Welcome to another snow day Tuesday! Even though we only got a dusting last night, it was enough to make the commute a nightmare this morning. So, what’s on your mind? Let’s get started.
One story that has been fascinating me lately is the story of Amy Bishop, the Harvard-trained Ph.D. biologists who shot 6 faculty members after a tenure hearing. I guess it hits home for me because both my brother and sister-in-law are biology professors and my husband is a chemistry lecturer. It’s just part of that “small world” feeling you get in academia. The more her story comes out, the more you see the big blinking warning signs all over the place that were ignored or covered up by others. One big warning sign, the “accidental” killing of her own brother in 1986:
To bring you up to speed, the accounts of those who were on the scene shortly after crime or familiar with incidents surrounding it hold that Bishop discharged the gun in her bedroom, then fired the fatal shot into her brother in the kitchen, then discharged the gun again in the house as she fled the residence. She then ran with the gun down the street apparently looking for a getaway car. In that search she reportedly threatened two others — one in an attempt to get him to stop his vehicle (presumably so she could take it) and another at an auto repair shop where she was rifling through a collection of keys trying to steal a car.
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Hours later, as Bishop was being booked, the booking officer received a call from the then-Chief of Police, or someone calling on his behalf, instructing him to release Bishop into the custody of her mother, who at the time sat on the town Board of Personnel.
The one report that still exists is that of the State Police who did a subsequent investigation, apparently at the behest of the District Attorney’s office, with interviews conducted some time later. The key was that Bishop’s mother claimed to have witnessed the shooting. And she insisted that it was accidental.
The investigative report of the incident no longer exists, but the police insist there’s no cover-up.
Cheney’s chest-thumping aside, Obama’s cooperative foreign policy initiatives appear to be brining success. A joint Pakistan/U.S. military operation captured the #2 Taliban figure in Pakistan.
The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.
The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.