Mr. Obama and his staff of intellectuals are pathologically against ever using terms such as "radical Islamist" or "Muslim terrorist" both because it is intellectually sloppy to use broad sweeping terms and because they still cling to the hope that matters can be settled through consensus. It is the intellectual way to do things.
Even Mr. Bush was careful to never confuse the "war on terror" with a "war on Muslims". Both Presidents realize that inciting a theologically based war would alienate millions and produce countless new groups bent on attacking the US and her allies.
But both Team Obama and Team Bush make a critical assumption that has been the bane of the West for the last several centuries; the Muslim world does not think in the same terms as the West. Therefore, its citizens do not react in accordance with White House doctrine no matter how many think tanks and Ivy League scholars wish to tell them otherwise.
For despite the many number of attacks via suicide bomber and active shooter, the favored tactic for dispatching Western infidels is decapitation. Daniel Pearl was one of the first people to be decapitated also was the first to be videotaped while being executed. His case, and those that have since followed leading up to this week's decapitation of a French Catholic priest, should serve as proof that there is not going to be a peaceful consensus.
Decapitation derives from the Latin "caput" meaning head. In the West, removing the head was for the most serious (capital) offenses. The Taliban, al-Qaeda, and ISIS have all adopted this practice as a way of publicly decrying the seriousness of the offenses the West, and by extension Christianity, have inflicted upon them. Washington DC may think by being polite and note using tens involving Islam or Muslim that are keeping things form getting personal. Its a sham that isn't working and in my opinion is actually causing matters to escalate.
The terrorists are using decapitation to shock the public, when matter don't change, they look for more ways to increase the shock value. I'm not sure how you get any more shocking than taking a priest and several nuns hostage during mass and then beheading the priest minutes later.
Young children and teenagers are seeing these images all over the Internet and are either becoming desensitized to the violence and/or sympathetic to the perpetrators. The three-ring circus that we are still calling the Presidential election is not only alienating people from the political process, it may be encouraging isolated individuals to seek out other philosophies.
Last week, 19 people were killed in Japan by a lone individual armed with a knife. In a country with a culture notoriously known for conformity, someone slipped right through the very system that was supposed to identify and help him. If that can happen in Japan, it may already be too late for the US. We no longer tolerate dissenting opinions, you have to be silenced and condemned for speaking out against the prevailing attitude. This doesn't really change people, it just creates even more of a seething hatred for the majority.
England, France, Germany and Sweden have all had attacks perpetrated by immigrants. Mr. Obama is not allowing any discussions linking increased immigrant populations to increased terrorist attacks. Again he and his team appeared to be blind to the fact that immigrants are going to come here full of appreciation and love for the US. Many will resent the West for creating chaos and destruction in their native lands and some, not all, may just want a little retribution. To not recognize that possibility is just unrealistic and borderline irresponsible.
Hillary has yet to address this issue in any meaningful way and if she hopes to capture some hearts and minds of Republicans disillusioned with Trump, she need to do if you wants to be in the White House. Trump's vitriolic tirades, unpolished and harsh though they may be, does address this issue which is why the Democratic party is left dumbfounded by his popularity. This is not an endorsement of either candidate but rather to open some minds up to issues beyond egos and personalities.
Another major, brutal attack is going to happen because the US and Europe have done nothing to change the script. Bombing the snot out of ISIS in Syria and Iraq does nothing about the threats already over here. Whoever becomes the next President needs to have some better ideas.
“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.”--Benjamin Franklin
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Monday, July 25, 2016
Elections, Turks and Nukes
So much going on in the world right now. The Republican National Convention managed to finish up lat week in Cleveland somehow without the Cuyahoga River being set on fire or more police being shot or more police shooting black people. Well done Ohio, well done….
The Democratic National Convention may not fare as well, the DNC chairwoman had to summarily resign after emails were leaked showing she intentionally derailed Bernie Saunders. Attendees all seem to hate Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Hillary and her VP running Time Kaine with equal hatred. Not a lot of love going on the city of "Brotherly Love".
Ok, now that my obligatory smart-ass remarks about realpolitik are out of the way, I'd like to look at our misbegotten NATO ally…Turkey.
