Pennsylvania Waitress and Casino Executive Arrested Charged With Theft

[From article]
Court documents show Robert Pellegrini, a former executive at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, was charged Tuesday along with server Rochelle Poszeluznyj and patron Mark Heltzel. They each face over 170 counts including theft, identity theft and criminal conspiracy.
The state police Bureau of Gaming says Poszeluznyj would collect players’ casino cards and PIN numbers when they paid for drinks. They say she passed them to Pellegrini to make duplicates, which he gave to Heltzel to use at slot machines. Police say Heltzel would split his winnings with the duo.

http://nypost.com/2016/01/20/casino-exec-and-waitress-charged-in-slots-scheme/

Casino exec and waitress charged in slots scheme
By Associated Press
New York Post
January 20, 2016 | 11:21am

US Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) Indicted On Racketeering Conspiracy, Misusing Campaign Funds, Bribery

Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah, Indicted 

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and four associates were indicted Wednesday on racketeering conspiracy charges stemming from several alleged schemes to misuse campaign funds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to further their political and financial interests.
The five schemes include accepting a $1 million illegal loan for Fattah's failed 2007 mayoral campaign from a "wealthy supporter" and then repaying some of it using "charitable and federal grant funds" that passed through a nonprofit founded and controlled by Fattah, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said at a news conference.
[. . .]
The indictment also accuses Fattah, a Democrat who represents parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, of seeking a $15 million federal grant for a political consultant in order to help "extinguish" a $150,000 debt owed to the consultant.
It also contends that the Second District congressman accepted an $18,000 bribe payment in return for seeking an ambassadorship or appointment to the United States Trades Commission for a lobbyist.
[. . . ]
Fattah is also accused of misappropriating funds from his mayoral and congressional campaigns to repay a $23,000 student-loan debt for his son, Chaka "Chip" Fattah Jr.
[. . .]
Indicted Wednesday with Fattah were Bonnie Bowser, 59 of Philadelphia; Karen Nicholas, 57, of Williamstown, N.J., Herbert Vederman, 69, of Palm Beach, Florida, and Robert Brand, 69, of Philadelphia.
Bowser is Fattah's chief of staff in his district office, Nicholas is a former Fattah staffer, Vederman is a lobbyist who was a deputy mayor in the Rendell administration and Brand runs a technology company, Memeger said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20150730_Fattah_indicted.html

U.S. Rep. Fattah indicted, allegedly took illegal $1 million loan
Chris Brennan and Jeremy Roebuck, Inquirer Staff Writers
Last updated: Wednesday, July 29, 2015, 3:21 PM
Posted: Wednesday, July 29, 2015, 11:21 AM

NYPD Officer Charged With Major Illegal Drug Conspiracy in Vermont

Andre Clarke, 37, of the Bronx in New York, a 13-year veteran of the New York Police Department pleaded not guilty in federal court in Burlington.

(Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)
[From article]
New York City Police Officer Andre Clarke was credited with fatally shooting a man who was holding a gun to the head of an undercover detective in a packed Brooklyn nightclub in March 2007.
Wednesday, Clarke was in a Vermont courtroom to face a charge of being part of a major conspiracy to distribute oxycodone by selling the opiate-based painkiller to addicts in the Burlington area.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2015/07/15/nypd-officer-denies-drug-charge/30204177/

NYC cop: From hero to drug suspect

Mike Donoghue

Free Press Staff Writer

9:33 p.m. EDT July 15, 2015

* * *

[From article]
A veteran NYPD cop who was charged with selling Oxycodone pills as part of a Vermont drug ring was released on $200,000 bail Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court.
Andrea Clarke was arrested after leaving his shift at the NYPD Quartermaster Section in Queens on Monday and hit with drug raps by Vermont federal prosecutors, according to court papers.
The hulking cop made his initial appearance in Brooklyn but has a court date in Vermont on Wednesday.
Clarke, 36, allegedly sold the painkiller from 2011 through June 2014.

http://nypost.com/2015/07/14/nypd-cop-released-in-vermont-drug-bust/

NYPD cop released in Vermont drug bust
By Selim Algar
New York Post
July 14, 2015 | 7:46pm

Harvard University's Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Son of Cambridge MA, Ben Affleck Conspired To Cover Up Unpleasant Truth

Cambridge, MA native Ben Affleck with Massachusett's most prominent and wealthiest politician. 

