Chief constable says relationships with targets in environmental movement 'grossly unprofessional'
A police spy married an activist he met while undercover in the environmental protest movement and then went on to have children with her, the Guardian can reveal.

He is the fourth spy now to have been identified as an undercover police officer engaged in the covert surveillance of eco-activists. Three of those spies are accused of having had sexual relationships with the people they were targeting.

The details of the activities of the fourth spy, who is still a serving Metropolitan police officer, emerged as the senior police officer managing the crisis in undercover operations insisted that officers were strictly banned from having sexual relationships with their targets.

Jon Murphy, the chief constable of Merseyside, told the Guardian it was "never acceptable" for undercover officers to sleep with people they were targeting.

"Something has gone badly wrong here. We would not be where we are if it had not," he said, referring to three inquiries into undercover policing that have been launched in response to the Guardian's investigation into the first spy, Mark Kennedy, an undercover officer who had several sexual relationships during his seven-year deployment.

Recently, the formerly highly respected web essayist, John Kaminski, wrote a new piece entitled "Parasite alert: Outing those who pretend to be friends of the truth" in which he took a strange jab at yours truly as follows:

[...] It's also interesting that Daryl writes about Zionists but agrees with French law that one may not speak about the Holocaust, a colossal act of cowardice that should send people running from his site and should de-legitimize anything he says in the minds of anybody who can think. [...] Another person who falls into this category is channeler Laura Knight-Jadczyk, who has inveigled many with her prescient psychological pronouncements that it is a percentage of psychopaths that hold the world in thrall through savagery. K-J's encyclopedic and endlessly perfect papers about aspects of human behavior scare the shit out of me, because her new science of ponerology could serve perfectly as a new template for totalitarianism, to be imposed by the very people who get to fund spooky think tanks like these. Thankfully, she has not caught on in any of the groups I observe working on the world's problems. [See our Forum Thread for the entire essay]

John is right: understanding what is really going on here on the BBM has not caught on in any of the groups he observes "working on the world's problems." We can also note that none of these groups seem to be making any progress because the very science that could help them to understand the first level of what they need to solve before anything can ever get done "scares the shite" out of them. Now, why would that be?

It's an interesting question, and I want to share a story about someone else who was working on solving the world's problems at another time and place in history, similar to our present day, in order to make a particular point. I want to talk about Frtiz Gerlich's Bloody Spectacles. Now, before I get to Fritz, let me first say a few words about David Irving. In my previous blogpost, I discussed the truly scary idea that is taking hold in many anti-Zionist circles that, because the Zionists seem to be at the root of the world's problems today, that Hitler must have been a good guy because he saw the Jews as being at the root of all the world's ills then. David Irving seems to be one of the ringleaders of this idea. I recently read an interview with Irving where he says that the "defining moment" for him was when he had penetrated the "inner circle" of the people who had been close to Hitler and he realized that they were all "well-educated, nice and decent". So, of course, if all these well-educated, nice people with deep thoughts and insights thought Hitler was a good guy, then of course, he must be! Irving was caught in the psychopath's trap just like all the people in Hitler's inner circle were caught... . He's not the first, either. Nor will he be the last. In fact, it's almost epidemic nowadays. I won't belabor the point; those of you familiar with the problem know exactly what I'm talking about. What is problematical is what this "conviction" has driven Irving to do: cherry pick and spin data. More than that, it has driven him to emulate his hero in certain respects. About the people who support him, Irving has been recorded to say:

"I find it odious to be in the same company as these people. There is no question that there are certain organizations that propagate these theories which are cracked anti-Semites."

In the space of one year, Fox News has lost its perch as the most trusted TV news network in the US and is now average at best, a new survey has found.

A poll gauging public trust in TV news has found that PBS is the most trusted name in news, while trust in Fox News has dropped significantly.

According to a survey from Public Policy Polling, "a year ago a plurality of Americans said they trusted Fox News. Now a plurality of them don't."

In a survey taken a year ago, PPP found that Fox was the most trusted news network, with 49 percent saying they trusted the network, and 37 percent saying they did not. In the new poll, 42 percent said they trusted the network while 46 percent disagreed.

Baltimore -- A Baltimore judge decided not to imprison a 29-year-old mother who killed her infant and buried him in a park.

Lakesha Haynie -- originally charged with first-degree murder in the death of 1-month-old Rajahnthon Haynie -- pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday. Circuit Judge Charles J. Peters gave her a 10-year suspended prison term and five years of probation.

