U.S. citizens live with 'emotional terrorism'

Officers at DHS

Carol Forsloff---For years Homeland Security, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have said right-wing extremist groups and militias are a serious threat, as some of their members attempt recruitment online, even on blogger and newspaper sites, creating a form of “emotional terrorism.”

After an article on this site, a reader wrote in the comment section:
There is one issue that he has initiated (although inadvertently) that will make a percentage of the population of the U.S. safer sumdum, and I suggest you find your state branch.
 The 'Patriot' Movement Explodes. There were only 149 Militia groups/patriot groups in 2008. The American trust in obama has sent that number into a chain reaction of epic proportions and is growing momentum by the day. There are now as of 2011 1,274 and counting. Many have networked and are merging.

obama really is bringing True Americans closer together!

Journalist offered $2.5 million prize in the manner often used with seniors

Scam victim

This journalist just won $2.5 million, at least that's the news I got after answering the telephone today.  Perhaps you too have received a similar call, one that initially makes you very happy, that is until you learn the facts from the manner often used with seniors and military people.

"John Harper," who announced his status as representative of the Publishers Clearinghouse, called to inform me of my winnings.  He also gave me the number of the package I would be receiving and the representative at the Bank of America who would be verifying the winnings and making sure the money is transferred to a bank account.  I was only to obtain two IRS merchant banker stamps made out to an individual named Robert Marsh in New Florence, Pennsylvania in the amount of $360 that would verify the amount and to notify the IRS of the winnings in advance of tax payments.

But John Harper, according to the American Association of Retired Persons, is not a representative of the Publishers Clearinghouse.  The famous sweepstakes giant does not offer mailings or prizes until February.  Furthermore, Publishers Clearinghouse, and other legitimate sweepstakes offerings, do not ask the winner to pay any amount of money in order to receive a prize.

It is a familiar type of scam, but those playing the game of chance are taking less of a chance themselves with phone calls that on the surface appear to be legitimate.  The soft-spoken, courteous voice without accent, clear and kindly, makes the pitch.  Then there are the details that at the outset make the call sound like the prize and the winnings are real.  But there are hidden clues at the outset that offer a hint of the scam information that comes after the introductory remarks.

One of those clues is the salutation itself.  The caller referred to me as "Madam" at the outset and throughout the call.  I was not "Carol" nor Mrs. Forsloff."  And the caller, in referring to the delivery from the Bank of America, was unaware of the banking industry in Hawaii, where the banks are local and mainland banks have only small offices as opposed to large banks in the islands.  When I was told about the "stamps" needed for the Internal Revenue Service to be sent to a particular person, it became even more clear the call was a scam.  Add to that, the caller offered me the phone number I should call to speak with someone at the IRS.

The caller in my case, the "John Harper" who sounded pleasant and able to converse clearly and with detail, was very persuasive, congratulating me on being a skeptic while assuring me he is an honest person.  The FBI tells us those in the business of scamming seniors, and others, can be very bright and able to sound legitimate.  describing them as able to "make themselves extremely believable over the phone.  For people on the other end of the line who were even a little bit gullible or desperate for money, the deception could be too much to resist."

I resisted well enough so the caller gave up and moved on, but not until I had finished taking notes to write this article. I was wary enough to avoid being duped.  On the other hand the scammers are adept enough to catch some of the most astute, so it pays to remember that when someone asks for money to be sent in order to get money in return as a prize, it's time to hang up the phone and put your number on the "do not call registry," making it more difficult for those who want to scam to find you among the willing and the gullible.

Michigan and voting rights entwined in the legacies of Romney and the death of Viola Liuzzo

Viola Liuzzo

Two civil rights workers were killed in 1965 in Alabama while helping African Americans vote in the South. One of them was Viola Liuzzo, a white woman from Michigan, called a hero in the civil rights movement and whose legacy is intertwined with Romney's, a popular Governor who memorialized her contribution to voting rights.

