a waist bag not much different from a modern fanny pack. Troll dolls If you grew up during the 1990s, you, your siblings, or your friends probably owned a Troll doll. While Troll dolls, which originated in Denmark, first became popular in the 1960s, they made a comeback in the ’90s. Troll dolls came with multiple hair colors, and some had speciality “gem” bellies. Troll dolls haven’t lost their pizazz; two feature films about animated “Trolls,” based on the toys, were released in 2016 and 2020. Cabbage Patch Dolls 1976 As a 21 year old art student, Xavier Roberts rediscovers “needle molding” a German technique for fabric sculpture from the early 1800s. Combining his interest in sculpture with the quilting skills passed down from his mother, Xavier creates his first soft-sculptures. 1978 Xavier wins a first place ribbon for sculpture at the Osceola Art Show. He begins delivering his hand made Little People Originals and exhibiting them at arts and crafts shows in the southeast. He finds that many parents are happy to pay the $40.00 “adoption fee” for one of his hand signed Little People Originals. 1981 The growing success of Xavier’s hand made Little People Originals is documented by Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlanta Weekly, and many others. There are reports that earlier editions are re-adopting for as much as 100 times their initial adoption fee. 2000 The Cabbage Patch Postage Stamp goes on sale in January of 2000. Cabbage Patch has netted more than 100 Billion dollars in revenue since it's inception. And it's still around. Turbo Man Doll: How a fictional movie toy became a reality. If you're a fan of the movie "Jingle All The Way" and you've always wanted your very own "Turbo Man" toy,  now you can. It's a little pricey, it can set you back up to $200 bucks, so if you really want it to be "Turbo Time" at your house, Funko Pop Toys can make that a reality. Available on Amazon.com  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kevin Sorbo Sorbo in 2022 Born Kevin David Sorbo September 24, 1958 (age 65) Mound, Minnesota, U.S. Alma mater Minnesota State University Moorhead (BA) Occupations Actor producer director Years active 1984–present Spouse Sam Jenkins   ​ (m. 1998)​ Children 3, including Braeden Sorbo Website kevinsorbo.net Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor and producer. He has had starring roles in two television series: as Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1999) and as Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda (2000–2005). In between his years playing Hercules, Sorbo played his first leading film role in the 1997 fantasy film Kull the Conqueror. Sorbo is also known for acting in Christian films such as God's Not Dead (2014) and Let There Be Light (2017). Early life and education[edit] Sorbo was born in Mound, Minnesota, on September 24, 1958.[1] He is of Norwegian descent.[2] He was raised in a Lutheran family.[3] Sorbo attended Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he double majored in marketing and advertising.[4] To help pay for tuition, he began to work as a model for print and television advertising.[5] Early work[edit] In the mid-1980s, Sorbo traveled around Europe and Australia working in television commercials and also modeling for print advertisements. During this period, he made his acting debut in an episode of the soap opera Santa Barbara in 1986. He continued working in advertising and by the early 1990s, he had appeared in over 150 commercials. One of the popular commercials he appeared in was for Jim Beam bourbon whiskey, known for Sorbo's repeated catchphrase, "This ain't Jim Beam".[6] He made guest appearances in television series such as 1st & Ten, Murder She Wrote, and The Commish. In 1992, he played his first leading role in an unsuccessful television pilot for a medical drama series titled Condition: Critical, which was not picked up, but aired as a television film on ABC. He was considered for and lost out to Dean Cain as Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and was one of the possible contenders for the role of Fox Mulder in The X-Files, which went to David Duchovny.[7][8][9][10] In 1993, he made his film debut in Slaughter of the Innocents.[11] Professional breakthrough with Hercules[edit] In 1993, Sorbo received his breakthrough leading role as the ancient greek demigod Hercules in a series of five television films that aired as part of Universal Television's Action Pack.[12] The first film to premiere was Hercules and the Amazon Women, which aired in April 1994, the others following later in the year. The ratings success of the films paved the way for the commission of the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which started airing in syndication from January 1995 and ran for six seasons. The series made Sorbo an international star and was one of the highest rated syndicated television shows at the time.[13][better source needed] The success of the show spawned the popular spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess starring Lucy Lawless, who was introduced in a three-episode arc in the first season of Hercules. This allowed several characters from both shows to make crossover appearances. In 1998, a spin-off direct-to-video, animated film titled Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus was released with both Sorbo and Lawless voicing the characters.[14] Hercules was canceled midway through the filming of Season Six, of which only eight episodes were produced. The final episode aired in November 1999.[15] Although it was not revealed at the time, health issues reduced Sorbo's abilities to perform the physically demanding role during the later seasons.[16] Sorbo made his final appearance as Hercules on Xena, in the Season Five episode "God Fearing Child", which aired in February 2000. In between his years playing Hercules, Sorbo played his first leading film role in the 1997 film Kull the Conqueror. In a mostly negative review, The New York Times writes, "Mr. Sorbo provides the requisite oiled torso, a hint of humor and the professionalism and good grace to act as if Kull the Conqueror mattered."[17] Post-Hercules work[edit] After Hercules ended, Sorbo played the starring role of Captain Dylan Hunt in the science-fiction drama series Andromeda from 2000 to 2005. In 2006, he played a recurring role on the final season of The O.C. In 2007, he starred in two direct-to-video sequels to Walking Tall, Walking Tall: The Payback and Walking Tall: Lone Justice. In the Hallmark Channel film Avenging Angel, he co-starred with his real wife, Sam Jenkins. In the 2008, he appeared in the spoof film titled Meet the Spartans, which was a box office success despite poor reviews.[18][19] Sorbo in 2013In the first of what would be several voice acting jobs, Sorbo performed one of the main protagonists, Prometheus, in the video game The Conduit.[20] He also reprised the role of Hercules in the video game God of War III and worked together with his wife on the game Cloudberry Kingdom.[21] In 2014, Sorbo co-starred in God's Not Dead, a Christian film in which he portrayed an atheist college professor who requires his students to disown their religions on the first day of his class.[22] Although heavily panned by critics, it was a commercial success and the first of a sequence of Christian films that Sorbo would produce or perform.[23][24][25] Sorbo appeared in the 2015 romantic comedy Single in South Beach, starring Haley Webb. On Twitter, in 2019, she accused Sorbo of sexual advances and of sexually harassing her on the set. However, Webb did not elaborate on any of her accusations, and he did not respond to her tweet.[26][27] In 2017, Sorbo directed and starred in the Christian drama film Let There Be Light, which featured conservative pundit Sean Hannity, who was also an executive producer. It was described by the New Yorker as "a cynical, xenophobic morality tale, as bitter as it is saccharine" that closes with "a dénouement of bald Islamophobia".[28][29] The Los Angeles Times, although critical, says that it provides "an involving bonanza" for its intended Christian audience. Sorbo is described as bringing "puckish charm and credible warmth to his role".[30] In 2023, he is set to appear in the Ronald Reagan biopic opposite Dennis Quaid who plays the title role.[31]

