Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The existence of a ruling class is undeniable!



Or at least it can't be denied by anyone that expects to maintain a reasonable degree of credibility.There have been numerous high profile people like Condoleezza Rice, Mitt Romney and many others who say this in the mass media where it goes unchallenged, but as I indicated in Tracking the elite ruling class it isn't that hard to demonstrate that people from the upper class routinely get powerful jobs while those from lower or middle classes are routinely shut out from them. I began tracking a high number of people that were related to to other people within the ruling class and could have gone much further if I took the time.

It is clear that a large number of political candidates are from the ruling class. The ruling class also controls the vast majority of the media and one of the most effective way they guarantee that only those that they approve of get elected to office is to decline to cover anyone unless they're reasonably sure that they will stay within certain parameters.

Those that control the version of truth, even if it is mostly lies, used by the majority of the public to make their most important decisions can, and often do, manipulate, indoctrinate and, in the most extreme cases, virtually enslave a large segment of the public.



Even the conservative magazine, "The Economist" admits that we still have a ruling class according to the following excerpts, which only tells part of the story:

The enduring power of families in business and politics should trouble believers in meritocracy Apr 18th 2015

“AS A democracy the United States ought presumably to be able to dispense with dynastic families,” wrote Arthur Schlesinger junior, one of America’s best-known historians, in 1947. Yet almost 70 years on, next year’s presidential election could well become a family affair. A Clinton or a Bush has been on the ticket in seven of the past nine races. Hillary v Jeb may offend against equal opportunity, but not the laws of statistics.

How, people wonder, can this happen in a country that went to war to rid itself of a king’s hereditary authority? That is the wrong question. Around the world, in politics and business, power is still concentrated in the family. Power families and dynasties are here to stay. The question is how to ensure that they are a force for good.

Double helix, double standards

In politics the Clintons and the Bushes hardly count as exceptions. The leaders of Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Bangladesh are all related to former political chiefs. The “Stans” of Central Asia are family fiefs. The Gandhis are struggling in India, as are the Bhuttos in Pakistan, but the Kenyattas are kings in Kenya, a Fujimori is once again leading the polls in Peru and a Trudeau has a fighting chance in Canada. Meanwhile the lengthy catalogue of China’s “princelings”, the children of Communist Party grandees, starts right at the top with the president, Xi Jinping.

In Europe family power is one reason why politics seems like a closed shop. Fifty-seven of the 650 members of the recently dissolved British Parliament are related to current or former MPs. François Hollande, France’s president, has four children with Ségolène Royal, who ran for the presidency in 2007. Three generations of Le Pens are squabbling over their insurgent party, the Front National (see article). Belgium’s prime minister is the son of a former foreign minister and European commissioner. The names Papandreou and Karamanlis still count for something in Greece. Complete article


This article presents the assumption that "Power families and dynasties are here to stay," as an unavoidable fact without fully exploring how they maintain their power or what it would take to educate the public so that we didn't have to continue to settle for a ruling class in the future, and that we could hold out leaders accountable in the future whether they're from the ruling class or not.

They also refer to the "Economist" as a liberal magazine, which indicates how meaningless political labels are except to give people impressions that are often misleading or manipulative.

The implied reason given that we should accept the inevitability of being ruled by the same families over and over again is "the laws of statistics," and a history of allowing the same families rule us over and over again without a thorough review of how and why they maintain power and how this could be changed. When "the laws of statistics," are applied to social activities they might not apply unless the social behavior that led to the results of these statistics remains the same, or as another saying goes "there are three types of lies, lies, damn lies and statistics." The most important part of a major change would be educating the public about other alternatives and convincing them that they actually have a chance of electing truly democratic leaders that are accountable to the public more than they are to the corporations that finance and control campaigns.

There have been numerous exceptions in the past where the public has refused to accept the rule of the ruling class and if more people understood the alternatives then it could be more likely in the future, perhaps the near future.

This could be extremely difficult with multinational corporations controlling the vast majority of the media and refusing to cover the best grass roots candidates; however this could be a double edged sword. By doing so bad a job covering grass roots candidates and issues it is much less likely that many people will continue to trust the traditional media especially with alternative media outlets available.

Many people, including me, have been hoping that this would have led to reform by now; however it hasn't, or at least it doesn't seem to have done so.

But the grassroots supporters of reform keep at it and the political establishment is demonstrating that they're getting even more extreme; which could provide the greatest opportunity since the great depression for major reforms that are truly democratic.

Many of these grass roots supporters are better informed than a large percentage of the public and they're creating alternative media outlets that are far more credible than the traditional media, as I indicated in a previous post, Alternative Media is an Absolute Necessity!! And as I implied in Invest in Activism, AND Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein and Grassroots many of them recognize that elected candidates to support the will of the people involves supporting them because they really do represent the public and holding them accountable when they get in office.

Right now the leading sincere grass roots contender seems to be Bernie Sanders and even though the media is trying to do anything they can get away with to discredit him by presenting Hillary as the front runner they may have overreached their credibility. They routinely present her as leading in the polls, yet I don't know anyone who supports her strongly, if at all. I have no idea where all this supposed support for Hillary is but I suspect that most of it is either manufactured by political people or polling relatively uninformed people.

A look at some of her support from the internet including on Twitter compared to the support for Bernie Sanders, seems to imply that Sanders might have much more support, at least from people that are active on line, and I suspect better informed.



Both Albert Einstein and Karl Marx and many others recognize that the ruling class has been able to maintain power by controlling powerful institutions and the propaganda that is given to the majority of the public. One of the most effective ways they use to promote propaganda is to stereotype belief systems that often stand up for the majority better than they do, which is why they demonized socialism and communism equating it with Stalin and Mao, even though they never represented the majority of the public. Real grassroots organizations are much more likely to recognize that although Marxism or communism might not be perfect they do have some ideas that are better than the ones being implemented by the ruling class and sorting through them regardless of stereotypes promoted by the ruling class to keep the good ones is much better than accepting the ideology of the ruling class.

Recent disclosures about the American Psychological Association indicate that they've been studying how to manipulate the public in addition to their participation in torture programs, providing additional details about their manipulation tactics. It remains to be seen if alternative media outlets and the strong grass roots support for real reform will be enough to elect a real reformer but it already seems clear that if the ruling class is going to defeat Bernie Sanders then they'll have to show their tactics even more; and a large portion of his support might abandon the Democratic Party and go to the Green Party; and if they use the same tactics against Jill Stein, or whoever the nominee is, as they have in the past then they'll show how they rig elections even more.

The media has already demonstrated how little they care about important issues by providing much more attention to clownish candidates like Donald Trump than they do for sincere candidates like Jill Stein that do a much better job addressing issues. They give candidates from the ruling class one chance after another guaranteeing them large amounts of coverage no matter how much trouble they get in refuse to provide much if any coverage for candidates the ruling class don't support. One of the most brazen examples of this was Mark Sanford but there are many more.

In Hong Kong they understand that their candidates are screened by Beijing, and that this makes a mockery of democracy; if enough people in the USA understand that the traditional media continues to screen the candidates considered for office, virtually rigging the elections for corporations that donate to campaigns then they might not be able to rig the elections.

If people don't recognize this, or go along with the lessor of two evils over and over again then it will make a mockery out of democracy here as well, only many of the people falling for the scams might be so thoroughly indoctrinated they might not realize it.






Tuesday, May 19, 2015

American Psychological Association exposed again



The American Psychological Association has been exposed again in a new report, "All the President’s Psychologists," and numerous other articles from various sources. Some of this isn't new and there is some evidence to indicate that more may have been revealed already that hasn't received much attention.



Those with political and media clout, who understand psychological manipulation tactics often use them to manipulate the masses, many of whom don't understand psychological manipulation tactics, including many that aren't to difficult to understand if people take the time to understand them..



Also at least one of the individuals, Phillip Zimbardo, that has claimed to expose some of the problems with the CIA and been critical of the Bush administration may have also been involved in the research to develop some of these tactics and to revise the ethics guidelines. I have written more about this in Philip Zimbardo, Lucifer Effect, and The Stanford Prison Experiment and several other posts about this subject and will review some of it here; also there might be more information indicating that he was involved in this report, although they don't put much emphasis on it. As I indicated in previous posts Amy Goodman has interviewed him as well but didn't inquire about possible connections to the torture. I don't know if she had any knowledge of it; but if she didn't she probably should have.

The following is an excerpt from Democracy Now followed by several other excerpts including some from the new report:

Emails Show American Psychological Association Secretly Worked with Bush Admin to Enable Torture

New details have emerged on how the American Psychological Association, the world’s largest group of psychologists, aided government-sanctioned torture under President George W. Bush. A group of dissident psychologists have just published a 60-page report alleging the APA secretly coordinated with officials from the CIA, White House and the Pentagon to change the APA ethics policy to align it with the operational needs of the CIA’s torture program. Much of the report, "All the President’s Psychologists: The American Psychological Association’s Secret Complicity with the White House and US Intelligence Community in Support of the CIA’s 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program," is based on hundreds of newly released internal APA emails from 2003 to 2006 that show top officials were in direct communication with the CIA. The report also reveals Susan Brandon, a behavioral science researcher working for President Bush, secretly drafted language that the APA inserted into its ethics policy on interrogations. We are joined by two of the report’s co-authors: Dr. Steven Reisner, a founding member of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology and member of the APA Council of Representatives, and Nathaniel Raymond, director of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Much of the report is based on hundreds of newly released internal APA emails from 2003 to 2006 that show top officials were in direct communication with the CIA. In 2004, for example, the APA secretly took part in a meeting with officials from the CIA and other intelligence agencies to discuss ethics and national security. In one email, the APA stated that the aim of the meeting was, quote, "to take a forward looking, positive approach, in which we convey a sensitivity to and appreciation of the important work mental health professionals are doing in the national security arena, and in a supportive way offer our assistance in helping them navigate through thorny ethical dilemmas," unquote.

One attendee was Kirk Hubbard, then the chief of operations for the CIA Operational Assessment Division. He would later leave the CIA to work for the private firm set up by James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the psychologists who were hired as private contractors to set up the CIA interrogation program including the waterboarding of prisoners. In one 2003 email, Hubbard wrote to a top APA official, quote, "You won’t get any feedback from [Dr. James] Mitchell or Jessen. They are doing special things to special people in special places, and generally are not available," unquote. While the APA has attempted to distance itself from Mitchell and Jessen, the newly disclosed emails show the men attended a 2003 invite-only conference called "The Science of Deception," sponsored by the APA, the CIA and RAND Corporation, to discuss so-called enhanced interrogations. Complete article


This article and the accompanying report clearly indicates that a large portion of the work that some of the most prominent psychologists, or at least some of those with the most political power, do is shrouded in secrecy and designed to deceive and manipulate the public. This includes changes in the ethical guidelines which were done in secret meetings and even many members of the American Psychology Association weren't informed about them; which might explain why Susan Linn was surprised to see the new 2003 guidelines as I mentioned in a previous article and will get to more below. As I indicated in past articles about the subject there are plenty of good psychologists and some of them help expose the bad ones; however they often don't get nearly as much attention in the traditional media as those with political support so it takes time to sort through the details and check the facts. I covered what I consider some of the basics in a manner most people can understand and confirm in Fundamentals of Psychology and Washington's Blog provided some additional information in the following excerpt:

Who’s Crazy Now? American Psychological Association Supported Torture “At Every Critical Juncture”

Like Nazi and Soviet Psychologists, American Psychologists Aided Abuse

While most psychologists are good people, tyrannies have always deployed corrupt psychologists to punish dissenters, and label them “crazy”.

The Nazi government substantially supported psychologists … many of whom, in turn, espoused extermination of the people they considered to be “racially and cognitively compromised”.

Soviet psychiatrists famously aided Stalin in applying fake insanity diagnoses to political dissenters. The official explanation was that no sane person would declaim the Soviet government and Communism.

And authoritarian American psychologists are eager to label anyone “taking a cynical stance toward politics, mistrusting authority, endorsing democratic practices, … and displaying an inquisitive, imaginative outlook” as worthy of a trip to the insane asylum. (Those traits may also get one labeled as a potential terrorist.) Indeed, Americans are literally being thrown in the loony bin after they question those in power.

