Providentia

Conspiracy Theories over Boston Marathon Bombing Popular in Chechnya

Following the two explosions on April 15, 2013, the intense manhunt for the ones believed responsible led to the arrest of 19-year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the death of his older brother, Tamerlan.   As events continue to unfold and more information becomes available, conflicting news stories have generated a sense of cynicism among many observers.   While conspiracy theories continue to flourish over the Boston Marathon bombings being a "false-flag operation"  orchestrated by the Federal government,   particularly among conservative groups,  the bombings received little notice in the former Soviet Union.   That is, until the discovered that the main suspects were Chechens. 

Since the involvement of the Tsarnaev brothers became public,  their role in the Boston bombings have dominated the Russian language Internet (known as RuNet for short).   Due to the popularity of conspiracy theories among RuNet users, accusations that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were framed by the U.S. intelligence community have become especially well-received in their native Chechnya.   With members of the Tsarnaev family being particularly outspoken in demanding Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's release and calling for an investigation into his brother's death.  

Many of the most extreme conspiracy theories, including accusations that the widely-seen pictures of victims who had lost limbs following the explosion were all faked using actors.  Using pictures and materials taken directly from American conspiracy sites,  RuNet bloggers including fralik are largely repeating claims that have since been debunked in the Western media.    These include claims that one victim, Jeff Bauman Jr., who lost both his legs in the bombing was actually a previous amputee named Nick Vogt.    While other bloggers have tried to rebut these claims,  the idea that the FBI and the CIA was actually behind the bombings is definitely appealing.

Chechen bloggers are extremely outspoken in rejecting evidence that the Tsarnaev brothers are responsible for the bombings.   Along with members of the Tsarnaev family,  Chechen defenders include the Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov, and even his political opponents.   Even in a country as divided as Chechnya, the innocence of the Tsarnaevs seems to be one topic on which everyone agrees.    In commenting on the Boston bombings, President Kadyrov has stated that "what happened in Boston is the fault of the American security services"  while his political opponents are blaming American and Russian security agencies alike. 

Along with endless speculation about who was actually responsible for the bombings,  there is also an active defense of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev underway.    An April 21 petition on Avaaz.org titled "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent” has already gathered thousands of signatures by Russians and Chechens alike.    The petition has since been closed with no word about what the petition's author plans to do with the names received to date.  As events unfold and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev goes on trial,  the political storm will likely become even more intense.

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The Elizabeth Canning Mystery

It is still one of the great legal controversies of the 18^th century. 

On January 1, 1753, an 18-year old girl named Elizabeth Canning disappeared from a country lane in what is now the heart of London.   Canning, who worked as a maid in London, had been spending New Year’s Day with her aunt and uncle in Whitechapel and was walking back to London when she disappeared.   After she failed to arrive in London, Canning's employer, John Wintlebury, contacted her mother who then raised the alarm.  A volunteer search consisting of friends, family members and Wintlebury began investigating the disappearance.  Since there was no organized police force in London at the time, it was up to the volunteers to knock on doors, distribute advertisements and flyers, and offer a reward for any information leading to her safe return. 

While someone nearby had reported hearing a scream at the time of her disappearance, the search would peter out after several weeks.   On January 29 however, Elizabeth Canning reappeared at her mother’s house in obvious distress.   The normally neatly-dressed Canning appeared so bedraggled that her mother fainted on recognizing her daughter and seeing her condition.  Along with bruises on her face and body and a bad cut near one ear,  Canning was also half-starved and wearing only a petticoat and a bedgown.   Neighbours and family members came to the house and immediately began questioning Elizabeth Canning about what happened.

They eventually managed to piece together a coherent story from Canning who was obviously traumatized by her experience.  According to her,  she had been walking along the country lane when she was attacked by two thugs near Bedlam Hospital.   They robbed her of her money along with the nice dress she had been wearing.   After striking her on the head, the thugs dragged her to a nearby large house while she was in a semi-conscious state.  At the house, she was turned over to a group of women who then tried to force her into prostitution and locked her in a hayloft when she refused.   She was left there for weeks with nothing but a loaf of bread, a pitcher of water, and the mince pie that she had been carrying. Canning eventually managed to escape but injured her ear in the process.

Though unable to identify the house in question, people hearing her story immediately suspected one particular house in the area that already had a sinister reputation.  Not only was it filled with “gypsies”, derelicts and sneak thieves, but there were several “loose women” living there suspected of running a brothel.   While Canning was far from certain based on the description of the house she was given, she eventually concluded that it was the right house. 

After being given some time to recover, Elizabeth Canning was questioned by an Alderman who had doubts about her story but agreed to issue a warrant.  Again due to the lack of a formal police force, the search was carried out by volunteers.   To lend a semi-official status to the search, the Lord Mayor, Sir Crisp Gascoyne, supervised the search.    Despite her frail condition, Elizabeth Canning was taken to the house as well to identify her abductors. 

