Sunday, December 03, 2023

RIP
Shane MacGowan’s widow hopes Fairytale of New York will be Christmas No 1 in UK,  THE COMMONWEALTH & U$A
The Guardian
Sat, 2 December 2023

Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

The widow of the late Pogues frontman, Shane MacGowan, has said she hopes his song Fairytale of New York will be this year’s Christmas No 1.

The singer died on Thursday with his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, and family by his side. He was 65.

Fairytale of New York, which also features Kirsty MacColl, has never reached the No 1 spot, peaking at No 2. However, thanks to streaming the song often re-enters the UK singles chart over the festive period and regularly tops polls for the best Christmas song.


In 2007, the BBC censored the song to remove the words “faggot” and “slut”, though it reversed the decision shortly afterwards.

Related: Shane MacGowan obituary

Clarke told Today on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday: “It would be nice, wouldn’t it? It should be the Christmas No 1, it absolutely should. I am very much in favour of that.”

Talking about her life with MacGowan, Clarke said he was a man of contradictions.

Clarke, an Irish writer, first met him when she was 16. She said: “He was the kind of husband that would tell you how beautiful you are every single day. He was always buying flowers. He was just a really, really romantic man.”

She said they both “watched a lot of programmes about royalty”, adding: “But he was an ardent republican. He had a love of England and also of Ireland. Sometimes we would be doing the Telegraph crossword and I would be thinking: Gosh, there are people who would be horrified if they could see you doing the Telegraph crossword!”

MacGowan was plagued by ill health linked to his years of alcohol and substance abuse. He had been discharged from St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin last week.

Clarke said the stormy relationship depicted in the song was like her own with the singer.

Related: Shane MacGowan – a life in pictures

“It’s not [the romance] that’s gone wrong – in the song they still love each other – but life has gone wrong. That’s a bit similar to our story. We were both very affected by his addiction but you can still love, even though you are in that situation, and you can be very desperately unhappy as well as love.”

In 2015 MacGowan fell when leaving a Dublin studio and broke his pelvis, which led to him having to use a wheelchair.

One of his last public appearances was in 2018 at a special 60th birthday celebration at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

The singer would have celebrated his 66th birthday on Christmas Day.


Shane MacGowan’s wife joins calls for Fairytale Of New York to go to number one

Naomi Clarke
Updated Sat, 2 December 2023 


Shane MacGowan’s wife says his song Fairytale Of New York “absolutely should” be the Christmas number one.

The Pogues’ frontman died “peacefully” at 3am on Thursday with his wife Victoria Mary Clarke and family by his side, weeks before his 66th birthday on Christmas Day.

Originally released in 1987, the band’s gritty festive song has never reached the top spot in the UK charts, peaking at number two and beaten to the Christmas number one spot in the year of its release by the Pet Shop Boys’ Always On My Mind.

The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan was due to celebrate his 66th birthday on Christmas Day (PA)

Following MacGowan’s death, there have been calls for it to finally claim the coveted Christmas title, with Coral bookmakers placing it top of their predictions with 1/5 odds ahead of festive juggernauts Wham!’s Last Christmas and Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday: “It would be nice, wouldn’t it?

“It should be the Christmas number one, it absolutely should. I’m very much in favour of that.”

The song was written by MacGowan with fellow Pogues founder Jem Finer and later rerecorded to have Kirsty MacColl duet with MacGowan, which led to the best-known version of the track.

It has returned to the UK Christmas top 40 every year since 2005 but never reached the top spot, according to the Official Charts Company.

MacGowan’s wife agreed his lyrics were often “very cynical” but said he was a “really romantic man”.

She said: “He was the kind of person that would tell you how beautiful you are every single day.”

The Irish journalist, 57, also compared the turbulent love story in Fairytale Of New York with her own relationship with MacGowan, who she first met as a teenager.

“It’s not (the romance that’s) gone wrong. In the song, they still love each other but life has gone wrong and I think that’s what’s probably a little bit similar to our story.

“We were both very much affected by his addiction, but you can still love even though you’re in that situation. And you can be very desperately unhappy as well as love.”

 

The Irish singer battled ill health in his later years after years of alcohol and substance abuse.

MacGowan was discharged last week from St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin after receiving care following another bought of ill-health after revealing last year that he had been diagnosed with encephalitis.

His wife said he died of pneumonia, according to the New York Times.

Discussing his drinking habits, Clarke said: “It was always difficult for me because I knew when I met him that he liked to drink but I didn’t understand that as being something challenging or difficult.”

She said he had not had a drink for the past six months but his previous habits “took a toll on his body”.

Clarke also said MacGowan could be “very contradictory” in that the couple would watch programmes about the royal family and he cried at the deaths of the late Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Diana, Princess of Wales, despite being an “ardent Republican”.

Later on Saturday, Clarke told the Brendan O’Connor Show on RTE radio that she thought she was going to die after learning MacGowan was coming to the end of his life.

Discussing his last days, she said she had been giving him health drinks and trying alternative therapists, hypnotists and physios to try to help him.

She added: “He was putting up a really strong fight. He was trying very hard to breathe.

“He wasn’t ready to give up. He wasn’t ready to stop fighting – but his body did it for him.”



MacGowan dead - latest: Pogues singer known for Fairytale of New York dies as tributes paid

His death comes one week after he was discharged from hospital

Holly Evans,Maanya Sachdeva,Tom Murray,Kevin E G Perry
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The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65, just a week after he was discharged from hospital.