As prominent forensic psychiatrist James Knoll – psychiatry professor at SUNY-Syracuse and director of a forensic fellowship program – writes in the Psychiatric Times:

When psychiatric science becomes co-opted by a political agenda, an unhealthy alliance may be created. It is science that will always be the host organism, to be taken over by political viruses…. Psychiatry may come to resemble a new organism entirely — one that serves the ends of the criminal justice system.

Indeed, American psychologists created the American program of torture which was specially-crafted to produce false confessions to justify U.S. military policy. Complete article


It seems extreme to many people to claim that American psychologists behaved as bad as Nazi or Soviet psychologists and but a close look at a lot of past work by the CIA indicates that if they aren't as bad they're much closer than most people would want to believe. And a lot of it is more subtle, and harder to understand without review, although most of the details aren't that complicated if people take the time to review them.

The following excerpts of the report (PDF) indicate some of the highlights that I considered notable including admissions to working for the CIA, at least by some of them, and claims that they wanted to keep their activities secret, some discussion about favorable financial treatment for those working for the CIA, at least one reference to the discussions about the changes in the ethical guidelines that were decided on in August 2002 which either went into effect immediately or in 2003, and at the end is a brief mention of Zimbardo, who has indicated that he is critical of the abuses of the CIA and Bush administration; but the decisions to make changes in the ethical guidelines happened on his watch; and Kirk Hubbard refers to him as if he thinks he might be willing to act on his behalf. In addition to Hubbard some of the psychologists directly implicated are James Mitchell, Bruce Jessen, Susan Brandon and Stephen Behnke, who is supposed to be their expert on ethics but clearly doesn't seem to be too concerned about them. Philip Zimbardo isn't directly implicated but as I previously wrote there seems to be plenty of circumstantial evidence to indicate that he probably is involved with some of this research, including his own admissions and research by professor Alfred McCoy, and this provides some additional information that supports this assumption.

All the President’s Psychologists: The American Psychological Association’s Secret Complicity with the White House and US Intelligence Community in Support of the CIA’s 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program.

The APA secretly coordinated with officials from the CIA, White House, and the Department of Defense to create an APA ethics policy on national security interrogations that comported with then­-classified legal guidance authorizing the CIA torture program. .....

The complicity between APA and government entities appears to have directly influenced the APA ethics policy changes, codified into the June 2005 report of the APA’s Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS). The PENS report, in combination with associated, past APA ethics code changes, permitted psychologists to take on the roles of monitoring and evaluating the safety and efficacy of the “enhanced” interrogation program. ...

The Gerwehr emails, together with independent documents in the public record, demonstrate that APA’s secret coordination with the Bush administration both generated and critically shaped APA’s 2005 ethics policy on interrogations. .... Presenting misleading information to APA membership, the public, and the press that obscured or falsified the history of complicity with Mitchell and Jessen, the CIA and/or the Bush White House. .....

(memo sent in 2004)

In his memo, addressed to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Tenet made clear just how high the stakes were during this period and how much conflict appears to have arisen among the leadership prior to his resignation. Tenet reminded the key players of the Administration that they had all approved the program: “From the outset, the policy to employ these techniques against terrorist HVD has been reviewed and endorsed by senior Administration policymakers; in August 2002, the Vice President, the Council to the President, the Attorney General and you were briefed and approved CIA going forward with the Program...” he wrote: “Given all this increased scrutiny now upon us in the wake of treatment of prisoners in Iraq and all the questions the administration is being asked, I strongly believe that the Administration needs to review its previous legal and policy positions with respect to detainees to assure that we all speak in a united and unambiguous voice about the continued wisdom and efficacy of those positions in light of the current controversy.” 15

Soon after Mumford’s “save­the date” was sent, APA’s Ethics Director, Stephen Behnke sent an official invitation to potential participants. Behnke framed the purpose of the meeting as a response to the Abu Ghraib scandal:

Dear Invitee,

Events in our recent history, most notably the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the Abu Ghraib prison situation, have stimulated a great deal of interest in the ethics of using psychology and psychological techniques as tools in national security investigations. (Email 3)

Behnke reassured invitees that the APA Ethics Office would “neither assess nor investigate the behavior of any specific individual or group.” Instead, Behnke conveyed the APA’s deference to the needs of psychologists in the intelligence community:

The Ethics Office and Science Directorate would like to take a forward looking, positive approach, in which we convey a sensitivity to and appreciation of the important work mental health professionals are doing in the national security arena, and in a supportive way offer our assistance in helping them navigate through thorny ethical dilemmas, if they feel that need (informal conversations with people in the field suggest the need is there).

Behnke further guaranteed that APA would keep the meeting, its participants, and their contributions confidential:

I would like to emphasize that we will not advertise the meeting other than this letter to the individual invitees, that we will not publish or otherwise make public the names of attendees or the substance of our discussions...

Indeed, the substance of the discussions and the names of the attendees at the July 20, 2004 meeting have never been disclosed. 16 Similarly, it is unknown whether follow­up meetings took place between APA and CIA personnel, although the invitation and subsequent emails refer to the possibility of such meetings.

What is known is that the same day APA leadership was meeting with top national security psychologists from the CIA, the officials at the highest levels of the Bush administration were meeting to address the legality of the enhanced interrogation program: “In a meeting on July 20, 2004, National Security Council principals, including the vice president, provided their authorization for the CIA to use its enhanced interrogation techniques... They also directed the Department of Justice to prepare a legal opinion on whether the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques were consistent with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” 17 The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were central to the U.S. interpretation of what constituted CIDT. 18 ....

n addition, the weekend meeting was attended by numerous unacknowledged observers, whose presence, according to Task Force Chair Moorehead­Slaughter, had been vetted by herself and the two Board liaisons who later became APA Presidents, Koocher and Anton. 23 Secret observers included Brandon, recently of the White House, Dr. Mel Gravitz, a psychologist formerly at the National Security Agency, and APA staff members Newman, Mumford, Farberman, Breckler and Dr. Heather Kelly. 24 It is unknown, aside from Brandon (see below), whether these observers contributed to the report, which Task Force ”rapporteur” Stephen Behnke wrote during meeting breaks and in the evenings. As the public record reflects, Behnke finalized the Report and distributed it to the Task Force members six hours after the Task Force meeting ended. ....

Additional pressure on the “enhanced” interrogation program and the use of medical personnel came through the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG). At the time, the program faced increasing calls for review and oversight following damaging revelations about the treatment of “ghost detainees.” 34

In May 2004, the OIG recommended that the CIA conduct a study of the effectiveness of the interrogation techniques. In response to OMS concerns that studying the results of these interrogations “would amount to human experimentation,” the OIG issued a clarification in January 2005: I fear there was a misunderstanding. OIG did not have in mind doing additional, guinea pig research on human beings. What we are recommending is that the Agency undertake a careful review of its experience to date in using the various techniques and that it draw conclusions about their safety, effectiveness, etc., that can guide CIA officers as we move ahead. 35 .....

2002: Previous Changes to APA Ethics Code

It is important to note that previous changes to the APA Ethics Code appear to have helped set the stage for psychologists to conduct research on a vulnerable population (e.g. detainees) without their consent. While such conduct has been deemed unethical for health professionals since Nuremberg, the APA ethics code had been revised in 2002 in ways that weakened key research protections established by the Nuremberg Code 42 under customary international law and the Common Rule under US Federal Law. One such change, apparently drafted into the code after 9/11, determined that the requirement to obtain informed consent could be dispensed with when “permitted by law or federal or institutional regulations” (Ethical Standard 8.05: American Psychological Association, 2002b). 4

Other changes, already being considered prior to 9/11 but made APA policy in August 2002, included permitting psychologists to more readily employ deception, restricting only “research that is reasonably expected to cause physical pain or severe emotional distress” (Ethical Standard 8.07), and most strikingly, to fore-go their ethical obligations altogether, if these “conflict with law, regulations, or other governing legal authority” (Ethical Standard 1.02). 44 ....

Email 3: Mumford, July 14, 2004 ..... I would like to emphasize that we will not advertise the meeting other than this letter to the individual invitees, that we will not publish or otherwise make public the names of attendees or the substance of our discussions, and that in the meeting we will neither assess nor investigate the behavior of any specific individual or group. ..... Sincerely, Stephen Behnke Director, APA Ethics Office .....

Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 11:16 AM To: Mumford, Geoff ..... 3. In July 2003, the APA and the RAND corp. co­hosted a workshop entitled, “Science of Deception: Integration of Practice and Theory,” which was funded by the CIA. Can you tell me who initiated the workshop and provide a little more description of the event? Topics included the use of pharmaceutical truth­telling agents. Can you tell me who led that workshop and what conclusion they arrived at? Katherine Eban

From: Mumford, Geoffrey
Subject: RE: Dinner on the 17th
Date: June 27, 2003 5:44:31 PM EDT
To: kirk hubbard
Cc: Scott Gerwehr (RAND), Susan Brandon (NIH/NIMH)

Kirk,
I concur and only just now saw Scott's reference...glad he's on our side;) Sorry to hear your getting grief about the room but have I got a deal for you...as a special promotion for APA members, who also work in CIA Ops AND are willing to share their last names, I will pull that pawltry (poultry?) room fee out of my policy budget and put you up for the night. This is the very least APA can do given the remarkable generosity your agency has shown in supporting the wrkshop.

Enjoy the weekend!
­geoff

Email 12: Hubbard, June 13, 2003 .... If you are looking for another scientist/researcher, a colleague here suggested Richard Rogers, Ph.D. He wrote a book titled "Clinical Assessment of Malingering and Deception" and apparently continues to conduct research in the area of deception. Last we know, he is a Professor of Psychology at the Univ of North Texas. My colleague was impressed by his work, for what it's worth.

Email 15. Hubbard, April 2, 2003
kirk hubbard
To: sbrandon, gmumford, gerwehr
Date: April 2, 2003 2:24 PM RE: Workshop on Science of Deception
Susan, Your reply sounds fine to me.
Pretty slick­­-you should be handling agents for us!

Another approach in addition to your note might be to find someone like Sternberg, Zimbardo, etc. who knows Ekman and could cajole him. Joe Matarazzo knows him and has called on my behalf before, but I don't know if they have any personal relationship. Joe loves to strong arm people, but I don't know what effect that might have on Ekman. We don't want him to be disruptive at the forum!

Kirk Complete article


In the final E-mail cited Kirk Hubbard refers to Zimbardo as someone that he might consider asking to "cajole" Ekman on his behalf. This hardly seems likely if Phillip Zimbardo really was as concerned about preventing torture or participating with the CIA as his public statements indicate; however in previous statements, including his book and the introduction to a recent edition to Stanley Milgram's "Obedience to Authority" book he has admitted that he was the charismatic one of the two in high school and college and that he could be manipulative, and his so called Stanford Prison Experiment was about manipulation. He claimed to put those things behind him when he was admonished by his girlfriend and future wife; but he also admits to further experiments after that change of heart, and he was the president of the American Psychological association when they had a meeting, previously mentioned, in august 2002 to decide on the new ethical guidelines that went into effect in the summer of 2003. This report indicates that at least some of those changes went into effect immediately.

Phillip Zimbardo has provided conflicting claims in the past and it may be difficult to figure out exactly what his objective is. If he was trying to advance the CIA's goal in the most effective way possible and keep this secret it wouldn't seem reasonable for him to disclose some of their tactics as he did in his book. However if he wanted to expose them in the most effective way possible he could have done a much better job and he could have written his book in the seventies exposing some of his research much earlier, possibly preventing his research being used to develop interrogation techniques or indoctrination techniques in boot camp, by informing the public how to avoid being misled. and if he really was an anti-war protester during the Vietnam war it is hard to imagine why he would have done research financed by the Office of Navel Research that could be used to develop boot camp policies among other things.

He didn't take either of these options, which may make his objective a little more complicated. As I indicated in previous posts it might be because they want to disclose as much and only as much information when it suits their purposes, not the purposes of the majority of the public.

This report also implicated at least two new psychologists who later became president of the American Psychological Association. Alfred McCoy also implicated several previous presidents of the APA in his research. Neither of them directly implicated Zimbardo, who was president in 2002 but McCoy made a compelling case to implicate both Stanley Milgram and Irving Janis, who were closely tied to Zimbardo and worked together on several related projects including the Obedience experiments and the so-called Prison experiment which were part of a much larger series of experiments that were related. If McCoy had substituted Zimbardo for Milgram or Janis his argument would have been even stronger, especially after Zimbardo wrote his book which might look like a partial confession to those that are familiar with his work and apply scrutiny.