All of the residents of that house were arrested and arraigned a few days later.  The Justice of the Peace in question, who happened to be the famous author Henry Fielding, signed the arrest warrants.  The mistress of the house, Susannah Wells (who preferred to be known as “Mother Wells”) and a second woman, Mary Squires, were accused by Canning of stealing her corsets.   Wells was also accused of “keeping a disorderly house” (another name for brothel).   Since Squires was widely suspected of being a “gypsy” (though her exact ethnic origin was never clear), Canning’s accusation was considered proof enough and she was later went on trial for theft.   Squires’ son, John, was also suspected of being one of the men who had abducted Canning in the first place though he managed to avoid arrest.

Despite the international publicity the case generated, Sir Crisp Gascoyne decided to investigate further.  Elizabeth Canning’s description of the house had more than a few discrepancies, especially the room where she had supposedly been held.  Mary Squires, for her part, produced witnesses who testified that she was in another town at the time of Canning’s alleged abduction.  She also had a remarkable appearance, including an extremely large nose and an inflated lower lip, which Elizabeth Canning never mentioned. 

Despite these discrepancies, Elizabeth Canning refused to recant her statement.  This sparked a controversy that polarized English society.  On one side were the Canningites, Elizabeth’s supporters, and on the other side were the “Egyptians” (based on the then-popular notion that gypsies came from Egypt).    Pubs across the country became embroiled in fights over the case and large sums of money were raised on both sides, whether to defend or convict Mary Squires. It also became a celebrated cause in literary circles with Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett and Voltaire each weighing in on the case.   Things became so heated that the Lord Mayor himself was dragged from his coach and physically assaulted by a mob of  Canning’s supporters. 

After going on trial, Susannah Wells was publicly branded with the letter T on her thumb (T standing for theft) and sentenced to six months in prison.   Mary Squires was sentenced to be hanged.    Afterward, Elizabeth Canning was praised as a public hero and she was given a tidy sum of money courtesy of her supporters.    Dissatisfied with the verdict, Sir Crisp Gascoyne reopened the investigation.  After questioning one house resident whose testimony had been the most damaging against Mary Squires, Gascoyne managed to break down her story.   He also questioned the witnesses who had provided the alibi for Squires. 

Based on this investigation and his doubts about Elizabeth Canning’s story, he ordered her arrest for perjury and recommended that Mary Squires be released.  Based on the reasonable doubt over the case, King George II granted a stay of execution for Mary Squires (and eventually a full pardon).   All of this outraged the Canningites and some of them threw stones at the King’s coach.  

It hardly ended there though.   John Myles, the leader of the Canningites, arranged to have the men who had provided Mary Squires with an alibi charged with perjury.   They were quickly found not guilty and released.    To avoid arrest, Elizabeth Canning dropped out of sight and only turned herself in after a new Lord Mayor was installed.    Her trial began in April, 1754, and went on for  seven days with newspapers running pro- and con- editorials of the case.   After a narrow vote,  she was convicted of “Perjury, wilful and corrupt” and sentenced to one month in prison to be followed by her transportation to America for seven years. 

Canning’s defenders insisted that she had been telling the truth though her accusers suggested she had made the whole story up.  The verdict also thoroughly ruined Crisp Gascoyne’s political career since much of the outrage was linked to his investigation.  Still, being sent to America was not that much of a hardship for Canning since her supporters raised enough money to make her voyage comfortable.  They also supplied her with money for a new start.

After arriving in Connecticut, she became part of the household of Reverend Elisha Williams.  Technically an indentured servant, she was treated more like a member of the family.   After Williams’ death in 1755, Canning married John Treat, a grandson of a former governor of Connecticut.  They would have four children together before her death in 1773.  She is buried somewhere in Wethersfield, Connecticut though the exact location of her grave has been lost to history.

Did Elizabeth Canning commit perjury?   The case demonstrates many of the problems investigators face today when dealing with traumatized witnesses.  Some later commentators on the case have suggested that Canning may have experienced a form of post-traumatic amnesia with many details she “recalled” afterward being implanted in her mind by overeager supporters.  Modern investigators are specifically trained to avoid leading questions to avoid contaminating victim recall which may have happened in Elizabeth Canning’s case.  

Whatever the actual facts of her disappearance, Elizabeth Canning’s case demonstrates the power that the media had, long before the invention of the Internet.  Political careers were made and broken by newspaper editorials over the case.  No real solution for what really happened in 1753 has ever been put forward and John Paget’s described the case as “in truth, perhaps, the most complete and most inexplicable Judicial Puzzle on record”. 

And it still is today.

The Erich Muenter Saga (Part 1 of 2)

It began with a suspicious death on April 16, 1906.  The dead woman was Leona Krembs Muenter, wife of Harvard lecturer, Erich Muenter.   Muenter, who received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1899 was described as a tall, thin, and somewhat excitable man who spoke with a noticeable German accent though he insisted he had been born in the United States (other records indicate he was born in Germany in 1871).  He and Leona Muenter already had one child together and her medical problems apparently began following the birth of her second child on April 6, just ten days before her death.   While Muenter insisted that Leona's frail condition was due to her not recovering from childbirth, the two women he had called in on the case were alarmed by what they saw on examining her.

 While the women were not medical doctors (they preferred to advertise themselves as “faith cure” healers), they were hardly ignorant either.   Realizing that their patient was seriously ill, they called in more conventional medical doctors who prescribed a strict treatment regimen.  When Mrs. Muenter failed to improve, the doctors withdrew from the case believing that the faith healers were sabotaging the treatment.   Though likely right about the sabotage, they were completely wrong about who was responsible. 