Mr. Obama supported Mr. Erdogan, he of the recent military coup attempt, and are rewarded by the lock-down of Incirlik AB…including the 3,000 US airmen stationed there. Now the plot gets murkier, initial reports were that the families of those airmen had been safely evacuated. Oh not so fast there Hondo…brand newly minted CoS of the USAF, Gen David Goldfein, didn't have a lot of answers for some very angry family members who claimed their non-military family members had most assuredly NOT been evacuated from Incirlik!
Run-roh Reorge….now its bad enough the US military personnel and their families are trapped on Incirlik but now comes the other issue. See the US and Turkey have had this unusual relationship for years. In exchange for allowing the US to stage B61 thermonuclear devices at the base (which may or may not still currently reside there…don't know, ask your member of Congress), the White House and State Department have turned a blind eye to many of Turkey's decided non-NATO tendencies (like trying to wipe out the Kurdish people).
In exchange for staging our air campaigns (first against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, now ISIS and Syria) the US has provided Turkey with F-16s and other high tech weapons.
US intelligence apparently failed to detect the coup attempt in time to evacuate personnel from Incirlik. Worse, the B61 devices can't just be loaded on to any aircraft, so by the time the coup had occurred it was already too late to remove the nuclear devices.
Ah but now things get even more interesting. For you see the B61 thermonuclear devices are a legacy of the Cold War, their presence at Incirlik can never be confirmed or denied. For doing so would have tipped the strategic scales in favor of Moscow and might have caused the Kremlin to increase the presence of their nuclear devices in the region.
So now the US is faced with a dilemma, confirming the presence or absence of thermonuclear devices at Incirlik will create some unknown response from Mr. Putin (who already has no respect for Mr. Obama and company). To confirm presence means destabilization and increased presence of modernized Russian nuclear weapons in the region; to confirm absence means Russia has free reign to move around the region as they see fit and NATO basically loses its eastern flank.
The farce of our Presidential Election process has further emboldened our enemies. Race relations are at their worst since segregation. If you were an attacking force, it doesn't take much at all to foment more hatred and chaos in the US. If a civil war of even a moderate size were to break out, consider it an open invitation to run amok. They wouldn't need to even invade, just surreptitiously feed both sides with arms and supplies and sit back.
Maybe we are already in the Walking Dead…..
The Democratic National Convention may not fare as well, the DNC chairwoman had to summarily resign after emails were leaked showing she intentionally derailed Bernie Saunders. Attendees all seem to hate Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Hillary and her VP running Time Kaine with equal hatred. Not a lot of love going on the city of "Brotherly Love".
Ok, now that my obligatory smart-ass remarks about realpolitik are out of the way, I'd like to look at our misbegotten NATO ally…Turkey.
Mr. Obama supported Mr. Erdogan, he of the recent military coup attempt, and are rewarded by the lock-down of Incirlik AB…including the 3,000 US airmen stationed there. Now the plot gets murkier, initial reports were that the families of those airmen had been safely evacuated. Oh not so fast there Hondo…brand newly minted CoS of the USAF, Gen David Goldfein, didn't have a lot of answers for some very angry family members who claimed their non-military family members had most assuredly NOT been evacuated from Incirlik!
Run-roh Reorge….now its bad enough the US military personnel and their families are trapped on Incirlik but now comes the other issue. See the US and Turkey have had this unusual relationship for years. In exchange for allowing the US to stage B61 thermonuclear devices at the base (which may or may not still currently reside there…don't know, ask your member of Congress), the White House and State Department have turned a blind eye to many of Turkey's decided non-NATO tendencies (like trying to wipe out the Kurdish people).
In exchange for staging our air campaigns (first against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, now ISIS and Syria) the US has provided Turkey with F-16s and other high tech weapons.
US intelligence apparently failed to detect the coup attempt in time to evacuate personnel from Incirlik. Worse, the B61 devices can't just be loaded on to any aircraft, so by the time the coup had occurred it was already too late to remove the nuclear devices.
Ah but now things get even more interesting. For you see the B61 thermonuclear devices are a legacy of the Cold War, their presence at Incirlik can never be confirmed or denied. For doing so would have tipped the strategic scales in favor of Moscow and might have caused the Kremlin to increase the presence of their nuclear devices in the region.
