October 31, 2016

News and Views

EMAILS, ETC. 10/31/16

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-ag-eric-holder-fbi-director-james-comey-made-a-serious-mistake/

Former AG Eric Holder: FBI Director James Comey made a "serious mistake"
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
October 31, 2016, 9:05 AM

Video – CBS Morning News


Former Attorney General Eric Holder is blasting his former colleague FBI Director James Comey for violating long-standing Justice Department policies by writing a letter to Congress last week about finding potentially new emails related to the Hillary Clinton email server investigation.

In an editorial published late Sunday in The Washington Post, Holder said he is “deeply concerned” with Comey’s decision.

“That decision was incorrect. It violated long-standing Justice Department policies and tradition. And it ran counter to guidance that I put in place four years ago laying out the proper way to conduct investigations during an election season,” Holder wrote.

Holder, who served as President Obama’s attorney general from 2009 until April 2015, explained that the policy has remained in effect and applies to the entire Justice Department including the FBI. The department also has a practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations, he wrote, as well as “not taking unnecessary action close in time to Election Day that might influence an election’s outcome.”

“Director Comey broke with these fundamental principles. I fear he has unintentionally and negatively affected public trust in both the Justice Department and the FBI,” Holder wrote, adding that it has allowed for “misinformation to be spread by partisans.”

Holder also criticized Comey for publicly announcing in July his recommendation to the Justice Department that it not bring charges against Clinton for her use of email servers as secretary of state. Comey has led the FBI since 2013.

“That was a stunning breach of protocol. It may set a dangerous precedent for future investigations. It was wrong,” Holder wrote.

Holder was among dozens of former federal prosecutors who signed a letter over the weekend critical of Comey’s decision, according to the Associated Press.

No one knows yet, including Comey, what the emails contain, if they were directly related to Clinton or if there was any wrongdoing involved. Investigators obtained a search warrant Sunday to look through thousands of emails on a laptop used by Anthony Weiner, which also contained emails from his estranged wife Huma Abedin, a top aide to Clinton.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baylor-official-addresses-mishandled-sexual-assault-allegation-against-star-football-player/

Baylor sex assault scandal far worse than previously disclosed
CBS NEWS
October 31, 2016, 6:57 AM

Play VIDEO -- Former Baylor Title IX coordinator on resignation: University "set me up to fail"


The sexual assault scandal rocking Baylor University and its powerhouse football team was far worse than previously disclosed.

“60 Minutes Sports” has learned that, since 2011, 17 female students reported sexual or domestic assault charges against 19 Baylor football players. That includes at least four alleged gang rapes. Former Baylor President Ken Starr and celebrated football coach Art Briles lost their jobs.

Baylor prides itself on its Christian values and creating a caring community. But the “60 Minutes Sports” investigation found a culture where victims who came forward found themselves blamed for violating the university’s code of conduct, which prohibits drinking and premarital sex.

Correspondent Armen Keteyian has been investigating since May. His investigation revealed the senior vice president in charge of campus safety, Reagan Ramsower, often clashed with Patty Crawford, the university’s former Title IX coordinator.

She says she could not get police reports, including one for a Baylor student who claimed she was gang-raped.

The gang rape allegedly involved football players Tre’Von Armstead and Shamychael Chatman in 2013. A Waco police report stated “Baylor University was contacted” about the incident. Criminal charges were never filed against either player.

Ramsower said the Baylor campus police department he oversees had a history of burying sexual assault complaints that came to them.

Keteyian asked Ramsower about the investigation into the incident report. “Nothing ever happened for well over a year. What happened there? Was there an investigation? And if not, why not? You have a police report -- ”

“There was a police report; I suppose it stayed with the police department,” Ramsower said. “It never came out of the police department. That was a significant failure to respond by our police department, there’s no doubt about it.”

“Victim blaming would be one answer,” said Keteyian. “The other answer is protecting the football team and protecting that brand.”

“I don’t believe that was at all the reason,” Ramsower replied. “I really think that it was probably feeling like -- and whether or not -- I don’t know what was said, if they did talk to the victim.”