The legacies of both Liuzzo and George Romney, former Governor of Michigan and father of Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, are a clear reminder how important it is for people to vote and for voting rights to be fair, just and inclusive.

The reminder is especially important as a Michigan Republican lawmaker, Pete Lund, has put forward a bill to partition voting in a way that would entirely change the Electoral College, an institution that has been long-held as part of maintaining the balance of power.  At the same time, there have been renewed attempts to require additional documentation and evidence of the right to vote, in ways that make it particularly difficult for the poor and for minorities.  Liuzzo gave her life in order to ensure the freedom to vote, and that life was memorialized by Governor Romney after her death in a way that underlined its value to everyone at the time. He was reported by the New York Times as stating after her death, “gave her life for what she believed in and what she believed in is the cause of humanity everywhere."

Liuzzo and a young African American man named Leroy Moton, who acted as her driver, shuttled civil rights workers to the airport in Montgomery. They were gunned down by members of the Ku Klux Klan following a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. The four men accused of the crime were Collie Wilkins, 21, Gary Rowe, 34, William Eaton, 41, and Eugene Thomas, 42.

Rowe was an FBI informant who presented testimony against the three others eventually tried for the crime of killing Liuzzo and Moton. The others said he pulled the trigger, but Rowe managed to gain advantage, according to documentation of the case, by giving evidence against the others.

Damaging stories were planted in the press that said Liuzzo was a Communist and that she had left her five children so she could be involved sexually with black men. It was later learned these stories in the press had come from the FBI, despite the fact they were false.  J.Edgar Hoover, history has recorded after his death, was a man some say who had his own closet of secrets and maintained a harsh, conservative stance in order to prevent the microscope from being turned on his own life as a closeted homosexual.

An Alabama jury acquitted the three men of the murders of Luizzo and Moton. Afterward, however, Lyndon Johnson had officials from his administration charge these same men under an
1870 statute "of conspiring to deprive Viola Luizzo of her civil rights." The three men who had been acquitted in Alabama were found guilty under the federal law and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The civil rights movement continued, as advances continued to be made. Viola Liuzzo has been said by those who have written her story, that she was ahead of her time in giving her life for the struggle of African Americans to gain their equal rights under the laws of the land. She was 41 years old when she died.

But like stories with false rumors, Luizzo's memory is mixed with the articles written about her as a tactic to prevent a guilty verdict for her killers. She remains sparsely known by students today, and her name is not prominent in the annals of history, as one of those who bravely fought for the rights of others and gave her life in that battle.

Liuzzo was a trained medical technician, a mother, a wife, and someone who was moved by Martin Luther King's cries for justice for African Americans. She volunteered to help in the march for civil rights after she had watched civil rights workers reviled and beaten when they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge into Selma in 1965, She left her husband, a Detroit Teamster Union official and her five children in order to help the movement during a period of several days in the South.

After Liuzzo was killed and her body returned home, her husband Anthony said this, "My wife died for a sacred battle, the rights of humanity. She had one concern and only one in mind. She took a quote from Abraham Lincoln that all men are created equal and that's the way she believed." Her death was memorialized by Governor George Romney, and he met with Anthony to reflect on Liuzzo's killing and her great contribution to voting rights, as they both looked through the numerous telegrams the Governor had received acknowledging it.

A St. Petersburg Times columnist recognized the contributions to the civil rights movement made by Viola Liuzzo in a selection written in 2002 about the sacrifices made by nine other white women during the period of time Luizzo was killed. In a book entitled Deep in Our Hearts columnist Bill Maxwell offers us his the narrative of white women heroines, representatives of thousands of them, who helped in the civil rights movement. The book, Maxwell wrote, presents the memoirs of Constance Curry, Joan C. Browning, Dorothy Dawson Burlage, Penny Patch, Theresa Del Pozzo, Sue Thrasher, Elaine DeLott Baker, Emmie Schrader Adams, Casey Hayden.  Viola Liuzzo was among those heroines

These women, heralded by those who recognize Liuzzo's contributions in registering voters as well in sacrificing her life to ensure that African Americans could vote, are part of black history's story, one Maxwell says folks should not forget. He ended his column with this, as I end this article now, "These nine white women, along with thousands of others, made our country a better place. The movement did not end in these women's personal lives after they went home for the last time."

