The actor Scott Glenn had a similar conversion. His character in Silence of the Lambs was based on John Douglas, founder of the FBI's behavioral sciences unit. While researching the role, Glenn spent time with Douglas who showed Glenn how serial killers were profiled, tracked and hopefully caught. Douglas played some tapes one killer had made recording the torture of his victims. Glenn said in an interview that he had been an opponent of the death penalty until that role, but came to support it afterwards.
That’s the first song I thought of when I read the thread title. Also Sinead’s “Nothing compares 2U” may have received a lot of air play, but it’s nowhere near as powerful or moving as her song, “Last Day Of Our Acquaintance.”
"If I constantly remind myself of the hardships the saints went through, especially the martyrs and their persecution, it makes it all seem not so bad"
That's not likening himself to saints, that's a humble declaration of falling short of them.
"Now they use gmail By the way the cops (or investigators ) can easily get at that. I wonder why they use it and feel it’s safe...."
Cops and investigators can easily get at that if they want to. There's no desire to do so, and as such, it remains a perfectly safe and easy means of dodging federal archiving and record preservation requirements and FOIA inquiries.
"60 years after the fact, how much could sources and methods matter - even if that was real, and not just an excuse to cover up nefarious crimes and corruption?"
Sources and methods may be irrelevant with regards to individuals, but not with generational cabals and hereditary positions.