When you work for one president while married to another, apparently you get to know them pretty well.
Hillary Rodham Clinton took the opportunity Tuesday to poke fun at both her husband and her former boss, introducing Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton before their joint appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative.
Displaying chops earned through years of appearances on David Letterman's guest couch, Clinton came up with what is virtually a Top Ten list of ways Presidents 42 and 44 are alike:
• "They are both left-handed." (So are their former electoral opponents George H. W. Bush and John McCain.)
• "They both love golf, a game that does not often reciprocate the love they put into it." (Clinton is known to both curse and take multiple mulligans – known as "billigans." Obama's scores are top-secret, presumably for a reason.)
• "They both are fanatic sports fans and go to great lengths to be in front of the TV or on the side of the court or the field. " (Obama is a student of NCAA "bracketology,'' Clinton loves the NBA.)
• "They both are master politicians." (Given her role in Clinton's successful campaigns and her status as runner-up to Obama's, she's not likely to say otherwise.)
• "Each of them has only lost one election." (Actually, Clinton has lost two: he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1974 and he was defeated for reelection as governor of Arkansas in 1980. Obama ran for Congress from Illinois in 2000 but didn't make it past the Democratic primary.)
• "They are both Democrats."
• "They have fabulous daughters."
And the No. 1 thing that Obama and Clinton have in common, according to Hillary Clinton: "They each married far above themselves."
(Actually, Clinton ended her list by saying, "They each love our country." Undoubtedly true, but wouldn't have made the cut on Letterman.)
As noted, Mrs. Clinton also referred to Mr. Clinton and Obama as "No. 42" and "No. 44," their positions on the list of U.S. presidents -- stoking speculation as to whether she will seek to become "No. 45" in the 2016 presidential election.
President Obama delivered a forceful defense of American exceptionalism at the United Nations on Tuesday, saying, "I believe America is exceptional."Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, Obama made the case for why the United States has been pushing other nations to intervene more directly in the Syrian crisis.
"I believe America must remain engaged for our own security, but I also believe a world is better for it," he said in the speech. "Some may disagree, but I believe America is exceptional, in part because we have shown a willingness, to the sacrifice of blood and treasure to stand up, not only for our own interests, but for the interests of all."
Obama had made a similar point during his televised address to the nation on Syria earlier this month, when he said that the United States is not the world's policeman, "But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act.” He added: “That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.”
The fact that Obama has chosen to reiterate the point during the year's single largest gathering of world leaders shows that he is not inclined to give any rhetorical ground to Putin, even as the two countries continue to negotiate over an international response to Syria's ongoing civil war.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, center left, lead a delegation at the Navy Memorial in Washington to remember the victims of Monday's deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. At far right is Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, with Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, second from right.
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE — AP Photo
Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2013/09/17/3715103/pilot-scene-of-navy-yard-shooting.html#storylink=cpy
FORT WORTH, Texas — Aaron Alexis was so unhappy with his life in America — where he was beset by money woes and felt slighted as a veteran — that he was "ready to move out of the country" last year, a friend said Tuesday.
Investigators said Tuesday that a preliminary probe has turned up no evidence that Alexis participated in rescue operations at Ground Zero, as his father once told police.
He was, however, employed as a clerical worker at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, in the shadow of the Twin Towers, when they were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001.
“He talked about 9/11 and where he was and how the buildings had collapsed and he couldn’t believe that...and how he was upset with the terrorists for taking innocent lives," Suthamtewkal said.
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BANGKOK, Thailand – As media pundits scrounge through Aaron Alexis’s background for clues to the uncontrolled fit of rage that led him to gun down 12 civilians at the Washington Navy Yard, a most egregious accusation has been raised against his devotion to “the dark side of meditation.” Critics have charged that Thai Buddhist meditation classes promoted his psychological detachment from reality, implying such practices amplified the voices in his head and thus impelled him to mass murder.
In a further attempt to shift the blame onto the tiny Thai community in America, the New York Postin tabloid-style claims that his break-up with a Thai girlfriend and a frustrating trip to Bangkok to find another soulmate led to the pent-up rage that was later unleashed in gunfire. This sort of speculation is demeaning and completely irrelevant, since couples break up every day of the year without venting their grief in a suicidal shooting spree. His target was not his ex-girlfriend and her circle of friends in either Texas or Thailand, but unrelated victims at his workplace in Washington, D.C.
These sorts of conclusions put the cart before the horse. From medical records and accounts of his acquaintances, Alexis was well aware of his emotional difficulties and had sought help from his VA hospital and wherever he could find it, and one source of comfort was the Wat Busayadhammavanara temple on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas.
For a brief period in the suburb of White Settlement, Alexis was employed as a waiter at a Thai restaurant owned by a couple who encouraged his meditation lessons as a path toward resolving his anger issues. Apparently in Vipassana meditation, he found some relief and peace of mind from the constant anxiety that caused him to carry a .45 caliber handgun in fear for his life. Whatever prompted his feelings of insecurity and terror arose from a source unrelated to that temple and the Thai community.
