I had the pleasure last month to meet Jimmy Hatch for the second time in several years. He's a decorated, wounded Navy Seal vet.** He started Yale four years ago as a "nontraditional" student at age 52. He stood out on campus because of his age and definite real world prep as opposed to the often prep-school prep of his much younger young classmates. Hatch came to the attention of a trio of Yale classmates who run a monthly zoom forum featuring interesting people to showcase. … [Read more...]
Visual-Snow Effects/Mental Illness-Defenses for Kohberger?
MENTAL HEALTH – DEFENSES FOR KOHBERGER? "The ringing in my ears and the fuzz in my vision is simply all of the demons in my head mocking me " – statement attributed to the Idaho multicide suspect, Bryan Kohberger. Allegedly visual snow plus tinnitus (ringing in the ears from an unknown source) bothered Kohberger enough that he once said he didn't want to live anymore. Allegedly, he also had drug use issues, especially with heroin, and was bullied for being overweight. There are … [Read more...]
Serial murderers, their killing fields, and sacred rituals. II
In my last post, I talked about killing fields where some serial killers conduct their sacred rituals.** But many killers don't have access to a remote outdoor places or even a basements or crawl spaces to do this. So they must rely on souvenirs to re-live the sense of power or the psychological high they got from killing. Souvenirs and scared rituals. If you're like me, you love bringing home souvenirs home from a vacation as a nice reminder of the great trip you had. During Covid-19 … [Read more...]
Serial Murderers – their sacred killing fields and rituals. Part I.
Killing fields as Sacred Grounds. Kathleen Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology and prolific writer, claims that many serial murderers stake out killing fields, which often become burying fields as well. They reveal their pathological need for control when they feel violated upon discovering that one of their victim’s remains has been found and removed by authorities. Ramsland describes a case that fascinated people around Manchester, England, where I spent sabbaticals … [Read more...]
Plea bargains, Prisons, Parole — an after-your-arrest Tutorial with Boston Strangler tie in.
Am close to finishing my latest book, Privileged Killers, where I take plea bargains and parole board decisions to task. These are two phenomena that've dictated court and corrections culture for years. Hopefully this tutorial will help writers, criminology students, true-crime fans, and others understand these topics. Plea bargains are a win-win often. Suspects get to plead guilty to doing something less serious than what they've done in all likelihood. The joke is it's like copping to … [Read more...]
Could AI fight cyberbullying or ID suicidal depressives?
If you’re at all like me, it’s hard enough to keep a coupla digital gadgets working. Just ordered a new Mighty Mouse for my tired desktop and found I had to search among antiques on Ebay. My new refurbished buddy isn’t even a Magic Mouse, but does the trick. So when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), I’m at the mercy of doubters (no such thing yet) along the spectrum to the Cassandras (it’s already ending democracy, the world as we know it.) I DO suspect, that AI’s why I’ve … [Read more...]
Scary NFLer—victim of bullying, discrimination, or mental illness?
I'm disturbed and saddened that discrimination and/or mental illness has taken a serious toll on a bullying victim I've featured in prior posts. Ex-NFLer Jonathan Martin graduated from Harvard-Westlake prep school in L.A. and then Stanford. He joined the Miami Dolphins in 2012. But during his 2nd year with Miami, he became the center of a scandal involving harassment and bullying on the part of his teammates Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey. Hero, villain, or fool? Things … [Read more...]