That would include Viola Liuzzo whose going home was surely her last.  One might also hope that her going home will be remembered, as people resist any attempt to change the voting rights of ordinary citizens through gerrymandering, government shutdowns, threats and any other action that takes away the basic freedom that Liuzzo gave her life to protect.

How behavioral profilers' tricks of the trade can aid common decision-making

Fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, looks for clues

With everybody trying to sell you something, or making promises about a particular product or idea, how do you tell what's true and what's false anymore? There are some tricks of the behavioral profiling trade that can be applied to helping you make decisions and avoid the traps that liars set so often and that can keep you wondering who you can and cannot trust.  Let's examine what some of these ideas behavioral profilers use to tell the liars from those who are telling the truth.

Do you just trust your instincts and hope for the best most of the time? Science tells us there is truth to using what seems to be an instinct or sensing something is accurate or not, safe or dangerous.  We are told that if we get a sense that something is wrong, or that person in the elevator looks suspicious, that we can begin our decision-making process with these initial clues.  Oprah Winfrey had a guest several years ago who reviewed instances when our gut instinct can be important.  For example, that suspicious-looking person may remind you of someone you found abusive at one time, so the image of the individual triggers stress-related memories.  Why risk those feelings when you just wait for anther elevator?

So making everyday decisions can be helped by trusting one's gut.  But after that we must check those clues for accuracy, especially if we have enough time and circumstances to do so.  When we decide not to get on an elevator when someone appears suspicious, we have one chance to get it right or wrong; and so the hunch can help.  When we are hiring someone for an executive job at a major company where decisions that are made can make a difference in whether a company will be profitable or not, using a variety of methods to assess that individual can offer information to help secure the right person for the job.  And if you are picking out the right car, the salesperson who offers the details may give you the right information or simply offer generalizations that will make you take home the vehicle that is not the right fit for your pocketbook or special needs.

Research shows that attempts to determine lies from truth through nonverbal and verbal behavior are correct only about 50% of the time while handwriting analysis and polygraph tests have mixed and sometimes controversial results.  Most profilers will admit to missing the mark in assessing the person. Since the movies and the media often dwell on the most salacious aspects of a crime, especially serial murder, the investigator with limited experience may get lost in the thicket of details that get mixed with emotion.  Serial murder is a rare phenomenon, and without experience with numerous cases, it is possible to make the wrong judgment if one relies on assumptions based only on a small number of cases. This leads to what the FBI refers to as the "talking heads" phenomenon, with some of these experts offering opinions that can mislead the public, as well as pointing to the wrong person as the perpetrator of a crime.  These talking heads, along with television dramas and movies can lead to those false assumptions the public likes to quote regularly when there is a high profile case.  One of those false assumptions is that the serial killer is a dysfunctional loner.  But for the most part, in reviewing the backgrounds of killers, many of those who kill a number of people are good students, popular at school, effective on the job or simply that good neighbor that folks say they are surprised would do such a thing.

Jaylen Fryberg, the young student at a Marysville, Washington High School who shot and killed a number of his classmates in the school cafeteria, is the most recent example.  School officials and the boys parents were all surprised the popular teen would be capable of a mass shooting.

Still even though behavioral profiling principles aren't always accurate, they do allow investigators to develop a tentative road map that may lead to finding the truth.  These same principles can also allow you to be right much more often than random guessing. Detectives use behavioral profiling techniques to help them figure out whether or not some suspect is innocent or not. You can use them in your daily life to help make decisions about whether to move forward or not on a relationship or to buy that automobile from some guy you just met and don't know anything about.