The news of his death was confirmed by his wife, Irish journalist and author Victoria Mary Clarke, who said in a statement: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life”.

Tributes have since flooded in, with Irish premier Leo Varadkar writing he had “beautifully captured the Irish experience”, while his former bandmate shared a black and white image of MacGowan smiling on stage.

Last week, it was announced he was being discharged from hospital ahead of his upcoming birthday on Christmas Day. In a post last Wednesday evening, his wife tweeted an image of him wearing a scarf and bobble hat, thanking the nursing staff for their support.

MacGowan revealed he was diagnosed with encephalitis last year in a video posted to social media on New Year’s Eve.

It is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed, according to the NHS website.

From the 1980s, he lead the Irish punk band The Pogues. The band are best known for their 1987 hit, the festive song “Fairytale Of New York”.

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Jon Stewart calls Pogues gig ‘one of the best shows I ever worked'

Former The Daily Show host Jon Stewart remembered working with MacGowan early in his career, writing on X/Twitter: “Pogues. City Gardens. 1986. One of the best shows I ever worked. Thank you Shane. RIP.”

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 07:00

Watch MacGowan’s last TV appearance before death

Here’s MacGowan speaking about his musical influences in one of his final television appearances:

Watch Shane MacGowan’s last TV appearance before death

Shane MacGowan spoke of his musical influences in his last TV appearance before his death aged 65. The Pogues star had been receiving hospital care after being diagnosed with viral encephalitis, a condition that causes the brain to swell, in December 2022. MacGowan closed out a special edition of the Late Late Show in 2019 with a performance of Christmas anthem “Fairytale of New York”, with more than 591,000 people tuning in to the programme. In a heartfelt tribute after his death was announced on Thursday 30 November, MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke said: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life.”

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 06:00

Watch MacGowan’s last TV performance before his death

Here’s MacGowan singing “Dirty Old Town” on Dublin Simon’s Christmas Eve Busk in 2021:

Watch: The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan’s last performance before death aged 65

Watch Shane MacGowan perform “Dirty Old Town” for Dublin Simon’s 2021 Christmas Eve Busk. It was announced on Thursday 30 November that The Pogues frontman has died aged 65. He had been receiving treatment for months for viral encephalitis - a serious condition which leads to brain swelling. “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life,” wife Victoria Mary Clarke said. Featuring on the Christmas Eve Busk two years ago, MacGowan performed “Dirty Old Town” at St Patrick’s Cathedral in aid of Dublin’s Simon Community. Initially written by Ewan MacColl in 1949, the song was made popular by The Dubliners and later, The Pogues.

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 05:00

Tom Morello remembers MacGowan and Sinead O’Connor

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello remembered MacGowan with a video of his and Sinead O’Connor’s 1995 duet “Haunted”. O’Connor died in July this year at the age of 56.

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 04:30

Shane MacGowan: the shy and complex genius behind The Pogues

For many years, one only had to look at MacGowan’s mouth to get an idea of his intemperate lifestyle. Writing for The Independent in 2015, journalist Richard Jinman described it as “a monument to rock’n’roll excess; a frightening cavity hollowed out by misadventure and misbehaviour”. MacGowan confirmed a longstanding rumour that some of the damage was caused by biting into a vinyl copy of The Beach Boys Greatest Hits, Volume 3: “I was out of my head,” he told The Independent. Convinced he was conducting talks with “the Americans” after World War Three, he declared, “this is what I think of American culture”, and took a bite out of the record.

Read Independent Music Editor Roisin O’Connor’s MacGowan obituary here:

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 04:00

The night Kiefer Sutherland met Shane MacGowan

Among the clips doing the rounds on social media is an interview Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland gave on Ireland’s The Late Late Show in 2019.

In it, the 24 star recalled meeting MacGowan for the first time while he was out to dinner with Ronnie Wood and Sinéad O’Connor.

The pair apparently had a disagreement over politics and ended up “rolling around on the floor” fighting.

“Shane MacGowan at that time had a cast on his right arm that looked as well lived in as anything I’ve ever seen,” Sutherland said, “and he did not have a lot of teeth at the time either, so fighting just seemed unfair.”

Hours later, the actor said MacGowan tapped him on the shoulder and said he needed a place to stay that night.

“I was so impressed with his directness that I said, ‘well do you want a drink?’”

The two went back to Sutherland’s hotel and when he got up early the next day, “all the blankets were perfectly folded... [and] there was a note that he had written on hotel stationery and it was the most beautiful letter I’d ever read.

“It was like poetry. It was just a thank you note but it was so generous, the things he had to say about me and our night and humanity, and it was quite long. And I’ve still got this letter to this day, because it changed my perspective - don’t judge a book by its cover and very rarely trust first encounters.”

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 03:30

The Shane MacGowan I knew was so much more than a Christmas song

The last time I listened to the Pogues’ debut album, I thought I heard a ghost. In the fade-out on side one, a Corkman recites a Gaelic phrase that translates as “There’s no place like home”, and performs a brief, solo lilt.

This was my uncle, Tom O’Grady, whose voice I had not heard in the decade since he died – his contribution appears only on the vinyl LP, if you let the needle run out. Tom was no singer, much less a musician. His appearance on the record was down to his friendship with Shane MacGowan, the band’s frontman and chief songwriter, who has sadly died today aged 65.