His defensive reactions, which led to two earlier incidents of non-injurious gun violence, were likelier linked to traumatic experiences during his military service as a full-time Navy reservist with a secret-level security clearance. The nature of his missions remains undisclosed by the Pentagon and probably never will be revealed in accurate detail.
A Troubled Generation
Alexis attributed his mental-health issues to his assignment in cleaning up contaminated debris at the 9-11 Ground Zero site, but the Navy claims no such record of this work. A report in British paperDaily Mail notes Alexis was seen exiting a subway near the World Trade Center just as the twin towers were collapsing. The sight, it says, quoting Alexis' father-in-law, left him "traumatized."
Indeed, the career of Alexis runs parallel to the 9-11 era, when thousands of servicemen were assigned to secret combat missions that do not appear on their military records.
Another troubled Navy reservist, Christopher Dorner, was trained as a sniper at Fallon air station, Nevada, and with an elite commando unit that required every member to swim with full combat gear from Camp Pendleton on the California coast to military-controlled San Clemente island – a nearly superhuman feat. As a sniper, he was sent on secret missions into Iraq, the nature of which the Pentagon has never disclosed. Those blank pages in his record undoubtedly are key to understanding his personal rebellion against the government that he had served, and are key to unraveling the alleged double homicide and other fatal shootings Dorner is accused of perpetrating in the Los Angeles area.
The Washington Navy Yard incident is rife with many other inconsistencies. Alexis owned an AR-15 rifle but his blue-clad body was found only with a shotgun and two pistols, while military veterans at the shooting site heard the distinct sound of gunfire from an AR-15 and saw a second shooter dressed in green holding this very same model of automatic weapon.
If any of the above factors haunted his military career, then Alexis had good reason to seek out Vipassana meditation, which was developed by Sinhalese Buddhists in ancient Sri Lanka and then transmitted to Thailand.
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9.26.13
Mike Nova comments: I am truly amazed at how well informed (or maybe not so well informed) this author from "BANGKOK, Thailand" is and I wonder who and what are the sources of this information. The thrust of this article appears to be to shift the blame to the experiences in Iraq war and some "secret missions". The reference to a "troubled", or "lost generation" also rings with some sociological and literary allusions. However, the general reference to life histories of Iraq war veterans (and snipers in particular) is somewhat telling, and with the meanings somewhat different and opposite to what this author intends. To put it simply and bluntly, did they become the targets of retaliation and revenge, and sometimes of vicious psychological and otherwise, manipulation and exploitation by hostile forces? This question, just like anything else I write in comments in my blogs is a part, again, of my strictly personal (and humble, aspiring to be reasonable and objective) opinion, so I would not have to mention this point again. This question, as it is very easy to see, is extremely important and deserves the utmost attention. I will try to research and elaborate on it at a later time.
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But, earlier in the day, just a little ways down the road from the temple at the Happy Bowl Thai Restaurant, where Alexis worked for tips and for a room in owner Oui Suthamtewakul’s home, a friend of Alexis’s painted a different, less pious picture of the shooter’s interest in Buddhist culture.
It was an interest the two shared, Ritrovato said. The two first met during a Thai festival held at a Buddhist temple in nearby Keller, bonding over the fact that they had each attended the affair in an attempt to pick up women.
“He wasn’t exactly Buddhist,” Ritrovato said. “I’d joke with him about it. In spite of what he would say, I don’t think he was too devout. He’d say he wanted to be a monk, but he wasn’t the type to be too into celibacy. We went to strip clubs together.”
Suthamtewakul, Alexis’s boss at the Happy Bowl, described Alexis as his “best friend”—he’d even asked Alexis to serve as the best man in his wedding late last year—and painted a similar picture of his former roommate.
“He wanted to be Buddhist,” said Suthamtewakul, who’d been born into a Buddhist family but has since converted to Christianity. “He wanted to be—badly. But the first rule of being a good Buddhist is not to kill. The second is not to steal. The third is not to have too much sex. The fourth is not to lie. And the fifth is not to drink. He drank—a lot—but lots of Buddhists break the fifth rule. And he obviously killed. And he tried to pick up Thai girls all the time.”
In fact, Alexis, who learned to speak Thai by watching Thai-language soap operas on television, even went so far as to visit Thailand as part of his efforts in wooing a Thai bride: The U.K.’s Channel 4 News reports that Alexis spent 45 days visiting the Southeast Asian country in March and April of this year, spending the majority of his time there in massage parlors before meeting a native Thai woman that he would ask to both marry him and move with him back to the States. She declined.
