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Suddenly 2012
January 2nd, 2012 Kansas City - What to expect ... and what not |
And now we are in 2012. Well, it was inevitable, wasn't it? Because that is, how calendars work. They count days and when one cycle is at an and, the next higher circle is counted up by one and the counting starts again. And every time, one of the bigger circles is counted up, there is a number of people predicting chaos, mayhem and doomsday. Well, additinal to those, who made doomsdays a profitable business anyway and therefore spill their prophecies out more frequently than ever.
So, will there be the end of the world in 2012? It's unlikely. Even for the change, the prophets of doom used a Mayan calendar, basically, it's still the same old game. So don't sell your house and party till liver cirrhosis, chances are, you have to go to work the day after.
So what we shouldn't really expect from 2012 is doomsday. Anything else? Oh yes, an economic change. Of course, President Obama made a very optimistic speech at the end of the past year, but in fact, this was already the third end of year speech in which he promised hope and change would finally work. The other two, as mantra like as this one, didn't work out. Since Obama is in office, the unemployment wasn't even once under nine percent. While it was under his predecessor not once above eight percent and often even under five. Still, Obama and his supporters believe after three years of failure, they posess some kind of stone of the sages and therefore they are on the right way. Even if Obama loses the elections, this will have not much impact on 2012. And we can be sure of two things:
- It will NOT be Obama's fault but he will blame all those pesky Republicans
- Reid and Pelosi will block more than ever after Obama is gone, because they hope to repeat the blame game and run one day for the office themselves.
And who says, Obama will lose? He has the strongest and most pricey campaign machine in American history. | While his supporters go out and scream "foul" and "politcs is only for the rich" if a conservative spends $10
 Don't expect doomsday to boost the economy.
millions, Obama spends $100 millions in the same time and his coffers are big enough to pay down the US deficit significantly (what, of course, shoudln't be expected from him).
And the GOP didn't make things better for themselves. I am conservative in a lot of my opinions, but to vote for Newt, Romney or Paul would be the choice between two candidates I can't trust and one, who shows all signs of senility. So a clear victory for the GOP with those candidates isn't a thing, I would expect.
Back to 2010: The past year was the year of the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. Ten years of war against the terror had passed. The troops are out now of Iraq, the death toll from terrorist attack there increased already and wil raise higher in 2012. And after the troops also leave Afghanistan, the world is richer by two breeding gorunds for exactly the same kind of people who did the attacks of 9/11. For 2012, we should expect the global war against terror even more messy than it was in the past. Even attacks on American soil are possible, because after Osama bin Laden's death, there is a great need of the new leadership to produce results - and we talk here about people for which a high bodycount counts as success.
And there is more to expect for 2012: The poverty will grow. Millions of Americans are not counted anymore as unemployed because they ran out of | benefits. Since three years, this number continually grew and it will grow also in 2012. Simply because there will be no more jobs than in 2011 and those people just grow older, diminishing their chances further.
What else to expect from 2012? Oh yes, movies and TV shows. More remakes, more copy shows and spin offs. While already in the end of 2011 a handful of producers showed an unexpected rush of creativity, most of them played the same old, same old again. I don't expect this tendency to break soon.
And how about my own business, the book market? Thrillers with realistic backgrounds are not very popular currently, I admit to that. At least not with editors. I would like to hear from readers about that. However, editors sit in the classic print market and the classic print market faces a fight to life and death with the electronic market. Not only, that ebooks on readers like Kindle and Nook are cheaper, they are also easier to transport and not half as censored by an editor's bias. Truth is, the editors have ceased to be the bottleneck between readers and authors. Their power is diminished and to survive, editors and print publishers have more than ever to listen to the readers. We will see in 2012 whether they do.
All in all, I expect an interesting year 2012. A year full of fights, a year full of work and yes, also a year of unmitigated mudslinging on the political stage. I expect more serial killers roaming the country and less of them caught (the second Long Island Killer is still free, remember?) And I expect a year in which international terrorism will reach a new peak, even it will be a smaller peak than 2001. That is my prediction, lean back, buckle up and enjoy the ride.-PB- |
... back |
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Tue, May 17, 2016
12:00 AM CT
Daniel Lee Siebert
Daniel Lee Siebert is now also in our serial killer collection. A more or less garden variety strangler type who got away longer than necessary bacause some big PDs dropped the ball ... and left it to smaller ones, to get the job done.
| Fri, Dec 18, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Christman Genipperteinga
THe legendary robber along the wine road Trier-Cologne made it finally into our collection. With a total of 970 victim, including six of them his own children, he is currently the most prolific serial killer in the Collection.
| Thu, Oct 22, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Gerard John Schaefer
The allegedly most prolific Florida Serial Killer, "Killer Cop" Gerard Schaefer, finally also made his way into out collection.
| Thu, Sep 24, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Royal Russel Long
Long was quite messed up in the investigation of the Wyoming Rodeo Murders, but details show, he was another kind of animal, y typeless pedophile serial killer. Now his file is in our collection.
| Mon, Aug 17, 2015
12:00 AM CT
The Wyoming Rodeo Murders
A story of misperceptions and midnless cabinet cleaning by police authorities that ended up with someone getting away with at least two murders on young women. Now in our collection.
| Wed, Jul 15, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper
Now new in our collection: Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper. The first case, blood spatter analysis was used in a court trial world wide!