All of which became apparent enough after Leona Muenter’s death when her husband abruptly packed up his two children and fled to Chicago.  His reason for fleeing became obvious enough when an autopsy determined that she had died of arsenic poisoning.  Apparently her husband had been systematically poisoning her for some time though no suspicions were raised until after her death.  By that time, Erich Muenter had disappeared completely and even his family members in Chicago had no idea of his whereabouts. 

From what would be pieced together later, Muenter had fled to Mexico where he would live for a few years while working as a cook and an accountant (other accounts suggest that he had been living in Texas instead).   Although he seemed safe from arrest, this was apparently not enough for him and he managed to re-enter the United States and enrol as a student at Polytechnic Institute in Fort Worth, Texas under his new name of Frank Holt.   That he managed to do all this without a passport and without raising any suspicions seems like an amazing testimonial to the lax borders of the time.   There was definitely no question that Holt was brilliant and he completed four years of undergraduate work in record time.  Quickly rising to the rank of professor in the languages department, Muenter/Holt moved on to teach German at Oklahoma State University and then on to several other prominent colleges.  By 1912, he was back in the Ivy League lecturing at Cornell.

As for what became of his two children, I have no idea since they seemed to vanish from the historical record by this time.   The most charitable assumption was that he left them with family members in Chicago though there is no actual record of this.  What is recorded was that “Frank Holt” somehow  managed to acquire a new wife along the way.   This new wife, Leone Sensabaugh, was the daughter of a prominent Dallas minister and they had apparently met while he was still in Fort Worth.   That she came from a good family likely contributed to Frank Holt’s general air of respectability and helped advance his academic career.

Though he would claim to be a professor at Cornell, he never received tenure and likely never moved past the rank of lecturer.  Still, the professional community was small enough for at least one former colleague to suspect that Frank Holt was really Erich Muenter and inform the head of the department.  Aside from denying him tenure, the university apparently saw no need to take any further action. 

Everything changed with the outbreak of World War I in 1914.  While the United States would not enter the war until 1917, there was still considerable anti-German feeling which made “Frank Holt” even more of an outsider than before.  Though insisting he was born in the United States, Holt still spoke with a distinct German accent which aroused suspicion despite his being careful to hide his pro-German beliefs.  Many prominent Americans were already pushing for U.S. entry into the war, including financier J.P. Morgan who had lent millions to the Russians and the British to promote the war effort.   For all that he insisted he was a pacifist, Holt was outraged and wrote numerous letters to newspapers denouncing Morgan's use of his wealth to promote the war against Germany.

Whether due to pressure from Cornell or simply to move closer to his wife’s family in Texas, Holt accepted a position at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.   At the same time, the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania by a German warship on May 7, 1915 made American involvement in the war all but inevitable.   Or so Frank Holt assumed.  While his wife was getting settled in their new home in Texas, he rented a bungalow in New York City under the name of “Patton”.     After buying as much dynamite as he possibly could (it was a much simpler time), Holt used the bungalow to put together his own quiet campaign against the U.S. government.   Building the first of what would be several bombs, he traveled to Washington, D.C. on June 2 and managed to plant the bomb in the reception room of the Senate Capitol building (he couldn’t plant the bomb in the Senate chamber itself as he had originally intended). 

The bomb went off at 11:23 PM EST that same day.  Though there were no fatalities, the Senate reception room was destroyed and the blast even caused some damage to the Vice President’s office.  Police later discovered that the bomb had been rigged to explode using the ingenious method of having acid burn through a cork (low-tech, but effective).  Holt heard the explosion while at the train station where he was boarding a train back to New York City.    In a letter he wrote to D.C. newspapers (which he signed “R. Pearce”), Holt took credit for the explosion which he intended as a statement about the supplying of arms to the war effort in Europe.  “I, too, have had to use explosives (for the last time I trust).  It is the export kind, and ought to make enough noise to be heard above the voices that clamor for war and blood money.”   The letter ended by saying that the explosion “is the exclamation point to my appeal for peace.”

But the bomb was only the beginning for Holt

Continue to Part 2

The Sex Wars (Part 3 of 4)

Continued from Part 2

Along with being a fierce advocate of free speech and women's rights during the 19th century, Ida Craddock was also a tragic example of the dangers posed by Anthony Comstock's morality crusade. 

Born in 1857, her father died when she was only four months old and she was raised by her puritanical mother.  Despite this stern upbringing, Ida Craddock became a freethinker relatively early in her life.   After being blocked from entering the University of Pennsylvania as its first female undergraduate, she went on to teach stenography to women students at Giraud College in Philadelphia.   She also joined the National Liberal League and was part of the Free Thought movement.  

By the time she was 30, Craddock developed a strong interest in Theosophy and the occult which took her in a rather unusual direction.    Along with trying to combine religious and mystical writings from around the world into a single discipline, she began lecturing on sexuality.  Her topics focused on religion and sexuality with titles such as "Survivals of Sex Worship in Christianity and in Paganism" and "What Christianity Has Done For the Marital Relation".   Since the first English translation of the Kama Sutra had become widely available by 1843,  the book developed a strong, if discreet, following throughout the Western world despite it being regarded as obscene by many moral crusaders, including Anthony Comstock.   For Ida Craddock however, the book was a revelation and she eventually declared herself to be a Priestess and Pastor of the Church of Yoga.   

