City Cop Ignored Teen's Mugging Outside Fairgrounds

Image: SPD's Moto "Professional service is our personal commitment"

State Fair Mugging Part II

In my last post I stated that a lack of police presence allowed an unsafe environment to exist in the Walgreen's parking lot just across the street from the Illinois State Fairgrounds Friday night.

I believed at the time that a thunderstorm had flushed all the police off the streets, and into their squad cars, or perhaps even home - leaving fairgoers, and nearby businesses vulnerable to attack from a gang of juveniles hanging out at the Fairground's busiest intersection.

But I was wrong!


A Shocking Accusation!

Several witnesses have now indicated that the robbery, which I reported in my prior post, took place in close proximity to a police officer. These witnesses have stated that not only did the police officer witness the assault, but also that he failed to assist the victim in any way!

The following is a paraphrasing of a conversation which took place tonight (August 19th, 2006) as I drove my teenaged daughter, and her friend (who witnessed the attack), home from the Mall.

JP: Were there really twenty guys in that parking lot?

Girl One: Yes.

JP: Why were there so many kids in that parking lot?

Girl One: I don't know why they were there.

JP: You just got out of the Fair?

Girl One: We were waiting for our ride home.

JP: Did they just get out of the Fair too?

Girl One: I don't know why they were there.

JP: How did the actual attack start?

Girl One: They surrounded ****, started punching him, and stole his phone.

JP: Were there any words exchanged?

Girl One: They called him "Bitch".

JP's Daughter: Didn't I tell you dad?

JP: Tell me what?

JP's Daughter: I told you they probably called him a bitch!

JP: When did this gang take off?

Girl One: They took his phone.

JP: Did they take off when the cops arrived?

Girl One: There was a cop there.

JP: I mean't when did they take off, not what they took off of ****?

Girl One: A cop was there.

JP: Are you serious, a cop was there while this was happening?

Girl One: Yes, right there in the parking lot.

JP: Do you think that the cop saw what was going on?

Girl One: Everyone could see what was happening - he was right there.

JP: Are you saying the cop just stood there, and watched?

Girl One: He screamed really loud, but that's all.

JP: Was he screaming for people to stop beating **** up?

Girl One: Just for everyone to leave the parking lot.

JP: That's all he did - scream?

Girl One: He was just screaming really crazy loud.

JP: Did people leave?

Girl One: Yes.

JP: How does **** look, does he look beaten up?

Girl One : No, but he says his jaw, and back hurt him.

JP: And they got his cellphone?

Girl One: Yes.

JP: And the cop didn't do anything?

Girl One: The cops in Springfield suck.

JP's Daughter: He was probably just protecting Walgreen's donuts.

JP: Probably so.

Gang Assaults Teen Outside Illinois State Fair

Photo: Macarthur Blvd @ Night In Rainstorm - Springfield Illinois 08.18.06


Race Against Storm

Last night I found myself racing across town to pick up my teenaged daughter from the Illinois State Fair (2006). A thunderstorm was bulldozing across Sangamon County, and it looked as if Springfield, Illinois would be effected. I barely convinced my teenaged daughter that it was time to call it an evening, but she reluctantly agreed to let me pick her up in front of the Walgreen's Drugstore at the corner of 9th street, and Sangamon Avenue.

I hydroplaned over rain covered streets at speeds far higher than I dare admit. It was a race between me, and the storm. As I drove into the parking lot of the Walgreen's Drug Store located just across the street from the Fairgrounds the rain, and wind, began to intensify.

My daughter jumped into the car wet, but not soaked - I had beaten the storm!

Conversation

ME: Is it just you? What about your friends?

DAUGHTER: Oh, they're going to stay. You should have seen the look they gave me when I said I was going to go home because of the storm.

ME: Well that's not too smart with all this lightning in the sky.

DAUGHTER: They're dumb.

ME: Yes, they sure are, but I raised a smart kid.

My thoughts shifted to the road, the rain, and the large number of cars exiting The Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Gang Attacks Teen Outside Illinois State Fair

About the same time my daughter, and I arrived back home my daughter became quite upset. She was on her cell phone, and speaking to one of her friends that had decided to stay.

One of the three teenagers which my daughter had attended the Illinois State Fair with had just been attacked by a mob of nearly twenty black teen males!* The location of the attack was at the very spot which I had picked up my daughter only a half hour earlier!

