News
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski Dies in Prison at 81
Unibomber Ted Kaczynski, a Harvard-educated mathematician who retired to a run-down cabin in the Montana woods and launched a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81.
According to Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical centre in Butner, North Carolina, after being labelled the “Unabomber” by the FBI. He was discovered unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and died at 8 a.m., she added. The reason of death was not immediately determined.
He had been incarcerated in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was convicted to four life terms plus 30 years for a terror campaign that had campuses around the country on edge. He admits to carrying out 16 explosions between 1978 and 1995, injuring several of his victims permanently.
Years before the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax mailing, the Unabomber’s lethal homemade explosives altered how Americans shipped goods and boarded flights, effectively shutting down air travel on the West Coast in July 1995.
In September 1995, he compelled The Washington Post and The New York Times to make the agonizing decision to publish his 35,000-word manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” which claimed modern culture and technology were contributing to a sense of impotence and alienation.
But that was his undoing. The tone of the book was recognised by Kaczynski’s brother, David, and David’s wife, Linda Patrik, who alerted the FBI, which had been searching for the Unabomber for years in the nation’s longest and most expensive manhunt.
In April 1996, authorities discovered him in a 10-by-14-foot (3-by-4-meter) plywood and tarpaper shack outside Lincoln, Montana, including journals, a coded diary, explosive materials, and two constructed bombs.
As an enigmatic criminal mastermind, the Unabomber drew admirers and similarities to Daniel Boone, Edward Abbey, and Henry David Thoreau.
But when he was revealed to be a wild-eyed recluse with long hair and a beard who spent Montana winters in a one-room cabin, Kaczynski struck many as a pitiful loner rather than a romantic anti-hero.
Even in his own notebooks, Kaczynski comes across as a bitter hermit driven by petty grievances rather than a devoted revolutionary.
“I certainly don’t claim to be an altruist or to be acting for the’good’ (whatever that is) of the human race,” he wrote on April 6, 1971. “I only act out of a desire for vengeance.”
Kaczynski was classified as a paranoid schizophrenic by a psychiatrist who interviewed him in prison.
“Mr. Kaczynski’s delusions are mostly persecutory in nature,” wrote Sally Johnson in a 47-page study. “The central themes involve his belief that he is being maligned and harassed by family members and modern society.”
Kaczynski despised the thought of being labelled as mentally ill, and when his lawyers attempted to use insanity as a defence, he attempted to fire them. When that didn’t work, he attempted to hang himself with his pants.
Rather than allowing his defence team to pursue an insanity defence, Kaczynski eventually pleaded guilty.
“I’m confident that I’m sane,” Kaczynski told Time in 1999. “I don’t have delusions or anything like that.”
He was unquestionably brilliant.
At the age of 16, Kaczynski skipped two grades to attend Harvard and had papers published in major mathematics journals. His explosives were meticulously tested and delivered in handcrafted oak boxes polished to remove any fingerprints. Later bombs had the “FC” abbreviation for “Freedom Club.”
He was dubbed the “Unabomber” by the FBI since his initial targets appeared to be colleges and airlines. An altitude-triggered bomb he delivered in 1979 detonated as planned aboard an American Airlines flight, injuring a dozen passengers.
Hugh Scrutton, the owner of a computer rental company, advertising executive Thomas Mosser, and forestry industry lobbyist Gilbert Murray were all assassinated by Kaczynski. Two days apart in June 1993, bombings injured California scientist Charles Epstein and Yale University computer expert David Gelernter.
Mosser was murdered at his North Caldwell, New Jersey, home on December 10, 1994, the day he was due to go tree-hunting with his family. Susan, his wife, discovered him severely injured by a hail of razor blades, pipes, and nails.
“He was moaning very softly,” she stated during Kaczynski’s sentence in 1998. “His right hand’s fingers were dangling. I took his left hand in mine. I informed him that assistance was on its way. I told him how much I adored him.”
Experts speculated that when Kaczynski increased his bombings and letters to journalists and scientists in 1995, he was resentful of the attention being afforded to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
A threat to blow up a plane leaving Los Angeles before the end of the Fourth of July weekend disrupted air travel and mail delivery. Later, the Unabomber claimed it was a “prank.”
The Washington Post published the Unabomber’s manifesto at the request of federal authorities, after the bomber stated that if a national publication published his treatise, he would cease terrorism.
Patrik had had an uneasy feeling about her brother-in-law even before reading the manifesto, and she eventually got her husband to borrow a copy from the library. They took some of Ted Kaczynski’s letters to Patrik’s boyhood friend Susan Swanson, a private investigator in Chicago, after two months of arguing.
Swanson forwarded them to Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI behavioural science expert, whose analysis concluded that whoever authored them had also likely penned the Unabomber’s manifesto.