Considering she was an unmarried woman living in the last part of the 19th century, becoming a student of various forms of eroticism was a shocking development (it certainly shocked her mother).   While became romantically involved with two men during  this time in her life (thus putting theory into practise),  she never married.   Despite the best efforts of Anthony Comstock and his moral league, the Free Love movement was still encouraging greater openness about sexuality and Ida Craddock became one of the movement's leaders.    Along with becoming a sex therapist in Chicago, she also wrote a series of books and pamphlets that would establish her as an authority on religion and sexuality.    Two of her books, "Lunar and Sex Worship" and "Sex Worship (Continued)" reflected her radical ideas about religion and sexuality.   This included her suggestion that the cross is a symbol of sexual union and the sex instinct was the underlying principle of all religion.

Ida Craddock's most controversial book, "Heavenly Bridegrooms" was first published in 1894.   In the book, she openly admitted to being sexually active despite having no husband.  In her case however, there was no scandal since she actually was married - to an angel named "Soph".    Not only did "Soph" visit her nightly, but their sexual relations provided her with divinely-inspired enlightenment.  In her book, Craddock stated that sex with her "husband" was often so noisy that the neighbours complained!   She expanded on the ideas in her book in a later paper titled "Psychic Wedlock" about the spiritual justification of her angelic marriage.   As she pointed out, the Virgin Mary had herself been impregnated by a heavenly bridegroom. 

Though her mother tried to have Ida Craddock committed at one point, there is no real evidence that she was mentally ill.  From today's perspective, her writing about an angelic husband may have either been pure delusion or a clever way for an unmarried woman to explain her sexual experience without being regarded as promiscuous.   Whatever the explanation, Heavenly Bridegrooms was largely overlooked during Ida Craddock's lifetime and may helped explain why she has been so completely forgotten as a sexual and feminist pioneer.   When she is remembered at all, it is for her numerous pamphlets and marriage manuals on sex education and birth control, which predated Margaret Sanger by decades.

Her pamphlets must have seemed radical enough though.  Along with endorsing birth control and more sexual freedom for women, she also argued that husbands who forced themselves on their wives without their consent were guilty of rape - an unheard-of notion at the time.    She also suggested that intercourse be prolonged to give women the opportunity to reach orgasm along with their husbands.   In one often-quoted passage from her pamphlet, "The Wedding Night", she suggested that:

Even when a woman has already had pleasurable experience of genital contact, she requires each time to be aroused amorously, before that organ, in its state of activity, can become attractive. For a man to exhibit, to even an experienced wife, his organ ready for action when she herself is not amorously aroused, is, as a rule, not sexually attractive to her; on the contrary, it is often sexually repulsive, and at times out and out disgusting to her. Every woman of experience knows that, when she is ready, she can cause the man to become sexually active fast enough.

Considering that a husband's "rights" were considered to automatically trump a wife's "duties" at the time, Ida Craddock was proposing nothing less than a major shift in the relationship between men and women.  Though she was hardly the only sexual heretic during that same period (Havelock Ellis was fighting his own battles with censors in the United Kingdom),  her books and pamphlets came under fire by Anthony Comstock's morality crusade.   In 1894, Ida Craddock wrote an article defending a controversial belly dancer "Little Egypt" whose erotic performances led to Comstock's demand that her burlesque show be shut down.  After attending the dancer's performance at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago,  Craddock wrote that the dancing was actually a sign of a woman's sexual self-control.    In an article published in "The World", she even went so far as to suggest that the same dance be taught to married women to enhance their own sex lives.

Anthony Comstock declared her article to be "obscene" and banned any attempt at sending it through the mail (which blocked national distribution for the paper that published it).   In the meantime, Ida Craddock's mother was making arrangements to have her daughter committed and even threatened to burn all her papers and manuscripts if successful.    Though she was forcibly admitted to the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane in 1898, she was released after only three months without any legal decision being made about her sanity.  

After failing to have Little Egypt's show shut down, Anthony Comstock decided to go after Ida Craddock instead.  Not long after her release from the hospital, Comstock had her arrested for sending copies of her pamphlet "Right Marital Living" through the mail.   She was released after famed lawyer Clarence Darrow came to her defense.    She followed up on this victory by moving to New York City and providing sex counseling right under Anthony Comstock's nose.    About her decision to move to New York City, she would say that:  ""I have an inward feeling that I am really divinely led here to New York to face this wicked and depraved man Comstock in open court." 

But her battle against Anthony Comstock was likely hopeless from the start.   Not only did he have far more supporters than Craddock was able to overcome, he had the law on his side as well.  On March 5, 1902, Ida Craddock was arrested for trying to send copies of her pamplet, "The Wedding Night" through the mail.   Her trial was a foregone conclusion since the judge labelled her work "indescribably obscene" and refused to have it presented to the jury.    The members of the jury declared her guilty even though they had to rely on the judge's opinion completely.    According to one newspaper, the jury found her guilty without even bothering to meet in private to discuss the case.