The gang descended upon the victim repeatedly punching the boy. The attack continued for several minutes with several boys attacking at once. The victim was unable to defend himself. They took the victims cellphone.

Two of the victim's friends, a teenage girl, and her little brother, witnessed the assault. Although the Walgreen's Drugstore was still open for business the entrance was locked.


Most shocking allegation of all

This story is just getting started. Please read the next post which continues my blogging on this event! A rather disturbing allegation has been made by several witnesses about the way the assault was handled by police.


*NOTE: Identifying the race of a group of individuals isn't racist. It is providing important information about the event. Why is race important? When one individual is attacked by a large group of individuals of a different race it does raise the possibility of that attack being motivated by racial hatred.

Triggering Lightning Using Rockets & Copper Wire

Photo: Triggered Lightning*


Using Rockets To Trigger Lightning

The University of Florida conducts lightning research out of Camp Blanding by shooting small rockets into clouds which are just on the verge of lightning generation. The rockets carry a long copper guide wire which acts as a "leader". The leader triggers lightning (skyward), and return strokes (groundward).
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Photo: Vaporized Guide Wire*
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If only this unclassified triggered lightning research project could:

1. Seed clouds to increase their lightning generating capacity
2. Fly above clouds instead of waiting for a cloud to reach its ground based rockets.
3. Use radio waves, microwaves, laser beams, and particle beams to prepare clouds.
4. Trigger lightning bolts using lasers, or even high velocity jets of carbon filament.

One can only wonder what a well financed covert project could accomplish if given decades to develop technologies necessary to generate lightning strikes.

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Questions

1. Where would a covert program test this type of technology - field or lab?
2. Would testing take place in a clear blue sky, or during a thunderstorm?
3. Would conventional aircraft, or stealth aircraft be used?

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Image Source: http://skydiary.com/gallery/chase2002/chase2002g.html
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Now A Word About Triggered Lightning From SPIE

The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) has an interesting article on triggered lightning. Note that infrared, and ultraviolet laser beams can not be seen by the unaided eye. Only the resultant bolt of triggered lightning can be seen.


Image: Not a very good illustration*

SPIE Excerpt:

Therefore, researchers (mostly funded by electric companies) would like to devise a method to trigger lighting and guide the discharge to harmless spots. In the March 1999 issue of Journal of Optical Technology, researcher Jens Schwarz at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) explained the process: "The idea is that the laser light creates a conducting path between the cloud and the ground, triggering the lightning discharge."

Groups in Japan, Russia, and the U.S. are using different laser wavelengths and powers to create conductive paths between the ground and thunderclouds. Most of the work is still laboratory based, but one group in Japan reported successfully triggering two lightning strikes using their laser system.² Shigeaki Uchida and colleagues at Osaka University in Japan, appear to have initiated the lightning strikes during field experiments on the shore of the Sea of Japan.

During thunderstorms, a large electrical field between the ground and clouds develops. High conducting points, such as the tops of towers built specifically to draw lightning, are usually surrounded by a corona discharge. When this discharge is quenched (such as when there is an abrupt change in the field under the clouds), an electrical leader starts from the top of the tower. If this occurs when the clouds are beginning to discharge, this leader initiates a lightning strike. By using laser beams to create plasma channels at the tops of the towers, Ushida's group has, to the best of their knowledge, reported the first laser-plasma-triggered lightning.

More

The group of researchers in New Mexico that Schwarz works with use 248-nm UV lasers, rather than the combination of IR and UV beams. This method is expected to have the benefit of allowing much lower powers to be used -- tenths of a joule rather than hundreds or thousands of joules per pulse. Even when using these low energies, the very short pulses (about 500 fs) cause very high peak powers; at the moment, peak powers of 20 GW are being used for lab tests.

In the atmosphere, the ionizing power is leveraged. Schwarz said, "The UV beam creates a path of electrons that can move in the ambient electric field (the one between cloud and ground) and multiply via avalanche ionization."

In addition to studying the properties of air under the influence of intense laser beams and plasmas, the New Mexico group is primarily focused on two main areas: improving the laser system (by increasing the reliability and power), and making a more portable system, which will be useful for field experiments.

My Take

The material above is conveying a story about non classified research, but one can only wonder about what must be happening in the world of black-ops.

What could a well financed covert operation develop if given decades to advance such technology? What would happen if such technology were placed on board stealth aircraft, or stealth UAVs, and then flown into inclement weather? Could weather be covertly modified? Could a laser triggered particle beam weapon be developed?