WHY ARE WE ADDICTED TO SPORTS? A Personal Analytical Perspective  Whether it is watching a new sport that I’ve never watched before or playing a sport that I have never played before, or both. I find that I cannot ever switch off from being interested in that sport in one way or another for the rest of my life. The question is then, do I have my own sports addiction? Now I don’t mean that every time in my life since I was a little kid, I’ve come across a sport and then gone out and bought all the gear to play that sport. I mean that there is now always a vested interest in my life if that sport ever comes back into my life, because there is no way that I could keep up with all the sports I “follow” on a daily basis. I would never get out of bed in the morning otherwise, as I’d be catching up on Twitter with all the latest news from around the world. Now, most people I know and I obviously mean my friends and of course people you have worked with like one sport or another, but every sport? Your work colleagues might not be your best friends, but in terms of years worked you do tend to spend more time with them throughout the year than say your mates and even to a point, your partner. In all the years I have worked I have always found it relatively easy to strike up a conversation, but normally that is because I always bring it around to sport. Whether it is rugby, cricket, American football, squash, Aussie rules, horse racing or both the winter and summer Olympics for example. Basically, I have yet to find a sport that I can generally say I dislike and that I cannot find some sort of interest in but not everyone is the same as me. A lot of my friends cannot stand rugby or cricket and they are up there with some of my favourites sports. Of course these days it is even easier to watch sport when you have a favorite sportsperson or sports teams you can follow and watch at home. The ease of watching sport at home these days is of course so much easier with the choice of sports channels you can watch on your TV, phone, laptop or tablet. The watching of sport can surely only be done if you generally enjoy it as well though and I do. I really do. It’s not a new thing either, I definitely know I’ve been like this for at least twenty-seven years and I’m now 42 years-old. The reason I chose to go back to the age of 15, was because that is when I know my parents got SKY TV in at our home. The pure joy of having three different sports channels with all sorts of sports on was brilliant, I think the channels were Eurosport, Sky Sports and Screensport and there was all sorts of stuff to watch. Don’t get me wrong either, I don’t just sit and watch sport, I love playing it as well and will always give anything a go. I think the competitive edge and the importance of keeping fit is half the reason why I love sport so much. Of course there are many other reasons too that sport can help with, most of which are genuine life skills at the end of the day and most we can teach our kids about too. From team work to hard work and managing pressure, whilst at the same time working on your own as well as being a leader. All of these things are so important. Plus sport can teach you to never give up after failure and that success is sometimes just around the corner. I believe I do have my own sports addiction, but it is a good addiction to have. However, that does not mean that if you do not like certain random sports there is anything wrong with that, but please do always try to give things a go first. Then if it’s not for you, leave it, unfortunately I cannot.  

