Only Murders in the Wealthy - The Lagrange Point Vol. II, Iss. 1

Welcome to issue #1 of Volume 2 of The Lagrange Point! This new Volume # indicates that shift that I announced last week, taking the e-newsletter from a geek focus to full news focus. I hope my subscribers enjoy the change. We're a bit scanty on content today owing to my ongoing sickness, which refuses to just resolve itself, but I promise there will be more to come.

Thank you for signing on, and please, continue to spread the word to others!

In This Issue

News You Can Use

• Investigations into oil & gas dealings, Canada Post empathy, and AI scams

Rantables

• Only Murders in the Wealthy — the deaths America wants justice for, and the deaths it wants to inflict

It has been a WEEK in Canada, folks. Though you could be forgiven for not knowing it, with the holidays approaching and most of us being distracted by that seasonal bliss. Here are some pieces which caught my eye...

Striking Canada Post workers are being threatened by the Trudeau government with a back-to-work order, as Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon commented how "Canadians cannot continue to bear the consequences of this impasse" before he referred the matter to the Labour Board, who is likely to issue that order next week. Global News published one of the only empathetic pieces I've seen on the matter, diving deep into the horrific conditions and low wages postal delivery workers endure. Much of the coverage on this strike has unsubtly tried to pit working class Canadians against each other, blaming small business losses on the strike while doing little to illuminate what the workers have actually been striking for. But this piece is terrific.

The Narwhal published back-to-back investigations this week on issues of secrecy and transparency by Conservative governments in Alberta and Ontario relating to (what else?) oil and gas. First, Mike de Souza's fight, begun in 2021, to get Alberta to pony up financial records of fossil fuel companies that allegedly failed to pay environmental oversight fees resulted in him obtaining the names of 16 companies, where before they had been redacted then shielded by the Alberta government refusing to give them up. Secondly, Fatima Syed found out that Doug Ford's government is ignoring the results of a report they commissioned around Ontario's energy needs. The report calls for "a partial abandonment" of natural gas by 2050, and a shift to more nuclear and wind power. The Ford gov, meanwhile, is increasing natural gas delivery. Wonder why?

In the Tyee, Jen St. Denis dove into Russian political interference in Canada, following the testimony of hatemonger Lauren Southern before the federal standing committee on public safety and national security. It's a bit of a grim read at how deep the well goes, but also, how unprepared we are for that foreign interference to be coming from our immediate neighbour to the south.

Lastly, a deeply upsetting investigation from Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) has uncovered that a defunct newspaper, the Ashland Daily Tidings, has been hijacked by AI scammers who even went so far as to steal the identities of real journalists as they published AI-generated slop , masquerading as real news. Here's the worst part: there seems to be little legal recourse for the journalists, as AI technology is largely unregulated and uncontrolled, and the States in particular just handed control of their country over to the worst tech oligarchs of all.

SO THAT'S FUN.

But on the bright side, you can help support local journalists by funding them directly. Good journalists like The Sprawl, The Maple, Hakai Magazine (becoming BioGraphic) and The Tyee could all use your support and having funding drives happening right now.

The Sprawl: https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/save-the-sprawl

The Maple: https://action.readthemaple.com/2024-fundraising

BioGraphic: https://www.biographic.com/hakai-magazine/?c_src=opt-abn-sos&c_src2=hakai

The Tyee: https://support.thetyee.ca/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=Pop+Up+Banner&utm_campaign=dec2024popup

By now you will have heard about the murder of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly shot dead by Luigi Mangione, who, among other things, posted a manifesto of sorts in which he railed about the injustices of the American health system.

What's been morbidly fascinating among all of the commentaries on this event is how much has centered on whether or not Mangione's killing was justified, rather than actually digging into the issues that surround Thompson and his company, including the systematic denial of coverage that has now been automated by AI software, to the point where thousands of people have had their claims rejected on false premises.

Of course, confronting those issues would mean actually confronting a rot at the heart of America, a nation that is quite happy to deploy violence, including state violence, provided it is in the service of defending wealth and elitism.

Let's not forget that this is a country which is on the record as conducting assassinations, military coups, hostage takings, and other forms of state violence, all in the pursuit of wealth.

