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☆ Amateur Investigators Take Down Local Politicians—By Hitting the Library
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Joyu Wang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TAIPEI––Taiwan is perched on one of the world’s most volatile geopolitical fault lines. Yet as a closely watched election approaches on Saturday, some candidates’ thorniest obstacles are coming not from their stances on China but from the library stacks. Amateur sleuths have been throwing campaigns into turmoil by digging up evidence that candidates long ago cribbed bits of their university dissertations or engaged in improper footnoting.

☆ A Mystery Hidden in a Family Photograph
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( David Botti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Now I wondered if I could use these same skills to find my great-grandfather’s house. The inscription contained a familiar name: “Henri Cartier-Bresson” — a giant of 20th century photojournalism. Henri Cartier-Bresson visited Scanno in the early 1950s, as part of a wave of journalists looking to document World War II’s effects on Europe’s impoverished regions. Henri Cartier-Bresson had taken that photograph from the very spot where Donato was born. Fernando Scianna Mario Giacomelli Henri Cartier-Bresson And it’s easy to see that the work still inspires pilgrimages to the steps.

Mixed messaging and unclear answers from police would have given whoever fatally stabbed four students in the Idaho college town of Moscow more time to flee, law enforcement experts say. It was two days after the slayings when the department said in a news release that it was "working closely" with the Idaho State Police and other state and federal agencies. The last homicide involving the University of Idaho was in 2011, when a professor fatally shot a graduate student he had been dating before taking his own life. "They have access to the Idaho State Police, which runs a branch of the crime lab in Coeur d'Alene, not far from Moscow," he said. "We know you want answers," Idaho State Police Director Kedrick Wills said at Sunday's news conference.

☆ Indiana police to make announcement in unsolved 2017 Delphi murders of 2 teenage girls
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Indiana police will announce an update Monday morning in the the 2017 murders of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, a case that has puzzled the community and online crime sleuths for years. Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14, vanished while hiking in their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, in February 2017. Their bodies were found Feb. 14, 2017 in a wooded area near the Delphi Historic Trail, a half mile upstream from the bridge. For years police worked to find the girls’ killer and previously said the assailant may have had close connections to Delphi, a city of about 3,000 people. Police previously released two sketches of a suspect.

☆ Elected official from Connecticut admits he entered Capitol during Jan. 6 attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — An elected official in Connecticut has admitted for the first time publicly that he entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. "I was there I went inside there, and, you know, I didn’t damage or break anything," DiGiovanni told NBC Connecticut following a recent Board of Aldermen meeting. That footage also indicated he entered the Capitol near where some of the most brutal violence took place. Nearly 900 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, but there are still hundreds more arrests expected. DiGiovanni was elected to local office in Derby, a small city near New Haven, about 10 months after the Jan. 6 attack.

☆ A New York lawyer who once filed 9/11 conspiracy theory lawsuit is charged with assaulting police at Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A New York attorney was arrested this week on several January 6 charges. Prosecutors used facial recognition technology to identify John O'Kelly in photos from the siege. In 2019, O'Kelly filed a lawsuit on behalf of the group against the Justice Department in an effort to present the organization's conspiracy theory to a grand jury. Online sleuths had come to know the yet-identified O'Kelly as "MidWhiteCrisis," according to NBC, due to his inclusion on the FBI's Capitol Violence page. More than 900 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack and more than 400 have pleaded guilty thus far.

On TikTok, the hashtag “Gaylor” has more than 264 million views; the term refers to Swift fans who subscribe to the theory that she is queer. Fans have gone down these rabbit holes before, speculating over other hints across Swift’s songs, music videos and social media posts. Previous Easter eggs discovered by fans include the album title for “Lover” hidden in the background of the music video for “Me!” ahead of the album title’s announcement. “I think a lot of people have to deal with this now ... because we live in the era of social media,” Swift said. In a 2019 interview with Vogue, she addressed why she made her support for the LGBTQ community more visible.

☆ Facial recognition used in arrest of 9/11 conspiracy theory lawyer accused of trying to disarm officer on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan_Dienst_Byline.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — The FBI on Thursday arrested a New York lawyer who is accused of trying to disarm an officer protecting the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, law enforcement sources told NBC News. Authorities say O'Kelly tried to "disarm" a D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officer on Jan. 6 by grabbing an officer's baton and "attempting to wrestle it from the officer’s hands." U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of ColumbiaO’Kelly, known to online sleuths investigating the Jan. 6 attack as “MidWhiteCrisis,” was No. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in March 2021, and an appeals court upheld the lower court ruling in August 2022. More than 870 people have been arrested by the FBI in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.

☆ Ex-Air Force enlistee jailed after pleading guilty to 'outrageous' conduct on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

"You make your bed, you gotta lie in it," U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said before ordering the man detained. As part of his plea, he admitted that he used chemical spray on officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and helped force them to retreat. / FBI"I plead guilty," Bilyard told the judge. After he attacked officers and smashed the window on Jan. 6, Bilyard reported to Air Force basic training. More than 870 defendants have been arrested in the Jan. 6 attack investigation, and more than 350 have pleaded guilty.

