May 2001


Brad Wright and Eileen O’Connor (CNN) report, “On May 17, 2001, 12 boys from Evans Middle School were taken on a tour of the D.C. jail. Some had been involved in an in-school suspension program and others volunteered. The boys allege they were told to strip so they could experience a strip search. When some refused, they allege D.C. jailers told them they could not leave until they complied, and then they stripped.

“One of the boys was held down by eight inmates while his shoes were stripped off,” Wayne Cohen, an attorney for the victims’ families, told a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “He was then told to take his boxers off. He had his hands covering his genitals. He was yelled at to remove his hands, to grab his ankles, to squat and to cough.”

On May 18, 2001, the lawyers allege a group of girls from the same school was also forced to strip. They allege they were taken through the men’s jail, while some inmates masturbated.

“One of the guards told one of the girls something to the effect of, ‘He’s doing that because he hasn’t seen a girl in quite a while and he’s very excited,’” Cohen said.”
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Dr. Steven Mizrach writes, “With his death, Beckham’s name was added to a growing list of British scientists who’ve died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances since 1982. Each was a skilled expert in computers, and each was working on a highly classified project for the American Star Wars program. None had any apparent motive for killing himself.
The British government contends that the deaths are all a matter of coincidence. The British press blames stress. Others allude to an ongoing fraud investigation involving the nation’s leading defense contractor. Relatives left behind don’t know what to think.”
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Gregory Palast (UK Observer) writes, “The IMF riots (and by riots I mean peaceful demonstrations dispersed by bullets, tanks and tear gas) cause new flights of capital and government bankruptcies. This economic arson has its bright side - for foreigners, who can then pick off remaining assets at fire sale prices. A pattern emerges. There are lots of losers but the clear winners seem to be the western banks and US Treasury. ”
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KDFX.jpg

Weather Matrix reports:

The NEXRAD radar KDFX, located at Laughlin AFB in Texas was literally crushed by a thunderstorm microburst on May 26, 2001. The radar estimated winds at 64 knots (74 mph — hurricane force) at its last scan before it stopped reporting. Needless to say, this radar will be out of service for some time :) Click for a larger image; temporarily stored online at www.airweaassn.org. As of early June, the radar was expected to be restored “between July and September” according to the NWS.
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Stephen Pile writes in The Book of Heroic Failures, “History has furnished us with two executioners worthy of attention. The first performed in Sydney in Australia. In 1803 three attempts were made to hang a Mr. Joseph Samuels. On the first two of these the rope snapped, while on the third Mr. Samuels just hung there peacefully until he and everyone else got bored. Since he had proved unsusceptible to capital punishment, he was reprieved.
The most important British executioner was Mr. James Berry who tried three times in 1885 to hang Mr. John Lee at Exeter Jail, but on each occasion failed to get the trap door open.
In recognition of this achievement, the Home Secretary commuted Lee’s sentence to “life” imprisonment. He was released in 1917, emigrated to America and lived until 1933.”

Jennifer Emily and Herb Booth (The Dallas [Texas] Morning News) report, “A student at Ennis High School shot and killed himself today after holding an advanced sophomore English class hostage for a short time, police and school district officials said.”
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Karen Ayres (New Jersey Times) reports, “Principal Steven Mayer met with Jayanta Majumder around noon on [May 4th] to inform him that his son [Shinjan Majumder] was being suspended for 10 days for hacking into the school district’s computer system, Jayanta said. [..] After the meeting, Jayanta took his son home before returning to his job as an engineer in the nearby Carnegie Center. Jayanta spoke with his son on the telephone about a half-hour later, but several other calls went unanswered. Jayanta quickly drove home to find his son had hung himself.”
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The mafia was looking for a new man to make weekly collections from all the private businesses that they were ‘protecting’. Feeling the heat from the police force, they decided to use a deaf person for this job–if he were to get caught, he wouldn’t be able to communicate to the police what he was doing.
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)'(