“It was a nightmare,” David Kaczynski, who admired his older brother as a boy, said in a 2005 lecture at Bennington College. “I was literally thinking,’My brother’s a serial killer, the most wanted man in America.'”
Swanson contacted the FBI through a business lawyer buddy, Anthony Bisceglie. During his prior tenure at the Justice Department, now-Attorney General Merrick Garland oversaw the investigation and prosecution.
David Kaczynski wanted his role to be kept private, but his identity was swiftly revealed, and Ted Kaczynski vowed never to forgive his younger brother. He ignored his letters, turned his back on him at court proceedings, and in a 1999 book draught, he called David Kaczynski as a “Judas Iscariot (who)… doesn’t even have enough courage to go hang himself.”
Ted Kaczynski was born in Chicago on May 22, 1942, the son of second-generation Polish Catholics — a sausage manufacturer and a housewife. He was in the school band, collected coins, and skipped sixth and eleventh grades.
His high school classmates thought he was strange, especially after he demonstrated to a school wrestler how to create a mini-bomb that exploded during chemistry class.
His Harvard classmates remembered him as a lonely, scrawny boy with bad personal hygiene and a room that smelled like sour milk, decaying food, and foot powder.
He acquired a position teaching maths at the University of California, Berkeley after finishing his PhD studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbour, but he found the work challenging and left abruptly. In 1971, he purchased a 112-acre plot of land approximately 4 miles (6 km) outside of Lincoln and constructed a cabin there with no heating, water, or electricity.
Living on a few hundred dollars a year, he learned to grow, hunt, create tools, and sew.
In the late 1970s, he left his Montana cabin to work with his father and brother at a foam rubber goods business north of Chicago. When a female supervisor abandoned him after two dates, he began writing derogatory limericks about her and wouldn’t stop.
Ted Kaczynski was fired by his brother, and he quickly returned to the wilderness to resume plotting his vindictive murdering rampage.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who served for more than three decades and was a pioneer for women in American politics, passed away at 90.
Feinstein was the eldest senator in the United States, and she voted on Thursday.
The veteran Democrat was questioned about alleged memory and cognitive issues for months.
After a “minor fall” at home in April, she was admitted to the hospital, the latest in a series of health concerns.
The office of Ms. Feinstein stated in a statement that she died overnight at her residence in Washington, DC.
The statement continued, “Senator Feinstein was a force of nature who had an enormous impact on our country and her home state.” She left an incontestable and extraordinary legacy.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California must now appoint her replacement. He had previously promised to nominate a black woman to serve the remainder of her term, which ends in 2025.
Ms. Feinstein, born in 1933 and grew up in San Francisco, attended Stanford University and was elected to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors in 1969.
This election marked the beginning of a long career in public service that led her to become the first female mayor of San Francisco and, in 1992, a senator.
She had previously proclaimed her intention to retire at the end of the following year, but she resisted mounting pressure. Several prominent Democrats, including Representatives Adam Schiff and Katie Porter, have previously declared their intentions to run for her Senate seat.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who served for more than three decades and was a pioneer for women in American politics, passed away at 90.
In a statement issued after her passing, US President Joe Biden said that Ms. Feinstein “made history in so many ways, and generations to come will benefit from her legacy.”
Due to a case of shingles, she was absent from Capitol Hill for nearly three months earlier this year. Upon her return, she assumed fewer responsibilities and used a wheelchair to navigate the US Capitol. She occasionally appeared perplexed in interviews, committee hearings, and floor votes.
Ms. Feinstein was well-known for her ardent support of gun control measures and the 1994 assault weapons prohibition signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
After the murders of her predecessor, George Moscone, and city councilman Harvey Milk, she became mayor of San Francisco in 1978.
She stated that the experience of racing to Mayor Moscone’s office and discovering a bullet wound while searching for his pulse had left an indelible mark on her.
As a senator, Ms. Feinstein was the first woman to chair the influential Senate Intelligence Committee, overseeing a multi-year evaluation of the CIA’s controversial interrogation program of foreign terrorists following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The evaluation ultimately resulted in legislation prohibiting “enhanced interrogation techniques” on terrorism suspects, such as waterboarding.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who served for more than three decades and was a pioneer for women in American politics, passed away at 90.
Ms. Feinstein was the first woman to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the first woman to lead the Senate Rules Committee.
Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, described Dianne Feinstein as a “pioneering woman leader” in a statement.
“Dianne’s extraordinary career will inspire countless women and girls to pursue careers in public service for generations to come,” she said.
On the Senate floor, Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell praised “her dogged advocacy and diligent service”.
In recent years, concerns about her deteriorating health and cognitive abilities have prompted calls for her retirement and brought attention to the aging of America’s legislators.
During a committee vote, individuals around her could be heard in a widely circulated video telling her to “just say yes.”
