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Get you up to speed: FBI fires analysts who worked on “Richmond memo” about Catholic extremist ideology, sources say
The FBI has fired at least five analysts connected to the creation of a withdrawn internal 2023 intelligence memo concerning “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology. The memo originated from the FBI’s Richmond field office and was dismissed after an internal review found it did not meet proper standards.
The FBI’s internal investigation into the “Richmond Memo” concluded that while the analysts did not act with malicious intent, the memo contained errors and did not meet established standards. Following these findings, the bureau implemented corrective actions to improve approval processes for intelligence products and has initiated a series of firings linked to the controversy surrounding the memo.
The FBI has dismissed at least five analysts linked to the controversial “Richmond Memo,” although the bureau declined to provide further comment on these terminations. In response to the internal review, the FBI will implement corrective actions to enhance approval processes for intelligence products, while Trump’s allies continue to express concerns over perceived bias against conservative Christian values.
What remains unclear — The specific reasons behind the continued firings of FBI employees involved in controversial cases remain unaddressed.
FBI dismisses analysts linked to withdrawn memo on Catholic ideology
The FBI has fired at least five analysts who were involved in the creation of a withdrawn internal 2023 intelligence memo on “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology that drew the ire of President Trump’s allies, multiple sources familiar with the matter told WTX US News.
The analysts’ firings were reported earlier by MS Now.
The FBI declined to comment on the firings.
The so-called “Richmond Memo,” which was a product of the FBI’s Richmond field office, explored links between ethnically motivated violent extremists and radical Catholic views.
An internal investigation of the memo, which was withdrawn under former FBI Director Chris Wray, determined there was no evidence of malicious intent by those who drafted it, but found that it failed to adhere to proper standards and contained some errors in professional judgment.
As a result of the internal review, the FBI instituted a number of corrective actions to bolster approval processes for intelligence products. The employees involved were also admonished.
A separate review by the Justice Department’s then-inspector general also did not find any evidence that anyone had ordered or directed the analysts to find linkages between violent extremists and certain religions. There was also no evidence to suggest that the analysts made any discriminatory or inappropriate comments.
Nevertheless, the missteps over the memo have long been a focal point for Mr. Trump’s allies, who have said it represents evidence of bias against Christians with conservative values.
The memo was featured in a report released earlier this year by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, which was created by one of Mr. Trump’s executive orders.
The FBI “investigated, monitored, tracked and scrutinized traditional Catholics who had engaged in no criminal misconduct,” the report claims.
The report also alleged that the FBI Richmond office showed a “misplaced reliance” on the Southern Poverty Law Center in its analysis.
That nonprofit now separately faces criminal charges over allegations by the Justice Department that it lied to donors and banks when it paid informants to infiltrate hate groups. The SPLC has denied wrongdoing and alleged the prosecution is vindictive.
The latest FBI firings, which have continued since last year, mark the latest in a string of removals of bureau employees who were involved in cases or other matters opposed by the Trump administration.
The FBI also earlier fired everyone involved in both criminal prosecutions of Mr. Trump over his retention of classified records and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The Justice Department also earlier this year fired several prosecutors who worked on FACE Act cases involving defendants accused of hindering access to reproductive health clinics.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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