TV Producer Dan Schneider and Arianna Grande The documentary Quiet on Set alleges that Nickelodeon has a history of sexual abuse by producer Dan Schneider, production assistant Jason  Handy and assistant director/writer Brian Peck. The documentary also claims that Dan Schneider, the creator and producer of The Amanda Show, ran a hierarchical and demanding workplace, and that he facilitated Amanda Bynes's running away from home and attempted emancipation.    The documentary includes interviews with Drake Bell, who came forward about the child sexual abuse he faced in the docuseries' first run, and with two former writers on The Amanda Show, Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen, who allege that there was an abusive environment in the writers' room.    Peck, a dialogue coach on shows including The Amanda Show and All That, was convicted of sexually abusing a minor in 2004. The child's identity was kept private and records were sealed.    Schneider denied the claims, arguing that network executives approved all stories, dialogue, costumes, and makeup, and that a standards and practices group read and approved every script.       

ALCATRAZ: THE LAST ESCAPE Tonight: The Planning, Implementation and Execution of The Alcatraz Escape Its a story of greed, sex, lust, gangsters, strippers and a group of prisoners who were tired of being prisoners. Escaping from THE ROCK as it was called was no small feat. But Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin were no ordinary prisoners. They were cunning, smart and determined to beat the Rock known as Alcatraz the Inescapable. And so they did and the rest as they say is History. Or is it? I've said on this show many times, real life is far stranger than anything any writer could ever make up.  ALCATRAZ: THE LAST ESCAPE by Ken Widner and Mike Lynch tell the story you DIDN'T know about the men who made the history books. Fred Brizzi - Michael Dyke, the last Deputy Marshal assigned to the case, said Brizzi was "a drug smuggler and a con man," and was suspicious of his account of the Anglin Bros. Brizzi's widow said that she never heard him mention seeing the Anglin brothers in Rio, and that he was “a con man” who was prone to making up stories. MARIANNA REFORM SCHOOL In recent years, searches using ground-penetrating radar have discovered dozens of unmarked graves on school grounds. By late 2014, researchers have recovered the remains of fifty-five African-American boys. For decades the school remained segregated; blacks were not buried with whites. Thirty-one other boys are buried in a small cemetery, the only marked graves on the property. Most suspect many more graves are waiting to be found on the campus. “Baby, money isn’t always the solution. God is the answer you need.” Letters to Mother from Clarence Chuck Landis Club Owner - Fred Brizzi meet Micky Cohen