“Well, they did talk to the victim. There’s no question. It’s a detailed police report.”

“Right. There was a Title IX case that was actually opened up,” Ramsower said. “We opened that up. And that was when I learned about it. And at that time we took the appropriate actions and eventually he was found responsible.”

“Eventually he was. But in 2014 Tre’Von Armstead was all Big 12 tight-end.” Keteyian said.

“That would be true,” said Ramsower.

Patty Crawford has years of experience investigating sexual assaults. But nothing, she said, prepared her for Baylor.

She was hired by Baylor in 2014 as the university’s first full-time Title IX coordinator to investigate women’s complaints.

She says a lack of cooperation prevented her from doing her job, from which she resigned in frustration.

Keteyian asked Crawford who was responsible for the failed investigation: “Was it institutional failure right up to the highest levels at Baylor? And I’m including the board of regents.”

“Absolutely,” she said. “There were a lot of people like me at the university that did not want these things happening and were fighting for it, but they didn’t have the power or the authority and they were not heard. That is institutional.

“What drives a culture? It’s the top. And that was the hardest thing for me to come to grips with, was after all of this -- this report was released, after all of this, the discrimination became so clear, even against me. That’s power and that’s control. What is rape about? Power and control.”

Armen Keteyian’s “60 Minutes Sports” report on the Baylor scandal, which includes interviews with the university’s interim president and four members of the school’s board of regents -- all of whom provide their accounts for the first time -- will be shown on Showtime (a division of CBS) Tuesday, November 1 at 8:00 p.m. ET.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/comey-wrote-bombshell-letter-to-congress-before-fbi-had-reviewed-new-emails-220219586.html

Exclusive: FBI still does not have warrant to review new Abedin emails linked to Clinton probe
Michael Isikoff
October 29, 2016

Photograph -- FBI Director James Comey prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in December 2015. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)
Photograph -- Hillary Clinton addresses a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)
Photograph -- Hillary Clinton speaks with senior aide Huma Abedin aboard her campaign plane. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)
Photograph -- Hillary Clinton speaks with senior aide Huma Abedin aboard her campaign plane. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)


When FBI Director James Comey wrote his bombshell letter to Congress on Friday about newly discovered emails that were potentially “pertinent” to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, agents had not able to review any of the material, because the bureau had not yet gotten a search warrant to read them, three government officials who have been briefed on the probe told Yahoo News.

At the time Comey wrote the letter, “he had no idea what was in the content of the emails,” one of the officials said, referring to recently discovered emails that were found on the laptop of disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner is under investigation for allegedly sending illicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.

As of Saturday night, the FBI had still not gotten approval from the Justice Department for a warrant that would allow agency officials to read any of the newly discovered Abedin emails, and therefore are still in the dark about whether they include any classified material that the bureau has not already seen.

“We do not have a warrant,” a senior law enforcement official said. “Discussions are under way [between the FBI and the Justice Department] as to the best way to move forward.”

That Comey and other senior FBI officials were not aware of what was in the emails — and whether they contained any material the FBI had not already obtained — is important because Donald Trump’s campaign and Republicans in Congress have suggested that the FBI director would not have written his letter unless he had been made aware of significant new emails that might justify reopening the investigation into the Clinton server.

But a message that Comey wrote to all FBI agents Friday seeking to explain his decision to write the controversial letter strongly hinted that investigators did not not yet have legal authority establishing “probable cause” to review the content of Abedin’s emails on Weiner’s electronic devices.

In that message, Comey told agents that he had only been briefed on Thursday about the matter and that the “recommendation” of investigators was “with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case.”

Comey approved the recommendation to seek judicial access to the material that day, he wrote.

“Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them,” he told agents.

Comey’s letter to Congress has subjected the FBI director to withering criticism. Top Justice Department officials were described by a government source as “apoplectic” over the letter. Senior officials “strongly discouraged” Comey from sending it, telling FBI officials last week it would violate longstanding department policy against taking actions in the days before an election that might influence the outcome, a U.S official familiar with the matter told Yahoo News. “He was acting independently of the guidance given to him,” said the U.S. official.