But Alexis wasn’t without luck with Asian women altogether. Suthamtewakul recalled a woman named Jane of Chinese descent, whom Alexis had said worked in the Navy, visiting Alexis in White Settlement for a short time a couple years back.
“He just liked Asians,” said Suthamtewakul, who met Alexis during a community event at Wat Busaya Dhammavanaram before offering him a job in his restaurant and a room in his home.
Back at the temple, congregation member Sulee Adams also acknowledged Alexis’s interest in Asian women—and how freely he expressed his desire.
“He wanted to marry a Thai person,” she said. “But the people here at the temple, everyone is 60 [years old] and up.”
Still, Alexis was a fixture at Wat Busaya Dhammavanaram. Before praying for his soul during Tuesday night’s all-Thai services, monks described him as “the man who loved to come and help the temple.” They did not acknowledge his crimes.
“We didn’t know the murderer,” Saburn, the Greek yoga instructor, said after the hour-long service concluded. “We knew the man who came here. How can we be angry at a man who came here and helped us?”
“If it’s a person we knew and we loved, we pray,” added another congregant, who said she spoke on behalf of the entire congregation, but asked that her name not be used. “I have a sadness for what happened. But he wasn’t open enough. If he had talked more about [his problems], we could’ve helped him. The monks could have helped him.”
Instead, on Tuesday night, they simply prayed for the future of his soul and whatever Buddha had planned for its reincarnated form.
Before receding into the temple’s kitchen for a night-ending meal of traditional Thai food, prepared by the female members of the area’s Thai community, the self-appointed congregation spokeswoman took a moment to reflect on that final moment in the service, which she described as a “lesson” from the monks about the sanctity of life.
She thought about Alexis, and she smiled.
“If his soul was here [tonight] and he saw us praying for him,” she said, “don’t you think he’d be happy?”
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Channel 4 News understands that he spent 45 days there, entering the country on 28 March, 2012. Alexis was shown around by family member Parin Suthamtewakul.
She took him to a number of tourist spots including rural Korat, north east Thailand, and a beach resort in Hua Hin. They also celebrated the annual Thai new year festival of Songkran, where participants soak each other with buckets, sponges and water-guns (see above picture, left).
Alexis is reported to have frequented a Buddhist temple in Fort Worth, Texas, but we are told that he showed little interest in temples or Buddhism while on holiday in Thailand.
Instead, "he went to massage parlours", said Mr Suthamtewakul.
Alexis also met a Thai women on his holiday and developed "a crush on her" Mr Suthamtewakul added.
While no one involved with the investigation is suggesting as strongly as Suthamtewakul has that violent video games spurred Alexis' actions, it's yet another mass murder in which those kinds of games were a were a known element in a shooter's media diet.
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Also in 2011, Alexis moved in with his friend Nutpisit Suthamtewakul, whom he had met at a Buddhist temple.
Two years later, in July 2013, Mr. Suthamtewakul and his new wife Kristi told Alexis that it was time that he find a new place to live.
Because Alexis had access to the garage, the Suthamtewakuls initially wondered if he had sabotaged their car. Subsequently, however, they began to question their initial suspicion.[iv] On August 7, 2013, while staying in a hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, Alexis reported an incident to the police. He told the responding officer that he believed that three people were following him and keeping him awake “by talking to him and sending vibrations into his body.”[v] Alexis first heard the voices while staying at the Residence Inn in Middletown. Trying to escape, Alexis moved to a hotel on the Navy base, but “heard the same voices talking to him through the walls, floor and ceiling.” The police report continues:
Alexis stated that he moved to his third hotel and is currently at the Marriott. Alexis first said that the 3 individuals were speaking to him through the floor. Then Alexis stated that the voices were coming through the ceiling. Alexis stated that the individuals are using “some sort of microwave machine” to send vibrations through the ceiling, penetrating his body so he cannot fall asleep. When I asked Alexis what the individuals were saying to him he would not elaborate.
Investigators are trying to make sense of etchings carved into the shotgun Aaron Alexis used when he killed 12 people at the naval yard in D.C.
One says:
“better off this way”
The other says:
“my elf weapon”
Last month, Alexis was asked twice by Veterans Administration medical staff if he hadthoughts about harming himself or others.
He reportedly said no.
Meanwhile, people will be going back to work at the Naval Yard today, for the first time since Monday’s rampage
Some were allowed in yesterday to get their personal things.
Building 197, where the shooting happened, could be closed for weeks because of all the damage.
(CBS News) WASHINGTON -- Sources say Aaron Alexis left behind two short phrases on the side of the shotgun he used in the Washington Navy Yard massacre.
One of the messages scratched into the gun's metal reads, "Better off this way." The other is more cryptic: "My ELF weapon."
Investigators don't know what the etchings mean. "ELF" might be a reference to "extremely low frequency" radio waves used by the Navy to communicate with submarines.
It also may relate to a strange incident which happened six weeks ago in Newport, R.I.