Haynie is forbidden to have unsupervised contact with children age 6 and younger, and must report to a local social services department if she becomes pregnant again, Peters said. She must also attend a Planned Parenthood counseling program Monday.

Santa Fe, New Mexico -- A teacher in Santa Fe, N.M., was placed on administrative leave for allegedly locking a disruptive student in an outdoor cage, officials said.

The 15-year-old student kicked the gate open to free himself after several minutes in the cold, KOAT-TV, Albuquerque, reported.

The teacher's conduct could be criminal, said Santa Fe police detective Sgt. Louis Carlos. The teacher is Abigail Fox. She has worked for the school district for at least 10 years.

"You can see the teacher locking him up," said Carlos, of cell phone video of the incident.

An Alaskan man faced an attempted murder charge Tuesday after allegedly spitting on a female hospital worker.

Andre LaFrance was slapped with the serious offense because he has hepatitis C, a contagious virus that infects the liver, according to authorities.

State troopers in Palmer, Alaska, say the 29-year-old "intentionally transferred a dangerous bodily fluid" onto the hospital employee at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. According to the Anchorage Daily News, he had been admitted to the hospital claiming to have suffered a drug overdose.

Medical personnel determined he had not overdosed, and wanted to release him.

The man "claimed to be suicidal and wanted to hurt or kill himself," Alaska State Trooper Ryan Mattingley told the Anchorage newspaper. "Staff was attempting to restrain him until troopers could arrive. Andre stated he would spit on the staff if placed in restraints."

A nurse attached restraints to LaFrance, which is when he allegedly spit on the woman knowing it could make her sick, police said.

Soul singer Macy Gray has asked her fans on Facebook whether she should cancel planned concerts in Tel Aviv because of the "disgusting" way the Israeli government treats Palestinians.

International artists, entertainers and academics are under increasing pressure to boycott Israel because of Israeli actions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But Gray took the unusual step of asking Facebook followers what to do, in a posting that went up Monday.

"I'm getting alot of letters from activists urging/begging me to boycott by NOT performing in protest of Apartheid against the Palestinians," she wrote.

"What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians is disgusting, but I wanna go. I gotta lot of fans there I don't want to cancel on and I don't know how my NOT going changes anything. What do you think? Stay or go?"

After receiving almost 4,000 often impassioned messages in just four days, Gray has announced via Twitter that she would indeed sing in Tel Aviv next month.

"Dear Israel fans. Me and the band will be there in 20 days. Can't wait. See you then. Peace," she wrote in a Tweet.

Israelis and Palestinians have been locked in conflict for six decades, with U.S.-led initiatives to bring about a negotiated settlement making little head way over the years.

A Missouri man allegedly shot and killed his wife while he was trying to install a satellite TV system in his home.

Qasr el-Yahud, West Bank - Just months before the official opening of one of Christianity's holiest sites to visitors, the area where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus remains surrounded by thousands of land mines.

Israel says the sites visited by pilgrims and tourists in an area known as Qasr el-Yahud will be safe, but advocacy groups warn that crowds could be in danger.

On Tuesday, some 15,000 Christian pilgrims marched between two fenced-in mine fields to reach the Epiphany ceremony led by the Greek Orthodox patriarch on the Jordan River, 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of the oasis town of Jericho at the edge of the West Bank.

Worshippers from around the world dipped themselves in the muddy waters, facing fellow believers on the other side of the small river. Orthodox clergymen dressed in dark frocks and robes chanted prayers as Patriarch Theofilos III blessed the waters, hurled branches and released white doves into the air.

This site is Christianity's third holiest - after the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, on the spot where Christian belief says Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where tradition holds Jesus was born - and the baptism marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.

The U.S. Army on Wednesday will report that while the number of suicides in the active-duty force declined in 2010, the number of suicides in the Army Reserve and National Guard increased, a senior Army official said.


The increase in Reserve and National Guard suicides is among troops who are in the United States and not activated for duty. The senior Army official said more than half of those troops were never deployed to a war zone.

The official said one possible explanation for the increase in suicides is economic pressure and rising unemployment, but he emphasized that the Army simply does not have answers.

The official noted that for Guard and Reserve personnel who live as civilians back in their communities, the Army is not able to provide the same type of suicide awareness and prevention programs that are available to active-duty personnel.