Behavioral profiling requires that one look at a number of different aspects of a person to decide what type of behavior to expect or whether or not what you see and hear is a lie or the truth. There's something to that "trust your gut" feeling, but it's not enough. You must look at a number of behaviors over time to increase the value of a profile.

First of all, you have to determine normal behavior from unusual behavior for a given individual. In other words, just like a scientist does, a baseline has to be established from which to proceed. Get that salesman to talk about some ordinary event-the weather or sports. Watch the face, the hands, the gestures, and the way the eyes move when speaking, the tone of the voice and inflections. Some people are typically outgoing; others aren't. A little warm up talk will help you figure out what might be typical and what's not.

As you're listening and watching, the first time you wonder whether you've heard a lie, think about what was said and the tone that was used. Then change the subject, and go back to the topic later. You do that because the lie will be accompanied by a combined set of behaviors that are repeated. Watch and listen for contradictions between the topic, how it is discussed, the behavior and what's going on at the same time a story is told. The fellow who sounds irritated while showing the sewing machine at the outset may have just got off the phone after an argument with a customer. Change the subject; talk about something relatively mundane. Then ask for the explanation about some part of the machine again, and watch to see if the behavior and the words you heard the first time are the same as what you first observed.

Lies have certain attributes and mannerisms that often accompany them. Changes in speech patterns, to include softer, louder or different tones and pitches, repeating the question, using long pauses, or a redundancy of flattering words can be that liar's bag. Silence can also be used to deceive, so don't help the person along by filling in the silences. Allow the person to talk; he or she will often lead you straight to what you need to know. Eyes that blink too much, hands that fidget, feet that move around, and a whole body that has trouble being still are behavioral red flags that should be observed at the same time. Watch how the person moves the eyes, up, down or to the side and whether or not the pattern is the same during small talk as well as during topics where a decision must be made. Watch the nonverbal signals, crossing the arms or the legs in a defensive posture or raising both arms and lowering them vigorously and repeatedly in a defiant gesture while repeating words or phrases, both of which are clues to potential behaviors and what the person might be thinking when in that proverbial "tight spot."

Just as establishing a baseline behavior will help guide you in making the right decision about a person, you can create an unusual event that can help you determine how a given individual might behave under stress. While interviewing Richard for that job as an assistant, toss him your keys and ask him to move your car someplace. Or give Betty the assignment of turning off a computer on the other side of the room right after you've asked some relatively routine questions about her educational background. In each case observe what happens next because that will tell you how Richard or Betty will behave when confronted with the type of change that often occurs within an occupational situation.

Handwriting by itself won't tell you what the person is like or whether he/she might be lying. On the other hand, if all other signs indicate deceit, examine how the person signs his/her name and match that against the baseline or body of writing. The degree of difference or exaggeration can suggest discrepancy between what the person appears to be and the person he/she really is.

Now you're ready for your practice work. Don't do this with your husband, wife or close friend as practice. Just observe the people you don't ordinarily work or relate with, and use this information to make tentative choices or decisions. Then come back later and check out your
hypothesis. The more practice you have, the better you'll get. And that will help you avoid traps that can interfere with your moving ahead to what you need or want to do.

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Carol Forsloff worked over more than 50 years as an educator, counselor and journalist.  She also has been certified in forensics, testifying in the courts of Louisiana and Hawaii in document examination, rehabilitation, special education and life care planning and has had coursework specific to expert witness work and psycho-linguistics, as well as having advanced degrees in psychology and education. This recent article is an expansion of several others related to this topic of using behavioral analysis in everyday situations..