Despite mounting family tensions, she is succeeded by a daughter, Katherine, who reportedly held power of attorney over her mother’s legal affairs. Richard Blum, her investment banker spouse, passed away last year.
SOURCE – (BBC)
In New York City, a state of emergency has been declared as violent storms deliver flash flooding.
Many of the city’s subways, streets, and highways have been inundated, and LaGuardia Airport closed at least one terminal on Friday.
According to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, some areas received up to five inches (12.7cm) of rain overnight, and up to seven more inches (17.8cm) are expected.
“This is a dangerous, life-threatening storm,” she continued.
She announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she was proclaiming a state of emergency in New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley due to the region’s extreme rainfall.
She urged individuals to take precautions and to “never attempt to travel on flooded roads.”
As a result of the declaration of a state of emergency, New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a call for “heightened alertness and extreme caution.”
In New York City, a state of emergency has been declared as violent storms deliver flash flooding.
“Some of our subways are flooded, and it is extremely difficult to move around the city,” he said at a press conference.
Due to intense rainfall, people were pictured and captured on video wading through knee-deep water in the streets and subways.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) advised individuals who did not need to travel to remain at home.
Terminal A at La Guardia Airport is presently closed due to flooding, according to airport authorities.
Before traveling, passengers were instructed to verify with their airline.
The New York City Police Department also announced multiple road closures and the deployment of the National Guard.
Elsewhere, traffic stopped along a section of the FDR Drive, a significant thoroughfare on the east side of Manhattan, as the water rose above the tires of automobiles.
In addition, employees attempted to unclog a drain in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, while cardboard and other debris floated by.
According to municipal officials, there were no storm-related fatalities or serious injuries as of midday (1600 GMT).
The weather service has issued flood warnings and advisories for approximately 18 million people in the New York metropolitan area and other major East Coast cities.
SOURCE – (BBC)
NEW YORK — Today, password-sharing crackdowns are becoming increasingly prevalent in the streaming industry. In addition, Disney Plus follows suit.
In an email sent to Canadian users this week, Disney announced restrictions on the “ability to share your account or credentials outside of the household.”
The updated Canadian Subscriber Agreement for Disney Plus stipulates that users may only share a subscription within their domicile if permitted by their account tier and that violations may result in Disney Plus limiting or terminating service. According to the streamer’s help center, “Household” refers to the collection of devices associated with a subscriber’s principal residence and used by the residents.
These password-sharing restrictions are part of multiple revisions to the Disney Plus Subscriber Agreement that will go into effect on November 1 for most Canadian users. According to this week’s email, annual subscribers in Quebec may see the changes a bit later, depending on their billing cycle, while users who alter their plan before November 1 will see the changes take effect immediately.
As previously disclosed in August, Disney Plus will launch its ad-supported tier offerings in Canada and select European markets on November 1. The ad-supported tier of Disney Plus has been available in the U.S. since December 2022.
Disney Plus Announces Crackdown On Password Sharing In Canada
When contacted by The Associated Press, a Disney Plus spokesperson declined to comment on whether similar domestic restrictions could be anticipated in countries other than Canada.
In a recent earnings call, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger pledged to make the company’s streaming services profitable, notably through an October price increase on its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans in the U.S. and a restriction on password sharing that is expected to last through 2019.
At the time, Iger did not elaborate on the password-sharing crackdown beyond stating that Disney could reap some benefits in 2024, although he added that the work “might not be completed” by then and that Disney could not predict how many password-sharing users would switch to paid subscriptions.
New restrictions on streaming extend far beyond Disney. Netflix, for instance, made headlines when it began clamping down on password sharing. Freeloading viewers are now required to open their accounts in the United States unless a subscriber with a standard or premium plan agrees to pay a $8 monthly surcharge to enable more people from different households to watch.
SOURCE – (AP)
Taylor Swift Watches Travis Kelce’s Chiefs Take On The Jets At MetLife Stadium
Andretti Global Clears First Hurdle To Join Formula One As An 11th Team With FIA Expansion Approval
2023: A Second UK Police Force Is Looking Into Allegations Of Sexual Offenses Committed By Russell Brand
-
Business5 months agoOprah Tells Class Of 2023 To Follow ‘Still, Small Voice’
-
Celebrity5 months ago
Harry Potter’s Miriam Margolyes Hospitalized With Chest Infection
-
News5 months ago
Strong Quake In Central Japan; 1 Dead, More Than 20 Injured
-
Beauty5 months ago
Martha Stewart Lands Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Cover At 81
-
Celebrity5 months ago
2023: Justin Long and Kate Bosworth Are Married!
-
Entertainment5 months ago
Unsolved Mysteries: Kayla Unbehaun Found Nearly 6 Years After Alleged Abduction