The pair met in the early 1980s at Rocks Off, the record shop on Hanway Street, an alley off Tottenham Court Road in central London, where Tom shopped and Shane worked before The Pogues took off. They bonded over a mutual passion for music, film and general carousing, though their shared ethnicity was doubtless important to the friendship, too. As was the case with most migrants to Britain in this period, you gravitated to your own.

Read the full article from Robert Dineen here

Shane MacGowan was so much more than a Christmas song | Robert Dineen

The Pogues frontman was a witty, curious man with an affinity for Irish history and culture, writes journalist Robert Dineen

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 03:00

Sinn Fein president describes MacGowan as a ‘poet'

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald has described Shane MacGowan as “a poet” who was unique in how he told “the Irish story”.

She said that Ireland “has lost one of its most beloved icons and the world one of its greatest songwriters”.

“Shane was a poet, a dreamer and a champion of social justice. He was a dedicated Republican and a proud Irishman.

(PA)

“Nobody told the Irish story like Shane – stories of emigration, heartache, dislocation, redemption, love and joy.

“Shane brought his musical unique style to all corners of the world, and his music will continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.

“Today we mourn his passing. He was one of the best of us. Ni bheidh a leitheid aris ann.

“I want to extend my deepest condolences to his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan, his extended family and very wide circle of friends.”

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 02:30

Fairytale of New York: How The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl made the Christmas classic

“Fairytale of New York” is a drunken hymn for people with broken dreams and abandoned hopes. It is, therefore, a perfect contrast to some of the perkier perennial favourites we wheel out each Christmas.

The song begins with its narrator, an Irish immigrant, being thrown into a drunk tank to sleep off his Christmas Eve binge.

Hearing an old man sing the Irish ballad “The Rare Old Mountain Dew”, he begins to dream about his memories of the female character in the song, and so begins the story of two people who fell in love in America, only to see their plans of a bright future dashed.

Read the full story here

The story behind ‘Fairytale of New York’ by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl

A drunken hymn for those with broken dreams and abandoned hope

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 02:05

Nitin Sawhney posts musical tribute to MacGowan

A lovely musical tribute to MacGowan from the Ivor Novello-winning multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney, performing a solo piano version of “Fairytale of New York”:

Kevin Perry1 December 2023 01:04
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CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Jury orders egg suppliers to pay $17.7 million in damages for price gouging in 2000s


ISABELLA VOLMERT
Fri, December 1, 2023 

Chickens stand in their cage at the Rose Acre Farms, Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, near Stuart, Iowa. A federal jury in Illinois delivered $17.7 million in damages to several major food manufacturing companies who had sued major egg producers over a conspiracy to limit the supply of eggs in the U.S. in a lawsuit originally filed 12 years ago, according to attorneys representing the companies. The damages verdict was reached Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. 
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal jury in Illinois ordered $17.7 million in damages — an amount tripled to more than $53 million under federal law — to several food manufacturing companies who had sued major egg producers over a conspiracy to limit the egg supply in the U.S.

The jury ruled last week that the egg producers used various means to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase the price of products during the 2000s. The time frame of the conspiracy was an issue throughout the case; jurors ultimately determined damages occurred between 2004 and 2008.

The damages verdict was reached Friday in the Northern District of Illinois. According to federal antitrust law, the damages are automatically tripled, bringing the total to over $53 million. Court documents on the verdict were not readily available Friday evening, but statements from the manufacturers' attorney and one of the egg producers confirmed a total of about $17.7 million.


“We are extremely grateful for the jury’s service and findings,” Brandon Fox, an attorney representing the food manufacturers, said in a statement. “This was an important case for many reasons, and the jury’s award recognizes its significance.”

Attorneys for the four egg suppliers named in the lawsuit did not immediately return phone messages on Friday. Court documents show the defendants have denied the claims.

The egg suppliers include the family company of its former Chair John Rust, who's running for the U.S. Senate in Indiana. In a written statement on the verdict, Rust said the jury's decision “will be appealed.”

The jury found that the egg suppliers exported eggs abroad to reduce the overall supply in the domestic market, as well as limited the number of chickens through means including cage space, early slaughter and flock reduction, court documents say.

Jurors were specifically told not to consider more recent changes in egg pricing during their deliberations.

Food manufacturers joining as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the egg producers are Kraft Foods Global, Inc., The Kellogg Company, General Mills, Inc. and Nestle USA, Inc. The jury found the egg suppliers who participated in the conspiracy were Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., United Egg Producers, Inc., United States Egg Marketers, Inc. and Rose Acre Farms, Inc., a southern Indiana-based company previously chaired by Rust.

Rose Acre Farms, which identifies itself as the second-largest egg producer in the U.S., disagreed with the jury's verdict in a written statement.

“Rose Acre has and continues to steadfastly deny being part of any anticompetitive egg price-fixing conspiracy, and we will continue to explore and consider all legal options, including post-trial relief and appeal,” the statement said.

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a written statement it has petitioned the court to rule in its favor and will continue to evaluate its options, “including, if necessary, an appeal.”

“Cal-Maine Foods respects the jury’s decision and appreciates that the damages awarded by the jury are relatively modest compared to the damages sought but remains disappointed with the verdict as Cal-Maine Foods continues to believe that the Company did nothing wrong,” the statement said.

Email messages sent to the United Egg Producers and United States Egg Marketers representatives were not immediately returned Friday.

