Pareto Tipping Point Watch #5
Whistleblower Edition
Hello again SkepsisNation, and welcome to another installment of Pareto Tipping Point Watch, an irregular stack o’ links and pithy commentary, based upon a concept I call the Pareto Tipping Point™ —
What's a 'Pareto Tipping Point?'
Here’s some actionable ‘information therapy’ which you can use and share with those less informed — a ‘heads-up’ to hopefully prevent being blindsided by the upcoming ‘discontinuity’ It appears to me that this event is just over the horizon... In our current centrally-controlled-narrative culture, certain
The PTP is getting closer. We all perceive it - that dis-ease we feel when viewing ‘the news’ or when witnessing uncivilized behavior in public. Consider it similar to “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” or perhaps “the single snowflake that started the avalanche.”
Each day I read headlines suggesting the PTP is immanent. Of course, only those in charge know when. Or perhaps they don’t, since they’ve clearly lost control of the narrative.
Is there a hidden agenda? Who knows? I’m just a grump on a sofa, so I certainly do not. But the following trends are suggestive…
Whistleblowers
Police release investigation report of Boeing whistleblower death - May 18, 2024
https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/05/18/police-release-investigation-report-boeing-whistleblower-death/
Authorities in South Carolina released their findings on the death of a Boeing whistleblower.
John Barnett, 62, was found dead inside his truck on March 9 with a gunshot wound to his head outside of the Holiday Inn located at 301 Savannah Highway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Barnett, who worked for Boeing for 32 years, filed a whistleblower complaint alleging safety concerns.
The United States Department of Labor was working through the discovery phase of its investigation and is set to begin hearings on that complaint this June.
Police said they found no evidence of forced entry or a struggle inside the vehicle. The orange 2015 Dodge Ram truck’s key fob was found in Barnett’s pocket.
The Charleston County Coroner’s Office determined Barnett’s death to be a suicide…
BlackRock whistleblower sues over firing, shutdown of China monitoring tool - May 21, 2024
In a complaint on Saturday, Hamdan Azhar said the world's largest asset manager ordered him in March 2022 to stop work on Trend Spotter, which he had developed, and transfer his projects to Rightpoint, where the husband of former boss Tiffany Perkins-Munn worked.
The Brooklyn resident said he was fired two months later, after objecting persistently to a $2 million contract that BlackRock awarded Rightpoint before Perkins-Munn's own resignation, calling it "illegal self-dealing."
He also said his new boss Riaz Hakkim refused to escalate concerns about client discussions that Trend Spotter could have tracked, and whether its revelations aligned with BlackRock's public disclosures to investors and regulators.
Obama State Dept blocked FBI from arresting supporters of Iran nuclear program in US: Emails - May 22, 2024
EXCLUSIVE: The Obama-Biden State Department "actively interfered" to prevent the FBI from executing arrest warrants on individuals illegally in the United States who were allegedly supporting Iranian financial efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, whistleblowers told Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson…
…[who] received unclassified and legally-protected whistleblower disclosures which they say show that, "while the Obama-Biden administration publicly committed to ‘preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons by raising the cost of Iran’s defiance of the international community,’ then-Secretary of State John Kerry actively interfered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation executing arrest warrants on individuals in the U.S. illegally supporting Iranian efforts, including financial efforts, to develop weapons of mass destruction and its ballistic missile program."
The email also claims at least two targets were arrested only after "State lifted their block…since the new [Trump] Administration took office."
Separately, a Nov. 29, 2016 email from Shell [Oil Corporation] to an FBI official within Comey’s office wrote:
"It seems Trump election win having impact on doing business in Iran. We are going to sign a small deal in Iran this week ($5 million licensing agreement.) We were in talks with a Japanese bank to handle the funds, but they have recently backed off, unofficially citing coming Trump presidency. European banks feeling the same way. Small amount of money, but having a dampening effect on doing business in Iran." Ex-FBI official Peter Strzok was copied on that email…
Fani Willis Whistleblower Details Allegations - May 24, 2024
https://www.newsweek.com/fani-willis-amanda-timpson-misuse-federal-grant-money-1904676
Amanda Timpson, former director of Fulton County's juvenile diversion program, alleged that she was fired after trying to stop her colleagues from misusing federal grant money. Timpson assisted in writing grant applications for the district attorney's office, which included a $488,594 grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded in 2020 for the creation of a youth empowerment and gang prevention center. OJJDP is an office of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
The ex-employee also spoke of an alleged conversation between her and Willis.