Alexis complained to police that stalkers were using a microwave-type machine to send "vibrations into his body." Newport investigators took a report and gave it to local Navy police. It apparently was never passed up the chain of command.
After the Newport episode, Alexis sought help at two hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Government records show that on Aug. 23, Alexis visited a VA emergency room in Providence, complaining of insomnia. He received medication to help him sleep. Then five days later, on Aug. 28, he refilled the sleep aid prescription at a VA medical center in Washington.
The Department of Veterans Affairs also revealed that Alexis was on partial disability for orthopedic issues and ringing in his ears. He received disability benefits totaling $395 a month.
His family has claimed that Alexis had also sought and received treatment for mental health issues. But the VA said it had no record of Alexis receiving that kind of care.
In a statement, the VA said "...he never sought an appointment from a mental health specialist."
The FBI still doesn't have a motive for the shootings, and investigators say that so far, they have found no clear connections between Alexis and any of his victims.
Mike Nova comments: How do we know that it was A.A. who scratched these etchings on this gun and not someone else? Were they intended as a message? By whom? What is the meaning of it? Some hypothetical answers can be provided but I will omit them at this point.
They have collected Alexis' computer and other possessions from the hotel where he spent his last days, a senior law enforcement source said. They have also worked to talk to people he'd met since coming to Washington three weeks before the rampage.
Alexis made etchings into the shotgun used in the attack, according to a federal law enforcement official. The etchings read "better off this way" and "my elf weapon," the source said. Investigators don't know what the engravings refer to.
So far, nothing has pointed to a specific motive for the killings, a second law enforcement source told CNN.
There are potential clues: In August, Alexis told police in Newport, Rhode Island, that he was hearing voices and was convinced that someone was using a "microwave machine" to send vibrations into his body to keep him awake, according to an incident report.
F.B.I. Tries to Trace Last Weeks of Gunman - NYT - 9.20.13 Forensic psychiatrists are building a profile of Mr. Alexis, looking at whether he exhibited traits similar to others who have gone on deadly rampages. But a senior law enforcement official said no clear evidence had emerged pointing to a workplace dispute that might have caused the rampage. “When we talk to people who have firsthand knowledge, we’re just not finding anything that points to a motive because of his work,” said the official, who wished to remain anonymous, citing the investigation. ... The company’s handling of Mr. Alexis in his final weeks has come into question because he told police in Rhode Island last month that he was disturbed by vibrations sent by a microwave machine. The company told hotel workers that it would bring Mr. Alexis “home” because he was “unstable,” but it is unclear what the company did. ... While the victims’ families and members of Congress are demanding answers to what set off Mr. Alexis, current and former federal law enforcement officials said that in terrorist attacks and mass shootings — particularly ones in which the perpetrators are mentally ill and have been killed — investigators often never come to a definitive conclusion about motive. Law enforcement officials pointed to recent attacks — like the Boston Marathon bombings and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn. — as examples of how despite extensive investigations, the authorities still struggle to find answers. Kenneth J. Maxwell, a retired F.B.I. official who was previously in charge of the bureau’s counterterrorism branch in New York, said that when the authorities are “confronted with a tragedy of these proportions and there is a lone actor at the center of it, the focus is building an understanding of everything about the immediate history of this person: his education, his medical and psychological history, his electronic trail.” Workers at USIS, which vetted Alexis and Snowden, felt pressure to do more, faster - WP - 9.20.13
“It’s very: ‘Here’s a sheet of questions, ask the questions, hurry and get the answers, submit them and move forward,’ ” said one of the former employees. “There’s just not a lot of paying attention to potential red flags and that sort of thing.”
Candidates do not have to disclose mental-health counseling they have received related to marital issues, grief or coming back from combat. Former investigators say that mental-health issues were particularly tricky to ferret out and understand in the context of a background check.
In a limited number of cases, candidates would sign waivers allowing USIS employees to obtain their mental-health records, these former employees say. USIS investigators said they then had to drive to the medical facilities where the candidates were treated and get someone to sign a form attesting to whether the candidate posed a threat to national security. The person who signed the note, however, could be anyone who had access to the candidate’s files; it didn’t have to be the person who treated the candidate, these employees said.
The bosses simply trusted the employees to do the work in the right way with little oversight, these former employees said.
Five days into the FBI investigation, law enforcement officials have told the Guardian there is now a growing focus on the mental health issues from which Alexis had apparently been suffering. Forensic and ballistic experts will finish their work in building 197 on Friday; they are treating the location of each fatal shooting as a separate crime scene, carefully examining the trajectory of bullets in order to piece together what happened.
The mass shooting at the headquarters of the naval sea systems command – a short distance from Capitol Hill – was unprecedented for DC, a city of fortified government buildings patrolled by armed guards. The navy yard is the oldest military station in the United States, with on-site museums and impressive views over the Anacostia river. About 18,000 staff work at the complex, about 3,000 in building 197, most of whom were either on or near the sprawling compound.