In his statement, Rust attacked his opponent U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, saying he has sided with “mega corporations over the American farmer” in the aftermath of the jury's ruling.

“Voters can be certain that, if elected, Banks will bring his anti-agriculture and pro-mega corporation platform to the chamber,” Rust said.

In response, Banks said in a written statement, "Hoosiers aren’t going to vote for a crook.”

Rust is currently suing Indiana’s Secretary of State over a contested state law that could prevent his name from getting on the primary ballot as a Republican candidate. According to the law, a candidate must vote in two primaries with the party they are affiliated with or the county party chair must approve their candidacy. Rust has argued the law is unconstitutional and vague.

Rust faces an uphill battle for the GOP nomination: Banks has received the endorsement of the Indiana Republican Party and former President Donald Trump. The seat is currently held by Republican Mike Braun, who is instead running for governor next year.
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26 kids were buried alive in California. A new CNN Film shows how one plotted their escape – and what happened years later

Holly Yan, CNN
Sat, December 2, 2023 at 2:02 PM MST·12 min read
293

CNN Films’ chilling crime documentary “Chowchilla” explores one of the strangest mass kidnappings in history. It premieres on Sunday, December 3, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In 1976, gunmen stormed a school bus carrying 26 children – ages 5 to 14 – and their bus driver in Chowchilla, California. As part of a ransom plot, they drove the hostages into a rock quarry and forced them into what could have become a mass grave: a moving van soon to be covered with 6 feet of dirt.

Almost 50 years on, those students have become unwitting pioneers in what child trauma can look like decades later. Now, the new CNN Film, “Chowchilla,” delves into how the largest mass kidnapping in US history became a catalyst for change.

There’s the 14-year-old hero who devised a cunning escape to free the hostages – but didn’t get due credit and spiraled down a dark chasm of substance abuse.

There’s the 10-year-old girl who comforted other terrified kids, then spent decades confronting the kidnappers at parole hearings until the agony became too much to bear.

And there’s the 6-year-old boy who fought relentless nightmares and all-encompassing anger before finding unexpected peace.
‘Like an animal being taken to slaughter’

On July 15, 1976, summer school students were headed home from the Dairyland School when a van parked in the middle of a narrow road blocked their driver. A trio of gunmen – pantyhose over their heads – emerged and hijacked the bus.

The gunmen drove it through a thicket of tall bamboo until they reached a ditch hiding two vans.

The Dairyland Union School District bus carrying 26 children and their bus driver was found empty and abandoned in July 1976. - UPI/Bettmann/Getty Images

They ordered the children to get in. Then, for 11 hours, they drove.

“It was just stifling,” said Larry Park, who was 6 at the time.

The kids had no bathroom or water. Some whimpered and cried.

“I remember (10-year-old) Jodi Heffington was one of the older girls who tried to keep the younger kids calm somewhat,” recalled Jennifer Brown Hyde, who was 9 at the time.

“I just felt like an animal being taken to slaughter,” she said.

Their convoluted, unnecessarily lengthy route ended after nightfall at a rock and gravel quarry near Livermore, about 100 miles northwest of Chowchilla. The kidnappers ordered the children and their bus driver into a moving van hidden underground.

Workers unearth the buried kidnap van where 27 people were held hostage. The weight of dirt crushed the top. - Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

“It was like a coffin,” Lynda Carrejo Labendeira, who was 10 at the time, told CNN in 2015. “It was like a giant coffin for all of us.”

The dark chamber – outfitted with some mattresses and meager snacks – quickly filled with the stench of vomit and filth, intensified by the searing California heat.
A daring plan takes shape

The lone adult trapped underground, bus driver Edward Ray, was reluctant to try to escape, “fearful that somebody was up there just waiting,” Brown Hyde recalled.

But Michael Marshall, who was 14, was willing to take the chance.

“I thought to myself: If we’re going to die, we’re going to die getting the hell out of here,” he recalled in “Chowchilla.”

It seemed the only way out might be through a sealed manhole at the top of the entombed van. Marshall climbed onto mattresses the hostages had stacked under it and pushed with all his might.

It barely budged.

The inside of this van was used as the children's prison. Hostages had to use a box with a hole as a toilet. - Jim Palmer/AP

Ray joined him, and eventually they pushed the cover open – only to watch two massive truck or bus batteries that had covered it plummet into the underground cell. Then they discovered another sick challenge: a large, reinforced plywood box surrounding the manhole, with more dirt on top.

Undaunted, Marshall pounded the dirt sealing the bottom edges of the box. He dug and dug and dug – until a cascade of dirt fell into the box, through the manhole and into the coffin, revealing “the most glorious ray of sunlight that I had ever seen,” Park recalled.

After 16 hours in the subterranean hell, the 27 hostages climbed their way to freedom.

But the effects of the kidnapping would soon plague the children in myriad ways.
A young hero ‘robbed’

Just freed, the kids went to officially report their ordeal to police. Nearby, news crews gathered. As Marshall walked past them on his way home, a broad grin eclipsed his exhaustion. He had a chance to tell the world how the escape had unfolded.

Mike Marshall, who was 14 when he helped save his fellow hostages, said he was looking forward to telling his story to the media shortly after the escape -- but said his principal thwarted the opportunity. - CNN

“Then out of nowhere, Principal (LeRoy) Tatum stepped in and said, ‘Why don’t we just give them a break, boys. Let them go home, get some sleep,’” Marshall recalled. “And so we got in the car and left.”