Comey insisted in his message to agents that he felt he had “an obligation” to inform Congress about the new material because he had previously testified that the bureau’s investigation into the Clinton email server was completed. He said it would be “misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.” He added, “Given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.”

The decision to send the letter “wasn’t easy,” said the senior law enforcement official. Comey and top FBI officials debated what course to take once they learned about the discovery on Weiner’s laptop – said to include thousands of Abedin’s emails. In the end, the official said, Comey feared that if he chose to move forward and seek access to the emails and didn’t immediately alert Congress, the FBI’s efforts would leak to the media and the director would be accused of concealing information.

“This was the least bad choice,” the senior official said.

But Comey’s letter to Congress — suggesting that the FBI might now revisit the Clinton email probe — may have been even more misleading, some critics charged Saturday.

“This letter is troubling because it is vaguely worded and leaves so many questions unanswered,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and three other Democrats on the panel wrote Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

“It is not clear whether the emails identified by the FBI are even in the custody of the FBI, whether any of the emails have already been reviewed, whether Secretary Clinton sent or received them, or whether they even have any significance to the FBI’s previous investigation,” the senators wrote.

A Yahoo News review of Abedin’s interview with FBI agents last April — when the Clinton email probe was in full swing — shows that the longtime Clinton aide hinted that there might be relevant material on her husband’s personal devices. But agents do not appear to have followed up on the clues.

Abedin, who served as Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and held a top-secret security clearance, disclosed she had access to four email accounts while working at the State Department.

These accounts, Abedin said, included an official State Department email account, but also an account on Clinton’s private email server that Abedin used to communicate with Clinton and her top aides, as well as a personal Yahoo account. She used both the Clinton email account and the Yahoo account to “routinely” forward State Department emails and documents so she could more easily print them, she said. In addition, she told the agents, she had a separate email account that she had previously used “to support her husband’s political activities.”

Abedin’s interview — conducted by agents at the FBI’s Washington field office last April 5 — was the first tip-off that the longtime Clinton aide might have circulated official State Department material among her multiple accounts. At one point, agents even confronted Abedin on one apparently sensitive email about U.S. policy towards Pakistan that had been forwarded to her State Department account from an aide to the late Richard Holbrooke, then a special State Department envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Abedin had forwarded the email to her Yahoo account in order to print it, but told agents she was “unaware of the classification of the document and stated that she did not make judgments on the classification of material she received. Instead, she relied on the sender to make that assessment and to properly make and transmit the document.”

There is no indication from the eight-page FBI report on the interview, however, that the agents ever pressed her on what has now turned into an explosive issue in the final days of the 2016 campaign: Did Weiner have access to any classified government documents on his laptop and iPhone — devices that, he apparently used to exchange sexually charged messages with women he met online, including in one alleged case, an underage teenager in North Carolina?

The fact that FBI agents failed to follow up on this shows that the original probe into the Clinton email server was “not thorough” and was “fatally flawed,” said Joseph DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney and independent counsel who has been a strong critic of Comey and the FBI probe. “The first thing they should have done was gotten a sworn affidavit about all her accounts and devices,” he said, adding that agents should have immediately attempted to obtain the devices, including Weiner’s.

But it is still far from clear which State Department emails might be on the devices that Weiner had access to. In a separate civil lawsuit brought by a conservative group, Judicial Watch, Abedin gave testimony in June that appeared to differ in some respects from what she told the FBI. Asked in that case about her email accounts, Abedin told Judicial Watch lawyers that she rarely used the personal Yahoo account, and that when she did, she only used it to forward State Department “press clips” so she could print them.


ONCE A REPUBLICAN, ALWAYS A REPUBLICAN, MAYBE

https://www.yahoo.com/news/comey-sent-congress-letter-on-clinton-emails-despite-doj-warning-it-would-breach-policy-180013535.html

Comey sent Congress letter on Clinton emails despite DOJ warning it would breach policy
Caitlin Dickson
October 29, 2016


FBI Director James Comey was reportedly warned against notifying Congress about a batch of newly discovered emails with potential ties to Hillary Clinton’s private server.