The FBI now has a provisional idea of the route Alexis took. He began on the fourth floor then moved to the third, before entering the atrium, where he shot a security guard and took a handgun from the guard's holster.
He moved quietly, searching for victims in hallways or in the labyrinth of cubicles in the open-plan office space. Many office workers were hidden under their desks or cowering in cupboards and were lucky to escape.
Grappling with confused sightings of, apparently, other gunmen, DC police announced that it was possible there were two accomplices still at large, both armed and dressed in military uniforms. The reports sent ripples of panic through the base, until the theory was discounted, several hours later. For much of the day, no-one on the compound was permitted to move. At least one victim was airlifted from the roof of a building. Even for people far from building 197, it was a traumatic experience.
Alexis has been described as a heavy-drinking, sometimes violent figure, estranged from his family and obsessed with violent computer games and firearms; and as an upbeat, polite character, with an insatiable curiosity for Thai culture and language. For three years he often worshipped at a Buddhist temple; he was studying part-time for an aeronautical degree.
But he was also prone to erratic behaviour. When attempting to explain an outburst to police in Seattle in 2004, Alexis's father explained that his son's behaviour stemmed from the September 11 terrorist attacks, when he was involved in rescue efforts. No other record of Alexis's involvement in the aftermath of the attacks has emerged.
In 2007, Alexis enrolled in the navy reserves at Fort Worth, Texas. He attained the rank of petty officer third class before his military career was cut short in 2011, after several incidents of misconduct.
He was arrested at least three times in his adult life. Two of the incidents involved guns. During the first, in Seattle in 2004, he shot the tyres of a construction worker's car. In 2010 in Texas, he fired through a ceiling, into his upstairs neighbour's apartment, after a dispute over noise.
The Pentagon has since conceded that these and other incidents should have served as "red flags", and announced a large-scale security review. But Alexis was never charged with any offence and while the arrests hinted at a man unable at times to control his temper, none of the incidents were significant enough to raise more serious concerns with his superiors.
Hearing voices
Recently, however, Alexis appears to have been exhibiting more troubling behaviour. He had been working on the navy marine corps computer systems since September 2012, on a contract held by a Florida-based company called The Experts. He spent a couple of months in Japan, took some time off work, and then began a new contract on the east coast in July.
At the time of his death, Alexis was working online on a bachelor's degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.[45] He had tried Buddhist mediation for some time to control his mental illness.[46] Alexis had been suffering from some serious mental issues, including paranoia and a sleep disorder, as well as hearing voices. Since August 2013, he had been treated by the Veterans Administration for mental problems. Members of his family also told investigators that Alexis was being treated for mental issues.[47] In August, he had been prescribed trazodone, a generic antidepressant that is widely prescribed for insomnia.[48]
Mike Nova comments: any antidepressant medication might exacerbate psychotic symptoms and suicidal ideation. He appears to be depressed on one of his most recent photos, below. We cannot rule out that the rampage was a combined suicidal-homicidal act, which does not exclude the prior purposeful manipulation and influencing by "significant others". I do not think that he should have been prescribed antidepressants. With his symptoms, the exact and complete picture of which still remains unclear, but most likely of psychotic or "parapsychotic" realm, the antipsychotics would be the most appropriate treatment. Of course, it is always easy to render judgements in retrospect, however it might be one of the important points to look into. Most likely, it was a lack of sophistication and finesse in handling his psychopharmacological treatment, but it would not hurt to look into this a bit deeper.
Alexis was granted a secret-level security clearance after he joined the navy in 2007. The low-level clearance granted to Alexis typically remains valid for 10 years, and is designed to identify individuals at risk of compromising security. Mental health issues are not a disqualifying factor. Nevertheless, it appears that his employers at The Experts began to express concern about his wellbeing recently. The New York Times reported on Friday that on 7 August an employee at The Experts called the hotel where Alexis was staying in Newport, Rhode Island, while on a contract there. A hotel log quoted by the Times said: "Brenda from The Experts called re: Mr Alexis in 407. She explained that he is unstable and the company is bringing him home. She asked me to check his room (it was vacant), and check him out."
"In the early morning on the same day, Alexis called police to his room at the Marriott Residence Inn. He told the officers that a person he had argued with at an airport in Virginia had dispatched two men and a woman to keep him awake by sending vibrations into his body. He believed the vibrations were going to harm him, and had moved hotels twice in an effort to escape them.
His tormentors would not leave him alone, Alexis said. Convinced that voices were sending vibrations into his body "with some sort of microwave machine", he had dialled 911 and asked for help. One police officer asked Alexis what the voices were saying, but he did not reply. A police report was filed and passed to the local navy station, although it appears no action was taken."