The diversion would haunt Marshall for decades.

“It was my chance to tell the world what happened – getting out and everything,” he said. “And I didn’t do it; I let the grown-ups do it.”

People across the country quickly assumed Ray was the hero, and lavish praise for the humble bus driver followed. One reporter declared the children had been saved “due to the heroic efforts of their bus driver, Ed Ray.” Chowchilla hosted a parade on “Ed Ray Day” on August 22, 1976. The city named a park after him.


Bus driver Edward Ray speaks to reporters in 1976. - Skip Shuman/Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

“But Edward was not the only hero,” Brown Hyde said.

Park was more blunt: “I was telling people, ‘Mike Marshall dug us out. It was Mike that dug us out.’ But nobody was listening.”

Photos of Marshall during “Ed Ray Day” festivities show a forlorn young teenager, one his mother could “see was really depressed.”

Even Marshall “felt guilty for feeling bad,” he said. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Why am I feeling like this? What’s wrong with me?’” He tried to pivot to thinking: “Hey, you know what? Who cares? We all got out. We’re all out, that’s what matters.”

But it cost his mental health.

“Some of that pride from having been the kids’ hero had been robbed from him by the town’s response; he was never acknowledged,” said Dr. Lenore C. Terr, a child and adolescent psychiatry specialist and author of “Children of Chowchilla: A Study of Psychic Trauma.”

Marshall’s fortitude and optimism devolved to hopelessness.

“Before the kidnapping, I could see so much light ahead of me – see my future,” he said. “But then after the kidnapping, I couldn’t see anything.”

By 19 or 20, Marshall was “blackout drunk every single night. I just didn’t want to remember any more about the kidnapping,” he said. “I was drinking and using and all of that to the point where … I was living in insanity.”
‘I wanted to torture those men’

The horror also took a profound toll on Park. His older sister and “best friend” Andrea, 8, had also been kidnapped – and comforted him through the ordeal. But soon after their escape, “I hated going to sleep because every night, I was having nightmares,” he recalled in CNN Films’ “Chowchilla.”

“Mom and Dad were told not to come in when we have nightmares,” he said, recalling experts’ advice at the time to stop “rewarding our behavior of having the nightmares” so the dreams in turn would stop.

But it didn’t work. And soon, Park’s best friend became a distant stranger.

“Andrea became very introverted, where she had been outgoing before. She preferred to hide in her room. She wouldn’t hug me. I would tell her that I loved her, and she would just ignore it like it was never said,” the little brother recalled.

“Over the years, there was an anger building in me that infested absolutely every aspect of my life,” he said. “I was replaying the kidnapping constantly. I wanted to torture those men.”

Stunning revelations about the kidnappers

Authorities said the trio of abductors had tried to land $5 million in ransom as part of the botched kidnapping scheme. When their identities were revealed, Chowchilla residents were flabbergasted.

Frederick Newhall Woods IV, 24 at the time, was from a family that gained prominence during the California Gold Rush. The other two convicted kidnappers, James Schoenfeld, then 24, and his brother Richard Schoenfeld, then 22, were the sons of a well-known doctor.

From left, brothers James and Richard Schoenfeld and Fred Woods are taken to prison in 1978. - Joe Rosenthal/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

Each kidnapper soon was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole – a relief to many of the children who’d been taken. But then in the early 1980s, they successfully appealed the sentences based on an argument the kidnapping victims did not suffer serious physical harm, according to the film.

They won: Parole was now an option for all three.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Terr, a pioneer in the research of long-term childhood trauma. “The mind and the brain – that’s not bodily harm, what you do to a person’s mind? What you do to a young child’s developing mind?”

For Park, the self-loathing and thirst for revenge against his kidnappers became overwhelming. “I was in a prison of my own making,” he said.

“It was one thing that (the kidnappers) hurt me. But they completely shattered my family. Andrea had disassociated from the family and left Chowchilla. My mom lost faith in my dad as a protector.

“I was surviving day-to-day, hated my life, hated myself and hated everyone around me.”

‘I’ve been my own victim’

News that the kidnappers might one day be released horrified many survivors. Over the next 30 years, Jodi Heffington Medrano – the big-sister figure on the bus – traveled to virtually every parole hearing to try to ensure they stayed behind bars.

But each hearing reopened painful wounds for Heffington Medrano, her son Matthew Medrano recalled in “Chowchilla.”

“My mom talked about how she didn’t feel safe around men, her depression, her struggle with addiction issues,” he said.

Park, meanwhile, was searching for a way out of his fury. “I decided to pray,” he explained. “I said, ‘God forgive them, because I can’t. God bless them, because I can’t.’”


Larry Park - CNN

He also participated in what’s known as the restorative justice process, which helps crime victims speak with their perpetrators to try to gain closure.

“So I got to go in, and I said, ‘I was your victim for 36 hours. And for the last 38 years, I’ve been my own victim.’ I told them that I forgave them,” Park said. “But forgiving them wasn’t enough. I had spent my lifetime hating them. And so I asked for their forgiveness.”

Park then began speaking out in support of parole – a stance many other survivors vehemently opposed.
‘It’s all my fault they’re getting out’

The kidnappers were repeatedly denied parole until the 2010s, when supporters of their release – including retired judge William Newsom, the father of California’s current governor – publicly advocated for the kidnappers’ parole.