According to the Washington Post, before issuing the letter to Congress that sent shock waves through the Clinton campaign Friday, Comey consulted senior Justice Department officials who advised him of the DOJ’s position “that we don’t comment on an ongoing investigation. And we don’t take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election.”

“Director Comey understood our position,” said one official, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity. “It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.” . . . .”


SCHOOL BUS ISSUES

JUDGING FROM THIS ALONG WITH OTHER SCHOOL BUS STORIES ITS CLEAR TO ME THAT DRIVERS ARE NOT SELECTED CAREFULLY ENOUGH, AND PERHAPS NOT BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS ON THEIR WATCH EITHER. MAYBE SOME WELL-PLACED LAWSUITS WOULD HELP.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/boy-5-found-walking-alone-180708252.html

U.S.
Boy, 5, Found Walking Alone on the Side of the Road After Refusing to Take the Bus Due to Bullies: Reports
Blake Bakkila, People
October 29, 2016


A mother in Houma, Louisiana, was horrified when she learned that her 5-year-old son did not get off his school bus Monday afternoon. Her son Kenneth was later found walking on the side of the road by police, according to local reports.

“I got an empty pit in my stomach because at that moment I didn’t know where my child was,” Kathleen Hotard told WDSU. “I was scared.”

Hotard said her son refused to take the bus because his classmates at Legion Park Elementary had been bullying him.

“Because every week they throw spitballs, and they land on my ear,” Kenneth told WWL, when asked why he didn’t board the bus.

And on Monday, Hotard said he told a substitute teacher that he had been given permission to walk home.

“I was informed my child had lied and said he had a parental note to walk home,” Hotard told WWL. “I confirmed I never wrote a note, and they confirmed they never saw a note. He said he had misplaced it.”

Kenneth was found about a half mile from his school after someone reported that he was walking down the road alone, according to WWL. When police found him, he was walking home in the wrong direction.

Hotard added that her son, who has not returned to school, told her, “I’m ready to go to another school.”

“He doesn’t want to be by himself,” Hotard told WDSU of the ordeal. “He urinated on himself because he was too afraid to go alone. He’s having anxiety from this.”

Now, Hotard said the school is investigating the incident after the school superintendent admitted what happened to her and her son was “wrong.”

“I don’t want any other parent to ever have to feel what I felt,” she said. “I don’t want any other child to be on a side of a road by themselves scared … I feel like accountability needs to be taken by the school, by the teachers, and by the school board. Things have to change.”

Neither the Houma Police Department nor Legion Park Elementary immediately responded to a request for comment.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/student-15-allegedly-plotted-shooting-attack-at-his-las-vegas-high-school/

Student, 15, allegedly plotted shooting attack at his Las Vegas high school
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS
October 31, 2016, 5:22 PM

LAS VEGAS -- Police say they’ve arrested a 15-year-old student accused of plotting a shooting at his Las Vegas high school.

Clark County School District Police captain Ken Young said Thursday the student at Desert Oasis High School was taken into custody Thursday after police uncovered an alleged plot for a mass shooting in the near future or “something more catastrophic” at the school of about 2,350.

Several students who heard about the alleged plot came forward, along with a parent in Arizona who listened in to a Skype conversation their child was having that mentioned the high school, Young said.

Police interviewed the student suspect and went to his home, where they recovered evidence that’s currently being analyzed. Sources told CBS affiliate KLAS that investigators discovered a “manifesto.” Young wouldn’t detail what items were found.

Young thanked the students and the parents who called police. He said the plot was uncovered “in part thanks to a parent being nosy, thanks to a parent paying attention, thanks to a parent who did not sit on information and brought that information forward.”

Investigators believe the student was working alone, and didn’t have a “vendetta” against any particular student at the school, Young said. He’s been charged with making terroristic threats.


Congratulations to the students, and the parents who saw the nature of the problem and took action. These “manifestoes” tend to appear frequently. It’s not very different from a hit list except it takes a philosophical form. It’s still all about distilled negativity, and hatred. I’m glad this young man was stopped and will get mental health treatment. Score seven for the Good Guys!