The clear implication, from a lot of this research, is that they've been using psychological manipulation for the advantage of war profiteers and oil companies among other people with enough political clout, regardless of how much damage it does to the rest of society. However they have to realize that this could eventually backfire, even on those with the most political clout, when the damage escalates too much so it is possible that they might support a controlled transition, to some degree. If this is happening, and it isn't exposed, then we could get what they consider enough reform, and only enough reform, to prevent it from backfiring on those with the most political clout, although they might abandon some scapegoats.

Phillip Zimbardo has also encouraged hero worship, although he doesn't phrase it that way. The most practical solutions don't involve dramatic actions; instead they involve teaching people about the root causes of problems and avoiding them before dramatic action seems appropriate. A good argument could be made that teachers and other ordinary people that take preventive action are the real heroes, however it doesn't seem as dramatic and is rarely accompanied by hype by the media.

Unfortunately the media that does cover Zimbardo rarely if ever seems to bring this up. Instead they often give him a good chance to make his case and present himself as being opposed to the torture practices that he almost certainly helped develop. This includes Democracy Now who interviewed him when he published his book in 2007 and didn't mention the support for torture by the APA until the end of the interview when there was no time to discuss it, nor did they find extra time posted on the web, as they do with some guests, as indicated in the following excerpt:

Understanding How Good People Turn Evil: Renowned Psychologist Philip Zimbardo on His Landmark Stanford Prison Experiment, Abu Ghraib and More 03/30/2007

..... AMY GOODMAN: Professor Zimbardo, we have held several debates on the American Psychological Association’s position on psychologists participating in military interrogations, quite different from the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association. Can you comment on the organization you were formerly the president of?

PHILIP ZIMBARDO: Well, I have to begin by saying that psychologists really want to make their research relevant to society, that we want to give back. We get—our research gets funded. Our students get—students’ education gets funded. And so, we are eager to do things—and certainly I, all my life, have tried to make our research relevant to the needs of society. And so, many psychologists are military psychologists. Many psychologists work for the government in various capacities, doing really important good things. Psychologists were critical in the Second World War. And so, some psychologists work to give advice to interrogators about how to be more effective, the same way some psychologists give advice to police detectives on how to be more effective. The problem comes when you’re giving—

AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.

PHILIP ZIMBARDO: —specific advice about a particular individual being interrogated. And at that point, you step across the line, that you cannot—you cannot abuse your role as psychologist to help an interrogator break a prisoner psychologically. And that, I am strongly against.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Zimbardo, we’re going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you very much for being with us. The book is called The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. Complete article


Amy Goodman and others have had plenty of time to ask him more question or raise them for the benefit of the public since then; unfortunately few of them have, even many relatively high profile alternative media outlets; but one one brief occasion she did report give him more good press about a petition drive, Appointment of Rumsfeld Stirs Protest at Stanford. 09/25/2007 "The petition effort is led in part by famed psychologist Philip Zimbardo." Ironically Phillip Zimbardo has acknowledged some criticism, which I haven't seen on the internet, in the 2008 edition of his book, which says that while promoting it that many people came to the conclusion that he might have used his research to develop the torture techniques later used at Abu Ghraib; but he didn't say who these people were, but it clearly indicates that others came to similar conclusions before me.

The problems with the use of psychological manipulation goes well beyond international affairs and torture. It also includes manipulation of children through advertising that starts at a young age, manipulating workers, often through union busing tactics, and manipulating of voters for political purposes. Advertising to children is what Susan Linn was writing about, in her book "Consuming Kids" when she expressed concern and surprise at the removal of the social responsibility clause. Susan Linn and several other researchers, including Juliet Schor and Roy F. Fox have also expressed concern, if not outrage by laws that protect the secrecy of "proprietary research" done regarding advertizing to children.

This essentially means that instead of protecting children or other people, including voters and workers, from psychological manipulation by psychologists the government is protecting the secrecy of the manipulators. It essentially means that conspiracy is protected by law. The fact that conspiracy to manipulate the public is protected by law isn't actually a conspiracy theory, since this conclusion is based on information that is available to the public. A conspiracy theory would be when people speculate about conspiracies before they have all the information they need to establish facts. However it does indicate that there are conspiracies going on and this report has exposed some of them; and it has indicated that conspiracy theorists are justified in some of their speculations as long as they do their best to sort out the details with accurate information that is available.

As I've said in the past many so-called conspiracy theories don't fit the strictest definition of conspiracy, since the information used to come to conclusions isn't completely secret. Instead they're often mentioned very briefly in low profile locations where large percentages of the public never read them; and contradictory claims that often don't stand up to scrutiny are repeated over and over again. This is propaganda, which is similar to conspiracy, and it often involves psychological manipulation. The advantage of this is that if there is public information even without the help of the media the word can get out eventually but as Mark Twain once said, “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

And another popular quote often ironically attributed to Vladimir Lenin, "A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth," or at least it seems to. This is one of the most basic principles of propaganda, which is why we need a more diverse media.



Edit: In one of the previous posts about Phillip Zimbardo and the American Psychological Association, "Corruption or Bias in the American Psychological Association," I mentioned that I informed both Phillip Zimbardo, through his web site, and an associate of his, Sharon Presley, through Facebook about my articles on their work and received no response. This was in 2011; before writing this article I sent him two tweets and after I sent him one more informing him of this article. I received no response once again. This isn't surprising, since if my views raise legitimate points, then from a public relations point of view, which is similar to a legal point of view, the best way to address it might be to avoid drawing any additional attention to it and avoid providing a response that might not adequately address the situation and make it seem worse. If on the other hand there is a legitimate problem with my concerns, it might be in his best interest to address them

The following are the tweets that I sent him:

May 16 @PhilZimbardo Hi wondering why you accepted money from ONR while opposing war and if you were involved in ethical changes decided Aug. 2002

@PhilZimbardo for more info see http://zacherydtaylor.blogspot.com/2015/03/philip-zimbardo-lucifer-effect-stanford.html … sent you an E-Mail years ago but got no reply thanks

May 19 @PhilZimbardo Why would Kirk Hubbard think you might help him "cajole" Ekman in new torture disclosure? http://zacherydtaylor.blogspot.com/2015/05/american-psychological-association.html … Thanks


Also since writing this a study Zimbardo wrote in 1979, On Resisting Social Influence Susan Andersen and Philip Zimbardo Stanford University, was brought to my attention through an ATS discussion. This study has some of the same advantages and disadvantages of his book, only, since it seems to have drawn less attention it may have done more to educate those who want to conduct scams than those who want to avoid them. Like the Obedience to Authority experiments, it could be used to better understand manipulation tactics and use them assuming, the target doesn't understand them, or to warn the public about them so that they can avoid being scammed. Since this was almost certainly not available to a large number of people outside the academic world, it almost certainly did little or nothing to warn people that might be susceptible to these scams. In all fairness the media is much more responsible for that; if they wanted to do more to inform people o this type of research they could but, instead they often use propaganda that often indicates that they understand it, since they're using manipulation tactics.



I have written several posts about related subjects in the past including the following:

Fundamentals of Psychology

Manipulation Tactics

Political Manipulation

Philip Zimbardo, Lucifer Effect, Stanford Prison Experiment

Corruption or Bias in the American Psychological Association

Eli Roth’s Milgram/Obedience experiment much more extensive than most people realize

Political Psychologist Are Suppressing Democracy

There are also plenty of additional other reports, some of which were used to deve3lop some of the reporting hear or were cited in this report including the following:

Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security. (2005). PDF 11 pages

Counterpunch: The Ethical Demise of the American Psychological Association 05/13/2015

Psychological Warfare? A Debate on the Role of Mental Health Professionals in Military Interrogations at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Beyond 08/11/2005

A Secret E-Mail Argument Among Psychologists About Torture 05/08/2009

APA Interrogation Task Force Member Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo Exposes Group’s Ties to Military 08/20/2007

June 4 letter from Tenet to National Security Adviser (Rice?) Review of CIA Interrogation Program

Salon: Psychological warfare 07/26/2006 Angered that their professional organization has adopted a policy condoning psychologists' participation in "war on terror" interrogations, many psychologists are vowing to stage a battle royal at the APA's annual meeting.

Psychologists group still rocked by torture debate 08/04/2006 In an angry response to Salon, the American Psychological Association defends its policy on participating in terror suspects' interrogation -- as some members still push for change.

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Executive Summary of the Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. (2014), p. 136. United States Senate PDF study 500 pages and hard if not impossible to download


Monday, May 11, 2015

Invest in Activism, AND Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein and Grassroots





Now that Bernie Sanders has announced his candidacy for president there seem to be a lot of people that might be expected to support him raising concerns about him. Many of these concerns are legitimate but he is far better than the candidates supported by the traditional media and the political establishment controlled by corporations.

Once again there are a surprising number of people that want real reform virtually admitting that there is little or no chance of electing a president that isn't under the control of multinational corporations. I know that if it is possible it won't be easy and that we will need major changes and support from the grass roots level.

It seems to me that the best way to go about this is to support the candidates that represent the real grassroots issues and cover the issues as well. However when some of these candidates have legitimate problems they shouldn't be ignored and skepticism should be maintained when donating to candidates and letting them decide how to use donations, which may not always support the issues. As I indicated in several posts including Elizabeth Warren steals credit from real grass roots efforts some grass roots candidates are actually manufactured by the traditional media and they try to find ways to convince the public to donate to campaigns that aren't likely to support their interests.

One of the leading critics of supporting Bernie Sanders is David Swanson as indicated in this excerpt:

Invest in Activism, Not Bernie Sanders 04/30/2015

Yes, Bernie Sanders would be a far superior president to Hillary Clinton.

That requires a bit of elaboration. Something I just scraped off my shoe would be a far superior president to Hillary Clinton, but Sanders would actually be good in a whole lot of ways. He has numerous imperfections, but the contrast with Clinton is like day to night.

I’d rather have him running than not.

But please do not give him or Hillary or the wonderful Jill Stein or any other candidate a dime or a moment of your life. Instead, join the movement that’s in the streets of Baltimore opposing police murder, that’s in the halls of the United Nations pushing to abolish nukes, that’s blocking mountaintop removal, divesting from Israel, advancing renewable energy, and struggling to create fair elections through steps like automatic registration in Oregon, and pushing legislation to provide free media, match small donors, give each voter a tax credit to contribute, or take the power to establish plutocracy away from the Supreme Court. Complete article


He may have a good point when it comes to not donating money to candidates. In the long run we should probably have election reform that finances institutions like Project Vote Smart (which should be improved and accountable to the public) that asks candidates questions which should be controlled by the public or other institutions that control the debates and invite all candidates to have a chance to be heard, not just those supported by the corporations that currently finance candidates.

However I'm not completely ruling out the possibility that we could have a large enough grassroots effort to give a real candidate a chance to win; although if this is going to happen they'll need support from the grass roots along with efforts to focus on the issues. Both Clinton's and Obama have demonstrated that they have no intention of addressing the concerns of the vast majority of the public; and as I have indicated before, Elizabeth Warren is no better although the media has created much better propaganda on her behalf. Now that they're in campaign mode they make a lot of promises and do their best to seem sincere; but we've seen how that turns out once they get in office and quickly hedge or abandon the promises unless they're held accountable by an alert public.

However Bernie Sanders really did rise from the grassroots starting decades ago and he has kept in touch with them since then. He is almost certainly much less likely to start breaking promises almost as soon as he gets in office like Obama.Some of his critics have indicated that he has become less attentive to the grass roots now than he has two decades ago; but he seems to cater to the political establishment much less than other politicians, I suspect because attentive grass roots efforts from Vermont are helping keep him honest.

Another good reason why we shouldn't abandon them is because they can do an excellent job increasing the profile of important issues and help grassroots candidates at the local level win more. As I indicated previously The media isn’t reporting it but Grass Roots candidates are winning some local elections and both Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders can help increase attention to this and help more get elected; and if enough of them help then either Bernie or Jill might actually have a chance of winning.

And as I indicated previously Jill Stein addressed many issues in 2012; “viable” candidates didn’t; by pointing out some of the issues that were suppressed by the press in 2012 it might encourage more people to abandon traditional media and candidates. Also they could create a track record that could help draw additional attention to the tactics that the media uses to rig the coverage of candidates and ensure that only those supported by corporations get positive coverage.