So now the US is faced with a dilemma, confirming the presence or absence of thermonuclear devices at Incirlik will create some unknown response from Mr. Putin (who already has no respect for Mr. Obama and company). To confirm presence means destabilization and increased presence of modernized Russian nuclear weapons in the region; to confirm absence means Russia has free reign to move around the region as they see fit and NATO basically loses its eastern flank.
The farce of our Presidential Election process has further emboldened our enemies. Race relations are at their worst since segregation. If you were an attacking force, it doesn't take much at all to foment more hatred and chaos in the US. If a civil war of even a moderate size were to break out, consider it an open invitation to run amok. They wouldn't need to even invade, just surreptitiously feed both sides with arms and supplies and sit back.
Maybe we are already in the Walking Dead…..
Monday, July 18, 2016
Food for Thought
Just in the last few weeks, we've had the shootings in Orlando, the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, then the shootings of 11 Dallas police officers, then a truck attack killing 86 people in Nice, France then Turkey had a failed military coup. Now there has been 3 police officers killed in Baton Rouge. Let's not forget Britain pulling out of the EU and the subsequent resignation of the Prime Minister and the election of a new one (Theresa May).
How quickly our minds have faded from Hillary's "careless handling" of classified materials. Americans should really still be talking about Orlando or the state of race leading to the violent conflicts with police but the headlines pop and minds wonder to the next catastrophe.
We may hardly have time to remember that before next week's Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland where Mr. Trump and now Mr. Pence (they of the poorly designed campaign logo) will accept the party's nomination as their candidate for President. Assuming the Republicans don't decide to add more chaos to the world by demanding
For once, I'm not entirely positive what all of these various things may mean other than they all serve to keep the public uneasy. Despite all of our advances in medicine, food and technology the headlines can make you feel like we are back in the days of the Wild West where random violence can negate all of these comforts in the blink of an eye.
One of the things that is going to get ignored is the lessons France has been teaching us. A society of multi-culturism does not guarantee that all cultures feel respected. A society where private ownership of firearms is uncommon does not guarantee a society free from violence. A society of tolerance does not mean intolerance doesn't exist. Call it political correctness.
The US has increasingly become more liberal in recent years and that should not be the dirty word that conservatives make it out to be. We now have civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, protections for children, animal rights, etc. But the momentum has swung so far to the left as to become unwieldy. We now have college students, once the bastions of rebellion, huddling in safe rooms to avoid "hurtful words or speech". WTF?
The term for this new generation in need of "protection from hurtful thoughts" is "snowflake". Snowflakes seek to avoid any and all thoughts and words that are contrary to their beliefs. Earlier generations would have gladly sought out those with different beliefs in an attempt to convince them of the error of their ways, or at least engage in some passionate debate with the opposition and let them know there are those that won't be quiet!
Snowflakes and those that seek to protect them are creating more harm then they realize. But silencing any and all opposition (read "hurtful thoughts and speech), the existence of pain for the snowflakes didn't go away…there were just not allowed to express themselves. When you think of it that way, you see that what is created is the perfect environment not to protect delicate sensibilities but a breeding ground for frustrations, anger and rage.
Eventually, someone who has had to keep their opinions to themselves explodes and drives a truck through a crowd. I'm not advocating in any way allowing hate to fester but misguided attempts to protect snowflakes empires groups like ISIS to find the frustrated and disenfranchise and turn them into weapons.
It is also a lot more difficult in a society of political correctness to notice aberrated behaviors until after they act out. France is experience that now, a culture of political correctness and protectiveness of snowflakes and the terrorists are finding a rich recruitment base.
Political correctness masks the fact few are truly as tolerant as they pretend. People are still racist, bigoted, chauvinists, xenophobes, and homophobes but political correctness likes to pretend everyone is ok with everyone. The Pollyanna PC world is ill-prepares people for harshness of reality. It also creates a perfect environment for loners who feel isolated due to their incorrect, non-PC views to simmer and seethe beyond the purview of the rest PC land until it is too late.