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/1029/What-battles-has-Bernie-Sanders-lined-up-for-the-day-after-the-election

What battles has Bernie Sanders lined up for the day after the election?
In an op-ed, Bernie Sanders says he intends 'to do everything possible' to implement a new, much more progressive Democratic agenda.
By David Iaconangelo, Staff OCTOBER 29, 2016

Photograph -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont speaks to supporters at a rally in support of Colorado Amendment 69, a ballot measure to set up the nation's first universal health-care system, on the campus of the University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colo., Oct. 17, 2016. Brennan Linsley/AP/File
Video -- Clinton Emails Reveal A Wrestle With Wall Street, Populism
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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE How well do you know Bernie Sanders? Take our quiz.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY Photos of the weekend

Sen. Bernie Sanders and the progressives are getting ready for their next pitched battle.

An op-ed penned by the independent senator from Vermont and published by the Boston Globe on Thursday hints that if Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is elected president, Senator Sanders could press her to appoint officials to top finance and trade posts that pass a progressive litmus test.

“We need a secretary of treasury who is prepared to take on the greed and illegal behavior of Wall Street, not someone who comes from Wall Street or will leave office to go to Wall Street,” wrote Sanders. “We need a trade representative who understands that our current trade policies have failed, and that we must adopt a trade approach that represents workers and not the CEOs of large corporations. We need an attorney general who is prepared to vigorously enforce antitrust laws and prosecute bankers and corporate leaders who break the law.”

Calls for sweeping reforms of the financial industry have galvanized the party’s progressive grassroots, though Mrs. Clinton and other centrists in the Democratic Party may have little interest in it. Progressive advocacy groups have begun to draw up lists of preferred candidates for Cabinet posts, along with potential candidates who raise red flags, the Washington Post reported this week.

Sanders's op-ed mentions other areas where his and Clinton’s stances are more obviously aligned – the minimum wage, college tuition, prescription drugs, immigration – and he opens by pledging that he is "currently working as hard as I can to see that Donald Trump is defeated."

But the timing suggests that Sanders and other progressives – who cemented their foothold by rewriting the party’s policy agenda after the primaries – could be preparing to flex their muscles quite soon after the elections, if Clinton is elected. Those battles could determine whether a party that has moved away from its roots as the working man’s party to become a coalition between minorities and the educated well-to-do could once again position itself as the champion of the white working class.

Sanders’s declarations appeared as Clinton’s campaign seemed to be on cruise control, a day before the FBI again shook up the race by announcing a new batch of emails that could be relevant to its long-closed investigation into the former secretary of State’s use of a private server to conduct official business.

Another ongoing issue for the Clinton campaign – the steady drip of hacked campaign emails from Wikileaks – has appeared to justify many of the accusations coming from the Sanders’ camp during the primaries, such as the Democratic National Committee’s conspiring against him and Clinton’s reassuring of Wall Street executives that she was uninterested in "turning the clock back or pointing fingers."

"Wall Street doesn't pay a quarter of a million dollars for her to come and tell them how bad they are. What she said is pretty much exactly what we expected," said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of progressive activist group Democracy for America, in an interview with the Associated Press.

"The day after she's elected president, progressives will have to hold her accountable and fight with her to make sure she passes powerful, progressive populism," he said.



EXCERPT -- “Those battles could determine whether a party that has moved away from its roots as the working man’s party to become a coalition between minorities and the educated well-to-do could once again position itself as the champion of the white working class.”

This statement puts in a nutshell what I’ve thought for the last few elections. The Democrats in the Congress especially, have become too timid and passive, and they have stopped fighting for causes or for people, either. See http://biblehub.com/kjv/matthew/5.htme --
Philippians 2:12-18, “13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/day-of-the-dead-2016/31/

31 Beautifully scary costumes for the Day of the Dead holiday in Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

Day of the Dead
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular the Central and South regions, and by people of Mexican ancestry living in other places, especially the United States. It is acknowledged internationally in many other cultures. The multi-day holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and help support their spiritual journey. In 2008 the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.[1]

Prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the celebration took place at the beginning of summer. Gradually it was associated with October 31, November 1 and November 2 to coincide with the Western Christian triduum of Allhallowtide: All Saints' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day.[4][5] Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves.

Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world, being absorbed within other deep traditions for honoring the dead. It has become a national symbol and as such is taught (for educational purposes) in the nation's schools. Many families celebrate a traditional "All Saints' Day" associated with the Catholic Church.

Originally, the Day of the Dead as such was not celebrated in northern Mexico, where it was unknown until the 20th century because its indigenous people had different traditions. The people and the church rejected it as a day related to syncretizing pagan elements with Catholic Christianity. They held the traditional 'All Saints' Day' in the same way as other Christians in the world. There was limited Mesoamerican influence in this region, and relatively few indigenous inhabitants from the regions of Southern Mexico, where the holiday was celebrated. In the early 21st century in northern Mexico, Día de Muertos is observed because the Mexican government made it a national holiday based on educational policies from the 1960s; it has introduced this holiday as a unifying national tradition based on indigenous traditions.[6][7][8]

The Mexican Day of the Dead celebration is similar to other culture's observances of a time to honor the dead. The Spanish tradition included festivals and parades, as well as gatherings of families at cemeteries to pray for their deceased loved ones at the end of the day.

. . . .

Europe

In Christian Europe, Roman Catholic customs absorbed pagan traditions. All Saints Day and All Souls Day became the autumnal celebration of the dead. Over many centuries, rites which had occurred in cultivated fields, where the souls of the dead were thought to leave after the harvest, to cemeteries.

In many countries with a Roman Catholic heritage, All Saints Day and All Souls Day have evolved traditions in which people take the day off work, go to cemeteries with candles and flowers, and give presents to children, usually sweets and toys.[13] In Portugal and Spain ofrendas ("offerings") are made on this day. In Spain, the play Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed. In Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, people bring flowers (typically chrysanthemums in France and northern Europe) to the graves of dead relatives and say prayers over the dead.

As part of a promotion by the Mexican embassy in Prague, Czech Republic since the late 20th century, some local citizens join in a Mexican-style Day of the Dead. A theatre group produces events featuring masks, candles, and sugar skulls.[14]



EXCERPT – “In Christian Europe, Roman Catholic customs absorbed pagan traditions. All Saints Day and All Souls Day became the autumnal celebration of the dead. Over many centuries, rites which had occurred in cultivated fields, where the souls of the dead were thought to leave after the harvest, to cemeteries.”


Death, life, human procreation and the cultivation of plants are all connected in ancient religion. See the article below on Shanidar Cave to see how far back in cultural tradition it goes.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanidar_Cave

Shanidar Cave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shanidar Cave (Kurdish: Şaneder or Zewî Çemî Şaneder; Arabic: كَهَف شانِدَر‎‎) is an archaeological site located on Bradost Mountain in Iraq.[1] The remains of ten Neanderthals, dating from 35,000 to 65,000 years ago, have been found within the cave.[1] The cave also contains two later "proto-Neolithic" cemeteries, one of which dates back about 10,600 years and contains 35 individuals.[2]

The best known of the Neanderthals is Shanidar 1, who survived several injuries during his life, possibly due to care from other members of his band, and Shanidar 4, whose body lay beside a flower that can either be explained as evidence of burial rituals or animal contamination.

The site is located within the Zagros Mountains in the Arbil governorate and lies close to the Great Zab river valley.


Good evidence of early human sensibilities goes back to the Neanderthal period, and in that it is clear to me that religion was probably already in existence. The highly suspect viewpoint of Neanderthal man as being little more than a gorilla is changing among scientists. As I first learned from an anthropology class, what was actually found in the grave was pollen grains that were different from the surrounding soil rather than a flower. Archaeologists always test the soil at any significant site for pollen. Botanists who are specialists in ancient remains can identify what kind of plant the pollen came from. That’s not as clear-cut as a photograph from the day of the funeral, but it’s pretty good evidence nonetheless.