The media has already begun doing that with Bernie Sanders by indicating that he doesn't have support in his home state, Vermonters skeptical of Bernie Sander's candidacy. This is the typical kind of coverage that they provide to make it indicate that he is already a loser while they present their own candidates in a much more optimistic light and decline to cover issue.

If Bernie runs a good campaign with help from the grassroots there are several possibilities that are more likely. One is that he will actually win, assuming enough people wake up and recognize how they've been manipulated. I don't completely rule this out especially with ongoing protests on one issue after another.

Another possibility is that he could force Hillary to address more issues more effectively. Even though she almost certainly won't keep promises if she has a choice, we will have a track record to show the public. Or she might use more dirty tactics and ther3e will be a track record of that as well. In this cases then her deceptive track record could help boost third party candidates, including Jill Stein, assuming she gets the Green Party nomination again, by showing how deceptive Hillary is.

Also Bernie Sanders has filled out past questionnaires from Project Vote Smart unlike the majority of high profile candidates that get adequate coverage from the traditional media. He hasn't filled out the one from 2016 yet but it is still early, so I'll give him time and tweet him to keep him honest. Jill Stein has also filled out the questionnaires in the past.

Perhaps the biggest Difference Between Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders as some people have pointed out is their position on Israel, bringing military money to Vermont and supporting the troops by bringing them home. Bernie Sanders should take his own advise; “If you think it’s too expensive to take care of veterans, then don’t send them to war.”

If the problem comes down to choosing between Jill Stein or Bernie Sanders then I would probably choose Jill Stein; however this seems unlikely. Also the better both of them do the more likely we are to have a good debate; and I don't get the impression that Bernie is nearly as phony as Obama Clinton or even Warren.

If it were a choice between Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders that would be a much better choice than we've had in the past; but until them we shouldn't be divided over those two.

However no matter who wins the presidency there is an enormous amount of evidence to indicate that we will need an active electorate paying attention to the issues, holding candidates accountable, reforming the system including pushes for instant run-off elections and proportionate representation and alternative media outlets.



Bruce Gagnon: Sen. Sanders Running Against Hillary 05/04/2015

How the Establishment Is Trying to Deep-Six Sanders’s Campaign 05/02/2015

My attack from the left on Sanders, Taibbi, and Swanson 05/01/2015

The Problem With Bernie 04/30/2015

Ralph Nader on Bernie Sanders, the TPP "Corporate Coup d’État" & Writing to the White House 05/01/2015

Is Bernie Sanders Just Another Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? 05/04/2015


Monday, May 4, 2015

Elizabeth Warren steals credit from real grass roots efforts



Elizabeth Warren's grassroots support has been manufactured by the media, at least partially.

Contrary to the impression most grassroots candidates attempt to give the public, that they rose from the bottom with the help of their supporters, Elizabeth Warren was part of the establishment before she developed a reputation as a grassroots candidate. Twelve years ago when she wrote "The Two-Income Trap," as far as I can tell hardly anyone knew who she was; and I doubt if it was a best seller. In that book she describes connections with several political figures and low level jobs advising some of them. This includes Hillary Clinton who she complements for standing up to an "Awful bill," then follows by criticizing her for caving when she becomes a Senator and helping to pass the same bill.

This is part of what she criticized as politics as usual. The clear indication was that she opposed to this kind of deal making; unfortunately when she became Senator she seems to have followed into a similar pattern.

Actually it began before she became Senator. There were signs that her reputation was developed with an overwhelming amount of support from the traditional media from the time she joined the White House when Barack Obama took office.

Her reputation was developed with an enormous amount of support from the traditional media before she began developing a reputation as a grassroots candidate, unlike real grassroots candidates like Kshama Sawant or Bernie Sanders.

There is an enormous amount of evidence to indicate that she has been supporting the traditional establishment that she pretends to stand up to from the start; and that some of it has been developed by some of the same campaign advisers that help other establishment candidates including Deval Patrick. I have covered some of this in several posts from the past listed bellow, for those of you who haven't been following them; and there is new information confirming this.

The following article is another indication of how she is getting an enormous amount of media coverage that isn't available to Kshama Sawant now and wasn't available to Bernie Sanders until he spent decades at the real grass roots level; for a long time they treated Sanders as a fringe candidate before they could no longer deny his support:

Invoking Warren can work wonders 03/30/2015 (This was headlined "Elizabeth Warren working magic on the web" in the print version.)

Last spring political supporters and opponents took notice when Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation to reduce student debt. So did a company that makes money by connecting students with free government programs.

The for-profit firm is the type Warren abhors, but it happily used her image to hawk its services: “New Student Debt Forgiveness Programs. Call Today Before They Expire!” printed over an image of Warren, who stands behind a podium with palms gesturing to the sky.

Welcome to the world of Senator Clickbait, a.k.a. Elizabeth Warren.

The Massachusetts Democrat’s online marketing power is so strong that even her foes want her as a pitch woman. Put her image on Facebook and it can generate hundreds of thousands of shares. A simple e-mail from her with the subject line “I’m sorry” once yielded more than $430,000.

In the parlance of online marketing, Warren generates clicks. She doesn’t just boost e-commerce, she creates it.

“Every time we test a message about her, the needle breaks the gauge,” said Ben Wikler, the Washington director for MoveOn.org, a liberal group pressing Warren to run for president. “It’s an effect we see with no one else in politics today.”

Warren has long been able to generate tens of thousands of small donations for her own political operation through Internet fund-raising, which helped her overcome Republican Scott Brown’s advantage among Wall Street firms and take away his Massachusetts Senate seat in 2012. In 2014, Warren stumped across the country for fellow Democrats and lent her name to highly effective fund-raising e-mails.

Now, as the political world prepares for the 2016 elections and Democrats attempt to regain control of the Senate, her image has become even more ubiquitous. Even though she is just a freshman in the tradition-bound chamber, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is plastering news websites with fund-raising ads using her face.

Political news sites like Politico and the Huffington Post frequently prominently feature headlines about Warren, no matter how minor or incremental her statements. Stoking the flames is persistent buzz about a possible presidential candidacy — which Warren consistently denies, but without quite tamping down unequivocally. Complete article


There is an enormous amount of legitimate concern about the influence of money in politics; and for some reason many people have been led to believe that Elizabeth Warren is the one to fix it.

But few people are paying much attention to the fact that she is one of the record breakers when it comes to collecting campaign contributions. This has been the way it was since she began her campaign for Senate but once she became Senator she fit in like many other politicians only her propaganda seems to be much more effective at convincing the public that she is a grassroots candidate even when she doesn't support an enormous amount of reforms also supported by the public. In an article, Warren fires back at banks halting donations to Democrats, she criticizes banks for using their financial clout to pressure Democrats to tone down their rhetoric, even though it isn't accompanied by much if any action; but her solution is to attempt to raise even more money from others which would preserve a system that is routinely corrupted by money.

She is doing nothing to try to ensure that different views can be heard even when they aren't supported by wealthy campaign contributors; and at best this would lead to a situation where she might transfer power from one financial interest to another.

In all fairness she has made a few statements that do support the issues the public cares about, including her comments about keeping student loan debt down and the famous YouTube that helped launch her candidacy; however it appears as if this is typical of politicians that promise the voters major reforms before getting into office but do little or nothing when they get in office.

Which is the same thing she once criticized Clinton for; but since then they have reconciled and she has indicated she would support a Clinton presidential run, and even signed a petition urging her to run. According to another article, Hillary Clinton Had A Private Meeting With Elizabeth Warren (02/27/2015), they met privately while Hillary Clinton was preparing to run for president. The information they gave the public implies that she is doing what she can to advise Hillary on the issues; however by now it should be clear to anyone familiar with Clinton that she is entrenched in the establishment and willing to go along with the agenda that is supported by the same campaign contributors that finance her campaign.

She appears to be willing to do what she can to help Hillary Clinton get the nomination without much if any debate. This is how she got her own nomination for her Senate run; pressure was put on other Democratic challengers to drop out of the race before they even had a primary and when there was only one left the rest of the political establishment rallied around Elizabeth Warren to pressure Marisa DeFranco to withdraw her candidacy instead of debating the issues and winning based on her positions. This may have enabled her to avoid some inconvenient questions that she doesn't want to answer. She also refused to fill out her Project Vote Smart questionnaire.

Like many other politicians she is trying to present herself as a grassroots candidates without allowing the grassroots to control the campaign.

Of course Hillary has come out in favor of campaign finance reform and several other issues that the public is concerned about. But this is the same thing that her husband did when campaigning and both the Clinton's have a history of making promises to get elected and betraying them once they get elected.

When Warren was wrote her book she was critical of it but now she seems perfectly willing to go along with the same agenda.

The list of issues where she has either supported campaign contributors or at least remained silent about is much longer than the few issues that she champions loudly. The media repeats the positive positions over and over again, while mention the issues she supports that are against the interests of the public only briefly, making her appear like a grassroots candidate.

She has supported Charter schools that are at the center of the corporate attempt to control education; represented asbestos companies; ignored Single Payer Health care while supporting the Affordable Care Act, which was written by Health Care lobbyists; taken gaming lobbyists on as advisers and at best remained silent about gambling issues; she has provided a very weak position about GMOs and only after receiving a lot of pressure from the grassroots. She also managed to get an enormous amount of credit from the media for opposing Lawrence Summers and action against Climate Change even though she did little or nothing on either issues. In both cases other politicians took the lead to get Janet Yellin in, who still supports many of the same positions as Summers, and to provide a token amount of support fro action on Climate Change.

Perhaps one of the most important positions she has is that she refuted claims by Juliet Schor that people are spending too much on things they don't need because of what she calls an "Over-consumption myth." Juliet Schor has acted as a real consumer advocate pointing out many corporate scams in several books and she has exposed corporations for their tactics marketing to children. It is hard to imagine, after reading the arguments that both Schor and Warren make that there isn't an enormous problem with over spending on products that have little or no value, but people are convinced they need them because of advertising. This is now targeting children before thy develop critical thinking skills.

Juliet Schor speaks out out convincingly about these tactics in a follow up book, Born to Buy, to the one mentioned by Elizabeth Warren, the Overspent America, but Elizabeth Warren remains silent about protecting children from psychological manipulation. She doesn't even seem to be concerned about informing the public about it. When more people understand the "Nag Factor" which Cheryl Idell recommended advertiser take advantage of to get their parents to buy more they're outraged. This is just one of many tactics Juliet Schor exposed while Elizabeth warren remains silent or refutes what she calls the "Over-consumption myth."



Elizabeth Warren got nearly $430,000 teaching at Harvard; net worth more than $3 million 01/17/2012

After looking at her rise in the media months if not years before her grass roots campaign appeared it clearly indicate that she is another typical politician that has done a much better job convincing the public otherwise with the help of her advisers. If we elect either Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren we shouldn't expect a president that supports the public unless he is under an enormous amount of real grass roots pressure to keep his promises, like Obama and Bill Clinton, who both ahve an incredibly long history of abandoning his promises in favor of his campaign contributors. I have provided much more information including many sources on the following past blogs about Elizabeth Warren:

How sincere is Elizabeth Warren?

Elizabeth Warren is NOT as sincere as she appears!!

Is Elizabeth Warren supporting Charter Schools not Unions?

Elizabeth Warren is NOT a “consumer advocate!!”

Elizabeth Warren's propaganda overlooks many flaws!

Elizabeth Warren is a charismatic propagandist not the Messiah

Is Affluenza Real? Ask Senator Elizabeth Warren And Other Experts including Juliet Schor 12/13/2013 A 16 year old who killed four people while driving drunk after stealing alcohol from WalMart was sentenced to probation after his defense team argued he suffered from “affluenza” a malady that affects people who come from affluent families.

Thousands Call on Elizabeth Warren to Run 04/09/2015




Friday, May 1, 2015

Wal-Mart Crime report April 2015



Wal-Mart announced they're shutting down five stores for plumbing problems without any notice and laid off thousands of workers. They claim it will take at least six months.

Hardly anyone with any ability to think believes this explanation.

This isn't surprising; it is hard to imagine what kind of plumbing problems would need six months to fix or why they would happen all on the same day. This has spurred plenty of conspiracy theories that range from the relatively simple to extreme conspiracies that few are likely to believe.

It shouldn't be surprising to people familiar with Wal-Mart that they're shutting down five stores; however it is hard to understand how they managed to botch the way they handled it so bad. Wal-Mart has done a lot of clueless things but it is hard to image how they could possibly expect people to believe such a bad explanation.