Mr. Obama reaches out to Mr. Erdogan which should mean the Turkish president is a good guy. Yet Mr. Erdogan's military staged a coup (which you tend to only do with tyrants), which failed, and now Mr. Erdogan is now going about executing any and all who participated. In the PC world, we aren't allowed to scratch our heads and ask, "WTF was Mr. Obama thinking?!"
The same PC world is what created the need for Black Lives Matter but not for the reason you think. Going back to Bill Clinton's time in office, the it what was PC to get tough on crime. Clinton obliged but passing mandatory sentencing and making extensive use of RICO to leverage asset forfeiture against drug dealers and seize all of their belongings (which drug task forces then sold off at auction to fund their operations).
Two things changed as a result, police departments now looked for the drug dealers as a means to subsidize their departments. This meant going into crack houses which were heavily armed necessitating the second change, police became militarized.
The poorest neighborhoods (read black and Latino) are the ones easiest to find drug dealers. Heavily armed police invading (and yes, if you look dispassionately at the tactics used that is exactly what is going on) black neighborhoods using military style tactics. There was little to no outreach to involve the black communities and the police, regardless of race, became desensitized to their own methods. Everyone was doing drugs and therefore their tactics became justified as a means of protecting themselves. Higher ups only what to see the funding streams from asset forfeiture continue.
White neighborhoods were spared, not because of the lack of criminal activity or even racial profiling. The reason was simple, wealthy neighborhoods are not going to tolerate police raids and shootings in their neighborhoods. And city hall knows it so the police follow the path of least resistance.
Black Lives Matter arose out of this 20 plus year cycle of asset forfeiture, mandatory sentencing and the resulting militarization of the police. What the movement was trying to call attention to was not that somehow black lives matter more than others but rather the number of times black suspects die at the hands of the police. The message got garbled by the media and the PC world into all Black Lives Matter which of course caused everyone to point out that most blacks still die at the hands of other black people.
But it doesn't change the siege that has been going on in the black communities at the hands of law enforcement. The change started by Clinton in how drug crimes are charged and prosecuted has created a population explosion in our prisons with the vast majority being black. Cops, without even realizing it, become conditioned to immediately seeing a black person as a suspect. When confronted with someone you perceive as a "dangerous suspect" your demeanor changes. Blacks who see cops not as peace officers but as oppressors, react differently as well.
This is what Black Lives Matter was trying to originally say but alas, they too got caught in the media machine (often ironically referred to as "the beast) and now sound like an incoherent mess.
Mr. Obama claims justice will be served and the culprit of the Baton Rouge police shootings yet he has said noting about addressing the issues between the police and black communities. No more than he has addressed how his actions (on inactions) have created ISIS.
I spent a lot of time and written a lot words on what may seem to be two very divergent topics to point this out. We had better learn to address our own issues between the police and African American communities for if we don't, ISIS (or some other group) will use this very rich recruiting ground for against (if they haven't started already). And the police are a very popular target right now. If the police are too busy going into a hunker down mode, who exactly is left to patrol the streets?
How quickly our minds have faded from Hillary's "careless handling" of classified materials. Americans should really still be talking about Orlando or the state of race leading to the violent conflicts with police but the headlines pop and minds wonder to the next catastrophe.
We may hardly have time to remember that before next week's Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland where Mr. Trump and now Mr. Pence (they of the poorly designed campaign logo) will accept the party's nomination as their candidate for President. Assuming the Republicans don't decide to add more chaos to the world by demanding
For once, I'm not entirely positive what all of these various things may mean other than they all serve to keep the public uneasy. Despite all of our advances in medicine, food and technology the headlines can make you feel like we are back in the days of the Wild West where random violence can negate all of these comforts in the blink of an eye.
One of the things that is going to get ignored is the lessons France has been teaching us. A society of multi-culturism does not guarantee that all cultures feel respected. A society where private ownership of firearms is uncommon does not guarantee a society free from violence. A society of tolerance does not mean intolerance doesn't exist. Call it political correctness.
The US has increasingly become more liberal in recent years and that should not be the dirty word that conservatives make it out to be. We now have civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, protections for children, animal rights, etc. But the momentum has swung so far to the left as to become unwieldy. We now have college students, once the bastions of rebellion, huddling in safe rooms to avoid "hurtful words or speech". WTF?
