Author: Sheila Matthews

Journalist, Investigative Reporter & Author, Sharyl Attkisson, Visits Vero Beach

Written by Sheila Matthews on September 9, 2024. Posted in Articles.

September 9, 2024 Vero Beach Book Center

Sharyl Attkisson, Journalist & Host of nonpartisan Sunday-morning TV Show Full Measure & Author with Sheila Matthews, Cofounder of AbleChild.org

Sharyl Attkisson has been a working journalist for more than forty years and is the host and managing editor of the nonpartisan Sunday-morning television program Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson. She has covered controversies under the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, emerging, as the Washington Post put it, with a reputation as a “persistent voice of news-media skepticism about the government’s story.” She is the recipient of five Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting. She has worked for CBS News, PBS, and CNN, and is a fifth-degree black belt master in tae kwon do.

Also By Sharyl Attkisson:
Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism
The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote
Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington

Her New Book Follow the Science, How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails

School Shootings on Trial Again

Written by Sheila Matthews on September 8, 2024. Posted in Articles.

September 9, 2024

In a hushed Georgia courtroom, father and son faced justice for a devastating murderous act that shook a community to its core. Fourteen-year-old Colt Gray sat before the judge, accused of snuffing out four lives at Apalachee High School. Grieving families watched silently as the teen faced four counts of first-degree murder, with the possibility of life in prison.

Colin Gray, 54, followed his son into the courtroom and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and child cruelty. If convicted, Colin could face up to 180 years behind bars. As cameras captured the proceedings, father and son were assigned public defenders. After a brief recess, the teenage shooter was summoned back to the courtroom. The judge, realizing the need for clarification, formally advised the teenager that state law prohibited the death penalty for juveniles,

Georgia’s Spending Increases on Failed Mental Health Programs & No One is Getting Better

Written by Sheila Matthews on September 6, 2024. Posted in Articles.

September 6, 2024

Photo Credit: Grant Blankenship GPB News

It’s so predictable. Everything is falling in line with standard school shooter law enforcement procedures. Zero information is being publicly provided regarding the Georgia shooter, Colt Gray’s, mental health background and prescription psychiatric drug use. The information that is being made available suggests that Gray is just another in a long line of school shooters, raised in a troubled, drug addicted home, visited by ineffective state family services representatives and, probably, drugged to correct inappropriate behavior.

More to the point, if there are no deviations from the cookie-cutter investigation now occurring and standard mental health information being withheld, the outcome of this shooting will lead to a State Commission set up to investigate the cause of the shooting which will, ultimately, recommend increased mental health funding.

AbleChild’s Statement on Mass Killing in Georgia

Written by Sheila Matthews on September 4, 2024. Posted in Articles.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

The murder of 4 and wounding of 9 school-aged children and one teacher in Apalachee High School in Winder, GA is indicative of a pattern that is becoming fairly obvious. More often than not these shooters have been prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Contrary to the Vice President’s comments, these are not “senseless tragedies.” These shootings actually make sense when one begins to consider the mental health element.

Jud Smith, Barrow County Sheriff, explained that the public needed to have patience because “they want to get it right.” Okay, let’s see. But the public is at the mercy of law enforcement, and it isn’t taking any questions or giving any information, yet CNN (John Miller and Mark Morales) are obtaining information from a “law enforcement source in Georgia.”

This is troubling for a number of reasons. Law enforcement leaking information to one news source is what tends to muddy the details of the situation, and it is exactly the reason so many of these mass killings are never solved. What is certain is that as they continue to occur, the funding for more dangerous mental health services increases. It has also been reported that the FBI had this 14-year-old boy on their radar; this is another alarming aspect of this unfolding crime scene.

Sheriff Smith indicated that he was taking no questions and would not comment on any information thus far. CNN, however, claims to have inside information that the “high school received a phone call this morning warning there would be shootings at five schools and that Apalachee would be the first.” Who in Georgia law enforcement is leaking this information to CNN?

More to the point, these shootings are NOT “senseless tragedies.” These shootings go hand-in-hand with the mental health funding and the dangerous psychiatric drugs being prescribed to American children. This is about following the pharmaceutical/behavioral health money. For instance, let’s consider the mental health spending that has been provided to Barrow County, GA. These shootings are not occurring because there is a lack of access to mental health services, nor a lack of money to fund those services.

Billions in Funding at Risk If Audrey Hale’s Mental Health Records Are Released to Public

Written by Sheila Matthews on September 3, 2024. Posted in Articles.

September 3, 2024

Tennessee Star Reports on Inventory collected by investigators “Psych Folder” #46 Audrey Hale

The Tennessee Star released today a 2023 journal written by Covenant School shooter, Audrey Hale. The release of the journal provides very little new information about the shooter’s motives but raises interesting questions about the public’s right to review all the investigative material, including, and especially, mental health records.