But what does this have to do with Mangione? He isn't a state-sponsored killer, after all!

No. But what has been laid bare by the response to this killing is how America prioritizes violence against its corporate elite, vs. violence against vulnerable and lower-class people.

It is also a comical unmasking of the utility of police as a means to actually addressing crime. With damn near the full force of the NYPD unleashed on a manhunt for Mangione, there were unintentionally hilarious clips of officers limply "searching" (read: trudging aimlessly) through parks for any evidence of the alleged killer's passing, and vague allusions to how they would hunt him down.

Yet what ultimately led to the arrest of Mangione was the same thing it almost always is: someone talked. Namely, a shift manager at the McDonald's Mangione was dining at.

The fact is, "solving" murders rarely occurs in the manner that we see on an endless parade of copaganda shows. I enjoy a good murder mystery as much as the next guy, but I at least have the presence of mind to realize that that type of story exists only in fantasy (which is why Conan Doyle can be forgiven his eccentricities, like a spectral hound with illuminated mold on its paws. It's much better to emphasize the absurdity of detectives than to play into their hands). Even with the advent of DNA, landing a conviction without firsthand witness knowledge of a crime is pretty damn near impossible.

It's why the murder clearance rate in the States is actually pretty appalling. In 2017, the stat was about 60%. But a closer look revealed that in communities of colour, the rate was lower. Why?

Because communities of colour don't talk to cops. And in communities of colour, cops act more like assholes, don't offer rewards, or ignore testimony and good leads.

Which brings us back to Mangione. If anything, this case demonstrated that what incentivizes and brings out snitches, who ultimately solve cases, is a massive communications apparatus, spurred by an interested media landscape, and big financial rewards.

But the media, and the cops, aren't generally interested in solving murders that don't involve rich CEOs.

What they are interested in, apparently, is reminding people of their place. Because not only did the cops zealously pursue Mangione to his capture, but they also are zealously pursuing people who have the audacity to be ambivalent about his alleged crime.

One such person, Briana Boston, was arrested by Florida police for allegedly uttering threats towards a health insurance employee. Apparently, she was on the phone with a representative from Blue Cross Blue Shield (which, incidentally, recently tried to slash coverage for anesthesia) who had just denied her claim, when she quoted a phrase that was apparently written on the bullet casings used in Thompson's murder. "Delay, deny, depose. You people are next."

It's worth pointing out that Boston subsequently apologized for what she said. But that didn't matter to police, who hauled the crime-free Boston in for SECOND DEGREE FELONY CHARGES.

Boston was further slapped with a denial of bail and forced to post a bond of $100,000. And what, you might ask, was the justification for all of this? Well, according to Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor, "She's been in this world long enough that she certainly should know better... You can't make threats like that in the current environment that we live in and think that we're not going to follow up and put you in jail."

It's a pretty bold statement, considering the volume of women and people from other vulnerable groups who have their lives threatened daily, on and offline, and are ignored by the police.

This, ultimately, is the point: to have Boston served up as an example. But while Taylor seems to think the example is "don't make threats," we can read between the lines and understand the example really is "don't you dare stand up against the system."

The proof is in the action. It took a matter of days for Mangione to be arrested, while, for example, a certain serial killer of Indigenous women is likely still free as governments dragged their feet to search landfills. It takes a woman literally being murdered after police ignored her threats for them to face any consequence, and even then, it is a pittance.

And if this weren't enough proof of the stark realities of which murders America finds permissible and objectionable, consider as well that in quite literally under 30 seconds, Fox host Laura Ingraham went from scolding "nut bag people" celebrating Mangione to calling Daniel Penny, a man who choked a black homeless person to death, a hero:

There is, indeed, a bigger x factor in determining whether or not your murder is solved, that goes beyond fingerprints, DNA, or even witness testimony.

How deep are your pockets?

That wraps up issue #20 of The Lagrange Point! If you enjoyed this little e-newsletter, please consider subscribing, or, if you're already subscribed, sharing it with a friend or family member!

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Until next Monday, thank you for reading!

-Tim