Looks as if Affleck found his roots and did not like them. So he asked Professor Gates if he could rewrite them, and rewrite them he did. What else was covered up at Harvard University by their scholars which prominent persons did not like? It indicates that all things great and small are for sale even at Harvard University with its $36 billion endowment. 

[From article]
PBS launched its investigation after it was reported that Affleck requested the program not reveal his ancestor's slave-holding history in the 2014 episode. The Associated Press examined historical documents and found that Affleck's great-great-great-grandfather owned 24 slaves.
The review found that co-producers violated PBS standards by allowing improper influence on the show's editorial process and failed to inform PBS or producing station WNET of Affleck's efforts to affect the program's content.
In a statement, series host and executive producer Henry Louis Gates Jr. apologized for forcing PBS to defend the integrity of its programming. He said he's working with public TV on new guidelines to ensure increased transparency.
[. . .]
Gates and PBS said in April they didn't censor the slave-owner details. Instead, more interesting ancestors of Affleck emerged and Gates chose to highlight them instead in the show that traces the ancestry of well-known guests.
But in an email exchange between Gates and Sony Pictures chief executive Michael Lynton, Gates asks Lynton for advice on how to handle Affleck's request.
"Here's my dilemma," says Gates in one email, dated July 22, 2014, "confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors — the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including (documentary filmmaker) Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?"
Lynton replied that it all depends on who knows that the information was in the documentary already.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/06/25/pbs-halts-production-finding-your-roots-amid-flap-over-ben-affleck-episode/

PBS halts production of 'Finding Your Roots' amid flap over Ben Affleck episode
Published June 25, 2015Associated Press
Fox News

* * *

[From article]
Well, Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. has learned his lesson about getting cozy with the stars.
After investigating Ben Affleck’s ancestry for his PBS program “Finding Your Roots,” Gates and his team discovered that Affleck, who won an Oscar for producing “Argo” — the film about the heroic rescue of American embassy workers from Iran after the death of the Shah — had an ancestor who was a Hollywood p.r. nightmare: a slave owner. At the request of the star, and obviously his team of handlers, the info was suppressed and not included in the segment on Affleck when it aired last October.
Well, Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. has learned his lesson about getting cozy with the stars. After investigating Ben Affleck’s ancestry for his PBS program “Finding Your Roots,” Gates and his team discovered that Affleck, who won an Oscar for producing “Argo” — the film about the heroic rescue of American embassy workers from Iran after the death of the Shah — had an ancestor who was a Hollywood p.r. nightmare: a slave owner. At the request of the star, and obviously his team of handlers, the info was suppressed and not included in the segment on Affleck when it aired last October. Mortified by this omission, PBS, which depends on grants, corporate sponsorship and viewer contributions to keep itself going, conducted an investigation into “Finding Your Roots,” looking for possible malfeasance — and found plenty. Affleck, they determined, had “improper influence” on the sell-out producers and the scheduling of the third season of “Finding Your Roots” has been delayed pending changes in both staffing and editorial quality control.
[. . .]
But did that mean that Affleck, who promoted his blue-collar Boston roots in the “Good Will Hunting” part of his career, had to get his Hollywood machine to lean on the obviously naive Gates — who must have thought, “Gee, these Hollywood stars must really like me because they’re on my show”?