A couple of weeks later, on 18 August, Alexis visited a Buddhist temple in Raynham, Massachusetts, and – speaking in Thai – told the monks he needed somewhere to stay. Asked why he could not stay in a hotel, Alexis said that the voices would bother him there. The monks allowed him to stayed the night in a nearby school building, leased by the temple,according to the Boston Globe.
Over the following week, Alexis twice visited emergency medical rooms run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, first in Providence, Rhode Island, and then in Washington DC. He complained of insomnia. On both occasions he was given small doses of the antidepressant Trazodone, to help him sleep.
Doctors said Alexis looked alert and aware of his surroundings as they asked him routine questions. What he anxious, or depressed? Had he thought of harming himself? Had he considered harming anyone else? He answered no.
Mike Nova comments:
We cannot exclude that what he experienced was a real life event, deliberately arranged and carried out by others, his "inducers and provokers" (foreign intelligence services cannot be ruled out), that someone did deliberately "whisper something into his ears" to provoke him and to give him "an assignment", which was carefully timed. I would not be surprised if Russians borrowed this technique from MKUltra files after studying them very carefully.
Where is a police report of this occurrence? Did they investigate it properly? Did they try to find his hypothetical tormentors? It was serious enough and very disturbing for him if he called the police.
It is very easy to dismiss his (A.A.'s) account of this event as "psychotic symptoms", it is worthwhile to consider some real life basis behind it.
This has to be investigated in depth and as soon as possible, while the leads are warm, if they still exist, of course; methinks.
All possible witnesses should be interviewed, hotel and residences records should be checked for the names of guests in adjacent rooms (methinks, humbly.)
The rates at this, apparently 5-star hotel start at $330 per night. How could a person who was not able to pay his rent and his bills and was always short of money, was able (and willing) to pay for this hotel? How long did he stay there? Who paid for him, if anyone? What were the arrangements? Who were other guests around that time, 8.7.13?
What was the situation, with similar questions, in other places that he stayed in?
There is a hidden army working to subvert the United States and it is commanded from Moscow. Almost no one suspects the army's existence, its aims or objectives. The primary mission of this army is not espionage, but influence operations; not spying but manipulating. The operational methods of this army have been scientifically worked out, and are continually updated. Consider a representative training manual, published by Vladimir Kastorniy on the Internet under the heading: "Classic technique for agent recruitment under current conditions." It was written to instruct Russian intelligence operatives on the art of turning targeted individuals into agents. Kastorniy's Web site deals with psychological operations and methods of Russia's special services and military. The text covers such topics as the identification of candidates for recruitment, how to develop these candidates, and how to hook them.
Before any recruitment begins, you have to find the right person. This is called "choosing a suitable object." As time advances certain people attract the attention of the Russian services, either because they are a celebrities, politicians, strategists, journalists, or scientists. A banker or tycoon, a CEO or corporate president, may become a valuable asset. Initially the Russian services learn about the subject through his friends and acquaintances. Next, there is the possibility of contacting him directly, of watching his actions, of reading his published letters, articles, and reports. The Russian intelligence officers consider the candidate's political sympathies, opinions, enthusiasms, disappointments and vices. Is he in debt? Is he a womanizer? Does he drink, use drugs? Is he eaten away by envy? Does he have an exaggerated opinion of his own abilities?
Once the candidate's situation is understood, and his psychological profile drawn, an approach can be made using time-tested methods. If you are recruiting a snobbish intellectual with perverse aspirations, for example, tantalize him with the prospect of secret power over others, or the prospect of operating outside the law with impunity. Offer the subject secret knowledge or insights. Encourage him to steal secret information which will enhance his own cosmic importance.
Tried and true methods of recruitment include: blackmail and bribery, threats to the person, threats to someone he loves; provoking emotions of revenge, resentment, vanity, enthusiasm, jealousy or compassion. An intelligence officer may also influence a targeted person by playing on his convictions; and last, he may be turned into a zombie through psychological programming. This latter method involves the use of mind control drugs, combined with something the Russians refer to as "multi-level hypnosis." Certain narcotics produce a receptive state which is not remembered after the drug wears off. The subject remembers nothing, though his unconscious mind has been programmed without his knowledge. Certain anesthetics, used during a colonoscopy, are known to produce a mild form of amnesia. The patient will not remember the procedure, and is perfectly pliable throughout. When given specially designed mind control drugs, the subject is highly vulnerable to hypnosis and directed programming; what may be called "zombification."
Once an individual has been recruited, there are special techniques for keeping him on track. There are recommendations on the frequency of handler contact with the target, the use of the carrot and the stick. Of great importance is the iron fist in the velvet glove approach. The intelligence professional must be in total control of the recruited agent. He must be the target's friend, who pretends to care about the well-being of the target. This is the velvet glove aspect. At the same time, a threat of destruction is ready and visible as a last resort.