Remember this?

MOTIVE
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MEANS
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OPPORTUNITY
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Who, or what has the motive, the means, and the opportunity to develop technology capable of triggering lightning?

According to the article above electric companies do.

Would the U.S. Defense, and intelligence community possess the motive, means, and opportunity to covertly develop technology to trigger lightning?
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I posted the following material several months ago. This seems to suggest that a motive exist.
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Weather as a Force Multiplier:
Owning the Weather in 2025

A Research Paper
Presented To
Air Force 2025

by

Col Tamzy J. House
Lt Col James B. Near, Jr.
LTC William B. Sheilds (USA)
Maj Ronald J. Celentano
Maj David M Husband
Maj Ann E. Mercer
Maj James E. Pugh

August 1996

Some Excerpts:

Page 15: "If this UAV technology were combined with stealth and carbon dust technologies, the result could be a UAV aircraft invisible to radar while en route to the targeted area, which could spontaneously create carbon dust in any location".

Page 19: " One area of storm research that would significantly benefit military operations is lighning modification. Most research efforts that would significantly benefit military operations is in lightning modification. Most research efforts are being conducted to develop techniques to lessen the occurrence or hazards associated with lightning. This is important research for military operations and resource protection, but some offensive military benefit could be obtained by doing research on increasing the potential and intensity of lightning. Concepts to explore include increasing the basic efficiency of the thunderstorm, stimulating the triggering mechanism that initiates the bolt, and triggering lightning such as that which struck Apollo 12 in 1968. Possible mechanisms to investigate would be ways to modify the electropotential characteristics over certain targets to induce lightning strikes on the desired targets as the storm passes over their location".

Here's an Air Force PDF version of the document.
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*Image used above is not mine. It was used without permission from the SPIE website.
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We Can See Your Heart Beating

DARPA: RADAR Is Used To Create 3D "X-Ray" Maps Of Urban Area


Revealing State Secrets In A Secretless Society

In several of my previous post I've claimed that an extensive program of domestic surveillance predates 9-11 by several decades. I've claimed that the NSA, and CIA, has used the cover which thunderstorms provide to:

• Develop particle beam weapons (artificial lightning generators)
• Photograph urban areas using superbright strobes from low altitudes
• Develop SONAR systems using sonic booms (i.e., thunder)
• Develop EMP weapons
• Develop Anti Ballistic Missile High Energy Weapons
• Develop RADAR spoofing technology
  
• Develop Weather Modification Technology and Methods

In this post we'll exam how lightning is used to play cover for the testing, and development of unconventional forms of RADAR which are used to scan the interiors of buildings.

Lightning emits visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet light, radio waves, gamma particles, electro-magnetic pulses, and XRAYs. The ability to generate artificial lightning from within a thunderstorm would therefore allow for the creation of powerful burst of light (seen and not seen), radio waves, electromagnetic pulses, gamma particles, and XRAYs in close proximity to American cities for extended periods. Most importantly this could be done in a covert fashion.

Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with particle beam generators (artificial lightning) could be designed to generate short burst of XRAYs (or Microwaves, and other Radio Frequencies). Other UAVs could be equipped with XRAY (or RF) sensors. These UAVs could be used in tandem to scan building exteriors, and interiors.

Several UAVs working together during the course of a thunderstorm could be used to scan an entire city.

Digital Information Obtained would include:

• High resolution low-altitude strobe-enhanced images (visual range).
• High resolution infrared, and ultraviolet strobe-enhanced images.
• Thunder-SONARGrams of exteriors & interiors of buildings.
• Thunder-SONARGrams of underground structures, tunnels and mines.
• EM signatures of electrical, computing, and communication grids.
• RADAR, and Reflected Radio Frequency mapping data.

Such information would be fused into three dimensional high resolution maps.


The Role Of Lightning As Cover - Winning War In The 21st Century

Lightning is still considered by the official mainstream scientific community to be a profoundly mysterious process (this in the age of particle beam accelerators), and so a great variety of EM & RF frequencies could be covertly transmitted in burst simultaneously with lightning generation. Not only would the scientific community not be looking for such artificial transmissions during a thunderstorm, but due to the "profoundly mysterious nature of lightning" it would most likely be labeled as yet another mystery of lightning be studied one day in the future.