Sentenced to three months in the local workhouse, Ida Craddock had to cope with the harsh prison conditions as well as abuse from the guards and other prisoners.   Despite free speech advocates rallying to her cause, she was immediately rearrested under the federal Comstock law once her sentence was completed.   In the new trial, she refused to let her lawyers try to help her with an insanity plea.  On October 10, she was found guilty and sentenced to a five-year sentence.  

Ida Craddock likely felt she had no options left at that point since she would never survive in the federal women's prison.    On October 16, the day before she was to report to prison, her body was found in her apartment.  She had slashed her wrists and left the gas running in her apartment although which of these actually killed her is still a mystery.

Continue to Part 4

 

 

 

The Sex Wars (Part 2 of 4)

Continued from Part 1

The years following the end of the U.S. Civil War saw a rise in conservative values and newspaper editorials regularly called for  measures to combat "immoral behaviour".   While women were still expected to know their place as wives and mothers,  a small but influential group of "loose women" still enjoyed many freedoms denied to "respectable women".   That included having their own income,  sex outside of marriage, and freedom to use birth control.    Despite the conservatism, prostitution was a booming business and madams were often independently wealthy in their own right.   Not only were brothels a common sight in virtually every American city but prostitutes even advertised their services in some newspapers.  

In many cases, women had few other options but prostitution considering the subsistence wages in the rare places that would even consider hiring women.   Even women who "married well" tended not to be wealthy in their own right since all their assets belonged to their husbands.    Despite the social stigma surrounding the sex trade, there were always new prospects.   And it was the prostitutes who provided the chief demand for contraceptives during the mid-19th century. 

But the backlash was already setting in.   While successful madams could run brothels that allowed them to enjoy luxurious lifestyles,  newspaper editorials condemning them were already selling papers.   In his 1869 book, The Women of New York: or Social Life in the Great City,  journalist George Ellington wrote at length on madams and their influence.  Describing them as "female fiends of the worst kind, who seem to have lost all the better qualities of nature", he also described madams as being the "friends and chosen companions of some of the wealthiest and most influential men of the city."    Though the legal crackdown after the Civil War largely ended the quiet life that many sex trade workers enjoyed, their refusal to see themselves as "fallen women" offended the Victorian sensibilities of the time.

Along with suppressing the sex trade however, there was also a backlash against contraceptives.   Religious figures denounced the sale of contraceptives in drugstores and books published in the 1860s and 1870 (with titles such as "Satan in Society") denounced birth control as a "violation of the laws of Heaven" and a "hydra-headed monster" that was meant to kill the American family.

When it came to preserving public morality though, nobody was more outspoken than Anthony Comstock.    After fighting in the Civil War (where he was offended by the profane language used by his fellow soldiers), Comstock settled in New York City where he became involved with various Christian movements including the Young Men's Christian Association.   In 1873, he founded the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice  and he became a major force in the U.S. drive to stem the rising tide of "immoral conduct".    In that same year,  Comstock and his followers managed to pressure the U.S. government into passing new legislation to block the shipping of "obscene materials" though the mail.   Though the official name of the new law was the "Act for The Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use, virtually everybody referred to it as the Comstock Act. 

Not only did the Act criminalize any obscene materials sent through the mail, but it also banned the possession of any materials deemed obscene, including contraceptives and abortifacients.   The Act also extended to "marriage manuals" and any educational information relating to venereal disease.  In fact, the Federal law made anyone selling or possessing these materials liable to a long prison sentence and a hefty fine.   The Comstock Act was quickly followed by similar legislation in 24 states which are still known collectively as the Comstock Laws.  While these laws were later challenged in court, the various decisions largely upheld the Constitutionality of the legislation.   There was also the thorny question of what constituted obscenity which vexed judges well into the 20th century (and still does today). 

More importantly, the Act appointed Comstock as a a special agent of the U.S. Postal Service (including the right to carry a gun) and gave him virtually absolute power in deciding what constituted obscenity.   Comstock was also free to arrest anyone whom he considered guilty of promoting or distributing obscene materials.  His definition of "lewd or obscene" was far broader than society had previously accepted and even medical textbooks featuring anatomically correct drawings were seized.  Comstock also shut down the Louisiana lottery which he felt contributed to gambling and related immorality.

Anthony Comstock became a polarizing figure in U.S. society.  While civil rights groups and sex trade workers condemned him, church groups considered him a hero.   He was also  mocked internationally and George Bernard Shaw coined the term "comstockery" after his play, Mrs. Warren's Profession, was deemed obscene under the Comstock Act.  In writing about Comstock and his crusade, Shaw said that, "Comstockery is the world's standing joke at the expense of the United States. Europe likes to hear of such things. It confirms the deep-seated conviction of the Old World that America is a provincial place, a second-rate country-town civilization after all."   Comstock, in turn, dismissed Shaw as an "Irish smut dealer". 

But George Bernard Shaw got off lightly compared to many other social reformers pushing for public education on sexuality and birth control.   Newspapers were banned from running advertisements for contraceptives and even news stories covering sexual topics could lead to newspapers being charged under the Comstock laws.   Comstock's wrath also fell on prominent suffragettes Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Celeste Claflin for their support of feminist issues such as legalized prostitution.   He even went so far as to arrest them for running an expose of a prominent preacher's adulterous affair (they were later acquitted).

