14May

A Scam, With Terrible Consequences for a Serviceman

The army veteran Jared Johns was inspired by the tragic events of 9/11 to join the military as soon as he graduated high school. Following a tour of duty in Afghanistan, he struggled with depression and PTSD. Exactly 17 years after the World Trade Center tragedy, at age 24, he killed himself on another 9/11. He left a suicide note to his two young sons, who will grow up fatherless, saying, “It’s better this way, I promise.”

As it turns out, he had been the victim of a blackmail scam, perpetrated by inmates at a South Carolina prison, who have been targeting military personnel. Posing as young women, the men would flirt on dating sites, and eventually send nude photos. After reaching the nude photo stage in the “relationship” the scammers would then send threatening messages in which they pretended to be an enraged father of an underaged girl, who threatens to go to the police, and demands money in exchange for silence.

The Washington Post reports:
Between 2015 and 2018, 442 service members from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps were conned out of more than $560,000 through the scam, the investigators found. Five inmates were indicted in November, with officials warning that more than 250 people were under investigation and additional arrests could be forthcoming. (Washington Post, online at https://www.google.com/amp/s/beta.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/14/veterans-suicide-was-blamed-depression-then-police-found-threatening-texts-sent-prison/%3foutputType=amp

What a tragedy this is for this man and his family.

Filed under “Reflections of the Fall”

06Nov

The Lurid Tale of Talhotblond

I must shower after reviewing this yucky story. In 2005, a jealous 46 year old machinist and Sunday School teacher named Thomas Montgomery killed a younger coworker, Brian Barrett. The two were in love with the same cyber entity, an 18 year old blonde girl named Jessi, who had the handle “talhotblond” on a video game chat room. Montgomery had been posing as a 20 year old marine combat veteran. His posts apparently exhibited some troubling “rage issues” and he expressed the desire to “slide all the snake slowly into his lady.” (His Sunday School pupils will likely need some therapy after this).

Many of the creepy twists and turns of the story I will pass over, but they are the subject of a documentary and a recent article by a Larry Getlen in The Daily Beast. As police investigated the murder, they were led to get in touch with Jessi, the young blonde. However, they quickly discovered that although Jessi was a real person residing in Oak Hill, WV, she had no clue about the communications. Her photos and identity were actually being used by none other than her own mother, 45 year old Mary Shieler. Mary had taken revealing photos of her daughter and used them to fuel a fantasy life online.

Mary, who is now divorced, apparently expressed no remorse, and said to her daughter during the proceedings, “Why don’t you just get over this?” Getlen concludes:

The final irony to this case and talhotblond is that behind the well-matched youthful sizzle of the Jessi and Tommy personas lay another, equally well-matched pair: the two malcontented strangers who created them. Montgomery and Shieler were both lonely people who reached their mid-forties with their best days behind them, who then created deadly deceptions in the hopes of recapturing the glory of youth, and of finding real intimacy by fervently denying their true selves.

Few stories better deserve the appellation of our recurring category, “Reflections of the Fall”

30Oct

Money Brings Out The Ugly

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…Choose life!” (Deuteronomy 30).

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a human is to be given exactly what he or she wants. In fact, this may at the heart of what is meant by “Hell”. It is the curse of God turning away, and allowing the darkened soul to banish itself to a self-sought outer darkness.

An unencumbered pursuit of transient pleasures yields devastating and self destructive results. The risks taken become ever higher and the rewards ever more elusive. Relationships are destroyed, with bonds of friendship and familial affection severed, often to be replaced by the human equivalent of parasites, or else by abject loneliness.

This kind of curse is what happened to a West Virginia construction contractor named Jack Whittaker, who in 2002 had the misfortune to win the largest powerball payout to date. In the words of Misty, an employee of a strip club called “The Pink Pony”:

Over the months, the once-dapper Jack grew slovenly, Misty says: “He would come in a sloppy shirt, all wrinkled. His hat would be dirty. He’d be unshaven.” And he became demanding. “At first he was, like: ‘I’m Jack Whittaker. I won all this money, yay for me,'” Misty says. “Later it was, like: ‘I’m Jack Whittaker. You’ll do what I say . . . I have more money than God.’ Who talks like that?
“It was like the money was eating away at whatever was good in him,” Misty says. “It reminds me, like, ‘Lord of the Rings,’ how that little guy — what’s his name? Gollum? — was with his Precious. It just consumes you. You become the money. You are no longer a person.”