The general population would be completely oblivious that they were deliberately being treated to additional forms of radiation on a periodic basis.

It is the perception of lightning as an act of nature which allows it to be exploited in such an incredible number of ways over such a long period of time (decades). The thunderstorm is the greatest real time intelligence gathering, and weapons development platform in the history of humankind.


XRAY VISION - It's Not Just For Superman Anymore.

This post includes images obtained from DARPA. The images have been included to illustrate the type of research, and development which is being conducted in the area of urban surveillance (although particle beam generators are never mentioned). The goal of the research reviewed is the development of scanning technology which will enable a type of XRAY VISION based upon RADAR, and radio wave detection.

Every home is bombarded with radio waves from RADAR stations, radio stations, television transmitters, and cell phones (to name just a few). In the past these sources of radio waves were considered spurious, but with increased computational power put to the task of the retracing such "multipath" radiation sources "seeing through walls" is believed to be possible.

Please surf to the DARPA presentation (see link below), and read the associated research proposal. At no point is the ability to develop such a technology questioned - it is considered just a matter of effort (no scientific reason why it won't be developed). Also, at no point are ethical concerns raised about what such technology in the wrong hands (or even in the right hands) will have for society.

Already rudimentary forms of XRAY VISION are being introduced for use in the military. This includes the RADAR FLASHLIGHT which was just introduced for use in Iraq. Soldiers place the flashlight near a wall while the device listens for breathing, and even heartbeats on the other side. No matter how quite a person remains that person can be detected even from behind concrete walls!

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DARPA: RADAR "Flashlight" Detects Heatbeats Up To Fifty Feet Behind Walls


NSA's MOM - The Mother of All Maps.

The ultimate goal, which I believe has already been attained is to develop technology which can scan the contents of most buildings - a type of XRAY Vision (similar to what one might see on an episode of StarTrek). The long term goal behind the deployment of such a surveillance system would be to gather data for the creation of a high resolution three dimensional digital map of the entire United States. The map would include interiors, as well as exteriors of buildins. Information would be obtained from a multitude of sources, and would need constant updating. The map would be available for counter terrorism units at Homeland Security, the FBI, and CIA. It would also be available for the U.S. military, and would be created by, and maintained by the NSA.

The full range, resolution, and scope of the map would be held as a closely guarded secret, and even those making use of it from within other agencies wouldn't have complete access.

The map would never be a "finished product", but would always be a work in progress. Most information on the map would be available elsewhere, but drawing all data points together would take incredible computational, and archival power (rivaling Google) which would demand a huge very well funded covert facility (most likely driven by CISCO). This all suggest NSA must be the keeper of the map.
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DARPA: Recently Deployed Hand Held RADAR Scope


Why Surveillance On This Level - The Atomic Bomb.

This national high resolution surveillance program would rescan as much of the United States as possible on a continual basis. A central goal would be to detect atomic weapons, but many other weapons, and adversaries would be targeted as well. Since high resolution images would be archived they could be used at a later date should they need to be retrieved (for example after a terrorist incident).

Imagine being able to peer into the home of a known terrorist months before the terrorist acted. What might one see? Huge archives of digital imagery probably exist. Some archives are probably held for years, others only months, or weeks.



DARPA: Vehicles With "XRay Vision" RADAR Scan Inside Urban Dwellings


The Implications For A Free Society - Less Privacy.

Certainly the implications are great for any free society when a branch of its government already exercises domestic spying on such a level.

To what extent the concept of personal privacy will be redefined in coming years is the question. While national security rest squarely on the ability to collect accurate, and timely information about those who threaten it, it is equally true that an all knowing government presents the greatest threat to a free society.

Certainly it can be argued that whether or not such a capability exist today, or a decade from now those methods, and technologies which are being developed for the war on terror will have a dramatic effect upon society. America has been a nation which fiercely defended its freedom, and privacy. It will be interesting to see how much privacy its citizens are willing to relinquish in the name of freedom.

Knowing that their government scans the interiors of their homes on a regular basis may not concern the average American, but it will certainly concern those worried about the incredible growth of the powers of the state versus that of the citizenry.


"The price of freedom is vigilance, but freedom from vigilance is priceless."
- JeromeProphet-

LINKS:
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DARPA Link

XRay Vision.


About the images: I modified the first two DARPA images by enhancing color and contrast. Surf to the sites listed to find source of images.