Comstock's crusade meant an end to the sale and dissemination of contraceptives, marriage manuals, erotica, and other "obscene materials".   At least, these things could no longer be openly sold.   An underground black market continued to flourish for the sex trade workers and free thinkers determined to preserve the sexual freedom they had years before.   While they were harshly prosecuted whenever Comstock could get an opportunity, the marketeers he denounced as "moral cancer planters" and "old she-villains" continued to make contraceptives available.   Considering millions of women were demanding condoms and other forms of protection,  the bootleg trade was every bit as competitive and cut-throat as what the rumrunners were up to during the Prohibition era. 

Brooklyn entrepreneur, Joseph Bachrach, sold a wide range of contraceptives and other "erotic aids" which he manufactured himself in the home he shared with his wife and seven children.  His inventory included condoms,  vaginal shields, and "rubber ticklers" for sexual stimulation.    By the 1880s, Backrach's secret factory was turning out thousands of contraceptives to be snapped up by his eager customers.  And Backrach was hardly the only one.  Julius Schmid, creator of the Fourex, Sheik and Rameses condoms, was inspired to develop his products while working in a sausage factory.   When Comstock's vice squad raided Schmid's  factory at his 46th Street home (then the heart of New York's red light district), they found 696 prophylactic "skins" and "one form for manufacturing same".   Though Schmid was jailed and fined, that hardly stopped him from keeping up with the demand for his product.   As the first American to mass produce rubber condoms, Schmid eventually cornered the market and went on to become the main source of condoms sold to U.S. soldiers during World War I. 

One of the saddest stories associated with Comstock's crusade involved suffragette and sexual pioneer Ida Craddock whose fight for open discussion of sex and birth control, and her battle with Anthony Comstock led to her suicide.   More on that next week.

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

How Useful Are GPS Tracking Devices for Sex Offenders?

While GPS ankle monitors have become a standard feature in California for use in tracking convicted sex offenders in the community, they have come under fire over reports that they are being disabled, often without any legal repercussions.   Due to overcrowding in California prisons, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed historic legislation "realigning" the prison system by transferring parole violators to local jails for handling.   In turn, many of these same jails have eased their own overcrowding problem by releasing offenders into the community with ankle monitors which supposedly restrict their movements.   Unfortunately,  many of thes same offenders have discovered that supposedly foolproof ankle monitors can be easily disabled and that the legal penalties for it can be fairly minor.   A provocative new report by the Los Angeles Times indicates that thousands of convicted sex offenders have been formally charged with disabling their ankle monitors but prison overcrowding prevents them from being sent to jail as a result.  Some of these offenders have gone on to commit further offenses including sexual battery, kidnapping and attempted manslaughter.  

Under ideal conditions, the GPS devices are attached to the ankle with a rubber strap with an alarm going off if any tampering occurs or if the offender gets too close to a school zone.   Though the signal is monitored by a private security firm, policing infractions is a growing problem.

Since October 2011, more than 3,400 warrants have been issued for monitor tampering although the state policy of sending violators to county jails means that few are likely to be reincarcerated for longer than a few days.   In some cases, violators were released within hours of being arrested.   The rise in new warrants has risen by 28% in 2012 alone and the trend is unlikely to change.  Virtually all monitor violators are sex offenders since they are most likely to be fitted with ankle monitors along with repeat offenders and others regarded as being flight risks.    Under a law passed in 2006, all convicted sex offenders must wear GPS monitors for life. 

Parole officers and prison officials are outspoken in describing the lack of real control the correctional system has over offenders in the community.  One Fresno parole officer commented on the enormous problem he and his fellow officers are seeing.  "If the public knew, they'd be shocked", he said.   While members of the California Sex Offender Managemet Board have noted that parolees "certainly are feeling more bold" due to the lack of deterrence, there is little they can do to correct the situation.

Along with the loss of control has been a rise in offenses committed by parole violators.    Convicted sex offender Rithy Mam was arrested three times in two months and was freed almost immediately each time.  After the third violation, he vanished and reappeared in nearby Stockton where he repeatedly menaced a fifteen-year old girl and her thirteen-year old sister.   He was subsequently recaptured and is now in prison awaiting new charges.   Another convicted sex offender, Raoul Levya, was rearrested last year after a brutal assault on his 20-year old former girlfriend.  After laying on the floor of her apartment for days before being found, she is now brain-damaged and confined to a wheelchair. 

Before the current prison realignment,  parole violators could often be held in jail for up to a year awaiting time, now the maximum sentence for parole violation is 180 days.  Despite calls to increase the penalty for monitor tampering to a full three-year sentence, current prison overcrowding makes that impossible to put into practice.  

 

 

Dealing with Rape in the Military

Since its release last year to triumphant acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival,  The Invisible War has gone on to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the upcoming Academy Awards.   Dired by Kirby Dick, the documentary highlights the grossly underreported problem of rape in the U.S. military.   The film presents interviews with victims from multiple branches of the United States Armed Services.   The Invisible War also features interviews with advocates, health care workers dealing with military rape victims, retired generals and admirals, and representatives from the Department of Defense

Though military statistics report 3,191 cases of sexual trauma in 2011 alone, those figures severely underestimate the true incidence of rape.  Since many victims choose not to report their assaults and commanding officers often refuse to acknowledge that an assault occurred,  getting justice can seem impossible at times. In all too many cases, reporting the crime often leads to reprisals against the victim rather than any punishment of the rapist.  Obtaining treatment for rape trauma and health benefits for mental health issues arising from the rape can lead to a new type of trauma as victims deal with the military bureaucracy. 