Are they that clueless?

Or are they actually trying to incite conspiracy theories?

This one doesn't seem likely but something unlikely seems to be happening, although there are simple explanations for some of their problems.

First of all the reason it shouldn't be surprising that they shut them down is that Wal-Mart has been overbuilding for a long time as part of their strategy to dominate the market. This means there is way to much supply for the economy so they're bound to wind up with too many stores.

One of the conspiracy theories involves a large number of bodies that were found at Wal-Mart last month. This may actually be a problem with reporting in the news and that we aren't maintaining an economic system that enables people to live and die under reasonable circumstances.

Dead bodies turning up at Wal-Mart isn't new at all. They just report them locally without letting people know how often they happen. Most of them are poor people or drug addicts that have no place to go; and they have to die somewhere. However the number of bodies found last month and again this month is more than usual. This should indicate a problem with taking care of the poor and reporting on it.

Another conspiracy involves working with the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt at martial law. This hasn't turned out to be true yet even though there are major problems in Baltimore, and most people would be skeptical of it. However a few years ago the DHS did announce that they would partner with Wal-Mart in their Orwellian "if you see something say something" policy; which should worry every one since it involves asking us to spy on each other and it is acknowledged by both our government and Wal-Mart.

A bigger reason for a legitimate conspiracy theories, which isn't new; is how did Wal-Mart get to dominate the market so much when so many people dislike them and they behave so incompetently.

An enormous amount of this is their political connections and government subsidies; however this might not fit the strictest definition of conspiracy since people like Bob Ortega author of "In Sam We Trust," Stacy Mitchell author or "Big Box Swindle" and more researchers have exposed major portions of this; but the majority of the public isn't accustomed to reading non-fiction books.

Another common tactic allegedly used by conspirators is that they create extreme conspiracy theories that are so absurd no one would believe them. Then they stereo type conspiracy theories and dismiss all of them, or at least all but the one believed by the government and the media. Their absurd explanation seems to be designed to invite absurd conspiracies. Even if this isn't being done intentionally it happens often. And if they aren't doing something like this there has to be another explanation for their absurd behavior.

A few days before this announcement there was a news story which got much less attention about a new wage study that shows that Wal-Mart suppresses wages and shopping locally will almost certainly help bring them back up. This should also indicate that efforts to get Wal-Mart to reopen the stores should be considered carefully. It might bring back the lost jobs temporarily but it would enable Wal-Mart to keep their market share; and shopping locally will create better jobs and reduce Wal-Marts political clout. We also need more manufacturing and a restoration of factory direct options for consumers which is far more efficient than Wal-Mart has ever been despite all their propaganda.

We ship subsidized cotton from the U.S. half way around the world, abuse workers so they have little or no incentive to do a good job, then ship low quality merchandise that starts falling apart almost immediately back going through complex distribution systems. On top of that they pay an enormous amount of money for advertisers lobbyists and consultants that do jobs that have nothing to do with serving consumers needs.

Then they spend even more money to buy advertising time telling us about their efficiency.

This isn't the first sign that Wal-Mart might be past it's peak; A corporation as big as Wal-Mart doesn't collapse overnight; but these signs are slowly escalating.

Their sales have been flat or going down for years. On at least one occasion in the past five years they had seven consecutive quarters with declining same store sales. There have also bee additional reports of flat sales and the only way they can grow at this point is to open more stores which they're having problems doing. They claim to be expanding in China again but the same day there was an article saying they're going slow there; and another market adviser has said that their stock isn't likely to grow. This is rare; market advisers often continue recommending buys even when a company like Enron or Worldcom is on the verge of collapse.

This could lead to the Decline and Fall of Wal-Mart especially if workers and consumers stand up for their rights.

On top of that Wal-Mart has had their share of other strange things and crimes taking place this month. Someone found bags of Marijuana in their Easter gifts for their children; I didn't make this up supposedly it was a return which no one checked.

There were officer involved shootings again this month and more incidents where people shot at, attempted to run over or stabbed police. There was an incident where someone stole a gun from Wal-Mart and went on a crime spree elsewhere before getting rammed by police.

Stealing weapons from Wal-Mart is actually much more common than people realize. There were two other incidents this month where robbers stole a crowbar and knife and threatened or assaulted people; the one that stole the knife asked the clerk if she wanted to get fired. This implies familiarity with Wal-Mart policies of firing people fro overreacting to robberies. However another clerk indicated he wasn't aware of this policy when he got fired in another incident. Some of these people that risk their lives and their jobs have to go through harassment a lot from potential robbers occasionally more than once per day. There are enough of these incidents to raise doubts about how they train their workers.

They also had another brawl and the video from last months brawl was released; but neither of these made much if any national news. Springfield police backtracked on previous statements about Wal-Mart being uncooperative and now claim they're working together to reduce crime. This is a common pattern of changed stories after they embarrass Wal-Mart; I wouldn't rule out political pressure.

Justin Boyd was sentenced to thirty years for a shooting of another Wal-Mart employee; however they didn't mention how many other incidents where there are arguments fights and shootings or if Wal-Mart's union busting policies might be related.

They had plenty of other interesting activities this month including more mice problems, petty theft spiraling into major assaults, drunken bumper cars, possible assaults or infections with needles and more.

Strange things happen at Wal-Mart!





In 2006 Wake Up Wal-Mart did a study, "Is Wal-Mart Safe?" based on incidents in 2004, (PDF) about crime at Wal-Mart which showed that it increased when Wal-Marts opened up and that crime was higher at Wal-Mart than at other retailers. Since then Wal-Mart Shootings began compiling a list of gun related incidents at Wal-Mart and demonstrated that they have a large number of them, including on average more than one shooting per week somewhere in the country. In January of 2014 another study, "Rolling Back Prices and Raising Crime Rates?" provided additional statistical research indicating that Wal-Mart might be contributing to higher crime rates or at least a slowing of the decline in crime. The study found that. “on average, communities with Walmarts had 17 more property crimes and two more violent crimes per 10,000 people than those communities without Walmarts.” I reviewed this more in Wal-Mart’s crime problem, Rolling Back Safety more than prices? where I explained that although this study is helpful they could have done better with additional data that is available and I reviewed some of that. I also added my own review about why I think that Wal-Mart policies have been contributing to higher crime in a previous blog, Wal-Mart high crime rate continues un-investigaterd and have provided additional information under the author tag Walmart Crime Watch.

Stacy Mitchell has also compiled a list of other studies about Wal-Mart and how they impact society, Key Studies on Big-Box Retail & Independent Business. To the best of my knowledge Wal-Mart has done as little as they seem to get away with, often relying on rhetoric that isn't backed up with action, when it comes to addressing any of their critics concerns, including crime. For regular updates about events at Walmart through the month see Walmart Watch on twitteror check the Wal-Mart Wall; they have helped compile some of this information. The following are a list of incidents that occurred in April 2015. According to the "Is Wal-Mart Safe?" the average store in their sampling had 250 incidents per year, indicating that these are only a fraction of the crime reports at Wal-Mart, and presumably, the ones most likely to make the news on the internet nationwide. This isn't statistically representative, as the 2006 or the "Rolling Back Prices and Raising Crime Rates?" study or some of the studies cited by Stacy Mitchell; but it does provide some additional information that may help recognize how many problems there are at Wal-Mart.



Walmart tells suppliers to slash prices 04/01/2015 The retail giant is aiming for a tradeoff: less marketing, but more sales.

Authorities searching for SC Walmart armed robbery suspect 04/01/2015

Man accused of stalking girls at Walmart 04/01/2015

Maine man sues Wal-Mart after employee allegedly rammed him with carts 04/01/2015

Police: 3 arrested in 2 separate incidents at Pittsburgh Pa.-area Walmart 04/01/2015

Police say employee stole from NC Walmart grocery store 04/01/2015

Men wanted after wallet, prescription drugs taken from Tenn. Walmart shopper 04/01/2015

Suspects sought in Reidsville NC Walmart larceny 04/01/2015

Disney employee accused of touching himself in Kissimmee Fla. Walmart 04/01/2015

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - A Disney employee has been arrested after being accused of touching himself and damaging retail products with bodily fluids in a Walmart store.

The incident happened before 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Walmart store at 3250 Vineland Road in Kissimmee.

Osceola County deputies spoke with a store employee who said a man in the store inappropriately touched himself and possibly followed a female shopper. Complete article


Wal-Mart's obsession with low prices is causing major tension with suppliers 04/01/2015

Thieves steal $15K worth of cell phones from SC Walmart 04/02/2015

Police arrest 1 of 2 suspects in Colorado Walmart robbery 04/02/2015

Shoplifting incidents drop at Royal Palm Fla. Wal-Mart 04/02/2015

Tx. Walmart run-in ends in aggravated assault charge 04/02/2015

Police: Florida Sex Offender Caught On Camera Stalking Children At Walmart Store 04/02/2015

Bomb Scare At Lexington Ky. Walmart 04/02/2015

Man allegedly tried to run down San Leandro officer in Ca. Walmart parking lot 04/03/2015

SAN LEANDRO -- A suspected thief on a motorcycle tried to run down a San Leandro police officer in a Walmart parking lot this week after allegedly stealing 40 cases of energy drinks, authorities said Thursday.

The incident started at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday as the uniformed officer was eating lunch outside Westgate Center on Davis Street, Lt. Bob McManus said.

The officer overheard a loud argument coming from the parking lot and saw a man on his cellphone, yelling profanities. The officer began to walk toward the man, who was carrying a motorcycle helmet and wearing a black, leather jacket. He intended to ask the man to calm down and stop cursing, as it appeared he was scaring patrons, McManus said. But the suspect walked away, ended his phonecall and put on his motorcycle helmet. ....

When the officer tried to stop the man, the motorcyclist quickly accelerated toward the officer and swerved around him, narrowly missing the officer, McManus said. Complete article


Police investigating theft of woman's crutches from Me. Walmart 04/03/2015

Man arrested for threatening to blow up or bomb Okla. Walmart appears in court 04/03/2015

Man arrested in attempted child luring at Wash. state Walmart 04/03/2015

11 computers stolen from Conover NC Walmart 04/04/2015

Three Brooklyn men accused of using fake credit cards at Walmart in Batavia NY 04/04/2015

Witnesses: Racial slurs led to Oak Cliff Dallas Tx. Wal-Mart brawl 04/04/2015

DALLAS – We're learning more about a video thousands of people saw on Facebook. Employees say racial slurs are at the root of a fight inside a Cockrell Hill Wal-Mart.

You can hear customers screaming in the cellphone video as they watch a brawl breakout inside the store late Thursday night.

The video posted on the Oak Cliff, Dallas Texas Latino Facebook page got more than 45,000 clicks in a matter of hours.

"It's bad," said Sir Jonathan Finely. "It's real bad."

Wal-Mart associates told News 8 that a man and woman were throwing racial slurs at another customer when fists started flying. Complete article

Ghettoness - Oak Cliff, Dallas Texas Latino Wal-Mart brawl 04/03/2015


Wilmington woman has debit card stolen, used at Walmart; Delaware State Police ask for help IDing suspect 04/06/2015

Suffolk Va. Walmart briefly evacuated due to deli fire 04/06/2015

Man Tries to Rob Mother with Baby in Conway Ark. Walmart Parking Lot 04/07/2015

Biloxi man behind bars after exposing himself in a Mississippi Walmart 04/06/2015

Public hearing set for proposed Walmart in Inwood WV 04/06/2015

Woman scared of HIV after being pricked by needle at Wash. Walmart 04/06/2015

EVERETT, Wash. — Walmart is investigating after a woman says she was pricked by a needle, and now fears she's been infected with diseases.

Last week, Kenzie Erickson says she was shopping for make-up when she reached into a shopping basket and felt a prick at a Walmart in Everett.

"I was bleeding really bad, I was upset, crying,” said Erickson.

“It went all the way in my thumb."

She filed a complaint with Walmart, but then came the doctor’s visits.

"The doctors told me that this could be really serious,” said Erickson. Complete article


Sam's Club, Walmart pull all Blue Bell Ice Cream products 04/07/2015

DALLAS —Some of the largest retailers in the country have decided to pull from their shelves Blue Bell Ice Cream made at an Oklahoma production plant that the company has temporarily closed.

Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick said Monday that the giant retailer along with Sam's Club have pulled products made at the plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club continue to sell Blue Bell products made at other plants. ...

