Martin Luther King Jr.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

When Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for nonviolent resistance in October 1964, the FBI was furious. 

Under the leadership of the bureau’s notorious director, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI had spent nearly a decade keeping the civil rights leader under surveillance, convinced he was a Communist – or at least a national security threat. Agents recorded thousands of memos on the minister’s movements and interactions and even bugged his home, office and hotel rooms.

But they found nothing illegal or even dangerous.

Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

Infamously obstinate and relentless, Hoover was determined to discredit the 35-year-old leader, especially after he won the Nobel Peace Prize and earned international acclaim.

While King prepared for his trip to Oslo to receive the award, Hoover denounced the Georgia-born minister as “the most notorious liar in the country” during a press conference in Washington D.C. in November 1964.

A few days later, the smear campaign escalated, marking one of the darkest chapter’s in the FBI’s history. One of Hoover’s deputies, William Sullivan, typed an anonymous, harshly worded letter to King that later would come to be known as the “suicide letter.”

Since Sullivan had nothing illegal on King, the letter focused on his extramarital sexual liaisons, which were captured on FBI surveillance. 

The anonymous author calls King a “filthy, abnormal animal”and an “evil, abnormal beast” and pledges to expose the extramarital affairs “with your filthy, dirty, evil companions.”

The letter suggests there are recordings of “all your dirt, filth, evil and moronic talk.”

“You are done,” the letter declares. “Your ‘honorary degrees,’ your Nobel Prize (what a grim farce) and other awards will not save you. King, I repeat you are done.”

The letter is crafted to give the impression it was written by someone within the civil rights movement, making a reference to “us Negroes.”

King quietly told friends that someone wanted him to kill himself.

The letter proceeds in what is an apparent reference to suicide, “King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. … There is but only one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”

King wasn’t fooled by the misdirected writing. He was certain the FBI had written it, the New York Times reported. 

King’s suspicious were confirmed by the Senate’s Church Committee in 1975.

“Rather than trying to discredit the alleged Communists it believed were attempting to influence Dr. King, the Bureau adopted a curious tactic of trying to discredit the supposed target of Communist Party interest — Dr. King himself,” the committee concluded in a report.

King was killed by a sniper in 1968.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ zealous opposition to marijuana has placed the gun-loving Trump administration in the crosshairs of many firearm supporters. 

When Sessions gave federal prosecutors the green light two weeks ago to crack down on marijuana in states that have legalized it for medicinal or recreation use, he placed gun owners in a serious bind: Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to anyone suspected of using cannabis or any other other controlled substance.

Although marijuana is illegal on the federal level, 29 states have legalized cannabis in some form.

Under President Obama, U.S. attorneys acted in accordance with each state’s marijuana laws, largely disregarding the federal ban.

But Sessions, who has compared marijuana to heroin, blamed pot for spikes in violence and declared that “good people don’t smoke it,” has opened the door for federal law enforcement to bar marijuana users from buying guns.

“There are no exceptions in federal law for marijuana purportedly used for medicinal purposes, even if such use is sanctioned by state law,” ATF spokeswoman Cherie R. Duvall-Jones told the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

That means many pot smokers may have to choose between ganja or guns.

In Pennsylvania, which plans to roll out its medicinal marijuana program early this year, health officials announced Friday they will no longer provide the names of medical marijuana patients to law enforcement agencies.

The state also called for the federal government to reclassify marijuana so it’s legal on the national level. 

“Pennsylvania, and the other 28 states where medical marijuana is legal, need the federal government to recognize what voters and bipartisan legislatures across the nation have overwhelmingly called for, and that is that medical marijuana must be rescheduled as a Schedule II medication,” the Health Department statement read.

Stephen Paddock

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

FBI agents investigating the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. knew the gunman left behind a large cache of guns, ammunition and explosives when they requested search warrants for his properties and online accounts.

Newly unsealed court documents revealed new information about  Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old high-stakes gambler who killed 58 people and injured hundreds more before killing himself, the Associated Press reports. 

An Oct. 2 search of Paddock’s three-bedroom house in a retirement community in Mesquite uncovered 19 guns and several pounds of potentially explosive materials, according to unsealed court documents obtained by  AP.

While searching Paddock’s car outside the hotel suite where he unloaded his weapons on an unsuspecting crowd turned up several pounds of ammonium nitrate.

The investigation revealed that Paddock methodically plotted the attacks, which included modified assault-style rifles to shoot rapidly.

The FBI still doesn’t know what motivated Paddock, who appears to have acted alone.

Retired FBI Agent Robert Turkavage

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A retired FBI agent who lives in New Jersey is throwing his hat in the ring for Congress.

Robert Turkavage, a 32-year FBI veteran, is running as a Republican  for the 2nd District congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, who is not seeking re-election, the Press of Atlantic City reports. 

“For over 23 years, Congressman LoBiondo has served all of the residents of southern New Jersey with honor and distinction,” Robert Turkavage said in a press release. “LoBiondo was a true believer in the notion that the private sector, not the government, creates jobs and fosters economic growth.”

Turkavage said he wants to continue the work of LoBiondo, a fellow Republican, and forge ties with Democrats for sensible legislation.

“Every vote I cast will be weighed against three benchmarks: Is it good for my constituents? Is it good for my country? And most importantly, is it good for our children?” Turkavage said.

Turkavage served as a supervisory special agent of pubic corruption and government fraud in New York City. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Turkavage supervised the Office of Intelligence analytical squads.

In 2005, Turkavage retired from the bureau and became vice president with JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York City, overseeing the fraud prevention unit.