The term for this new generation in need of "protection from hurtful thoughts" is "snowflake". Snowflakes seek to avoid any and all thoughts and words that are contrary to their beliefs. Earlier generations would have gladly sought out those with different beliefs in an attempt to convince them of the error of their ways, or at least engage in some passionate debate with the opposition and let them know there are those that won't be quiet!
Snowflakes and those that seek to protect them are creating more harm then they realize. But silencing any and all opposition (read "hurtful thoughts and speech), the existence of pain for the snowflakes didn't go away…there were just not allowed to express themselves. When you think of it that way, you see that what is created is the perfect environment not to protect delicate sensibilities but a breeding ground for frustrations, anger and rage.
Eventually, someone who has had to keep their opinions to themselves explodes and drives a truck through a crowd. I'm not advocating in any way allowing hate to fester but misguided attempts to protect snowflakes empires groups like ISIS to find the frustrated and disenfranchise and turn them into weapons.
It is also a lot more difficult in a society of political correctness to notice aberrated behaviors until after they act out. France is experience that now, a culture of political correctness and protectiveness of snowflakes and the terrorists are finding a rich recruitment base.
Political correctness masks the fact few are truly as tolerant as they pretend. People are still racist, bigoted, chauvinists, xenophobes, and homophobes but political correctness likes to pretend everyone is ok with everyone. The Pollyanna PC world is ill-prepares people for harshness of reality. It also creates a perfect environment for loners who feel isolated due to their incorrect, non-PC views to simmer and seethe beyond the purview of the rest PC land until it is too late.
Mr. Obama reaches out to Mr. Erdogan which should mean the Turkish president is a good guy. Yet Mr. Erdogan's military staged a coup (which you tend to only do with tyrants), which failed, and now Mr. Erdogan is now going about executing any and all who participated. In the PC world, we aren't allowed to scratch our heads and ask, "WTF was Mr. Obama thinking?!"
The same PC world is what created the need for Black Lives Matter but not for the reason you think. Going back to Bill Clinton's time in office, the it what was PC to get tough on crime. Clinton obliged but passing mandatory sentencing and making extensive use of RICO to leverage asset forfeiture against drug dealers and seize all of their belongings (which drug task forces then sold off at auction to fund their operations).
Two things changed as a result, police departments now looked for the drug dealers as a means to subsidize their departments. This meant going into crack houses which were heavily armed necessitating the second change, police became militarized.
The poorest neighborhoods (read black and Latino) are the ones easiest to find drug dealers. Heavily armed police invading (and yes, if you look dispassionately at the tactics used that is exactly what is going on) black neighborhoods using military style tactics. There was little to no outreach to involve the black communities and the police, regardless of race, became desensitized to their own methods. Everyone was doing drugs and therefore their tactics became justified as a means of protecting themselves. Higher ups only what to see the funding streams from asset forfeiture continue.
White neighborhoods were spared, not because of the lack of criminal activity or even racial profiling. The reason was simple, wealthy neighborhoods are not going to tolerate police raids and shootings in their neighborhoods. And city hall knows it so the police follow the path of least resistance.
Black Lives Matter arose out of this 20 plus year cycle of asset forfeiture, mandatory sentencing and the resulting militarization of the police. What the movement was trying to call attention to was not that somehow black lives matter more than others but rather the number of times black suspects die at the hands of the police. The message got garbled by the media and the PC world into all Black Lives Matter which of course caused everyone to point out that most blacks still die at the hands of other black people.
But it doesn't change the siege that has been going on in the black communities at the hands of law enforcement. The change started by Clinton in how drug crimes are charged and prosecuted has created a population explosion in our prisons with the vast majority being black. Cops, without even realizing it, become conditioned to immediately seeing a black person as a suspect. When confronted with someone you perceive as a "dangerous suspect" your demeanor changes. Blacks who see cops not as peace officers but as oppressors, react differently as well.
This is what Black Lives Matter was trying to originally say but alas, they too got caught in the media machine (often ironically referred to as "the beast) and now sound like an incoherent mess.
Mr. Obama claims justice will be served and the culprit of the Baton Rouge police shootings yet he has said noting about addressing the issues between the police and black communities. No more than he has addressed how his actions (on inactions) have created ISIS.