The dairy company based in Brenham, Texas, last month issued a recall after ice cream contaminated with listeriosis was linked to three deaths at a Kansas hospital. Complete article


Police search for Pa. Wal-Mart purse snatcher 04/07/2015

Man accused of touching teen at NM Walmart 04/07/2015

Suspect assaults employee, knocks sliding doors off hinges fleeing Va. Walmart 04/07/2015

Chalmette man fatally crushed by forklift at Elmwood La. Wal-Mart, JPSO says 04/07/2015

A Chalmette man died after being crushed by a forklift he was repairing at a Wal-Mart in Elmwood, authorities said. Christopher Brandt, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Col. John Fortunato, spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

The accident occurred about 9:25 a.m. at the Wal-Mart located at 5110 Jefferson Highway. Brandt, who was employed by a local forklift repair company, was there in a rear parking lot doing some work on the store's vehicle, Fortunato said. Complete article


On Your Side: Va. Walmart denies negligence after cart damages customer's car 04/07/2015

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - You're in a store parking lot when a grocery cart crashes into your car and makes a dent. Who's responsible and who should pay: you or the store?

That runaway shopping cart scenario played out at the Walmart on Forest Hill as Sherman Price says he was sitting in his car waiting for his nephew to finish shopping for him. He says he saw it coming.

"But there was nothing I could do. I'm in a chair. I couldn't get out to stop it," he said.

Price says an employee removed the windblown basket off his car parked in front of the store in a handicap spot. He didn't get out to inspect his car when it happened.

"The wind was so high that evening, when it hit it made a bang noise," Price said. "But I didn't think that it had done enough damage to jam the door. But when I got home, I couldn't get out of the car. Someone had to take a screwdriver and pry it and open the door so I could get out."

Store surveillance cameras caught everything. Price filed a claim, which was denied a week or so later. Complete article


11 computers stolen from Conover NC Walmart 04/07/2015

$50k bond set for Wash. Walmart sex assault suspect 04/07/2015

Police looking for Brooklyn Center Minn. Walmart robber 04/07/2015

Ocala Residents upset with proposal to build Fla. Walmart 04/07/2015

Wal-Mart’s right to sell guns at risk in lawsuit 04/07/2015

Police: WPB Fla. Wal-Mart employee stole $2,800 from registers 04/08/2015

Police: Shoplifting suspect threatened Wisc. Walmart employee with knife 04/08/2015

Three Arrested After AK-47 Fired Near Waco Tx. Walmart Store 04/05/2015

Fla. Wal-Mart greeter duped; thief said wife was in labor 04/08/2015

Meth lab found in semi parked at Missouri Walmart 04/08/2015

Augusta Me. Walmart workers alert police to possible kidnapping 04/08/2015

Woman reported missing, last seen in Alvin Walmart parking lot 04/08/2015

Actual WALMART Crimes (So Creepy You'll Never Want to Go There Again...)

... In Lawrenceville, Georgia, this Se>< offender ejactulated on a Walmart employee. He purposely knocked over several clothes in order to get her into a position where he could do this thing (for whatever sick reason). ...

Another man (unidentified) ejaculated onto at least two different women on 2 separate occasions at a Walmart in Farmington, N.M. in 2013. Although he was caught on camera, he was never identified. ...

Verdon Taylor got himself arrested for allegedly (like how we use that word? Wink!) stripping down to his birthday suit in the middle of a Walmart parking lot. Then he walked inside, put some socks on and got on with his shopping. He was tased eventually, EVEN THOUGH he was probably just shopping for a new birthday suit. You can't win with these cops! Complete article


Fight at Portage Ind. Wal-Mart self checkout line leads to arrest 04/0/2015

PORTAGE | A woman was arrested after a fight broke out Wednesday at the self checkout register at Wal-Mart.

Alicia Contreras, 32, of Portage, was charged with battery after witnesses told police said she cut in line and fought with customers who objected.

Police were called to Wal-Mart about 8 p.m. and spoke with several witnesses who said Contreras cut in front of a couple and their infant child in a stroller. Complete article


The 10 States With the Most Wal-Mart Stores 04/0/2015

Woman charged in robberies at Rockingham County NC Walmart, Sheetz 04/03/2015

Old Lady Fight at Walmart (Video) 04/04/2015

Walmart Employee Knocks Out Manager (Video) 03/27/2015

The human cost of Walmart's $5.97 t-shirt 04/08/2015

Dakota Co. Man Accused of Stealing Underwear, Shoes from Minn. Wal-Mart 04/06/2015

Longmont Colorado police say shoplifter pulled knife on Walmart loss prevention officer 04/06/2015

Man allegedly grabs toddler from mom outside Halifax Canada Walmart 04/07/2015

Marijuana bags found in Easter gift from Oregon Walmart 04/06/2015

NEWPORT, Ore., April 6 (UPI) -- An Oregon woman said the Easter bunny made a mistake when he stashed three bags of marijuana in a packaged toy she purchased from Walmart.

Christina Marie Hannahs of Otis said she bought the Vtech Smart Shots Sports Center from the Walmart store more than a week ago as an Easter gift for her young daughter. Her family opened the toy Easter morning to discover some pieces were missing from the box and had been replaced with three bags of marijuana.

"I was shocked. At first I was like, I kind of laughed and was like oh my gosh, I cannot believe this even came out of there," Hannahs told KATU-TV.

Hannahs said she put the box up to keep it away from her daughter after discovering the first bag.

"She ended up going for the box. And once she grabbed the box, the box rolled over and two more small bags fell out of it," Hannahs said. Complete article


“Give me the money! Now!” Chaos as customers swarm armed robber in Hamilton Canada Walmart 04/07/2015

Metro Nebraska Walmart evacuated after threat 04/04/2015

Shoppers at Va. Walmart evacuated after freezer malfunction causes fire 04/06/2015

Wal-Mart put me through hell: Inside the retailer’s pregnancy discrimination horror 04/06/2015

Mice Problem in SC Walmart Store, Says Former Employee 04/07/2015

North Augusta, SC - One worker says he couldn't take it anymore clocking in with a lot of critters!

The former employee says a Walmart store in North Augusta has a rodent problem.

This is a picture a former Walmart employee took over the weekend showing a dead mouse he says is covered up with oatmeal.

It's one of several pictures taken in the grocery back room at the Walmart on Knox Avenue in North Augusta.

The former employee asked to remain anonymous because he fears retaliation.

"I was told that not to worry about it, we've had a rodent problem as long as they can remember," said the former worker. Complete article


Suspicious chemicals found in Walmart restroom 04/07/2015

Report: Woman Shoved to The Ground, Robbed While Walking To Ga. Walmart 04/01/2015

Guess What This Man Did With a Cow's Tongue At Walmart... (It's even weirder than you think) 04/07/2015 down his pants?

Duo Steals $2,700 In TVs From Marlton NJ Walmart 04/09/2015

Woman wanted for stealing merchandise from Va. Walmart 04/09/2015

Cameras catch man walking out of Fla. Wal-Mart with 55-inch TV 04/09/2015

Woman dead after being hit by car at Ashland City Tenn. Walmart 04/09/2015

ASHLAND CITY, TN (WSMV) - A woman was killed after a driver backed over her with a car at a Walmart in Ashland City on Thursday.

The Ashland City Police Department said the incident happened at the store at 1626 Highway 12 South around 10 a.m.

"This is something so isolated," said Monte Allen, a witness. "I've never heard of something like this in Ashland City." Complete article


Cops: Distinctive jacket may help ID second half of Granby NY Wal-Mart counterfeiting duo 04/09/2015

Ariz. Walmart employee fired after trying to stop shoplifters 04/09/2015

SAHUARITA, Ariz. — A former Wal-Mart employee whose job it was to stop shoplifters says he was fired for doing his job.

Three weeks ago James Young stopped two shoplifters from leaving the garden center at the Wal-Mart in Sahuarita, Arizona.

“I risked my life and it cost me my job,” Young said. ....

“I found out after I got terminated that it came down to there’s absolutely no hands on,” he said. Complete article


ND Walmart $13 shoe theft spirals into fight with officers 04/09/2015

WILLISTON, N.D. – Mayhem at the Williston Walmart that began with the alleged theft of a $13 pair of shoes landed a man in jail facing a dozen charges, including the assaults of three police officers.

Williston police received a report last Friday morning of an unruly male after Walmart employees saw a man ripping the tags from a pair of shoes and walk past the cashiers without paying for them.

The man, later identified as William Dean Jessop of Williston, is accused in court records of striking a female Walmart employee in the face with the shoes after she approached him about the theft. Complete article


Freeport man held in robbery at Peoria Ill. Walmart 04/09/2015

High speed chase ends in crash in Okla. Walmart parking lot 04/10/2015

Man arrested after he exposed himself at Tx. Walmart, Taco Cabana 04/09/2015

Man arrested for futon heist caught on camera in Ga. Walmart 04/08/2015

Kingston, Ont. Canada Walmart customer bear-sprayed after helping store guard 04/09/2015

Port Richey Fla. police: Nearly half of city's crime comes from local Walmart 04/09/2015

Rincon Ga. Police: Shoplifters strike Walmart, Dollar General 04/10/2015

Man accused of stealing money from Ga. Walmart charity display 04/10/2015

Man who stole from Lockport NY Walmart gets plea deal 04/10/2015

Agents: 'Dirty' busted with meth at Pooler Ga. Wal-Mart 04/10/2015

Robber Wields Machete to Steal Computers From Fla. Wal-Mart 04/10/2015

A robber in Cape Coral threatened a Wal-Mart manager and worker with a machete before fleeing with computer equipment.

Lee County sheriff's officials say they arrested 39-year-old Giovanni Cortes shortly after the robbery early Friday morning.

The News-Press reports that a store manager told deputies she approached Cortes to ask for a receipt as he tried to leave without paying.

She says he pulled a machete from his pants and told her he didn't need one. When another employee tried to stop him, deputies say Cortes threatened to kill him. Complete article


Wal-Mart says Walton family to sell shares to keep lid on stake 04/10/2015

Video Shows Deadly Brawl Between Gaver Family and Cops at Arizona Walmart 04/11/2015

Police released video Friday showing a parking lot brawl at an Arizona Walmart that left one suspect dead, and another suspect and officer shot.

The brawl broke out when eight officers from the Cottonwood Police Department responded to a call on Saturday, March 21 that a female Walmart employee had been physically assaulted when trying to enter a store restroom, according to a statement from police. When officers arrived, the suspects — identified by police as members of the Gaver family — were in the parking lot attacking a second store employee, and immediately began attacking officers who tried to break up the melee, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said.

The newly released video appears to show officers and suspects punching and kicking one another, and officers using Tasers, batons and pepper spray on several members of the Gaver family. An officer identified as Sgt. Jeremy Daniels appears to be on the ground in a struggle with a suspect over the officer's weapon. An officer identified as Officer Rick Hicks appears to shoot one man in the stomach before fatally shooting a man on top of Daniels. Complete article


POLICE: alleged shoplifter assaulted Ky. Walmart security guard 04/10/2015

Workers Sue Walmart For Manipulating Employee Classification To Deny Them Overtime Pay 04/10/2015

Walmart Senior Citizen Worker Caught On Camera Racially Profiling Customers, Footage Goes Viral [Video] 04/11/2015

NY Walmart shoplifting suspect accused of shoving security guard 04/11/2015

Grill fire leads to evacuation of McDonald’s, Walmart in NE Austin Tx. 04/11/2015

Man Recounts 20 Harrowing Hours inside Walmart 04/12/2015

Edson RCMP officer discharges firearm in Walmart parking lot 04/11/2015

Judge Tosses Wal-Mart Shareholder Lawsuit About Bribery 04/13/2015

Walmart pays $7.45 million for Cheektowaga NY site 04/13/2015

Historic home in danger of demolition for Tenn. Walmart 04/13/2015

Man who lost leg wins lawsuit against Ky. Walmart 04/13/2015

Teays Valley WV residents organize opposition against proposed Walmart market 04/13/2015

Local First Arizona, Walmart say Arizona wage study not full picture 04/13/2015

Kimber Lanning believes a new report on low-wage jobs costing Arizona taxpayers millions is another reason consumers should shop locally.