"[Willis] said something like, 'What's going on?' And when I went to speak, she cut me off and she said, 'Effective immediately you're going to be removed and demoted," Timpson said.
Timpson said she brought her concerns to Human Resources, but was ultimately fired. The whistleblower has a pending lawsuit in state court against Willis for wrongful termination…
Whistleblower report: Here’s a look at bad behavior by San Francisco employees - May 24, 2024
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/whistleblower-report-bad-behavior-city-employees-19475363.php
Sleeping on duty. Stealing city property. Hiring family members. A new whistleblower report found San Francisco city employees engaged in these inappropriate practices, among others, this year…
…there were 192 reports of improper behavior, misuse of funds, wasteful government practices or poor delivery of services by city employees, 174 of which have been resolved. Nearly a quarter of the closed investigations resulted in a city department or contractor taking corrective or preventive actions.
The number of complaints is small compared to the number of city employees and contractors — more than 35,000 people work for the city, along with thousands more contractors…
Famous Whistleblowers Trying to Turn Derogatory Labels into Honorary Badges - May 24, 2024
Some troubling but perhaps unsurprising news in the world of corporate whistleblowing.
Recent data from Medius, a fraud detection software company, revealed that over half of financial professionals in the UK and US have spotted or suspected fraud in their workplaces, yet a staggering 81% remain silent because of fear of retaliation. This troubling statistic shows a significant issue within the industry, one that whistleblowers like Sherron Watkins, Sarah Carver, and Jennifer Griffith are determined to address.
Sherron Watkins, a name synonymous with corporate whistleblowing, rose to prominence during the Enron scandal. As Vice President of Enron Corporation, Watkins alerted the CEO to accounting irregularities that threatened to implode the organization. Her brave actions earned her national acclaim and a spot as one of TIME magazine’s Persons of the Year in 2002, yet she was also branded as a “snitch…”
Whistleblowing ex-NYPD sergeant jailed for 6 months on minor assault charge being housed next to a cop killer - May 25, 2024
https://nypost.com/2024/05/25/us-news/whistleblower-cop-jailed-with-killers-at-rikers/
He was once a NYPD whistleblower cop — and is now a Rikers Island inmate.
Former NYPD Sgt. Steven Lee, who helped expose the karaoke-bar corruption scandal in a Queens precinct a decade ago, was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor assault on May 14 for an off-duty brawl at a Chelsea nightclub in 2021.
A judge sentenced him to six months in the infamous jail…
“If I wasn’t who I am, things would have gone in a different direction.”
“The boyfriend knocked them out. It wasn’t even me.”
The people who arrested Lee on assault charges the night of the fight were some of the same officers he previously helped investigate, including a detective he arrested, he said…
Lake District sewage spill runs non-stop for 42 days after ‘decades of inaction’ - May 25, 2024
https://inews.co.uk/news/lake-district-sewage-spill-runs-non-stop-3060959
A troubled Lake District [England] pumping station has dumped sewage continuously into a popular river for at least 42 days, as a whistleblower claims water bosses have ignored pollution problems at the site for two decades.
Cark-in-Cartmel pumping station in the village of Cark, south Cumbria has been discharging sewage into the River Eea non-stop since 12 April, according to a live map of spills published by water firm United Utilities.
It comes after years of escalating problems at the site, with sewage discharged for 6,471 hours (the equivalent of 270 full days) in 2023, 4,420 hours in 2022 and 4,701 hours in 2021…
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who leaked thousands of documents exposing the inner workings of the tech giant, is calling on the government to do more to protect children on social media - May 25, 2024
Cheap Thoughts:
Imagine losing your job just for doing the right thing. Imagine a friend or loved one being executed in a mafia-style hit just for revealing the truth.
I feel that a huge majority of people around the world have witnessed or have been the actual victims of corruption.
The near future will require ordinary people to find the courage to step-up and speak-up for our societies.
The whistleblower phenomenon will certainly be one of the primary causes of the PTP, and those brave souls who invite attack for taking a stand against corruption must receive our full support.
As always, thanks for reading, and stay skeptical.
Corruption breeds more corruption, especially when there are no serious penalties for engaging in corruption and fraud. Both the federal and many state governments are now locked in widely based perversion and distortion of laws and regulations. Hopefully, many local governments are still somewhat honest. We may not tip into the abyss for another 7-10 years or who knows when.