Mortified by this omission, PBS, which depends on grants, corporate sponsorship and viewer contributions to keep itself going, conducted an investigation into “Finding Your Roots,” looking for possible malfeasance — and found plenty. Affleck, they determined, had “improper influence” on the sell-out producers and the scheduling of the third season of “Finding Your Roots” has been delayed pending changes in both staffing and editorial quality control.
[. . .]
But did that mean that Affleck, who promoted his blue-collar Boston roots in the “Good Will Hunting” part of his career, had to get his Hollywood machine to lean on the obviously naive Gates — who must have thought, “Gee, these Hollywood stars must really like me because they’re on my show”?
http://nypost.com/2015/06/25/ben-affleck-proves-hes-a-common-hollywood-blowhard/

Ben Affleck proves he’s a common Hollywood blowhard
By Robert Rorke
New York Post
June 25, 2015 | 3:42pm

Two Members of New Black Panther Party Convicted of Plot to Blow Up St. Louis, MO Police Station and To Kill Officers

Brandon Orlando Baldwin, 24, left, and Olajuwon Ali Davis, 23

[From article]
Two men who met during the Ferguson protests and plotted violence against law enforcement admitted in federal court here Tuesday that they planned to blow up a police station, the top St. Louis County prosecutor and the Ferguson police chief.
Olajuwon Ali Davis, 23, and Brandon Orlando Baldwin, 24, each pleaded guilty of four explosives and gun charges that will carry seven-year prison terms when the men are sentenced Aug. 31.
[. . .]
Federal agents and police tracked them and their calls and texts for weeks, recording some of the conversations. The two discussed using Baldwin, who was then an employee of the Cabela’s store in Hazelwood, to buy guns for felons and others. Baldwin admitted that he did buy three guns, falsifying federal forms by saying that the weapons were for him.
[. . .]
Baldwin, speaking to a second informer, said he wanted to build “bombs and blow things up,” his plea says, and “hit them in places where it hurt, hit someone important.”
[. . .]
Baldwin said one target was an unidentified police headquarters, to “destroy their communications.” Also mentioned as targets were St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch and then-Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, the plea agreements say.
[. . .]
Law enforcement sources previously identified the Gateway Arch as a bomb target.
[. . .]
Investigators previously identified both defendants as members of the St. Louis Chapter of the New Black Panther Party. Baldwin also is known as Brandon Muhammad, according to court documents, and Davis also uses the last name Ali and goes by Brother Ali. Baldwin described himself as a field marshal for the party, his plea says. Davis said that he once carried a gun as part of a security detail for the party.
Davis spoke in October at a New Black Panther rally at the Greater St. Mark Family Church about the killing of Brown. Davis was identified that day as the Missouri chapter’s “minister of law.”

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-admit-plot-to-bomb-police-station-kill-st-louis/article_47bc72ff-ad16-5ce7-b7be-432180fa555e.html


Two admit plot to blow up police station, St. Louis County prosecutor and Ferguson police chief
June 02, 2015 11:30 pm

By Robert Patrick

Oregon Officials Indicate Bias and Conspiracy Against Baker Fined For Not Making Cake For Same Sex Wedding

The Daily Signal has exclusively learned that the government agency responsible for enforcing Oregon’s anti-discrimination law appears to be working closely with a powerful gay rights advocacy group in its case against Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa.