Jack had helped out a waitress named Brenda, whose life similarly unraveled when others discovered she had received some of the money:

Heartsick, Brenda sold the house that Jack bought and moved away. “I probably would have rejected the money in the first place if I’d known then what I know now,” she says. “It seems like money brings out the ugly in people.

The money also allowed Whittaker’s granddaughter and several young people in her orbit to spin out of control on drugs, resulting in petty crimes, and two tragic deaths from overdose. One member of this circle, Josh Smith, got spooked by what was going on, and pulled away, noting that the effect of money on friendship was “it turns it to hell”:

”I turned into a different person…I had so much money, it turned me cold-hearted.”

The entire heart-wrenching account seems like something out of a tawdry novel. You can read the fascinating tale at Washington Post.

25Oct

Fish Stories and Garden Snakes

I once heard a sermon on the prophet Jonah, in which the preacher opined that the fish story “makes good faithful Christians go weak in the knees” because it is hard to believe in a great fish swallowing a man whole, and then spitting him up again; and yet he does in fact believe. The reason is that once you have “swallowed” that God became incarnate as a human being, died on the cross, and was resurrected, and ascended into the realms of glory, then believing in Jonah is a little thing. Who are we to cherry pick which parts of God’s story to believe? To do this is dangerous, making God subject to our whims and sensibilities—making God to be not God. “The world needs more believers,” he concluded.

A great deal of discussion rages on about the historicity of Adam and Eve. This story reads to our contemporary context like a tall tale. I myself go “weak in the knees” when I contemplate the idea of defending the veracity of this story of a man and woman in a garden full of magic fruit, being approached by a sentient talking serpent. It just seems preposterous.

However, I take a similar approach to the tale of Adam and Eve, as the aforementioned pastor took to the story of Jonah. I have swallowed the idea of a Creator capable of bringing into existence a universe full of galaxies and black holes and many other wondrous things—this is a being of great power, and nearly infinite knowledge. Such a being, if it chose to interact with humanity, must be accorded the utmost respect. I believe that this God has indeed interacted with us, particularly in the person of Jesus, thus piercing the idea of a deistic God who observes some kind of “Star Trek”-like “prime directive” of never interfering with the course of natural events. Jesus of Nazareth, the “Son of man”, appeared among us, fulfilling many predictions from centuries past. This man mysteriously appeared to many after his death and then vanished, leaving behind a continually growing movement of people dedicated (imperfectly) to the love of others and reconciliation with God.

Therefore, I embrace Adam and Eve, and the Garden of Eden. A God who finely tuned the physical laws of our universe would not be sloppy in allowing mere fables into the sacred texts of His chosen people. Whether read literally or allegorically, the story must be taken seriously, as the very word of truth from on high.

Notes:

Christians have read Genesis 2-4 in a variety of ways. A fairly recent book of interest would be Barrett and Caneday, editors, Four Views on the Historical Adam, Zondervan, 2013. Featuring essays by Denis Lamoroux and others, it lays out some of the different positions taken by Christians.

My recollection of a sermon in the first paragraph is from notes taken on a homily preached by Fr. Michael Spurlock at Evensong, St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Oct 15, 2013. As far as I can discover, neither a recording nor any notes exist online at this time.

Photo credits:
1. “Eve Tempted by the Serpent” William Blake, c. 1799
2. “Jonah and the Whale” (oil on board). Aris, Fred (b. 1934). The Bridgeman Art Library International.

19Oct

A New Gilded Age

Are megacorporations and the government colluding to keep the working man (and woman) down? The recent spectacle of a real estate services giant, Cushman and Wakefield, suing a lowly janitor for violating a non compete clause, has prompted a very interesting reflection by Matt O’Brien in the Washington Post.

O’Brien points out the interesting paradox that capitalism works best when there is competition, yet capitalists wish to eliminate competition wherever they can. It boils down to the most powerful wielding ever more control over their workers.

Noncompete agreements have been increasingly foisted upon low level employees:

… noncompetes, which used to be about keeping top executives from taking actual trade secrets to rival firms, have now become much more common among all types of workers. This includes 14% of non college educated employees.

Not surprisingly, companies have been suing more frequently to enforce these noncompete agreements, which have a chilling effect even in jurisdictions where they can’t legally be enforced. Workers don’t generally know when this is the case:

All they know is that they signed something that they couldn’t afford to fight in court.

The entire opinion piece is worth a read.

We have filed this one under “Reflections of the Fall.”