FBI announces American media in US and abroad now targeted by terrorists

Logo of the Society of Professional Journalists

The FBI has announced that Muslim-led terrorist groups have singled out journalists as special targets no matter where they live in the world, not just those who cover the news directly on the ground in the Middle East. As terrorism grows, the radical groups recognize that the media is the first line of communication and defense against misinformation.  But in targeting journalists, what individuals or groups are included in the extremist manifesto?

The Society of Professional Journalists sent information that was disseminated to media organization in the United States that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members and supporters have called for retaliation against US interests abroad, and to those conveying information regarding those interests by way of media accounts,

The extremist groups are using social media sites as the mechanism for communicating with their members throughout the world, asking those members to join in actions of retaliation against the United States and its interests abroad.

According to the FBI, a posting on an ISIL-dominated forum is entitled "A Message to 2.6 million Muslims in the United States: This is How to Respond to Obama's War on Islam."  It goes on to suggest that media personnel, that include anchors at various radio and television stations, field reporters, and talk show hosts to be the priority targets for execution, in response to the US-led airstrikes on Syria and Iraq.  This post, along with a video of the execution of an American journalist, are the tools used to announce that members of the media are to be hunted down and killed.  The FBI has detailed the information that the ISIL-affiliated group is the one charged with kidnapping journalists and is considered a threat, to the extent that American journalists are being notified of it.

The Society of Professional Journalists is a principal journalist organization, with extensive contact information that serves as a major mouthpiece for interaction with journalists across the United States.  It provides information on resources, meetings, forums, education and other topics.  In some cases, warnings like those regarding terrorist threats specifically regarding journalists are sent through email contacts.

This follows a significant uptick in the killing and brutalization of journalists everywhere.  In Nigeria journalists are caught in the middle of the two sides struggling for power in the West African country.  Boko Haram has particularly cited the need to kill journalists unfavorable to their cause.  Members of the government forces have also threatened, harrassed and detained journalists.

In Afghanistan the press is again the target of terrorism, as it has been reported there that 2014 has been the bloodiest year for journalists. Some of the top journalists who have been covering the news in Afghanistan have been killed.  One of them was Sardar Ahmad, a journalist who had been working with the French news agency at the time he was killed in March 2014.  But it is not just the reporter or media representative included in the terrorist threat.  Members of their families have also suffered at the hands of extremists.

Now, however, as ISIS and other groups sympathetic to their cause of deliberate and graphic torture and killings of random citizens, or media representatives, have indicated they will take their operations to American soil, or areas of known American interests, the threat to the media has widened,   This offers a new dimension of fear to journalists who seek to bring education and information to the public that might save lives.

Brennan Center advises on how and whether government should spy on citizens

Controversial figure, Edward Snowden who revealed government spying on citizens

“We expect the government to collect and share information that is critical to national security, but creating an electronic dossier on every American citizen is inefficient and ineffective. We need modern policies that limit how and with whom innocent Americans’ data can be shared and stored.”

Rachel Levinson-Waldman, and author of a report presented by the Brennan Center for Justice on how much information American law enforcement and intelligence agencies gathers, how much and with whom it is shared. She goes on to say, ““Intelligence agencies are treating the chaff much the same as the wheat.”

Given the interest in spying and intelligence agencies collecting information on American citizens and others around the world, as revealed by Edward Snowden, the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law decided to examine the specifics of these issues by collecting data and examining it relative to the information gathering process the government uses.

To do this the Center looked at five methods of data collection and has found that law enforcement agencies not only collective a great deal of information concerning Americans but have the capacity to store it for 75 years.

The following represent some of the highlights of the Brennan Center's reports:

• The FBI’s policy is to keep all information it gathers — regardless of whether it’s on innocent Americans or is relevant to an investigation — for 20 to 30 years.
• In the five years after 9/11, the FBI improperly gathered and retained information on individuals because of their political and social activism — in violation of the First Amendment — and put this data into federal databases from which it became almost impossible to escape, according a 2010 report by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice.
• Suspicious Activity Reports (“See something, say something”) ostensibly related to terrorism are kept in a widely accessible FBI database for 30 years, even if the FBI concludes they have NO nexus to terrorism.
• The NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times between 2011 and 2012, including acquiring information on “more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders” and using search terms for communications that were guaranteed to yield results with no connection to terrorism, according to a 2012 audit.
• Without a warrant, Americans’ electronic communications may be kept for up to six years, may be searched using Americans’ email addresses or phone numbers, and can be shared if they are evidence of a crime.