[From article]
Communications obtained through a public records request show employees of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries—which pursued the case against the Kleins—participating in phone calls, texting, and attending meetings with Basic Rights Oregon, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the state.
[. . .]
“That’s a clear conflict of interest,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
State agencies have a duty to represent the best interests of the general public, not the interests of one particular advocacy group. The relationship shown by these communications is inappropriate and raises basic questions about the objectivity, bias, and fairness of this agency and its proceedings.
It is unclear what occurred during these meetings and phone calls, but the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries commissioner, who is in charge of determining the Kleins’ final punishment, met with Basic Rights Oregon on multiple occasions and purchased tickets costing hundreds of dollars benefiting the advocacy group.
[. . .]
based on The Daily Signal’s findings, lawyers for the Kleins on Friday requested the case be re-opened for further investigation.
[. . .]
on Spakovsky, who is a critic of the administrative law process, says the relationship between Avakian and an activist group would be an obvious ethics violation in a normal court system.
“The problem with administrative law judges appointed by a government agency is that they have an inherent conflict of interest—the agency is acting as judge, prosecutor, jury, and executioner, which is a basic violation of fundamental due process protections,” he said.
The whole point of having an independent judiciary is to separate the judicial and prosecutorial functions and avoid this type of conflict.
[. . .]
Suspicious of potential collusion, Harmon, the Kleins’ lawyer, requested the judge allow her to further investigate the state’s relationship with Basic Rights Oregon.
“We argued that because of Aaron Cryer’s testimony, the judge should allow us to re-depose the complainants and even people at BOLI [Bureau of Labor and Industries] to figure out exactly what happened and if there was any collusion,” Harmon told The Daily Signal.
On March 17, 2015, the judge denied that request.
[. . .]
In some ways, the information The Daily Signal obtained is nothing new.
“We knew from Facebook and other public records that the bureau’s commissioner—the final decision maker in this case—is a big supporter of Basic Rights Oregon and that [the Bureau of Labor and Industries] and Basic Rights Oregon are in regular communication about different issues within the commissioner’s control,” Harmon said.
That knowledge dates back to February 2013, when Avakian publicly accused Aaron and Melissa Klein of breaking the law before hearing any evidence

http://dailysignal.com/2015/06/01/emails-raise-questions-of-bias-in-case-against-bakers-who-denied-service-for-same-sex-wedding/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Emails Raise Questions of Bias in Case Against Bakers Who Denied Service for Same-Sex Wedding
Kelsey Harkness / @kelseyjharkness

June 01, 2015

Published on Apr 26, 2015
Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, Ore., speak exclusively with The Daily Signal about the fallout of their decision to decline baking a cake for a same-sex wedding.

George Soros, Ford Foundation Fund Campaign for Government Control of Internet, Curbing Free Speech

George Soros 

[From article]
Liberal philanthropist George Soros and the Ford Foundation have lavished groups supporting the administration’s “net neutrality” agenda, donating $196 million and landing proponents on the White House staff, according to a new report.
And now, as the Federal Communications Commission nears approving a type of government control over the Internet, the groups are poised to declare victory in the years-long fight, according to the report from MRC Business, an arm of the conservative media watchdog, the Media Research Center.
“The Ford Foundation, which claims to be the second-largest private foundation in the U.S., and Open Society Foundations, founded by far-left billionaire George Soros, have given more than $196 million to pro-net neutrality groups between 2000 and 2013,” said the report, authored by Media Research Center’s Joseph Rossell, and provided to Secrets.
“These left-wing groups not only impacted the public debate and funded top liberal think tanks from the Center for American Progress to Free Press. They also have direct ties to the White House and regulatory agencies. At least five individuals from these groups have ascended to key positions at the White House and FCC,” said the report which included funding details to pro-net neutrality advocates.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/soros-ford-shovel-196-million-to-net-neutrality-groups-staff-to-white-house/article/2560702

Soros, Ford shovel $196 million to 'net neutrality' groups, staff to White House
BY PAUL BEDARD

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 | 2:22 PM

Arizona Gentlelady, Sentenced to Life For Killing Husband With Help of Her Children

Accessory: Steven Gibson Jr., 17, was sentenced to 22 years prison in July last year for stabbing his father, Steven Gibson Sr., 39 (together-right), to death, as part of a plot organized by his mom

Deadly siblings: Alysa Gibson and Steven Gibson Jr. have been separately charged in the murder