“Nobody was physically injured – huge factor in the case,” the elder Newsom said at a news conference, according to the documentary.

A former detective who’d helped in the prosecution of the kidnappers also later spoke out in favor of their release. “He was one of the people who assured us they would never get out,” Carrejo Labendeira said.

But they did.

In 2012, Richard Schoenfeld, the youngest kidnapper, was released on parole.

Three years later, James Schoenfeld was also released on parole.


Fred Woods, Richard Schoenfeld and James Schoenfeld - California Department of Corrections/AP

“Jodi went into a huge depression,” Carrejo Labendeira recalled. She would say, “‘Lynda, it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault they’re getting out.’”

Soon afterward, Heffington Medrano “couldn’t get out of bed no more. She was so weak because she was just drinking so much,” her son said, sobbing. “She wouldn’t eat because she was so depressed. And she basically just couldn’t process life the way she was supposed to.

“My mom did her best for as long as she could.”

Heffington Medrano died in 2021 at age 55. Her cause of death was not publicly released. But “it was their f*cking fault,” her son asserted.

A year later, the final kidnapper, Fred Woods, was also released on parole. He now regrets the emotional and physical harm caused by the kidnapping, his attorney Dominique Banos told CNN.

“Mr. Woods is truly sorry and remorseful for the mental and physical suffering experienced by the victims because of what they endured,” wrote Banos, who started representing Woods in 2017.

An attorney who represented the Schoenfeld brothers has told CNN, “There’s no justifying this crime, obviously.” But after decades in prison, he said, the kidnappers no longer posed a danger to society.
‘You don’t give up. You keep digging’

Decades later, Marshall is starting to be recognized for his valor – a change that’s boosted him immeasurably, he said. He and Park recently reunited for the first time since 1977.

The two men embraced, and Park called Marshall his “hero.”

“I didn’t realize how much it would help me to understand and to actually hear one of the kids tell me that I saved their lives and that they were grateful,” Marshall said. “Not very many people can relate.”

Mike Marshall - CNN

As a group, the kidnapping victims have been instrumental in teaching the public that childhood trauma doesn’t just cause physical harm – and can fester beyond imagination, Terr said.

“Chowchilla children are heroes,” she said in the CNN Film. “And they continue to teach us what childhood trauma is 46, 47, 48, 50 years after the fact.”

In the end, Park said, Marshall’s courage and strength in those dark hours played an enormous role in helping him persevere after decades of trauma, depression and self-hatred.

“I never gave up – not completely,” he said, “because I was taught, at 6 years old by a 14-year-old boy: You don’t give up. You keep digging.”

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Trump Says if Jesus ‘Came Down’ He’d Win the Blues States in Unhinged Iowa Speech
JESUS IS A GODDAMN LIBERAL

Althea Legaspi
ROLLING STONE
Sat, December 2, 2023


Donald Trump was in Iowa on Saturday for two campaign stops, the first in Ankeny, followed by a stop in Cedar Rapids. And his obsession with the 2020 election continues to be a subject he seems to think is crucial as he campaigns to win the Republican presidential nomination, despite his position being unsubstantiated time and again. His fixation appeared to be a strategy to sow doubt should the 2024 election not go his way.

During his “Commit to Caucus” speech in Ankeny, he went over similar tropes he’s been touting throughout his campaign, calling media “fake news” and reiterating his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen when President Biden was rightfully declared president. “The one thing they don’t want to talk about is the [2020] election. They are guilty as hell, they cheated like hell,” Trump claimed, presumably of everyone who correctly recognized and validated the actual election results. “They know it, and you’ll never find out all the ways. But we don’t need all the ways because, you know, it was, I think 22,000 votes separated it, and we have millions and millions of votes. It’s a very sad thing.”

He then appeared to encourage the crowd to pursue voter intimidation and election interference while comparing the United States to a third world country: “So the most important part of what’s coming up is to guard the vote. And you should go into Detroit and you should go into Philadelphia and you should go into some of these places, Atlanta —  and you should go into some of these places, and we got to watch those votes when they come in, when they’re being, you know, shoved around in wheelbarrows and dumped on the floor and everyone’s saying what’s going on? We’re like a third world nation, a third world nation. And we can’t let it happen.”

At his Cedar Rapids event dubbed his “Save America” rally that followed, Trump homed in on attacking “crooked” President Biden while continuing to harp on his unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was rigged and even further, that Jesus and God would declare him a winner now. “I think if you had a real election and Jesus came down and God came down and said, ‘I’m gonna be the scorekeeper here,’ I think we’d win there, I think would win in Illinois, and I think it we’d win in New York.”

“I got indicted four times because I’m questioning a crooked election,” Trump later added per his own assessment of his alleged crimes. “But we’re not questioning it. We know the results, we know. And when we go through courts — if we ever even have to do it because you have presidential privilege. And also, if we ever, we should never have to do that, but if we do, we want to redo the election — only from the standpoint we want that election, we want to look at it very carefully. We have so much information. There was so much corruption in that election.”

He also claimed that he invented the word “caravan” again, for some reason, and also inexplicably claimed that he saved Obamacare. He concluded by saying that his was “one of the great presidencies,” and claiming that even his opponents have said so.

In the ultimate irony, Trump early on accused his opponents of “waging an all-out war on American democracy.”

“You look at what they’ve been doing, and becoming more and more extreme and repressive. They have just waged an all-out war with each passing day,” the man who has torn the country apart claimed.