The Brennan Center goes on to tell us how important it is, as technology advances and gathering and sharing information becomes easier, that policies be adopted to make sure than the national security system does not take away or violate American's civil liberties.

The Brennan Center’s offers a numbe of recommendations to facilitate how the government collections information:

• Prohibiting the retention and sharing of domestically-gathered data about Americans without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
• Increasing public oversight over the National Counterterrorism Center, which can amass, retain, and analyze large quantities of non-terrorism information about Americans.
• Reforming the outdated Privacy Act of 1974, which is ill-equipped to protect the privacy of Americans’ personal information in a digital age.
• Requiring regular and robust audits of federal agencies’ retention and sharing of noncriminal information about Americans, and ensuring existing policies are accessible and transparent.

These recommendations match those made by other individuals concerned about the violations of privacy in the undertakings of intelligence and security officials, with a specific view that folks hope will be adopted to balance the needs of protecting the American public from harm while at the same time making sure that personal civil rights are observed.

FBI convicts scammers in mortuary business as others bilk the bereaved

WASHINGTON - GHN News - "It’s a morbid tale involving phony death certificates, staged funerals
with paid actors, and coffins buried with no bodies, but in the end,
it’s just a financial fraud scheme like thousands of others we
investigate every year. "

With that introduction, the FBI tells the story

of scams that are involved in defrauding companies that underwrite the
costs of funeral expenses and caring for the dead and bereaved
families.

In this case this August Jean Crump, who was a mortuary employee, was
convicted in federal court, joining three other women who had been
involved in a scam to bilk insurance companies.  They had filed $1.2
million in phony life insurance policy claims to do it.  All were found
guilty, with Crump's conviction recently.

The women didn't just perpetrate fraud on insurance companies but
several financial services companies that are used by funeral homes and
mortuaries to help pay for funeral expenses in exchange for getting some
of the insurance by way of reimbursements.

The scheme involved one of the women purchasing a life insurance person
for someone, then naming a fake "nephew" or "niece" as a beneficiary.
Then the individual insured would supposedly die unexpectedly, false
documents were created along with a death certificate and bills sent out
for payment or reimbursement.

The
bills were often very inflated with one company that paid a mortuary
nearly $30,000 and another about $16,000 according to FBI reports.

The
schemers didn't stop with just the basic mortuary costs but went further
and billed for coffins, headstones and burial costs, then ended up
actually burying empty coffins in order to disguise what they had been
doing.  Sometimes they would find people to stand in as fake mourners.

The women involved
in this particular scheme were able to defraud insurance and financial
companies because they were well experienced in the mortuary business
and knew about the kind of documents to file so that everything looked
legitimate.

That's when the FBI became involved, and the result was the arrest and
conviction of the fraudsters involved, ending with Crump's conviction
recently.

Negligence in the mortuary business has been related in a number of stories recently.  A legal firm filing a class action on behalf of 50 claimants describes

several decomposing bodies were found in a storage facility belonging
to Abbey Chapel of the Redwoods Mortuary, owned by Anthony
Villeggiante.  The lawsuit charges that there was negligence in the care
of the bodies and that cremation did not occur within a reasonable
time.  Furthermore, there was an accusation made by the Rohnert Park
officials in the area that corpses had not been properly refrigerated.

The business in
death and dying remains one of those areas where people try to make
money while preying upon the concerns of those parties of interest in
what are ordinarily sad events.

Law enforcement agencies tell us it happens much too often.