[From article]
An Arizona mom who was convicted of the 2013 murder of her husband - having enlisted the help of her two children and their friends to kill him - was sentenced to life is prison for the crime on Friday.
The case of 43-year-old Michelle Dawn Gibson is eerily similar to that of Pamela Smart, the New Hampshire woman who infamously conspired with her 15-year-old lover and three of his friends to murder her husband in 1990.
Dawn was found guilty in November of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Her husband, Steven Gibson Sr., was beaten with a baseball bat, stabbed multiple times and had his throat slit, police said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943475/To-Die-killer-sentenced-Mom-43-enlisted-son-daughter-friends-murder-husband-case-eerily-similar-Pamela-Smart-gets-life-prison.html

Mom who enlisted her own son, daughter and their friends to murder her husband while she set up widow dating profiles gets life in prison
Michelle Dawn Gibson, 43, of Peoria, Arizona, was sentenced Friday
Found guilty of the murder of her husband, Steven Gibson, 39, in 2013
She conspire with her children, Alysa Gibson, 16, and Steven Gibson, 17, and two other teenagers to beat and stab the man to death
They have all been charged separately
Gibson claimed her husband was violent and was going to kill her
Pamela Smart seduced her 15-year-old lover and three of his friends to kill her husband in New Hampshire in 1990
By JOEL CHRISTIE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 20:38 EST, 6 February 2015 | UPDATED: 09:01 EST, 7 February 2015

Woman Convicted of Murdering Her Husband For Money

Pam Phillips and Gary Triano
David Bean Photography 

[From article]
But all that glitters is not, well, you know the story. After seven years of marriage, things fell apart. Gary Triano was pushed out of Indian bingo and his personal gambling debts skyrocketed.
"Your husband, he owed a casino in Las Vegas several millions dollars, $1.8 million to an ex-wife, $91,000 to an attorney ... hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group of Mexican investors who people said were involved in criminal activity," Van Sant commented to Phillips.
"Probably" she replied.
In 1993, Pam and Gary separated and eventually divorced. She moved to Aspen.
He stayed in Tucson until Nov. 1, 1996 - the day when Triano was murdered in an explosion just five days before his 53rd birthday.
[. . .]
They were socialites with connections, like their celebrity pals Donald and Marla Trump.
[. . .]
Gene Reedy is a Pima County investigator.
"Gary was definitely was a target," Reedy said. "Gary suspected he was being followed ... he told people he was being followed by an individual that was driving a green Jeep-type SUV."
[. . .]
But the Tucson detective had another lead. In December 1996, just weeks after Gary Triano's murder, his ex-wife, Pam Phillips, filed a life insurance claim -- a big one.
"There was a $2 million insurance policy," said Gamber.
[. . .]
Gamber questioned Phillips. She told him she divorced Gary Triano, escaped from Tucson and fled to Aspen all because she was terrified.
"There was things happening with him that I couldn't understand," Phillips explained. "He was off the wall. Off the wall."
"And you moved because?" Van Sant asked.
"Because our lives were threatened. I mean, our lives were threatened," Phillips replied. "Gary feared everything. Gary was totally in fear, goin' around with a gun."
[. . .]
For nine years the case languished. Then, in 2005, it heated up. Bomb expert Tony May and Agent Tom Mangan of the ATF were reviewing cold cases and took another look at murder of Gary Triano.
[. . .]


Pima County Sheriff's Department 

For Detective Gamber, this case was becoming one of sex, lies and audiotape. But it all came together when an obscure police report from 1996 turned up - that was the same year Gary Triano was blown up.
Back then, a rented van was found abandoned in Southern California. No one knew it at the time, but that van would contain some important circumstantial evidence. The van was rented by Ron Young.
"They find, basically, a map of Tucson ... as far as we know Ron Young has no relationship to Tucson," Gamber explained. "There were several notes -- one that lists out ... people that are very close to Gary Triano. We find a receipt for a local hotel ... we find where he stayed there for 18 days under the name of Phillip Desmond. ... Then we find some of the divorce paperwork from Pam and Gary's divorce."
With this new evidence that Young was in Tucson prior to the bombing stalking Triano, Gamber now believed he had a case. In October 2008, 12 years after the bombing, Ron Young was charged with Gary Triano's murder. And Pam Phillips was next in Gamber's sights.
[. . .]
It would take a year before Phillips was tracked down in Europe -- now in Austria -- and arrested. It would be another year before she was extradited to the United States in 2010.
As all this was happening, Pam's partner, Ron Young, stood trial. He denied everything, and never implicated Phillips. But in the end, those records and audio tapes did him in. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.
Now back in Arizona, it was Pam Phillips' turn. But then, there was a major delay. Her lawyers claimed she was mentally unfit to stand trial.
"Pam, is it true that you once believed that you have some sort of computer chip or brain implants put in that was controlling your thoughts and actions?" Van Sant asked.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-hit/