15Jun

Florida Police Frame Teen

Another example of police malfeasance emerged recently. In order to boast of a perfect clearance record, Biscayne Park police chief Raimundo Atesiano and two other police officers resorted to a disgusting tactic.

Atesiano, with the help of two officers from his department, conspired to falsely arrest and charge a 16-year-old with four unsolved burglary cases that year, prosecutors said Monday.

The incident began on June 13, 2013, when Atesiano told Dayoub and Fernandez that he “wanted them to unlawfully arrest T.D. for unsolved burglaries despite knowing that there was no evidence that T.D. had committed the burglaries,” prosecutors said. Dayoub and Fernandez gathered information for the arrest “knowing there was no evidence and no lawful basis to arrest and charge T.D,” officials said.

Loneliness is Rampant According to Study

The health insurer Cigna recently published results of a nationwide survey of 20,000 people, showing that most Americans are lonely.

More than half of survey respondents — 54 percent — said they always or sometimes feel that no one knows them well. Fifty-six percent reported they sometimes or always felt like the people around them “are not necessarily with them.” And 2 in 5 felt like “they lack companionship,” that their “relationships aren’t meaningful” and that they “are isolated from others.”

The results were more pronounced among younger people.

Members of Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, had an overall loneliness score of 48.3. Millennials, just a little bit older, scored 45.3. By comparison, baby boomers scored 42.4. The Greatest Generation, people ages 72 and above, had a score of 38.6 on the loneliness scale.

Loneliness has been shown to be a contributor to heart attacks, strokes, and premature death.

Wall Street Greed Drives Airline Woes

Tired of the oversold flights, cancellations, and bad customer service that seem to be an unpleasant part of traveling by air? The airlines, their employees, and executives certainly have the most proximate responsibility over their day to day operations. But they are also dealing with a distant and menacing power that pressures everything they do. Like most of the corporate world, the airline industry is suffused with the infernal odor of greed, which emanates from Wall Street and permeates like a heavy and ever more stifling gas:

Relentless pressure on corporate America is creating an increasingly Dickensian experience for many consumers as companies focus on maximizing profit. And nowhere is the trend as stark as in the airline industry, whose service is delivered in an aluminum tube packed with up to four different classes, cheek by jowl, 35,000 feet in the air.
“There’s always been pressure from Wall Street,” said Robert L. Dilenschneider, a veteran public relations executive who advises companies and chief executives on strategic communications. “But I’ve been watching this for 30 years, and it’s never been as intense as it is today.”

Read it all at New York Times.

24Apr

Unhappy Days for Erin Moran

The tragic and mysterious demise of a beloved child star is still under investigation. Erin Moran was adored by millions as “Joanie” in the 1974-84 sitcom “Happy Days”, and its spin off show “Joanie Loves Chachi”. The web is full of stories today about her troubles following the end of her sitcom TV family.

One lesson to learn here is that fame and stardom don’t guarantee a good life or a happy end. Those who reached out to her have said that she rebuffed their attempts. Paul Peterson, a former child star and child-actor advocate, has been quoted as saying, “Erin had friends and she knew it. Abandonment was not the issue… We did our best with the resources available to us, but it was a very dark room. Some don’t find the light switch in time.” (Fox News). Her inner demons apparently included hard drinking, and it was partly drinking and partying that led to her becoming destitute.

Also, there appear to have been issues with her husband. People magazine reported in 2002 that “Moran later married Steve Fleischmann, a Walmart employee, in 1993. The couple moved into Fleischmann’s mother’s trailer in Indiana so Moran could act as her caregiver.” On the surface this might appear to be a compassionate act, but a 2013 public altercation reported by a tabloid calls this into question:

Steve was so angry he stormed out of the bar, and an intoxicated Erin hurled insults at him, like “Get the hell out of here, you big crybaby! Go home, crawl into bed and suck your thumb as you cry yourself to sleep, you mama’s boy!” (National Enquirer)

If this incident truly happened then it raises a question whether she may have been the victim of a “MEM”, or a “mother-enmeshed man”. (Of course this would be but pure speculation here).

What are we speaking of? A mother enmeshed man is the human wreckage left of someone raised by a narcissistic or otherwise domineering mother. A MEM is a man who in many ways is “married to mom”–some of these ways are obvious (particularly if she still calls the shots) and many are much less so (manifesting perhaps as emotional distance, or difficulty with trust). Such a man may be emotionally eviscerated and still controlled by the first great relationship of life–the mother-child relationship. (This can happen to daughters also). By the way, full disclosure here, it hurts me to speak of this, because I may have a whiff of this in my own life, my own marriage.