Top 15 States In The U.S. For Human Trafficking Human trafficking is far from being a curable disease of human society, even in developed and first world countries. This is also the case with the US, of course. Human trafficking in the US involves both inflow of foreign people in the country and the local population. According to the statistics of the National Human Trafficking Hotline and Polaris BFree Textline, more than 49,000 trafficking cases were reported during the last decade in the US. Of all types of human trafficking, sexual exploitation is number one also in the US. More precisely – out of more than 10,000 reported human trafficking cases in 2017, around 7,200 were for the purpose of sexual exploitation. But today we are not focusing on the type of human trafficking, but on the general statistics countrywide. We have done the research for the last year on the same issue, where we included some of the worst stats for human trafficking in 2018, which you can check out in our article on 12 Top States for Human Trafficking in 2018. Getting into more detail, concerning the top cities for human trafficking in 2018, there was no any reliable information on a worldwide level, but we did research which concerns US cities, and you can read more about this in 16 Top US Cities for Human Trafficking in 2019. Concerning the previous years, on the matter of the top US cities for human trafficking in 2017, there is a nice visual representation made by Polaris, showing the map of the cities and areas with the highest density of human trafficking for this year. As we can see, situations in the top 10 states for human trafficking in 2017, or already mentioned top states for human trafficking in 2018 do not differ dramatically, which also stands for this year’s situation. This fact shows that the local government does not take enough effort in preventing human trafficking cases and that this is a very hard thing to fight since human trafficking is a very developed industry. International Labour Organization estimates that human trafficking is a $150 billion industry, of which $99 billion belongs to sexual exploitation. We used some statistics provided for the last year since there is still not enough relevant data for 2019. However, it seems that trends remain more or less the same concerning the issues of the top states for human trafficking. So, we used the statistic provided by the National Human Trafficking Hotline, where reported cases were counted. Unfortunately, the number of unreported ones is unknown, so the situation might look a bit different than what we currently know. As the top 10 states for human trafficking have kept their positions over years, the same situation was to be expected for 2019 and on. But, let’s see if there have been any oscillations in the number of reported human trafficking cases recently between them, and which the new incomers are in the 15 top states for human trafficking in 2019: 15. Arizona - No. of reported cases: 96 Arizona is fighting against human trafficking actively. In September 2018, 24 people were arrested for being involved in the serious crime of child sex trafficking. 14. Virginia - No. of reported cases: 98 Being among the top states for human trafficking, Virginia takes this problem seriously – it is the 6th state in the country when it comes to solving human trafficking cases. 13. New Jersey - No. of reported cases: 98 Even though New Jersey now takes the 13th place compared to the 12th place last year, the number of human trafficking victims has actually risen from 83 to 98 reported cases. This is because of the alarming fact that human trafficking is on the rise in the US as well as in the world. 12. Washington - No. of reported cases: 99 Despite Washington being the first state to sign the law that criminalizes human trafficking, this state, unfortunately still has an alarming number of human trafficking cases. 11. North Carolina - No. of reported cases: 126 Human trafficking in North Carolina falls from the 8th to 11th position from 2018 to 2019. That is a good thing, even though it is still among the states which have a very developed human trafficking industry. 10. Pennsylvania - No. of reported cases: 127 Although the rate of human trafficking in Pennsylvania is slowly decreasing, it is still among the top 10 states for human trafficking in 2019. 9. Illinois - No. of reported cases: 135 Illinois has risen one place higher comparing to 2018 when it was number ten, and still being among the top states for human trafficking in 2019. 8. Georgia - No. of reported cases: 157 It seems that human trafficking in Georgia has decreased, from the 6th place in 2018, it takes the 8th now. We hope it will continue to follow this path. 7. Nevada - No. of reported cases: 169 In Nevada, as in other states, sex trafficking is at the top. And it usually concerns girls younger than 18 years of age! 6. Michigan - No. of reported cases: 176 Good news came from Michigan the last October when 120 children who were victims of human trafficking were rescued. But this also shows the alarming fact that children are most endangered when it comes to human trafficking in the US. 5. New York - No. of reported cases: 206 It seems that the number of human trafficking (and especially sex trafficking) cases in New York is dramatically increasing. The number of 206 cases is more than double than during 2016, so we might expect that New York gets even a higher position if we are to conduct the research about the top states for human trafficking in 2019, again at the end of this year. 4. Ohio - No. of reported cases: 219 In Ohio,  the most trafficking take place in hotels and motels, Commercial-Front Brothels and online ad. venues, and it is mostly concentrated in the central part of the state. 3. Florida - No. of reported cases: 367 The government of Florida seems to be working hard on preventing human trafficking, even though the state is one among those that have the most human trafficking reported cases. Namely, during 2018, 277 people were arrested for sex trafficking during an undercover operation called “Operation No Trick, No Treats”. 2. Texas - No. of reported cases: 455 Human trafficking is crawling into every sphere of society it seems. News from Texas reported that an eighth-grade teacher was arrested in an attempt to traffic a child to Morocco. 1. California - No. of reported cases: 760 California seems to keep the first place in 15 top states for human trafficking in 2019 as well. Not only it precedes every other country but the number of reported cases is quite higher compared to the second top trafficking state, Texas, as we have seen. One of the main risk factors for human trafficking in California include migration and relocation, where Latinos and Asians are the main target groups. The Connection Between Foster Care and Human Trafficking The child welfare system is an important and necessary institution that protects children whose parents are unable to care for them. The overwhelming majority of children and youth in foster care placements and group homes are healthy and safe. However, it is undeniable that most children and youth who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation have been involved with the foster care system at one point in their lives. Commercially Sexually Exploited Children by State Minimally half of the commercially sexually exploited children on the streets today were at one time living in foster care or a group home run by the state. While most of reports place this number above 50 percent, the statistics widely vary. At the high end, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, the Honorable Joette Katz, stated in her testimony to the state that in Connecticut, 98 percent of children who are identified as survivors of sex trafficking had previous involvement with child welfare services, and many were legally in the care and custody of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families while they were being prostituted by traffickers. Another study found that at least 85 percent of all CSEC in New York State had a child welfare background. On the statistical low end is the state of California that reported 50 percent of children sold in California are foster care children. While the statistics may vary by report, state and city, the overwhelming evidence suggests that the foster care system is a breeding ground for CSEC. Connection Between Foster Care Children and Commercially Sexually Exploited Children There are three childhood experiences that victims of CSE commonly share: prior sexual abuse by a family member or family friend; parental neglect or abandonment; or time spent as runaways or throwaways. Sexual abuse in particular is cited as a leading cause for entry into CSE, an estimated 65-95 percent of sex trafficking victims were sexually assaulted as children and 75 percent of all sex trafficking victims were at one point homeless. Children and youth are put in foster care placements or group homes when their parents are absent or can no longer adequately take care of them, leaving them prone to feelings of abandonment. There are a variety of reasons why the child welfare system takes children into custody, but the most common are parental substance abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic violence or neglect. A childhood of abuse and neglect greatly increases the chances for children to be lured into commercial sexual exploitation. It is also what runaway, throwaway and foster care children have in common. When asked, “What is the typical victim [of CSE] you come across?” FBI Agent and leader of the Tampa Area Crimes Against Children task force Gregory Christopher said, “A lot of these kids are foster kids, runaway kids… I’d say about 70 percent or so are foster kids. We work closely with DCF (Department of Children and Families).” Children and youth in the foster care system and those that run away from child protective services are more likely to become victims of CSE. The themes of childhood trauma, abandonment, and disruption are central to the stories of adolescents trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Without families to work on their behalf, it’s much more difficult to rescue foster youths from sex trafficking and keep them out of the cycle.