The Hit
48 Hours
CBS News

OCTOBER 11, 2014, 10:00 PM
Why was a colorful entrepreneur with powerful friends blown up in his car? His ex-wife speaks out for the first time to "48 Hours" Peter Van Sant.

Debt Collection Fraud Ring Busted

[From article]
Manhattan federal prosecutors have busted a multimillion -dollar debt-collection scam that preyed on more than 6,000 victims across the county by scaring them into making payments under the false threat of going to prison if they did not comply .
John Todd Williams and six others who worked for his Norcross, Georgia-based debt collection company were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a 36-page complaint unsealed Tuesday.
[. . .]
The complaint alleges Williams Scott & Associates staffers repeatedly called victims and claimed they were contracted to collect debt on behalf of the US Department of Justice, US Marshals Service and other federal or local law enforcement entities.
Victims were allegedly told to either pay up or a warrant would be issued for their arrest and their driver’s licenses would be suspended. In some cases, victims were supplied bogus documents with government seals.
The defendants ran the alleged scam from 2009 until the feds shut down the operation in May. The feds, in preparing their case, relied on phone wiretaps and evidence they uncovered at Williams Scott’s offices, including scripts telling workers how to trick victims.
One script said, “Give them 48 hours to pay then slam the phone in there [sic] face.”

http://nypost.com/2014/11/18/feds-bust-multimillion%E2%80%8B-dollar%E2%80%8B-debt-collection-scam/

Feds bust multimillion -dollar debt-collection scam
By Rich Calder
New York Post
November 18, 2014 | 11:41am

Nothing To See Here Folks, It's Just One More Conspiracy

[From article]
"So I don’t know if you’re floating another conspiracy or if this is a request from Republicans who are floating a conspiracy or what exactly the suggestion is," he continued. "But the fact of the matter is we’ve cooperated extensively, and despite that cooperation, you know, we’ve seen continued allegations of Republican conspiracy theories that just never pan out."

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/06/20/White-House-Calls-IRS-Investigation-a-Conspiracy-Theory

WHITE HOUSE CALLS IRS INVESTIGATION A 'CONSPIRACY THEORY'
on BREITBART TV

20 Jun 2014, 1:34 PM PDT

Obama Donor Indicted For Fraud, Homicide

[From article]
A California grand jury has indicted Kareem Ahmed, a major donor to President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, and 15 of Ahmed's associates in an alleged multimillion-dollar insurance kickback scheme.
Ahmed, the president and CEO of a company called Landmark Medical Management, is accused of masterminding the scheme and faces charges including conspiracy, insurance fraud, and, most dramatically, involuntary manslaughter, according to one of two sealed indictments issued by an Orange County grand jury both dated June 17 and obtained this week by TPM.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/kareem-ahmed-obama-donor-indicted

Shadowy Obama Megadonor Indicted On Fraud And Manslaughter Charges
ERIC LACH

JUNE 20, 2014, 11:19 AM EDT

US Founders Anticipated Political Elite Demonizing Conspiracy Theorists

]




[From article]
Might this mean that the conspiracy theorists, held in such disdain by polite society, have an intellectual self-confidence and mental stability to deal with the possibility of being wrong?
Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor and scientist at Florida State University, says quite possibly so.
In his book “Conspiracy Theory in America,” he says that history proves that the campaign to label those who hypothesize about large scale national events “conspiracy theorists” is a conspiracy itself.
He investigated how America’s founders warned in the Declaration of Independence of the possibility that the political elite will use their power to defame those who criticize their motives.
Invented term
DeHaven-Smith said that the term “conspiracy theorist” was invented and made popular intentionally by the CIA in an effort to discredit those who asked questions surrounding the assassination of JFK.