While Trump stumped in Iowa, so did Ron DeSantis, where he appeared in Sioux City. DeSantis, once thought to be Trump’s biggest challenger continues to lag in the polls with a widening gap between him and poll-leading Trump in the last few weeks before the caucuses. DeSantis has been endorsed by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats.




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Dozens of Troops Suspected of Advocating Overthrow of US Government, New Pentagon Extremism Report Says

Konstantin Toropin
Fri, December 1, 2023 


An annual Pentagon report on extremism within the ranks reveals that 78 service members were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government and another 44 were suspected of engaging or supporting terrorism.

The report released Thursday by the Defense Department inspector general revealed that in fiscal 2023 there were 183 allegations of extremism across all the branches of military, broken down not only into efforts to overthrow the government and terrorism but also advocating for widespread discrimination or violence to achieve political goals.

The statistics indicate the military continues to grapple with extremism following its public denunciations and a stand-down across the services ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021. Furthermore, the numbers do not make it clear whether the military's approach is working. In 2021, the year the data was first released to Congress, there were 270 allegations of extremist activities. In 2022, that figure dropped to 146 before rebounding over the past year.

The Army had the most allegations in fiscal 2023 with 130 soldiers suspected of participation in extremist activity. The Air Force suspected 29 airmen; the Navy and Marine Corps reported 10 service members each. For the first time, the inspector general also reported numbers for the Space Force as a separate entity from the other services -- it suspected four Guardians of extremism.

The IG report also included instances of alleged criminal gang activity: There were 58 allegations of gang activity across the military.

However, the report did note that, out of all the suspected extremism and criminal gang activity, 68 of the total cases were investigated and cleared or deemed unsubstantiated.

In the U.S., extremist activity, including neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-government movements, has been growing, and numerous violent plots by veterans and even active-duty troops have been thwarted in recent years. Experts on extremist movements have warned about the growing potential of more violence and future attacks, similar to the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995 that killed 168 and was carried out by an Army veteran.

In February, a former National Guardsman, Brandon Russell, who founded the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi hate group, was charged with plotting to blow up Baltimore's electrical grid and cause as much suffering as possible. Russell, who allegedly kept a framed photo of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 after an arrest in Florida for possessing explosives.

In the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol building, the Pentagon tried to make a show of dealing with the problem of extremism among troops after it became clear that veterans as well as some active-duty troops were among the mob that stormed the halls of Congress in an effort to halt the certification of the 2020 election.

Military.com has reported that many of those efforts -- including the military-wide extremism training stand-down ordered by Austin -- were largely symbolic and were widely considered as just another box for commanders to check.

One active-duty noncommissioned officer said that, aside from the fact that no one was paying attention at the stand-down briefing he attended, the commander giving the lecture was "talking about what he thought were radical groups like Black Lives Matter."

The idea that far-left groups are just as problematic as far-right ones is a popular talking point among conservatives and Republican lawmakers. However, law enforcement officials and experts who study the topic have consistently noted that far-right groups espousing anti-government and white supremacist views are the biggest threat to the U.S. today.

The report also revealed that other efforts such as screening prospective recruits before enlistment are not working as well as intended.

Some recruiters did not complete all of the screening steps and "as a result, military service recruiters may not have identified all applications with extremist or criminal gang associations," according to the inspector general report.

"Further, the audit found that one military service entered data indicating applicants disclosed extremist or gang associations even though the applicants had not made such disclosures," the IG said, but it did not reveal which of the services falsely accused some of its recruits of having extremist ties.

What the report does make clear, however, is that when allegations are made, they are being referred for investigation, and when allegations are substantiated, some action is taken.

Of all the extremist and gang activity allegations, 135 were reported to military or civilian law enforcement, and 109 of the allegations were reported to another DoD organization or official.

Furthermore, 69 of all the allegations were substantiated at the time the report was written and the vast majority of those -- 50 -- were handled through administrative actions. That included involuntary discharge for 19 and counseling in three instances, while 17 more were handled by nonjudicial punishment and two went to court-martial.

There were no substantiated cases of extremism or gang activity where no action was taken.

While these figures, compared with the overall size of the services, are small, research and experts say that military service members and veterans pose an outsized danger to communities when they go down the path of extremism, given their increased familiarity with firearms and ability to organize and plan effectively.

In 2020, an Air Force sergeant at Travis Air Force Base in California pulled up to a federal courthouse in Oakland, California, in a white van and opened fire on security guards, killing one before going on the run and murdering a county sheriff's deputy a week later as part of a larger plan to incite a civil war.

Also in 2020, members of a group that included two Marines and styled itself as a "modern day SS" were arrested on allegations that they were plotting to destroy the power grid in the northwest. U.S. court records in that case say members discussed recruiting other veterans, stole military equipment, asked others to buy explosives, and discussed plans to manufacture firearms.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on X at @ktoropin.

Related: What the Pentagon Has, Hasn't and Could Do to Stop Veterans and Troops from Joining Extremist Groups


Problems persist with how services report extremism, DOD watchdog says

Nikki Wentling
Fri, December 1, 2023 

Manuel Balce Ceneta

The Defense Department investigated 183 allegations of extremist activity among service members in the past year, including 78 cases of troops advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government, according to a report published Thursday by a Pentagon watchdog.