☆ DOJ says it needs more money for the Jan. 6 probe. The next spending bill may be its last chance.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Sahil-Kapur-Headshot.Jpg | Sahil Kapur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration says it is in critical need of more money to bring the Jan. 6 rioters to justice. The Justice Department has told Congress that more than $34 million in funding is "critically needed" to fund the investigation. “The cases are unprecedented in scale and is expected to be among the most complex investigations prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” the Justice Department wrote to the legislative branch. Before they broke for recess, lawmakers involved in the talks told NBC News that the fate of the Justice request was still unsettled. I don’t have any problem giving the Justice Department the resources it needs to do that,” he said.

☆ Trump supporters convicted of bringing guns to Philadelphia after 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Two Donald Trump supporters who traveled to Philadelphia with guns after the 2020 presidential election were convicted on weapons charges on Wednesday, but acquitted on three election-related counts. Joshua Macias and Antonio LaMotta, both of Virginia, were arrested in Philadelphia on Nov. 5, 2020, near the Philadelphia Convention Center, where votes were being counted following the presidential election. A judge convicted both Macias and LaMotta on gun charges on Wednesday, but the duo were acquitted on the election-related counts, according to Lauren Mayk of NBC10 in Philadelphia, who was in the courtroom. The pair had faced three elections-related charges: interference with primaries/elections, hindering performance of duty, and conspiracy-interference with primaries/elections. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said it believed the case was the most serious state election-related prosecution in Pennsylvania that grew out of the 2020 election.

☆ 'Murder, She Wrote' actress Angela Lansbury dead at age 96
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Nearly seven decades after her first film, she was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at age 88 in November 2013. "I feel really undeserving of this gorgeous chap," Lansbury said, referring to the golden Oscar statuette she was given. "Not since the heyday of Bette Davis had there been an actress of this range and accomplishment," wrote critic David Shipman. Lansbury was born in London in 1925 and went to the United States in 1940 to avoid the war with her mother, actress Moyna McGill, who appeared in several Hollywood films. Lansbury, who lived in Los Angeles, married actor Richard Cromwell in 1945 but the union lasted less than a year.

☆ Romance novel model pleads guilty to dragging officer down Capitol steps on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Barnhart pleaded guilty on Wednesday to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon before U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. “Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?” Sullivan asked during the virtual hearing. Logan Barnhart at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Internet sleuths investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack identified Barnhart with the help of facial recognition technology. To confirm the match, the sleuths said they were able to find Instagram posts showing Barnhart wearing the same sweatshirt and hat that he wore on Jan. 6.

☆ Trump fan who assaulted Officer Fanone on Jan. 6 sentenced to more than 7 years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump fan who brought his teenage son along as he assaulted then-D.C. police officer Mike Fanone and another officer at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Tuesday. Former Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone during a House select committee hearing on July 12. After Fanone's statement, a supporter of the Jan. 6 defendants called Fanone a "piece of s---." More than 850 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack and more than 350 have pleaded guilty. The longest sentence of 10 years in federal prison went to an ex-NYPD officer who assaulted a D.C. cop with a flagpole and tackled him to the ground, and then lied on the stand about his conduct.

Five people who federal investigators say are associated with the far-right group America First have been arrested in connection with last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol. In addition to numerous criminal charges, they are accused of entering House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s conference room, according to a court filing. Brody is accused of helping another rioter use a metal barricade against a Capitol Police officer, who was knocked back as he tried to secure the door. According to the filing, the group also watched the destruction of media equipment, which had been surrounded by metal barricades, with Brody and Chase taking part in the destruction. More than 850 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack, and more than 350 have been convicted.

☆ Evidence that freed Adnan Syed was long available, 'Serial' host says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

In a new episode of “Serial” released Tuesday, host Sarah Koenig noted that most or all of the evidence cited in prosecutors’ motion to overturn the conviction was available since 1999. Adnan Syed, center, leaves the courthouse after being released from prison in Baltimore, Md., on Sept. 19, 2022. In the “Serial” episode posted Tuesday, Koenig broke down prosecutors’ motion and described how some evidence they cited was featured in the podcast, while other evidence — including the evidence of other possible suspects — became public more recently. Other supporting evidence on the unreliability of a key witness and questions about cellphone data was previously featured on “Serial,” Koenig said. In the years since “Serial” chronicled Syed’s case and transformed the true-crime genre, a number of breakthroughs have come in other cases examined by like-minded podcasters.

Eight years after the show’s debut, the podcast circuit across all storytelling genres has never been more crowded or competitive. But in today’s oversaturated market, could any one show prove to be as singularly culture-shaping — influential enough to help free an imprisoned person? “I remember a time when I could keep up on new podcast series, but nowadays that seems virtually impossible,” he added. Cindy Ord / Getty Images file“Serial” is not the only podcast to have helped put more focus on a possible miscarriage of justice. In the years since, the stylistic tropes of true-crime podcasting have become all too easy to satirize.

☆ Satanic panic is making a comeback, fueled by QAnon believers and GOP influencers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Brandy-Zadrozny-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Brandy Zadrozny | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +23 min

Utah County Attorney David O. Leavitt speaks on July 31, 2019, in Provo. The accusations were part of a new case from Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith. Discussion about satanism and satanic abuse has increased in recent years, according to data provided to NBC News by Zignal Labs, which analyzes social media conversations. Popular culture and social media have also ferried ideas about satanism and widespread child abuse from fringe to the mainstream. (Anti-LGBTQ politicians and activists have equated LGBTQ people with predators who abuse children as part of a “gay agenda,” the well-worn panic that the gay rights movement’s true motivation is recruitment.

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