[. . .]

The study collected comments and organized them into “conspiracist” and “conventionalist” categories. They assert that “conspiracy theorists” might be more well-grounded, even more sane, than those who accept conventional wisdom on contested events.

[. . .]

Conventional commenters in social media seemed more reactive and became more hostile and fanatically attached to their conventional beliefs.
Additionally, they were less tolerant of dissenting ideas, illustrating an inability to discuss ideas and remain civil.

[. . .]

Two recent studies published in American Behavioral Scientist seem to support evidence that the brains of “conspiricists” work differently than the brains of conventional thinkers.
Psychologist Laurie Manwell of the University of Guelph said that conventional thinkers are unable to process information that conflicts with their pre-existing belief and then integrate it into their hypotheses of possible outcomes.

These studies sound like corollaries to Stanley Milgram's Obedience to Authority, and his mentor Solomon Asch's, Desire to Conform.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/are-conspiracy-theorists-really-the-sane-ones/

ARE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS REALLY THE SANE ONES?
University study shows they are more well-grounded than others

Gina Loudon

October 6, 2013

VA Banker Charged With Plot to Kill Wife

Keeping low profile: Nancy Latham said that when the alleged plot on her life has been uncovered, she and her daughters (pictured) went into hiding for two months.


Affair coverup: Prosecutors say Latham (above) and his girlfriend, Wendy Moore (below) hatched the plan to kill Nancy in an effort to keep their relationship secret because Moore was Latham's secretary at Bank of America.


Affair coverup: Prosecutors say Wendy Moore (above) hatched the plan to kill Nancy in an effort to keep their relationship secret because Moore was Latham's secretary at Bank of America.


Accomplices: Moore allegedly hired Samuel Yenawine (below) to murder her rival, who in turn brought Russell Wilkinson (above) on board; the latter confessed to the plot after being stopped by police.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2390200/Ex-Bank-America-executive-charged-trying-estranged-wife-24-years-killed-murder-hire-plot-hatched-cover-affair-secretary.html

Ex-Bank of America executive charged with trying to have his estranged wife of 24 years killed in murder-for-hire plot hatched to cover affair with his secretary
By SNEJANA FARBEROV
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 10:28 EST, 12 August 2013 | UPDATED: 13:09 EST, 12 August 2013

Denying Reality By Intimidation

[From article]
During most of my lifetime the Democrats have been so openly committed to despotic government that anyone who claims to value liberty, and yet still supports them, deserves only pity or contempt.
[. . . ]
the elitist faction media, in all its aspects (news, education, entertainment), has for several decades now taken pains to make the word “conspiracy” into a byword for irrational or insane thinking. In fact what is irrational is to assert that it is insane to apply to human affairs a way of thinking routinely accepted as sane and necessary in the physical sciences, especially given the fact that human beings appear to be far more capable of deliberate deception than stones or fig trees.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/in-defense-of-conspiracy-thinking/

DEMOCRATIC DESPOTISM
IN DEFENSE OF 'CONSPIRACY THINKING'
Exclusive: Alan Keyes notes drawing inferences regarding the state is perfectly rational
March 14, 2013

Jews Really Do Run The World

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdunetz/2010/07/29/oliver-stone-is-right-maybe-its-time-for-jews-to-fess-up/

Oliver Stone is Right…Maybe it’s Time For Jews to Fess Up
by Jeff Dunetz
July 29, 2010