New findings from the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General reveal DOD investigated 37 more cases of extremism this year than in 2022, which was the first year the IG issued a report on the subject. Congress mandated in 2021 that the IG annually gauge how effectively the Defense Department prevents and responds to extremist activities in the ranks.

The report’s findings show ongoing issues with how the services track and report data, which in turn makes measuring the military’s response challenging. While the Army, Navy and Air Force reported the number of allegations that were investigated, the departments did not track how many allegations of extremist activity were received but not investigated, the IG found.

“Tracking of allegations not referred for inquiry or investigation is challenging, impacting data accuracy,” the IG’s office said in a news release Thursday. “The report highlights ongoing challenges in compiling and validating data, emphasizing the need for consistent implementation of data collection.”

Earlier this year, the IG’s office found that the Army, Navy and Air Force each had a different reporting structure and used different electronic systems for reporting allegations of extremism.

The Army uses several independent databases to collect information, “making it impossible to track” the number of allegations that weren’t referred for investigation, the report states.

The Air Force also lacks a single reporting system, and the Air National Guard was inconsistent at reporting allegations it received because of the complexity of cases in which members weren’t activated at the time of the alleged misconduct.

The Navy said reporting the data to the IG was “time consuming” and that multiple policies “created confusion.” The sea service also cited concerns about compromising the privacy of troops.

All services are in the process of implementing a standardized system to streamline how data is collected and reported, the analysis said. The new process includes notifying the IG’s office about new allegations and reporting whether the allegations are referred for investigation.

The system is also designed to notify the IG about decisions on whether the allegations are substantiated and what punishments are doled out. The report didn’t say when that new process is expected to go into effect.

Though the information was difficult to compile and validate, the IG’s office did report a breakdown of allegations that were investigated from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023. During that period, the Defense Department investigated 58 allegations of gang activity, in addition to the 183 cases of extremism.

Of those 275 total allegations, 68 were not substantiated and 136 are open cases. Sixty-nine of the allegations led to service members receiving some sort of punishment, including two courts-martial and 19 involuntary discharges. The report did not specify what types of allegations led to disciplinary measures.

In addition to the 78 allegations involving troops wanting to overthrow the US government, the 183 cases of extremist activity included 44 instances of service members advocating for terrorism and 22 cases of service members advocating for or committing violence to achieve political, religious or discriminatory goals.

Three allegations were made about troops advocating for or committing violence to deprive people of their rights, and 32 allegations centered on troops advocating for widespread discrimination of people based on race, religion, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation.

The final four allegations involved service members encouraging other military personnel or DOD civilians or contractors to break the law or disobey orders in order to disrupt military activities.

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.
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A Labour government would consider new powers to prevent UK ‘banking deserts’


Patrick Daly, PA Political Correspondent
Thu, 30 November 2023

Labour is considering bringing in powers that would prevent communities being left in “banking deserts” if it wins the next election.

The party has pledged to bring banks back to British high streets after a series of closures in recent years as customers switch to online and telephone banking.

Labour plans to accelerate the rollout of so-called banking hubs where people can deposit and take out cash, as well as access wider banking services.

Officials said the party would be working with banks on the proposal but Sir Keir Starmer’s outfit is prepared to bring in new powers for the financial services regulator to prevent areas becoming “banking deserts”.

The Opposition party said extra controls could allow the Financial Conduct Authority to step in and stop people being left without access to face-to-face services.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Labour’s plan will bring banking services back to communities who have seen them disappear over recent years, meaning more people across the country will be able to access the services they need closer to home.

“Labour will tackle ghost high streets and ensure that every community has access to high street banking services.”

Labour believes its policy proposal could see at least 350 banking hubs established on local high streets.

With the hubs designed to be shared by major banks, customers from almost every bank will be able to use them, it said.

The boss of the Post Office suggested his organisation is well placed to support any expansion of banking hubs.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (James Manning/PA)

Chief executive Nick Read said: “Post Office handles over £3 billion of cash every month and, as the operator of all the existing banking hubs, is best placed to lead their expansion across the UK, thanks to our customer-facing postmasters and our dedicated cash supply chain.”

The Treasury has been approached for comment.

Citing data from consumer group Which?, Labour said almost half of bank branches in the UK have shut in the eight years since the Conservatives won a majority in 2015, with about 3,200 remaining in England.

Regions such as the South West of England and Yorkshire have lost nearly two-thirds of their bank branches, according to Which?

On Thursday, Lloyds Banking Group announced it is shutting another 45 branches across its network and the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands.

The news came a week after NatWest Group said it plans to shut 19 branches, mostly in the early part of next year.

The Conservatives said Labour had not explained how it would pay for the banking hub rollout.

Bim Afolami, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Another day, another example of Labour taking the easy way out and just saying what they think people want to hear — without saying how they would pay for it.

“Their sums don’t add up: Keir Starmer is claiming Labour can afford to launch new banking hubs, scrap business rates which would cost tens of billions of pounds, borrow £28 billion more every year, cut people’s taxes and somehow keep debt falling.

“This is simply not possible – they are not being straight with the public.

“The Conservatives are taking the long-term decisions to strengthen the economy, including ensuring that people, wherever they live, can access banking and cash services.

“This includes working with banks to roll out banking hubs across the country whilst ensuring access to banking services is available in almost 12,000 Post Office branches.”

Labour’s blueprint to restore banking facilities to the high street follows the publication by the party this week of its Plan For Small Business.
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