Despite high-profile incidents such as the 1991 Navy Tailhook scandal, the 1996 Army Aberdeen scandal, and the 2003 Air Force Academy scandal, complaints of sexual assault are still often ignored by commanding officers and the military justice system.  Despite numerous promises by senior officials in the Department of Defense to help military rape victims, actual reform has been slow to happen.    Part of the problem lies with unit commanders who have the primary responsibility of dealing with rape complaints.   Since commanders are often friends with the assailant, or can even be participants in the assault, rape complaints can be stonewalled or ignored.  

But military rape victims are now fighting back.    Along with The Invisible War, a new viral campaign titled "I am One" is showing the human face of military rape victims and providing them with a way of telling their stories.     As highlighted in The Invisible War, some rape victims have filed a civil lawsuit against the Department of Defence over poorly handled rape complaints and the rocky road many victims face in getting juustice.   One of the lead complainants in the suit is veteran Coast Guard Seaman Kori Cioca who was discharged from the Coast Guard with injuries that went untreated following her sexual assault.    In the gripping narrative provided in the documentary, Cioca describes her life since her discharge and the difficulties she faced in getting reimbursed for the numerous medical issues resulting from her assault.    Since The Invisible War came out, she described how the increased visibility has helped her personal situation with complete strangers coming forward to help pay her medical bills. 

As Cioca noted recently in the Huffington Post,  her injuries and the numerous surgeries that she required as a result serve as a reminder of what she experienced.    Still, the support that she has received since going public with her story has helped her as well.    "It is healing for me to know that sharing my story has given others their voice and the knowledge that they are not alone. The outpouring of support following the film has filled me with the strength to keep going and has once again given my life purpose,"  she says.    "I am grateful for that. And because of that, for the first time in my life I no longer have to feel the blame, embarrassment and shame of being raped. The military made me believe that if I would have protected my body better, he wouldn't have entered it. I am sad to have been a victim, but fortunate to consider myself a survivor of our military's invisible war."

Some progress is being made however, including a recent report from the Department of Defence calling sexual violence in the military “an affront to the basic American values we defend and may degrade military readiness, subvert strategic goodwill and forever change the lives of victims and their families.”    Lawmakers have also introduced the Ruth Moore Act this year, one day following President Obama's State of the Union Address.   Named for a female veteran who was raped repeatedly in the military and subsequently sank into homelessness and depression, the Act is intended to streamline the military justice process and make it easier for victims to receive benefits for mental health issues.  

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Stories I've Been Following

Here are some recent news stories that I have been following lately. 

Chechen Leader Urges Crusade against "Quacks"

The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has called for a public campaign against "charlatans" and faith healers exploiting belief in magic and superstition to swindle credulous people desperate for miracle cures.   "[Charlatans] convince people that they can cure illnesses, while having no any knowledge or skills. Unfortunately, people who seek relief take the bait," he said in a meeting with religious leaders and political figures.  

In warning about the health dangers posed by unscrupulous faith healers, Kadyrov also warned that they discredited Islam, a major concern in the predominantly Islamic country.   Some of the charlatans offer services claiming to be able to cure diseases such as cerebral palsy by claiming to be sheikhs or other religious healers that use prayer or magic and often discourage clients from going to regular doctors.  This could leading to delays in getting treatment with often fatal results.  Many of these "false healers" also claim to be psychics who can foresee the future and change the fate of clients in return for money.    Despite their religious claims however, Chechen goverment news sources report that some of them are unable to quote a single Koran passage.

At the meeting, Kadyrov warned that "turning to wizards and false healers won't bring them any relief and is banned by Islam."    Belief in folk remedies is still strong in Chechyna following the recent civil war in that country and the deaths of thousands of Chechnyans.   

Ironically,  Kadyrov has been a supporter of Islamic mysticism in his country since becoming President in 2005.   That includes his support for the Center for Islamic Medicine in Grozny where healers exorcise djinns by reading verses from the Koran.   Over 130,000 people have been treated there since its opening in 2008.

For more information.."

"Defenders of Christ" Slavery Ring Broken Up In Mexico

A bizarre sex slavery ring operated by a cult located near the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo has been broken up following a raid by Federal police in January.   According to police and immigration sources, the cult is known as "Defensore de Cristo" or "Defenders of Christ" which recruited women who were then forced into sexual slavery and prostitution.  A statement made by a victim advocacy group which has dealt with cult survivors alleges that recruited women were forced to have sex with a Spanish man who claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ.    Cult followers were then made to do forced labour as well as prostitution and to pay "tithes" to support the cult financially.

The raid on the cult's house occured following a formal complaint a year ago by the National Institute of Migration.    Police found cult members, including children, living in filthy conditions and fourteen non-Mexicans who are now facing charges.    Of the mostly female Mexicans found in the house, police are still trying to identify them and determine whether they took part in the abuse. 