An intelligence officer threatens pleasantly, with apologies and deep concern. "We don't want to see you hurt." If the recruit is amenable, you reward him handsomely with money. You offer him career assistance in exchange for continued cooperation. Through other agents you may secure the recruit a promotion, a professional award, even a Nobel Prize. Swindling and deceiving the recruit is permitted. As the Russian text says, you may "hang spaghetti on his ears." Tell the recruit anything that promises to flatter his vanity or excite his enthusiasm. For example, you may tell him that Vladimir Putin reads his reports and finds them useful.
In the case of a "zombie," you maintain his recruitment by periodic reinforcement of the subject's psychological programming. Zombies need to be refreshed at predetermined intervals. Refreshing disables the subject's free will. He then remains obedient to his master. If the zombie is not refreshed, he may revert to pre-recruitment patterns of thought and behavior. Therefore, a regular schedule of meetings must be observed. If the subject is a politician, it is best to recruit and refresh him on Russian territory. This may even be accomplished inside the Russian Embassy in Washington.
When dealing with recruited agents, the most dangerous problem is the double agent. How do you know if a recruit has become a double agent? Through various tests, like specially conceived provocations, or careful monitoring, you should be able to test his loyalty. You may even hook the recruit up to a lie detector, telling him that it was not your idea but that of an angry boss who will be embarrassed when the recruit's honesty is finally verified. According to the text, the loyalty of an agent greatly depends on his moral foundations. In other words, his basic reliability as a "special friend."
Last, but not least, is the question of eliminating a dangerous witnesses. In the case of a recruited congressman, for example, you might have to create an international incident by shooting down his plane. Perhaps you will give him a drug that will induce a heart attack, or he will die in a car crash. "If the agent is a dangerous witness," says the text, "and there is no guarantee that he will be silent, you must use radical means to protect your organization, including the physical liquidation of the agent. This is better accomplished by other hands, or under 'accidental' circumstances." In the case of a zombie, you may use a special technique to 'erase' his memory.
There is a hidden army in our midst. Its operations are continuous, its objectives unchanged. You may deny the existence of this army, but you will be influenced by its work when you watch the evening news, or listen to political commentary on the radio.
"Doctors said Alexis looked alert and aware of his surroundings as they asked him routine questions. What he anxious, or depressed? Had he thought of harming himself? Had he considered harming anyone else? He answered no.
Alexis checked in to the Residence Inn in Washington on 7 September, for the start of his spell working on computers at navy yard. The following Saturday, 14 September, he visited the Virginia shooting range. Two days later, he drove into the yard in a rented car, flashed his security pass to enter building 197 and headed straight to the men's bathroom on the fourth floor, a black bag slung over his shoulder.
Sharpshooters Small Arms Range in Virginia where Aaron Alexis bought the Remington shotgun he would use to kill 12 people. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty
Investigators now believe Alexis assembled his shotgun inside. When he emerged, he immediately started "hunting people to shoot", according to James B Comey, the director of the FBI.
A few hours later, when Aaron Alexis's name was made public, there was a familiar ritual at Sharpshooters. Whenever there is a prominent murder, staff at the gun shop log onto their database to see if the killer was one of their customers. "If people are feeling upset out there, they don't know what some of us are going through, knowing that yes, he bought a shotgun from us," said an employee of the store, who did not want to be named.
Alexis had seemed "as normal as you or me having this conversation now" when he bought his shotgun, the staff member said.
"You spend time with this person. They're asking you questions and you're answering them, showing them the shotgun they're looking for – and then, two days later, surprise."
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Mike Nova comments:
The pattern of interspersed periods of the so called "normal" behavior ("as normal as you or me...") and the abnormal ones is one more indication of possible Induced Psychosis. I think that a lot of issues need to be explored here and a lot of questions have to be answered.
New Yorker (blog)An Avoidable Tragedy: Aaron Alexis and Mental IllnessNew Yorker (blog)Aaron Alexis was very obviously disturbed for a considerable period prior to the shooting in the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, and no one did much a...
»Aaron Alexis set off warnings at The Experts Inc. - WJLA 20/09/13 17:01 from aaron alexis - Google News Aaron Alexis set off warnings at The Experts Inc.WJLAThat remains the unanswered question about Monday's rampage in building 197. The FBI says 34 year old it subcontractor Aaron Alexis hunted down and killed 12 innocent victims Monda...
»Same Firm Did Checks on Snowden and Gunman - New York Times 19/09/13 23:12 from fbi - Google News Washington PostSame Firm Did Checks on Snowden and GunmanNew York TimesWASHINGTON — A company that conducted a background check of Edward J. Snowden, the government contractor who leaked national security secrets, said on Thursday that i...