If you are in a relationship with a MEM, or if you are a man who feels that this may be you, then seek professional help. A helpful 2007 book on this subject is When He’s Married to Mom: How to Help Mother‑Enmeshed Men by Kenneth M. Adams.

Of course, we at this site would remiss if we did not advocate much prayer. And if you are in a covenant of marriage, the closer each of you grows in your relationship to God, the further and dimmer will be the other troubles, and the easier it will be to set healthy boundaries and overcome dysfunctional influences.

30Nov

Leaks Call Media Impartiality Into Question

(Note: We wish to emphasize, and perhaps to reassure, that we are non-political, and therefore we do not endorse a particular party or candidate in a given election).

The major news outlets, from CNN to the New York Times, have been shown to be in close and unfair collusion with the Democratic Party and with the campaign of Hillary Clinton. In a way, this and the effort by progressives to subvert the Catholic Church from within are the two most troubling revelations from Wikileaks this year.

Other leaks have gotten much more attention in the media and blogosphere, as they have shown us inside information about Clinton’s campaign, touching on how her aides felt about the ill-advised email server, and bringing to light some questionable activities related to her private foundation. But these are merely the private machinations and moral defects of one person. The machinations and moral defects of the Press are another matter altogether.

In the case of the Press, alleged misdeeds are far more sinister and devastating because they have a wider effect. By “The Press” here I am referring to the so-called “mainstream media”, namely the nation’s most prominent newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal), and TV news outlets (CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox), and maybe NPR radio. Note that I am not including blogs (like mine, nice as it may be). Nor do I include progressive or socialist news outlets, or the “alt-right”. (Regarding “balance” I suppose that one could argue persuasively that if you set the Daily Kos on one end of a teeter-totter with Breitbart on the other end, and put all the other news sources in between, then it all balances out; Although I personally digest information from both ends of the spectrum, I do bemoan this kind of fragmentation–like trying to see through a kaleidoscope). My concern for purposes of this article is about the “mainstream media”. We are talking about a kind of social institution which has claimed to be our window to truth.

A good bit of the credibility of the Press has been tied to the idea of impartiality. Despite the fact that media types donate to Democrats over Republicans 10 to 1, and that Gallup polls show most Americans believe the media to be biased towards liberals, those who have publicly questioned this impartiality of the media have generally been dismissed, and besmirched as activists or deceivers. For a recent example, Poynter.com asked University of Connecticut Associate Professor of Communications Dave D’Alessio the question, “Is media bias really rampant?” He replies in the negative; Apparently bias, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder:

“You want to rally the troops. Both of the sides know that the way to get anything done is to get everyone on the same page, so anything they can do to create an opposition is good, because they can point at the media and say “The media are out to get me. The media are out to get us. So we can fight against this. And the way to do that is to vote for me.”

Well, now there is fairly incontrovertible proof that those who suspected unfairness were right. Evidence from released emails suggests that the problem might even be worse than anyone thought.

In one glaring example of collusion CNN contributor and new interim DNC chair Donna Brazile gave to Hillary Clinton some Town Hall debate questions in advance. She was subsequently fired from CNN but remained as interim DNC chair. (See this Fox News report, for example). When confronted about the email, she showed no remorse or sensitivity: “I will not stand here and be persecuted because your information is totally false,” Brazile said. “Podesta’s emails were stolen. You’re so interested in talking about stolen material, you’re like a thief that wants to bring into the night the things that you found that was in the gutter. (Read more at Politico).

Here are a few more examples:

The Democratic National Committee apparently suggested questions to CNN to hammer at Trump and Cruz.

A Washington Post reporter asked for DNC research / dirt on Trump to put into an article.

CNBC asked the Clinton campaign what questions to ask Trump in advance of an interview.

John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign manager, has been famously quoted as saying that the New York Times is “our press”. In support of this idea, leaked emails have shown that he apparently received rough drafts of Politico and New York Times stories to read over prior to publication. In one email he gloated about having placed pro-Hillary articles in Politico. Furthermore, Clinton staffers were given the option of vetoing parts of NYT stories.

To its credit, the New York Times has issued a statement that, while not containing an actual apology, nonetheless pledges to its readers to do better:

…we aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism. That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor, striving always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you.

We will hope that the New York Times lives up to this pledge. In the meantime, we are filing this under the category of “Reflections of the Fall”.