According to the Defenders of Christ website, the leader of the movement is Ignacio Gonzalez de Arriba who arrived in Mexico from Spain three years ago. Along with offering courses in "bio-programming" to train people in "re-programming" their brain to eliminate pain and suffering, he and Venuzuelan Losanger Segovia ran the cult's daily operations.   It is not immediately known if Arriba and Segovia were among the ones arrested.   

The Defenders of Christ apparently operated in the area controlled by the Zetas drug cartel with no apparent problems.   They also repeatedly failed to register as a religious group despite Mexican law.   Though all members of the cult in Mexico are believed to be in custody,  authorities report that other branches may till be operating in Peru and Venezuela.

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Disbled Girl Found Lock in Wooden Cage

Responding to a complaint, New Mexico police called to a trailer home in Las Cruce found an eight-year old girl with developmental disabilities locked in a homemade wooden cage.   She had been left unattended while her foster family were attending a movie at a nearby elementary school.  

According to police,  33-year old Cindy Patriarchas and 37-year old Edmond Gonzales had taken their three children to the movie while leaving the girl alone in the locked cage.    Though police had been expecting to see a family pet in the cage, they were startled to see a child instead.     The girl suffers from microcephaly which has left her with an unusually small head and the mental capacity of a two-year old.   There were no signs of physical abuse but she was already too large for the cage which was only 2.5 feet wide and 48 inches tall.  

Patriarchas is not the child's biological mother but has been trying to get permission to adopt.   She and her partner are currently charged with neglect and are both being held under a $25,000 bond.   The girl is now in the custody of New Mexico's child protection agency.

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Can Different Types of Questions affect Children's Memory of Events?

Previous research has suggested that, when interviewing young children, responses to yes/no questions are less reliable than responses to multiple-choice questions (Peterson & Grant, 2001). However, according to fuzzy trace theory, some forms of multiple-choice questions should elicit higher error rates than yes/no questions. Fuzzy trace theory is a theory of cognitive development that suggests there are two types of memory traces: verbatim traces which include exact details of an experience, whereas gist traces represent the patterns and meanings extracted from that experience. Based on the assumptions of this theory,the authors of a recent study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science explored the effect of question format (yes/no vs. multiple-choice), temporal delay (short delay vs. long delay) and age (4- to 6-year-olds, 7- to 9-year-olds, and 10- to 12-year-olds) on children's suggestibility for a naturalistic, potentially stressful event; namely, a dental procedure. Following the dental procedure, and again after a 6- to 8-week delay, children (N = 68) were given 24 forced-choice questions regarding the dental event. Consistent with fuzzy trace theory, the findings suggest that (a) multiple-choice questions can be more problematic than yes/no questions, especially after a delay, and (b) younger children are more suggestible than older children, particularly when asked “no” and “absent feature” questions. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for interviewing children.

For the abstract

Psychiatrist Facing Lawsuit over "Dark Knight" Massacre

In the aftermath of a shooting rampage in a Colorado movie theatre that left twelve people dead and fifty-eight people injured last July, the widow of one of the victims is suing the psychiatrist who treated the suspected shooter.   In filing the lawsuit against psychiatrist Lynne Fenton and the University of Colorado, Chantel Blunk maintains that Dr. Fenton was negligent in her treatment of the suspected shooter, James Eagan Holmes.   Holmes, a graduate student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus before dropping in June reportedly been displaying bizarre behaviour and making threats of potential violence despite having no previous criminal history.

On July 20, 2012, James Holmes entered the Century movie in Aurora, Colorado which was then running a midnight screening of  The Dark Knight Rises.   Holmes, who had reportedly dyed his hair orange and wore makeup similar to the Joker movie character in the previous movie, strategically propped open an emergency door before returning wearing commando gear, including a bulletproof vest.   After setting off gas grenades, he then began systematically firing the weapons he had been carrying.   Police arrived at the scene shortly afterward and Holmes was arrested next to his car with no resistance.    He is currrently being held without bail and is facing more than 150 charges including multiple counts of murder and attempted murder and has yet to offer a plea in the case.   While he has made several suicide attempts since his arrest, he is currently considered fit to stand trial.

According to the complaint laid against Dr. Fenton, Holmes had reportedly stated that he fantasized about "killing a lot of people" while under her care.    Despite concerns about her patient's potential for violence, Dr. Fenton failed to place him under a psychiatric hold though she advised campus police about her concerns.    In her complaint, Chantel Blunk claimed that "the psychiatrist knew that James Holmes was dangerous" and "had a duty to use reasonable care to protect the public at large."    Under Colorado law, a psychotherapist has a duty to breach confidentiality and notify authorities if a significant threat to a third party exists (based on the 1970s Tarasoff Decision) although there is no specific obligation to issue warnings to potential victims.    Colorado statutes also provide immunity from civil claims resulting from patient violence except when the patient provides the therapist with a threat of imminent physical violence against a specific person or persons. 

In responding to the complaint, a representative of the University of Colorado stated that the university "has great sympathy for the victims of the Aurora theater shooting and their families.  But in our initial review of the case, the university believes this lawsuit is not well-founded, legally or factually."    The lawsuit may be only the first of at least eleven other possible lawsuits from victims' families though the deadline for filing has since expired.

 

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