The founder and executive director of Local First Arizona was reacting to the report from the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center that said low-wage jobs in Arizona cost taxpayers $686 million a year. The authors said Arizona taxpayers are subsidizing those businesses, as nearly three-quarters of those families qualify for some form of public assistance despite drawing a paycheck. Complete article


Man steals full cart from Ga. Walmart twice in one day 04/13/2015

Police find mobile meth lab in Ind. Wal-Mart parking lot while responding to domestic violence report 04/13/2015

Some Walmart Employees Question Whether Pico Rivera Store Closure Was Over Plumbing 04/15/2015

PICO RIVERA (CBSLA.com) — Some Walmart employees are wondering whether this week’s abrupt closure of a Pico Rivera store was the result of a costly plumbing problem as the company continues to cite.

Venanzi Luna was one of 530 employees told Monday that the store is closing for six months to fix plumbing issues.

Luna has worked as a deli manager at the store for seven years getting paid $14 an hour. She explains that she was slated to get a raise in June. Complete article

Valrico Fla. Walmart to close for 6 months 04/13/2015

Admiral and Memorial Tulsa, Okla. Walmart closing due to plumbing issues, according to company spokeswoman 04/13/2015

530 Pico Rivera Ca. Walmart employees laid off after sudden closure of supercenter 04/14/2015

400 Employees concerned about Tx. Walmart closure 04/14/2015

Walmart Staff Will Have to Reapply for Jobs 04/14/2015

Homeland Security taps new partner in terror fight: Wal-Mart 12/07/2010

Walmart Directly Tied To DHS? Inside Info May Have Prompted Store Closures 04/16/2015

Random Walmart closures spark detention center theories as run-up to Jade Helm 2015 continues 04/15/2015

Mysterious Deaths Surround Jade Helm State Wal-Mart's 'Hotel California' Tunnel System Project - If They Check You In, Can You Ever Leave? 04/15/2015

Signs That The Elite Are Feverishly Preparing For Something BIG 04/16/2015

Fla. Commissioner questions Walmart's plumbing problems 04/17/2015


Walmart Burglar Makes Off With Sony Playstations 04/14/2015

PD: Peoria man accused of stealing 76 car batteries from Ariz. Wal-mart 04/14/2015

Shoplifter Uses Pepper Spray On Nebraska Walmart Employee 04/14/2015

Firefighters knock down blaze in garden center of Walmart in Puyallup Wash.; no injuries reported 04/14/2015

Items too close to heater caused fire that damaged Puyallup Wash. Walmart 04/15/2015

Is Your Tax Rate Higher Than Walmart’s? 04/15/2015

Ga. Walmart Pharmacist Refused To Fill Prescription For Woman Who Miscarried (VIDEO) 04/13/2015

Five arrested on drug charges in Douglas Ga. Walmart 04/13/2015

Bazetta police investigate dog stolen from Walmart parking lot 04/13/2015

Giant food corporations are controlling our food supply and Wal-Mart Policies to control monopoly 04/15/2015

Woman injured during attempted purse snatching at Greensboro NC Wal-Mart 04/15/2015

Man wearing chef’s whites wanted for stealing grill from Va. Walmart 04/15/2015

Marathon Co. Wisc. Crime Stoppers: Walmart theft 04/15/2015

Women shoplifters accused of leaving kids behind at Tx. Walmart 04/15/2015

Decatur Woman Arrested For Stealing Nearly $240K From Tx. Walmart 04/15/2015

Indiana mom arrested after child, 3, left at Ind. Walmart 04/16/2015

Former NYPD officer dubbed 'Robocop' disarms man with gun and ammo stolen from Walmart by ramming him with police cruiser, ending Arizona crime spree (VIDEO) 04/15/2015

A former NYPD officer who calls himself Robocop used his police cruiser to ram a rifle-toting suspect on a one-man crime spree, dramatic Arizona police video released Tuesday shows.

Marana Police officer Michael Rapiejko was hailed a hero by his chief after the department released the dramatic footage Tuesday highlighting the Feb. 19 incident.

"That's not an easy decision right there," Chief Terry Rozema told Tucson News Now. "That's a tough, tough, tough decision. But he made it."

Rozema said the suspect, Mario Valencia, was headed toward locked-down businesses and deadly force may have been necessary to prevent a hostage crisis — or something far worse. Complete article

Michael Rapiejko: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know 04/1/2015


Police seek alleged Me. Walmart thief who stole a cart full of car batteries, a cart full of Legos, and the list goes on.04/16/2015

Americans are spending $153 billion a year to subsidize McDonald’s and Wal-Mart’s low wage workers 04/15/2015

Duo accused of stealing 33 iPads from Newton County Ga. Walmart 04/16/2015

Tx. Walmart Employee Injured Trying to Stop Alleged Shoplifter 04/15/2015

Felon Attacks Open Carrier for His Weapon In Washington Walmart 04/15/2015

The Urban Neighborhood Wal-Mart: A Blessing Or A Curse? 04/01/2015

When Wal-Mart Comes To Town, What Does It Mean For Workers? 04/02/2015

Missouri Walmart evacuated during bomb scare 04/16/2015

Man accused of attacking Kansas Walmart greeter 04/16/2015
VIDEO: Kansas man charged with attacking Walmart greeter 04/18/2015

Car of Missing Person Found at Dallas Tx. Walmart 04/16/2015

Body In Walmart Parking Lot For Over A Month, Tulsa Okla. Police Say 04/16/2015

TULSA, Oklahoma - A decomposed body was found inside a car at a Walmart parking lot Thursday afternoon. Police believe it may have been there for more than a month.

Tulsa Police responded to the Walmart in the 6600 block of South Memorial after they received a call of a body inside a car. When officers arrived they said they found a decomposed body inside a white SUV.

Police said they have been to the scene several times to check on the car but didn't know someone was inside. They said they ran the license plate, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

Thursday, police said someone walking by the car noticed a foul odor, found the body and called police.

Surveillance video goes back to mid-March and shows the car in the parking lot, but police believe it's been there since February. Complete article

Veterans making sure man found dead in south Tulsa Okla. Walmart parking lot receives a proper funeral 04/30/2015

Tulsa Walmart Employees Say They Called Police About Suspicious SUV 04/17/2015

Authorities identify man found dead inside SUV in parking lot of S. Tulsa Walmart 04/27/2015


Father of 5 from Colorado mysteriously disappears after shopping at Rancho Cucamonga Ca. Walmart 04/16/2015

Lufkin Tx. police arrest man accused of robbing Walmart with steak knife 04/16/2015

LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - Lufkin police have arrested a man identified through a Crime Stoppers tip and accused of using a steak knife to rob an employee at Walmart.

Quinton Lorenz Yarbrough, 19, is charged with first-degree robbery.

According to the arrest affidavit, an officer responded to Walmart on March 22 in reference to a theft.

A store clerk said a man came in and tried to make a purchase but had forgotten his wallet. The clerk said she went on break and when she came back, he had returned. She said he again tried to buy the items, but his card would not work. She said he then stepped back and said he had a knife. She said he then showed a steak knife and she said, "And?"

The clerk said Yarbrough then asked if she wanted to get fired and came around the counter. The clerk said she then took the items and threw them across the counter and he ran and picked the items up and ran off. Complete article

Lufkin man admits using stolen steak knife to rob Walmart 04/16/2015 Police on Wednesday arrested a Lufkin man who admitted pulling a stolen steak knife on a Walmart clerk to steal a PlayStation and game in March.


Walmart Shaking in Their Boots, About the Fight for Fifteen, Spread the Word 04/16/2015

This thing is spreading all over the world!

Low-wage workers all across America are walking off the job today to protest for a $15-per-hour minimum wage and a union.

“What?” You might be saying to yourself. “Why does the 16-year-old grimacing at me from behind the counter at Wendy’s while she texts her boyfriend selfies of her new temporary tattoo deserve to make that much money?”

Because contrary to popular belief, most minimum- and low-wage workers aren’t teenagers working a first job. And most aren’t fast-food workers either. Complete article


4 accused of passing fake bills at Walmart 04/17/2015

Man pulls gun in Spring Tx. Walmart TV heist, authorities say 04/17/2015

Suspects wanted for stealing Nintendo 3DS systems from Hanover Va. Walmart 04/17/2015

Wal-Mart to shed some in-store management in bid to improve shopper service 04/17/2015

Man offers teen money for sex act at SD Walmart 04/17/2015

UPDATE: Body of Missing Tampa Fla. General Hospital employee Lucy Moore found dead in car 04/18/2015

Tampa, Fla. - UPDATE: Hillsborough County detectives believe they have found Lucy Moore, a 31-year-old Tampa General Hospital employee who had gone missing, dead in a car at Walmart.

Law enforcement officials are conducting a death investigation in the parking lot of the Dale Mabry Walmart near Waters Avenue.

The sheriff's office received a 911 call around noon Saturday reporting a woman who appeared dead sitting in a car in the Walmart parking lot located at 8220 N. Dale Mabry Hwy in Tampa.

When deputies arrived on scene, they determined the woman was indeed dead and appeared to have been in the car for several days. Complete article


Little Rock Ark. Walmart Receives Unexpected Visitor 04/19/2015

Laid-Off Walmart Workers Head to Labor Board 04/19/2015

Nwwnah Wisc. Kohl's, Walmart evacuated because of suspicious suitcases 04/20/2015

7 ways retail jobs exploit and steal from their employees 04/14/2015

Police say Vermont residents stole $1,000 worth of appliances from NH Walmart 04/20/2015

Man shot after argument at bar, found behind Fla. Walmart 04/18/2015

Woman pushes cart of stolen items through Pa. Walmart, rides it outside, police say 04/20/2015

EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP, Pa. —A woman walked through the aisles at Walmart with a list of items, crossing each one off along the way, then rode like a kid through the parking lot on her shopping cart full of stolen goods.

State police released surveillance video Monday of the incident at the store in East Huntingdon Township, in the Mount Pleasant area of Westmoreland County. .....

Surveillance video from the parking lot shows the woman pushing her shopping cart and running behind it to gain speed, then hopping on the cart and riding it as a child might do. Complete article


Police: Men tried to walk out of Fla. Walmart with TV, fled 04/20/2015

Man arrested for allegedly being naked, intoxicated in Pikeville Ky. Walmart 04/20/2015

Bomb scare closes Henry County Missouri Walmart for over seven hours 04/20/2015

Theft of 39 iPads from Paulding Ga. Wal-Mart may be linked to other crimes 04/20/2015

Police: Fla. Walmart shoplifter uses stun gun, gets away 04/21/2015

Man tools around Hanover NJ Walmart in motorized wheel chair allegedly swiping things 04/21/2015

Task force formed in wake of Beavercreek Ohio Walmart shooting to make recommendations 04/21/2015

CSO: Pinal man ID'd as Arizona Walmart voyeur 04/21/2015

UTC football player charged after being accused of stealing from Walmart 04/22/2015

Blotter: Man caught stealing from ND Walmart 04/21/2015

Couple accused of leaving child in locked car to shop at Fla. Wal-Mart 04/22/2015

Portsmouth police officer fatally shoots man in Walmart parking lot on Frederick Blvd. Portsmouth Va. 04/22/2015

Baby left in hot car at Fla. Walmart, Florida authorities say 04/22/2015

What if Walmart raised its minimum wage to $70,000 a year? 04/22/2015

Teens charged after shotgun reportedly fired in SC Walmart parking lot 04/22/2015

'Red Bull Bandit' suspect caught at Portage Ind. Wal-Mart 04/22/2015

Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon Gets $19.4M Pay Package 04/22/2015

Bomb scare closes Olathe Kansas Walmart for hours 04/22/2015

Cigarette may have sparked fire at NC Walmart Neighborhood Market site 04/2/2015

Boyd gets 30 years for Neenah Wisc. Walmart shooting 04/24/2015

OSHKOSH – A Winnebago County judge said Justine Boyd's attempt to kill a Neenah Walmart co-worker in 2013 was only thwarted by talented doctors and the victim's own fighting spirit.

Judge John Jorgensen sentenced Boyd of Neenah to 30 years in prison on Thursday for the attempted first-degree intentional homicide of Sharon Goffard. Complete article


Shopper guilty in tackling of man with gun at Fla. Walmart 04/24/2015

Residents walk out of WV Wal-Mart information session 04/24/2015

Me. Walmart worker finds thousands in cash in parking lot 04/24/2015

Man charged for selling drugs in NC Walmart parking lot with two small children in car 04/24/2015

Thief caught on camera carrying TVs out of Walmart in Port Richmond Pa. 04/24/2015

Woman arrested at Ontario Walmart store 04/24/2015

Medical examiner: Teen killed in Va. Walmart parking lot was shot in face, chest by police officer 04/24/2015

Portsmouth, Va. – William Chapman was shot in the face and in the chest and that is how he died according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

They say his death has been ruled a homicide – but that doesn`t mean murder.