THE CHARLES MANSON EFFECT Charles Manson was born Charles Wilson Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934, to Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old girl alcoholic prostitute. In 1945 she married William Manson a low level petty theif and in short order the marriage ended. Little Charlie was placed in a boys reform school at the age of 12. Rejected in his attempts to return to his mother, Charles was soon living on the streets and getting by through petty crime. Still just a teenager, in 1951, Manson began spending time in prison. Early on, before he discovered the benefits of being a “model” prisoner, he was considered dangerous. He would eventually spend half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars. When he wasn’t incarcerated, he also attended reform schools. Manson was described by probation reports as suffering from a “marked degree of rejection, instability, and psychic trauma” and “constantly striving for status and securing some kind of love.” Other descriptions included “unpredictable” and “safe only under supervision.” His various offenses included pimping and passing stolen checks, and in 1961, he was sent to McNeil Island prison in Washington State for 10 years. It was while he was incarcerated that Manson learned how to read music and play the guitar. He was released from prison on March 21, 1967, and moved to San Francisco. The Manson Family Cult “The Family” was a group of around 100 followers of Manson who shared his passion for an unconventional lifestyle and habitual use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD and magic mushrooms. The Manson Family eventually moved from San Francisco to a deserted ranch in the San Fernando Valley. Manson’s followers also included a small, hard-core unit of impressionable young girls. They began to believe, without question, Manson’s claims that he was Jesus and his prophecies of a race war. Charles Manson and "Helter Skelter" Manson was influenced not only by drugs, but also by art works and music of the time, most notably The Beatles song “Helter Skelter” from their 1968 White Album. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders was later the title of a best-selling book about Manson and his crimes. Paul McCartney has said that the playground slide in “Helter Skelter” was a metaphor for the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Manson, however, interpreted the song’s lyrics as incitation to begin a race war. He turned to the album and lyrics to justify his scheme and guide his followers to murder. The Manson Family—including Manson and his young, loyal disciples—is thought to have carried out some 35 murders. Most of their cases were never tried, in part for lack of evidence. The perpetrators had also already been sentenced to life for brutally killing seven people—actor Sharon Tate and wealthy supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, among them—on back-to-back nights in August 1969. On August 9, 1969, Manson gathered a group of followers to carry out his massacre among Hollywood’s elite and “beautiful people.” The first of Manson’s victims was murdered at the home director Roman Polanski had rented, located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area just north of Beverly Hills. Polanski was away in London shooting a film, and four soon-to-be victims had just returned home from dinner when they were attacked. Although Manson himself took no part in the actual killings, he directed four of his most obedient followers—Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian—to the address and directed them to kill everyone. According to one of the Family member’s statements, the Polanski household had been targeted because it represented the showbiz world that had rejected Manson. Charles Manson died in prison on November 19, 2019 One Week after his 83rd Birthday. November 12, 1934,  

JEFFREY EPSTEIN WIKI INFO Jeffrey Edward Epstein (/ˈɛpstiːn/ EP-steen;[1] January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and sex offender.[2][3] Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional life as a teacher at the Dalton School despite lacking a college degree. After his dismissal from the school in 1976, he entered the banking and finance sector, working at Bear Stearns in various roles before starting his own firm. Epstein cultivated an elite social circle and procured many women and children whom he and his associates sexually abused.[4][5][6] In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after a parent reported that he had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. Federal officials identified 36 girls, some as young as 14 years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused.[7] Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.[8] He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a controversial plea deal, and served almost 13 months in custody but with extensive work release.[9] Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.[10][11] He died in his jail cell on August 10, 2019.[12] The medical examiner ruled that his death was a suicide by hanging.[13] Epstein's lawyers have disputed the ruling, and there has been significant public skepticism about the true cause of his death, resulting in numerous conspiracy theories.[14][15] Since Epstein's death precluded the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against him, a judge dismissed all criminal charges on August 29, 2019.[16][17] Epstein had a decades-long association with the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, leading to her 2021 conviction on U.S. federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping him procure girls, including a 14-year-old, for child sexual abuse and prostitution.[18][19][20]

  The Last Escape From Alcatraz Its a story of greed, sex, lust, gangsters, strippers and a group of prisoners who were tired of being prisoners. Escaping from THE ROCK as it was called was no small feat. But Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin were no ordinary prisoners. They were cunning, smart and determined to beat the Rock known as Alcatraz the Inescapable. And so they did and the rest as they say is History. Or is it? I've said on this show many times, real life is far stranger than anything any writer could ever make up.  ALCATRAZ: THE LAST ESCAPE by Ken Widner and Mike Lynch tell the story you DIDN'T know about the men who made the history books. Fred Brizzi - Michael Dyke, the last Deputy Marshal assigned to the case, said Brizzi was "a drug smuggler and a con man," and was suspicious of his account of the Anglin Bros. Brizzi's widow said that she never heard him mention seeing the Anglin brothers in Rio, and that he was “a con man” who was prone to making up stories.