Unfortunately, the 2023 journal entries are a rambling diatribe by Hale lamenting having been born a female and whining about how misunderstood she is by her parents and particularly her father. She alleges that she is a victim of having been born the wrong sex and having a broken brain, most of the pages in the journal are about Hale’s desire to die and only then will Hale be happy. Clearly there are many mental health issues involved with Hale leading up to the shooting. The question, though, is what caused Hale’s decent into suicidal and homicidal ideation?

FBI Withholds Physical Evidence in Update on Trump Attempted Assassination Investigation

Written by Sheila Matthews on August 29, 2024. Posted in Articles.

August 29, 2024

President Trump Campaign Trail 2024, Butler, PA Photo Credit: AP Photo, Evan Vucci

Forty-five days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a litany of investigative information. While any nibble goes a long way, the information provided has shortcomings insomuch as the FBI still is not being specific about the all-important physical evidence.

Special Agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, Kevin Rojek, provided remarks during a media call that simply raise more questions. For example, Rojek explains that the “FBI is now in possession of the subject’s autopsy and toxicology reports from the coroner’s office.” Great. When did the FBI obtain the autopsy and toxicology reports from the coroner? Is Rojek referring to the Butler County Coroner or the Allegheny County Medical Examiner? People often confuse these two entities. Specificity would be helpful. It matters.

Forget the FBI. Use the Congressional Subpoena in Trump Assassination Investigation

Written by Sheila Matthews on August 26, 2024. Posted in Articles.

August 26, 2025

**Oliver Morrison 90.5 WESA U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee leads a tour of the site in Butler County where a shooter attempted to assassinate former President and presidential candidate Donald Trump.**

Two things are becoming abundantly clear regarding the “investigation” into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. First, nobody trusts the FBI. Secondly, everybody is complaining that the FBI is stonewalling and withholding information about the alleged shooter and, therefore, the entire sordid event is quickly turning into a Kennedy Assassination-like conspiracy. In other words, nobody trusts the FBI.

Oddly enough the biggest complainers are sitting on the singular investigative body that has the greatest ability to get information but hasn’t utilized its power. The House Bipartisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump has the ability to obtain crucial physical evidence, without the FBI’s permission, and remarkably has failed to act. If the FBI doesn’t want to play fair, there are other useful tools.

“Next of Kin” Autopsy Stifles Truth on Would-be Assassin of President Trump

Written by Sheila Matthews on August 21, 2024. Posted in Articles.

August 21, 2024

photo & caption credit see footnote below

Congressman Clay Higgins, investigator for the House Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump, is not a happy camper. In the Congressman’s preliminary report, the lawmaker raises questions about troubling actions on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), describing those actions as “an obstruction of justice to any following investigative effort.”

What exactly has the FBI done that doesn’t sit well with the Congressman? First, Higgins complains that “the coroner’s report and autopsy report are both “late.” And the second issue the Congressman has with the FBI is that the federal agency allowed the alleged shooter’s body to be cremated prior to Congressional inspection. So, let’s deal with each complaint independently.

Contrary to Congressman Higgins statement, the coroner’s report and autopsy are not “late.” AbleChild spoke with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office on August 4^th and was advised that the autopsy had been conducted and returned to the Butler County Coroner, which will be explained later in the article. Neither the Coroner’s death certificate nor the autopsy is “late.”

Whoever provided this information to the Congressman was either out of the loop or lying. The Butler County coroner was in possession of the autopsy and his own death report when Congressman Higgins met with him. To state otherwise is bizarre.

It might behoove the Congressman to inquire, again, with the Butler County Coroner about not only the reports the coroner had in his possession when meeting with the Congressman, but also why the coroner was directed at midnight on the night of the shooting to return the next morning to carry out the identification process. The Congressman may want to know who made that request, who was guarding the crime scene all night and where is the police log of all who may have been on the roof of the AGR building during the evening.

DNC Convention Protestors. “Joyful Warriors” or Crazed Mental Patients?

Written by Sheila Matthews on August 20, 2024. Posted in Articles.

August 20, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee for President, has recently begun to refer to the Democrat ticket as “joyful warriors.” The phrase coined from remarks made by her running mate Tim Walz praising Harris during a rally saying, “thank you for bringing back the joy.” This is an interesting phrase to represent the Democrat ticket when one considers that study after study has determined that liberals enjoy poorer mental health than conservatives.

According to a study reported in the Columbia Magazine, “American adults who identify as politically liberal have long reported lower levels of happiness and psychological well-being.” And a group of Columbia epidemiologists found evidence that “the same pattern holds for American teenagers…while the rates of depression have been rising among students of all political persuasions and demographics, they have been increasing most sharply among progressive students…”

The authors speculated that the reason for the increased mental health issues could be “left-leaning teens may have been affected by Donald Trump’s election as president, the US Supreme Court’s subsequent lurch to the right, rising socioeconomic inequality, and worsening political polarization.”