Right now, State Police are investigating the case. They will provide the Commonwealth’s Attorney with their findings, then it will be decided if the officer was justified in the shooting. Complete article

‘Charge with murder’ posters in Portsmouth Va. feature officer’s face 04/30/2015

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A campaign involving posters and t-shirts is demanding a Portsmouth police officer be charged with murder.

The posters, which were hung in various spots across Portsmouth, feature the face of Officer Stephen Rankin and read, “Charge Stephen Rankin with murder!!!” The t-shirts feature the same image.

Community activist Michael Muhammad, who has organized Don’t Shoot rallies and meetings at his location on East 26th Street in Norfolk, posted an image of himself wearing one of the t-shirts on Instagram. He said he did not have direct involvement with starting the campaign.

“It was groups of young people, some in high school, some college, from Portsmouth,” Muhammad said. “They called on me to help them get their message out.”

Four years ago, Rankin was involved in a fatal shooting when he responded to a burglary 911 call near the Olde Towne section of Portsmouth. Rankin was cleared of any wrongdoing. He is currently on administrative duty, after a police officer shot and killed William Chapman last week outside a Portsmouth Wal-Mart. Rankin has not officially been identified as the officer who was involved.

‘Charge with murder’ posters featuring officer’s face spotted in Portsmouth Va. 04/30/2015


Springfield Missouri police Department, Walmart Working to Reduce Supercenter Crime 04/24/2015

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Walmart and the city of Springfield's police force are working together on a plan to reduce shoplifting and crime overall at its stores across the city.

Police Chief Paul Williams announced the collaboration on social media late last month and Walmart representatives tell KOLR 10 they've been working on possible solutions to reduce and prevent crime since then. They say working with local law enforcement is not uncommon.

"We'll continue to collaborate with the local police to focus on crime prevention," Walmart spokesman Aaron Mullins said.

The reason for the effort, at least in part, is a 2014 crime density heat map that shows heavy concentration at all of the city's Walmart Supercenters. Springfield's downtown district and the major retail area occupied by Battlefield Mall also show similar statistics.

"Criminals are predators," former policeman and security expert Matt Canovi said.

Canovi said it's not surprising that high-traffic areas, like Walmart Supercenters, show up as popular places for thieves -- especially since they're open all-hours.

It's not Walmart's fault, it's not the local law enforcement's fault and it's not the citizens' fault. Bad guys are predators and they pick targets of opportunity," Canovi said. Complete article

For an expert, Canovi seems to be poorly informed about many of the contributing causes that precede crime. He may be right that "criminals are predators;" however taht is only part of the problem. Many other contributing causes make some people more likely to commit crime, including abuse at an early age and even some of the practices carried out by Walmart as indicated by some of these Wal-Mart crime reports and the studies listed in the intro above along with some more research that I ahve done in a series of previous blogs including, Politicians increase crime; Grass roots efforts reduce crime; Politicians steal the credit and others listed in it.


Gunman dies after police shootout and seven hour stand-off in Salem Oregon Walmart parking lot 04/24/2015

Is This the Beginning of the End for the Union Harassment Campaign Against Walmart? 04/24/2015

Wal-Mart reducing hours at some Colorado Springs-area stores 04/25/2015

Man detained for 'suspicious' activity at Nevada Walmart 04/24/2015

Suspect confesses to snatching purse at North Naples Fla. Walmart 04/23/2015

“Very dangerous:” Woman beaten in attempted carjacking at Wisc. Walmart that preceded high-speed chase 04/21/2015

FRANKLIN (WITI) — Early Tuesday morning, April 21st, in the parking lot of the Walmart store on S. 27th Street in Franklin, a woman screamed for help as she was beaten by a group of men and teens in an attempted carjacking. Then, the group led police on a high-speed chase on I-94.

Police say nine suspects were part of this group. Six have been taken into custody.

Franklin police, the Wisconsin State Patrol and the Racine County Sheriff’s Office all took part in this incident that began as an attempted carjacking in Franklin and ended in Racine following a pursuit. Complete article


Wal-Mart, JC Penney Sued Over Bangladesh Factory Collapse 04/24/2015

New owner of 25th Street Station agrees to drop Md. Walmart-anchored plan 04/22/2015

2 charged with assaulting police officer in NC Walmart disturbance 04/24/2015

ROCKINGHAM — A Richmond County pair is accused of assaulting a police officer and causing a disturbance at Walmart.

Police say Eric Scott Dent, 27, of 122 Blacksmoke Drive outside Hamlet, concealed a crowbar on his person at the 720 U.S. 74 West store on Friday. Officer D.R. Morton of the Rockingham Police Department was called to Walmart to investigate.

Arrest warrants state Dent pushed Morton and ran away from him when Morton tried to place him under arrest. Police say they also found a glass crack pipe on Dent. Complete article


Women attempt to steal from Ca. Walmart, end up in jail 04/24/2015

Man, woman wanted in aggravated armed robbery at Walmart in Conroe Tx. 04/2/2015

Body found in Sparta Wisc. near Walmart 04/23/2015

Poplar Bluff police looking for Missouri Walmart shoplifting suspect 04/24/2015

Not-guilty plea in Ca. Walmart armed incident 04/24/2015

Police: Men played drunken 'bumper cars' at Pa. Walmart 04/25/2015

ELIZABETHVILLE, Pa. -- On Thursday, State Police at Lykens responded to a call about three men riding on motorized handicap carts at the Walmart store on Kocher Lane.

Upon arriving at the store, officers found the men were using the carts to play "bumper cars." Complete article


Robberies reported at Walmart and Family Dollar in Lehigh Fla. 04/26/2015

Foot chase ends on roof of Walmart with capture of alleged shoplifter, Riverdale NJ police say 04/26/2015

Police investigate deadly shooting near Walmart on Little Debbie Parkway Chattanooga Tenn. 04/26/2015

Bossier City, La. PD: Body found outside Neighborhood Walmart; foul play not suspected 04/27/2015

Deputies: Suspect took purse from woman, 86, at SC Walmart 04/27/2015

Fla. Wal-Mart security guard has rough day, pushed and struck by shoplifting suspects 04/27/2015

A Wal-Mart security officer had a rough Sunday afternoon as he was reportedly pushed and struck during separate incidents by people accused of shoplifting from the store.

The first incident happened just after 2 p.m. at the store at 2600 SW 19th Ave. Road, Ocala. Three teenagers were suspected of shoplifting and security guards confronted the trio. One of the guards, a 21-year-old man, grabbed one of the 16-year-old suspects by the arm and tried to lead him back into the store. The 16-year-old reportedly pushed and hit the guard in the chest to break free, according to an Ocala Police Department report.

All three teens ran and were later found at the food court at Paddock Mall. Officers recovered stolen cellphone cases and covers, personal hygiene items and gummy vitamins, the report states. Complete article


Fernandina Beach police shoot syringe-wielding Wal-Mart robbery suspect after high-speed pursuit 04/27/2015

Fernandina Beach | A city police officer shot a man in the head after he stole a television from the local Wal-Mart on Monday morning and led officers on a high-speed pursuit which ended when he crashed his pickup truck in a ditch.

It remains unclear what prompted the officer to shoot the unidentified suspect, who had threatened a Wal-Mart loss-prevention officer with a syringe before fleeing. Police are still trying to determine if the man, who is in critical condition, had any other weapons.

The suspect was apparently shot inside his car, which he was trying to drive out of the ditch on Bonnieview Road after ramming a police car during the pursuit, Fernandina Beach Police Chief James Hurley said. Complete article

Policeman who shot Wal-Mart robbery suspect was 2-time Fernandina Fla. Officer of the Year 04/30/2015


Vehicle suspected in Pa. Walmart hit-and-run 04/27/2015

Walmart shooting protesters interrupt Beavercreek Ohio meeting 04/27/2015

Off-duty Houston Community College officer working security stabbed at SW Houston Walmart 04/27/2015

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man stabbed an off duty police officer at a southwest Houston Walmart overnight.

It happened at around 2am at the store on South Post Oak and the South Loop. Police are still trying to figure out why the suspect went after the officer in the first place.

According to Houston police, the female officer, who normally works for the Houston Community College Police Department, was working an extra job inside the Walmart as security.

All of a sudden, a man in his late 20s or early 30s approached her and, without saying a word, stabbed her multiple times with a hunting knife. Complete article


Police Monitor: NY Wal-Mart employee accused of theft 04/28/2015

Man tried to photograph minor in NJ Walmart dressing room, police say 04/28/2015

Man tased by police at Mount Pocono Pa. Walmart 04/28/2015

Walmart robbery triggers lockout at Sterling Colorado schools 04/28/2015

Tulsa Okla. Police Believe Walmart, JC Penny Jewelry Thefts Connected 04/28/2015

Wal-Mart to expand China store network by nearly a third after growth stalls 04/29/2015

Wal-Mart Says It Will Go Slow in China 04/29/2015

Arizona Walmart employee reports poisoned water bottle, then admits she did it, cops say 04/28/2015

Opponents of new Sioux Falls SD Wal-Mart store sue city again 04/29/2015

Man accused of propositioning boys at Sioux Falls SD Wal-Mart 04/29/2015

Laurel Montana Walmart robbery and high speed chase suspects charged 04/29/2015

Kasich orders rules for use of deadly force in Ohio following Walmart and Tamir Rice shooting deaths 04/29/2015

Purcell Okla. police say man attempted to steal from Walmart 04/29/2015

TV reported stolen from Niceville Fla. Walmart 04/29/2015

Report: Walmart in Baltimore Md. Refusing Ammo Sales 04/29/2015

2 Limestone County men charged with buying meth ingredient at Athens Alabama Wal-Mart 04/30/2015

Boynton Fla. Police: Woman smoked flakka, left baby in Wal-Mart parking lot 04/30/2015

Woman arrested on 53 counterfeit-related complaints, accused of using fake $10 bills at Okla. Walmart 04/30/2015

Police: SC Walmart Employee Took Thousands of Dollars 04/30/2015

Purcell Okla. police say man attempted to steal tent, vacuum from Walmart 04/30/2015

Walmart Stock – Don’t Expect Growth From WMT This Year

WMT sales are nearly flat and earnings are shrinking


Shares in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) started the year by hitting an all-time high, and investors probably figured the worst was behind WMT. How wrong they were.

WMT stock topped $90 a share in the first trading week of January. WMT stock’s holiday-selling season rally looked like it would extend well into 2015 after lagging the broader market for more than three years, but the rally didn’t last.

WMT stock has been in steady decline since setting that record high and is now off 9% for the year-to-date. Even the quiet S&P 500 has managed a price gain of almost 2% this year (See below a 52-week chart of WMT versus the S&P 500, Courtesy of S&P Capital IQ).

Whatever optimism fueled WMT stock through the holidays is now long gone. Indeed, Walmart shares are back to levels last seen in early November. No surprise there. Stocks follow profits, and Walmart profits are expected to be in decline for some time. Complete article


Man found dead in vehicle at Martinsburg WV Walmart 04/30/2015

Man accused of attacking NJ Walmart employee pleads not guilty, jury trial scheduled 04/30/2015

Woman charged with hitting child in Minn. Walmart parking lot 04/30/2015

Fire on video in Walmart Parking Lot 04/30/2015

Moulton Police Officer arrested on theft from Walmart, on duty, in uniform, ethics charges

Moulton Police Chief Lyndon McWhorter tells WAAY 31 that one of his officers has been arrested by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Officer Jeremy Wakefield, 39, was arrested on charges of theft of property in the second degree and an ethics violation.

Wakefield is accused of stealing items from a Walmart while on duty.

McWhorter said the Walmart in Moulton notified them of surveillance video they had of Wakefield taking electronics to the store's garden center and placing them outside the fence. McWhorter said the video then shows Wakefield putting the items in his patrol car.

McWhorter said Wakefield was in his uniform and on-duty at the time. Investigators believe this happened more than once. Complete article

Police officer arrested after stealing from Wal-Mart 05/01/2015