Who Is Dennis Rader? Dennis Rader is an American serial killer who terrorized the Wichita, Kansas, area from 1974 to 1991 and became known as the BTK Killer. Living a double life as a devoted family and company man by day, Rader brutally murdered 10 people. His nickname represents his method of binding, torturing, and killing victims. He also taunted authorities through brazen correspondence with local news outlets. Rader’s alter ego resurfaced in 2004, and his penchant for leaving clues led to his arrest. He pleaded guilty to the murders the following year and is now serving 10 life sentences in prison. First Victims On January 15, 1974, Rader strangled four members of the Otero family—Joseph and Julie, along with two of their children Josephine and Joseph Jr.—to death in their Wichita home, before leaving with a watch and a radio. Strangulation and souvenir-taking would become part of Rader’s pattern of criminal behavior. He also left semen at the scene and later said that he derived sexual pleasure from killing. The Oteros’ 15-year-old son, Charlie, came home later that day and discovered the bodies. Rader struck again a few months later. On April 4, he waited in the apartment of a young woman named Kathryn Bright, before stabbing and strangling her when she returned home. Rader also twice shot her brother, Kevin, though he survived. Kevin later described Rader as an “average-sized guy, bushy mustache, ‘psychotic’ eyes,” according to a TIME magazine article.   Return, Arrest, and Imprisonment Over the next several years, BTK dropped off the map as Rader focused on work and family life. He had left ADT in the late 1980s and started working for the Wichita suburb of Park City as a compliance supervisor in 1991. In his new position, Rader was known to be a stickler for the rules. He measured the height of people’s lawns and chased stray animals while toting a tranquilizer gun. According to reports, Rader took pleasure in exerting his limited authority over his neighbors and other members of the community. He was also a Boy Scout troop leader and president of his church council. With many news stories marking the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders, BTK resurfaced in 2004. Rader sent local media outlets and authorities several letters filled with items related to his crimes, including pictures, a word puzzle, and an outline for the “BTK Story.” He also left packages with clues, including a computer disk that ultimately led authorities to Rader’s church. Investigators also noticed his Jeep on security tapes of some of the package drop-off areas and cemented their case by obtaining a DNA sample from Rader’s daughter. Getty Images BTK Killer Dennis Rader in court in August 2005 Rader was arrested on February 25, 2005, and later charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder. His neighbors and fellow church members were stunned by the news, unable to believe that the man they knew was the serial killer that had haunted the area for so long.

I have concluded that organized religion is absolutely silly. How can I prevent myself from viewing the practitioners as equally silly?  SHORT ANSWER: You Can't. These people are like piria that devour the airwaves, so do yourselves a collective favor and DON'T WATCH THEM and stay away from their "Camp Meetings". You will only hurt yourself exponentially in the longterm.

HUGE WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW STAR RETURNING FROM INJURY SOON, PER REPORT In a report from Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer, it's mentioned that someone close to Vince McMahon says that while the former WWE boss is open to exploring other business ventures he doesn't plan on starting his own wrestling company. Rumors had surfaced that many within the wrestling business felt there was a good chance McMahon would start a new promotion, but it appears this latest report puts that chatter to rest. McMahon's name has been scrubbed from WWE programming and products amid the Janel Grant lawsuit. WWE 2K24 developers reportedly had to scramble in order to get McMahon and Brock Lesnar removed from the game before release. While there wasn't enough time to have their assets completely removed, McMahon and Lesnar are not selectable characters in the game. Lesnar allegedly requested explicit photos and video of Grant from McMahon. It's also alleged that Lesnar had set up a "play date" with Grant before inclement weather changed plans. Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC, MMA, WWE, and AEW. Follow MMA Knockout on Twitter and Facebook. Attorney: John Laurinaitis is a victim Despite being named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, an attorney for John Laurinaitis told VICE his client is a victim in the situation, and appeared to corroborate the claims made against McMahon. “Mr. Laurinaitis denies the allegations in the misguided complaint and will be vigorously defending these charges in court, not the media," lawyer Edward Brennan told the outet. "Like the Plaintiff, Mr. Laurinaitis is a victim in this case, not a predator. The truth will come out. "Read the allegations. Read the Federal Statute. Power, control, employment supervisory capacity, dictatorial sexual demands with repercussions if not met. Count how many times in the complaint Vince exerts control over both of them."