»Navy Yard shooting: Swat team awaits answers - BBC News 20/09/13 05:19 from james b. comey - Google News BBC NewsNavy Yard shooting: Swat team awaits answersBBC NewsOn Thursday, FBI Director James B Comey Jr told ABC News it took roughly half an hour for armed police to arrive and engage Alexis. All 12 victims were killed within that time. ... - US SHOOTING: Gunman had "anger issues" after rescuing victims of 9/11 - 9.17.13 Nutpisit Suthamtewakul claims he lived with Alexis for three years and that he was his best friend. He said although his friend did have a gun, he 'didn't seem aggressive' but was interested in Buddhism and liked to meditate. "He's a good guy, there was no sign he was going to shot someone," he said. Suthamtewakul added: "He loved to go to temple, go to meditate in Thai and English." Military personnel records show that Alexis spent nearly four years in the Navy as a full-time reservist from May 2007 until he was discharged in January 2011, according to a summary of his personnel records released by the Pentagon. Navy officials said they were still researching whether Alexis had been employed as a defencee contractor or a civilian employee of the Navy, and were uncertain if he was assigned to work at the Navy Yard. Authorities are investigating whether the identification of former Navy petty officer Rollie Chance was used by Alexis to enter the Navy Yard compound. An ID belonging to Chance was found near Alexis' body. - Alexis' Former Roommate Shocked by Navy Yard Shooting - 9.19.13
Nutpisit Suthamtewakul met Alexis years ago at a Buddist temple in White Settlement, Texas. The close friends worked together at ...
Nutpisit Suthamtewakul met Alexis years ago at a Buddist temple in White Settlement, Texas. The close friends worked together at Suthamtewakul's Thai restaurant in the Fort Worth suburb and were roommates in a nearby house before Suthamtewakul's wedding last year. "Everything that's about Thai, he wanted to learn," Suthamtewakul said. The house and temple were both near the Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, where Alexis was on active duty until 2011. Alexis visited Thailand in April 2012 and met some of Suthamtewakul's relatives. He was supposed to be at Suthamtewakul's December 2012 wedding. "He's supposed to be my best man at my wedding," Suthamtewakul said. But Alexis missed the event because he was overseas with a consulting firm -- the same firm he was with Monday at the Navy Yard. "I ask myself every day, after I found out that he killed all those people; I don't understand why he did that," Suthamtewakul said. He said he knew his friend had guns but saw no hint of the mental health problems that are being reported now. "He might be crazy," Suthamtewakul said. "He might have done something, or someone might have done something to him, and he got mad, and he killed people, so we'll never know." Watch Video
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the top U.S. Navy officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was at the Navy Yard during Monday morning’s shooting and was evacuated safely, Defense One learned as the melee unfolded. Greenert is chief of naval operations, known in the military as the CNO. He and his wife live at the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington, D.C., which also houses the CNO’s headquarters. He was home during the morning and scheduled to appear at an event on base when the shooting began. Mike Nova's comments and Relevant Links: Was Admiral Greenert a target in Washington Navy Yard Shooting? - GS, especially in the light of situation aroundSyria? -
Chance’s name filtered to the media because one of his identification cards reportedly was found near the body of Aaron Alexis, the man actually responsible for the shootings. Chance said he has no idea how that happened, and that he had not been in Building 197 since October, when he turned in two military access cards to his division head and went on administrative leave from his civilian job as an engineering technician.
“I don’t know Aaron Alexis,” Chance said. “I’d never heard of Aaron Alexis. I’ve never met Aaron Alexis.”
He said FBI agents questioned him thoroughly, then searched his home with his consent. “I was trying to be cooperative,” he said.
![Aaron Alexis has been confirmed as one of the two gunmen [FBI]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tEz-IxKyEE9S5k7O2ghFTo0M8JEsG3KvfcwLbCG5EZB_wy-WpWlumQoQ7U8X71E0bESJVBPd1hcyn_03rVe9lt97fv1a1GH9yQQgUJTcw0i9amhpt-fsCe6VJE8ku6MV-tY7E36A=s0-d)
![The FBI want to know everything they can about Alexis life and his movements prior to the attack [FBI]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxTnyqfRna4n9r1YoUVIDDxzLVjTyDhNxSh8cqPhUxTWRCFZIClk-ol0BzR6NiY8BNwN5u0uGnj4VNP7zwjUl-_cPqFv3fUs_upC3lbzIYvzfwY6rGwPK9VHUeXFzG3rXzf91GPw=s0-d)
![Nutpisit Suthamtewakul said he lived with Alexis for three years [WUSA*9]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uu-4gZWisSHni95bVRIymJxVLQ1Fq4sFwF2EUjyMb2mU6dvzmqnqaqWBRxcDZwQardtVFSRxfayI21-9NBiFlGzGaTiDVjnoBKkQY5B23uCn7P3SfuIioaQtCQy6pABDJI8gbVkw=s0-d)