| Sat, Jun 20, 2015
12:00 AM CST
No new addition in June
Usually, we try to bring another case up in our serial killer collection every month, but this month, we simply had no time. Between working open cases and other activities, it was just not possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.
| Sat, May 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
The Beauty Queen Killer
New in the serial killer collection: Christopher Wilder, the Beauty Queen Killer. A case that shows how nonsensical the disctinction between serial and spree killers really is.
| Thu, Apr 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Burton W. Abbott
Abbott killed only one victim, a case that caused some public attention in 1955. But he showed all hallmarks of a fledgling serial killer and thus, we added him to our collection.
| Mon, Mar 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Darren Deon Vann
Ha is basically the usual garden variety strangler case if it wouldn't be for the early warnings statistical data cretated about serial killer activity in Gary/Indiana. Now he is in our collection.
| Wed, Mar 4, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Apologies!
Due to technical problems, the March article was up late. Take my apologies for this glitch.
| Mon, Feb 16, 2015
12:00 AM CT
Affaire of the Poisons
We have added the infamous Affaire of the Poisons to our collection. With more than 80 offenders, it breaks a little the format, but well, it's one of the biggest cases of "organized" crime ever, so how can we let it out?
| Mon, Dec 8, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Joseph Bryan
Once he made the FBI Ten Most Wanted list, now nobody remembers the case anymore. Nevertheless, the father of all allegedly schizophrenic serial killers has entered our collection.
| Fri, Nov 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Trailside Killer
David Joseph Carpenter has now become also part of the Serial Killer Collection ... complete with profile.
| Tue, Oct 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Vampire of Duesseldorf
Peter Kuerten aka The Vampire of Duesseldorf roamed the city at the River Rhine for more than two years and left behind a trail of bodies-
| Fri, Sep 12, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Grim Sleeper
Lonnie Franklin aka The Grim Sleeper has been added to our serial killer collection
| Thu, Aug 14, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Michael Lee Lockhart
... and with a little delay, another serial made it into the serial killer collection. Michael Lee Lockhart, not so much interesting for his "achievements" but because his case appears as if he became a psychopath only after a serious head injury.
| Tue, Aug 12, 2014
12:00 AM CT
A Game of Daggers
Diane's new novel A GAME OF DAGGERS is now available at Amazon for Kindle. A story of murder, mayhem and political intrigue set up in the year of the Lord 1096.
Pope Urban II has called for a crusade, but this news has yet to reach Cornwall. And people there have anyway to deal with other problems from storms to wreckers on their coast and when some murdered men are discovered on the beach, nobody guesses, this is only the prelude to much greater events coming to the so remote shores ...
| Sat, Jul 5, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Ivan Hill
Ivan Hill, as the first of the many serial killers, who haunted Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s, is now added to our serial killer collection.
| Sun, Jun 8, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Raya and Sakina
The famous Egyptian serial killers have become part of our collection. And as so often, things are not as simple as the urban legend tries to tell us.
| Thu, May 1, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Dagmar Overbye
The infamous Danish baby farmer has been added to our Serial Killer Collection.
| Thu, May 1, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Pharaoh Djoser added to the Egyptian Collection
I finally came around to add a new pharaoh to our collection: Djoser, 1st Pharoh of the 3rd Dynasty.
| Fri, Apr 4, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Green River Killer
This month, we added Gary Ridgway to our serial killer collection, a case, not so much interesting for the profiling but for the lessons about case organization to be learned from it.
| Tue, Mar 4, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Manson Family
The "Manson Family&quo; has been added to our serial killer collection. Especially interesting for those who think, brain washing isn't possible.
| Fri, Feb 7, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Hans van Zon
Dutch serial killer Hans van Zon joined our serial killer collection. Not entirely voluntarily though.
| Mon, Jan 6, 2014
12:00 AM CT
The Syracuse Dungeon Master
John T. Jamelske aka the Syracuse Dungeon Master has been added to our Serial Killer Collection. While not a seria killer but a serial rapist, Jamelske represents a similar psychopathology as some OCD type serial killers, for example Dahmer and therefore is some valuable object for studies.
| Thu, Jan 2, 2014
12:00 AM CT
Khasekhemwy
The last of the 2nd dynasty pharaohs, the man who re-united Egypt, is now also in the Egyptian collection.
| Thu, Dec 12, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Pharaoh Sekhemib added to the Egyptian Collection
I finally came around to add Pharaoh Sekhemib to the collection, the sixth of the 2nd Dynasty. So, with some luck, I can finish this year the 2nd dynsty, only one, Khasekhemwy is left.
| Tue, Dec 10, 2013
12:00 AM CT
The Riha disappearance
In 1969, Dr. Thomas Riha disappeared and in the subconsequent series of events, Gloria Tannenbaum was arrested for forgery and under suspicion of two other homicides. She plead not guilty by reason of insanity and got away with it. The case has now been added to our serial killer collection.
| Mon, Nov 4, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Richard N. Clarey jr.
Clarey is one of the lesser known serial killers, skirting the definition a little. Still, for some reasons an interesting case.
| Wed, Oct 2, 2013
12:00 AM CT
Now in the collection: William E. Cosden
A garden variety sexual predator, notable only because his existence shows, how wrong the idea of 1 monster at 1 time in 1 area is.
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