THE LAST ESCAPE OF JOHN & CLARENCE, THE ANGLIN BROTHERS & FRANK MORRIS Its a story of greed, sex, lust, gangsters, strippers and a group of prisoners who were tired of being prisoners. Escaping from THE ROCK as it was called was no small feat. But Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin were no ordinary prisoners. They were cunning, smart and determined to beat the Rock known as Alcatraz the Inescapable. And so they did and the rest as they say is History. Or is it? I've said on this show many times, real life is far stranger than anything any writer could ever make up.  ALCATRAZ: THE LAST ESCAPE by Ken Widner and Mike Lynch tell the story you DIDN'T know about the men who made the history books. Fred Brizzi - Michael Dyke, the last Deputy Marshal assigned to the case, said Brizzi was "a drug smuggler and a con man," and was suspicious of his account of the Anglin Bros. Brizzi's widow said that she never heard him mention seeing the Anglin brothers in Rio, and that he was “a con man” who was prone to making up stories. MARIANNA REFORM SCHOOL In recent years, searches using ground-penetrating radar have discovered dozens of unmarked graves on school grounds. By late 2014, researchers have recovered the remains of fifty-five African-American boys. For decades the school remained segregated; blacks were not buried with whites. Thirty-one other boys are buried in a small cemetery, the only marked graves on the property. Most suspect many more graves are waiting to be found on the campus. “Baby, money isn’t always the solution. God is the answer you need.” Letters to Mother from Clarence Chuck Landis Club Owner - Fred Brizzi meet Micky Cohen

RITA GIGANTE - HEALER PSYCHIC & MEDIUM DAUGHTER OF NEW YORK MAFIA BOSS VINCENT "THE CHIN" GIGANTE RITA GIGANTE LIFE WITH THE "CHIN" Rita is an acclaimed author, healer, and psychic, who connects with her “Spirit Crew” on a journey to the answers that you have been waiting for. This show is filled with love, laughter, and a provocative tell-all about how to live your life authentically and abundantly. Plus a cameo appearance, channeled by Rita, of Vincent and Olympia Gigante! ABOUT THE "CHIN" For nearly 30 years, reputed Genovese Family crime boss Vincent Gigante pretended to be mentally ill to avoid prison. And it almost worked. An old man wandering around in his pajamas, a bathrobe, and a ratty pair of house slippers muttering nonsense to nobody in particular is a fairly typical sight in New York City, but Vincent Gigante was anything but typical. Partly because he wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in an elaborate performance of insanity, Mafia boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante eluded prosecution for decades as a supposedly unstable and incompetent man. From Wikipedia Vincent Louis Gigante - March 29, 1928 – December 19, 2005), also known as "The Chin", was an American mobster who was boss of the Genovese crime family in New York City from 1981 to 2005. Gigante started out as a professional boxer who fought in 25 matches between 1944 and 1947. He then started working as a Mafia enforcer for what was then the Luciano crime family, forerunner of the Genovese family. Gigante was one of five brothers. Three of them, Mario, Pasquale, and Ralph, followed him into the Mafia. Only one brother, Louis, stayed out of the crime family, instead becoming a Catholic priest.[1] Gigante was the shooter in the failed assassination of longtime Luciano boss Frank Costello in 1957. In 1959, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for drug trafficking, and after sharing a prison cell with Costello's rival, Vito Genovese, Gigante became a caporegime overseeing his own crew of Genovese soldiers and associates based in Greenwich Village. Gigante quickly rose to power during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1981 he became the family's boss, while Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno served as front boss during the first half of the 1980s. He also ordered the failed murder attempt of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti in 1986. With the arrest and conviction of Gotti and various Gambino family members in 1992, Gigante was recognized as the most powerful crime boss in the United States. For about 30 years, Gigante feigned insanity in an effort to throw law enforcement off his trail. Dubbed "The Oddfather" and "The Enigma in the Bathrobe" by the media, Gigante often wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in his bathrobe and slippers, mumbling incoherently to himself. He was indicted on federal racketeering charges in 1990, but was determined to be mentally unfit to stand trial. In 1997, he was tried and convicted of racketeering and conspiracy, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Facing obstruction of justice charges in 2003, he pleaded guilty and admitted that his supposed insanity was an elaborate effort to avoid prosecution, as he was sentenced to an additional three years in prison. He died in the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners on December 19, 2005.

The Yorkshire Ripper Sutcliffe’s plea of diminished responsibility, which could have resulted in a lighter sentence, wasn’t successful. On May 22, 1981, he was found guilty of 13 murders and seven counts of attempted murder. The judge sentenced him to 20 life terms and recommended a minimum sentence of 30 years. The death penalty wasn’t an option, having been abolished in 1965. After he was captured and behind bars, Sutcliffe began using his mother’s maiden name and going by Peter William Coonan. In 1984, a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia saw Sutcliffe removed from prison and sent to Broadmoor Hospital, a secure psychiatric facility. While in custody Sutcliffe applied for the right to parole, but a 2010 ruling said that he would never be released from prison. He was declared mentally able to leave the secure hospital and sent to a maximum-security prison in 2016. Sutcliffe experienced numerous assaults while in custody. In 1997, an inmate stabbed Sutcliffe’s eyes with a pen, and he subsequently lost vision in his left eye. Wife Sutcliffe met Sonia Szurma, whose parents were refugees from Poland and Ukraine, in 1966. The two married on August 10, 1974. They had no children. Sonia offered her support during Sutcliffe’s 1981 trial and initially visited him while he was in custody. They divorced in 1994. Her visits reportedly stopped after she got married again in 1997. Despite their divorce, Sutcliffe named Sonia as his next of kin. Sonia no longer lives in the house she and Sutcliffe moved into in 1977. Although she reportedly received permission to sell the home in December 2021, there is no public record of her actually doing so. Death Sutcliffe died at age 74 on November 13, 2020, at the University Hospital of North Durham in England. The hospital was near the prison where he’d been serving his sentence. At the end of October, Sutcliffe had been treated for a suspected heart attack at the hospital. Following his hospital stay, he reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 but refused treatment. His ex-wife Sonia is believed to have planned his funeral. The Long Shadow and Other Media In December 2020, Netflix debuted a four-part docuseries simply titled The Ripper about Sutcliffe’s crime spree. It featured interviews with witnesses and investigators. Sutcliffe’s crimes and capture are the subject of the seven-part ITV miniseries The Long Shadow, which debuted in September 2023. Writer George Kay based the dramatized series on the 2003 book Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper by Michael Bilton, as well as real case files, interview transcripts, and police reports. Originally called The Yorkshire Ripper, the series underwent a name change because Kay felt the moniker was “disrespectful” to Sutcliffe’s victims and survivors who he felt were at the heart of the series. “The victims’ families certainly don’t want that name being applied to Peter Sutcliffe because it creates a dark brand around a man who doesn’t deserve that sort of attention,” he said.  

Who Was John Wayne Gacy? John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer and rapist who murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men in Cook County, Illinois, burying most under his house. Sometimes known as the “Killer Clown” for his habit of dressing in a clown costume and makeup, Gacy had an abusive childhood and struggled with his homosexuality. Gacy committed all the murders in his Norwood Park home, luring his victims there with the promise of construction work or some other ruse, then sexually assaulting and torturing them before killing them, usually by strangulation. Gacy was arrested in 1979, and the following year, he was convicted of 33 murders. Gacy was executed in 1994. In 1971, Gacy started a construction business called PDM Contractors, which grew rapidly and became financially successful. Also that year, Gacy also became engaged to Carole Hoff, who he briefly dated in high school. The two were married in 1972. Most of his employees at PDM Contractors were high school students and young men, who he would proposition for sex, sometimes under the threat of violence. Nevertheless, Gacy kept up a public front as a community man, hosting summer parties that were popular and well-attended, according to Buried Dreams. John Wayne Gacy’s Victims Gacy committed his first known murder in January 1972, after luring the 16-year-old Timothy McCoy to his house for sex. The next morning, Gacy saw McCoy standing in the bedroom doorway with a knife and rushed to attack him, wrestling the knife away and stabbing McCoy to death. Afterward, Gacy belatedly realized that McCoy hadn’t been attacking or threatening Gacy but rather was holding the knife because he had just made them breakfast. Nevertheless, Gacy discovered he received sexual gratification from killing McCoy, and later said, “That’s when I realized that death was the ultimate thrill,” according to Buried Dreams.

Who Is the Zodiac Killer? The self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer is directly linked to at least five murders in Northern California in 1968 and 1969, with two other victims surviving despite serious injuries. However, he might have been responsible for more killings. He taunted police and made threats through letters sent to area newspapers from 1969 to 1974, before abruptly ceasing communication. Through that correspondence, he claimed to have killed as many as 37 people. Despite intensive investigations—and multiple theories pertaining to the killer’s identity—no one was ever caught for the crimes, and the case remains open. The mystery surrounding the murders has been the subject of numerous books and movies, including director David Fincher’s acclaimed 2007 movie Zodiac. Zodiac Killer Letters, Symbol, and Cipher On August 1, 1969, the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times-Herald each received an identical handwritten letter in an envelope without a return address. Beginning, “Dear Editor: I am the killer of the 2 teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman,” the letters contained details from the Zodiac Killer’s murders that only the perpetrator could have known. The killer went on to threaten further attacks if the letters weren’t printed on the front page of the papers.

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