I spent a lot of time and written a lot words on what may seem to be two very divergent topics to point this out. We had better learn to address our own issues between the police and African American communities for if we don't, ISIS (or some other group) will use this very rich recruiting ground for against (if they haven't started already). And the police are a very popular target right now. If the police are too busy going into a hunker down mode, who exactly is left to patrol the streets?
Monday, July 11, 2016
Police Robots
Of all the movies I've seen over my life, and I'm an avoid movie geek, none has ever had a quote gotten stuck in my head the way "A Fistful of Dollars" has. Even some 52 years after it's release, Clint Eastwood's "man with no name" (who actually has a name in this movie, "Joe") upon realizing he is in a town with two murderous factions bent on killing each other dryly quips, "There is MONEY to be made in a town like this". Even when I was just a young kid, this particular line resonated with me for some reason. I know there was a greater truth being shared beyond the plot of the movie.
The quote kept popping back up in my mind as I read all of the news and social media angst over the shootings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Dallas Police officers. Just as Clint's character did, I saw Rojos (one of the families in the movies) on one side and the Baxters (the other family in the movie on the other. Substitute "black" and "white" for "Rojo" and "Baxter" and we begin to see there is money to be made in a town like this. But how?
At first, I dimly thought it was going to be something along the lines of federalizing all of the police to get police to stop shooting so many black people. Problem is, that doesn't really generate much money and it makes the public even more suspicious. Then I thought maybe it would be the cottage industry that would pop-up to teach police departments how to stop shooting black people (my comments are decidedly one-way on purpose as that is how the media portrays the problem).
But none of that seems to generate the kind of money I was thinking of, especially as someone who got to see how much private military companies get paid in the middle of a war. There had to be something I was missing. Then I remembered another movie…..
The quote kept popping back up in my mind as I read all of the news and social media angst over the shootings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Dallas Police officers. Just as Clint's character did, I saw Rojos (one of the families in the movies) on one side and the Baxters (the other family in the movie on the other. Substitute "black" and "white" for "Rojo" and "Baxter" and we begin to see there is money to be made in a town like this. But how?
At first, I dimly thought it was going to be something along the lines of federalizing all of the police to get police to stop shooting so many black people. Problem is, that doesn't really generate much money and it makes the public even more suspicious. Then I thought maybe it would be the cottage industry that would pop-up to teach police departments how to stop shooting black people (my comments are decidedly one-way on purpose as that is how the media portrays the problem).
But none of that seems to generate the kind of money I was thinking of, especially as someone who got to see how much private military companies get paid in the middle of a war. There had to be something I was missing. Then I remembered another movie…..
For those of you too young to remember, that is the "Enforcement Droid-209" from the original "Robocop" movie. The droid famously demanded in the movie "Please put your weapon down. You have 20 seconds to comply" Of course, when the demonstrator drops his weapon the ED-209 proceeds to continue its countdown and finally kills the character in a hail of bullets.
Of course, this was a late 80s sci-fi movie with great special effects and cheesy acting (or did I have that reversed?). Sitting is a theater in Belleville, Illinois it seemed entertaining but not something that would happen in my lifetime. Right?
Then I read a little more about the shootings in Dallas. Apparently the Dallas PD used a robot to kill the shooter (article). Ruh-roh George, we just entered the Twilight Zone!
Killer robot cops seemed far-fetched and cheesy in 1987 (the year of the original Robocop movie) but 29 years later, robots offer solutions to so many problems. For starters, nobody can accuse a robot of being a racist. It does what it is programmed to do without regard to race, greed, color, gender or sexual orientation. It doesn't cost a fortune to train it, a single software update can be pushed out to the robots in one key-stroke (and without overtime or negotiations with the FOP. It will patrol the most dangerous, God-foresaken neighborhoods without concern for its safety or demands for higher pay. Nor will robots get caught having sex with teen prostitutes.
But just as I've cautioned in regards to robot soldiers, robot cops come with some inherent dangers. Malfunctions will result in the death of civilians. Robots will execute their programs without regard to situations such as mental health problems, grief or substance abuse. Resist arrest and a robot will throw you to the ground and strap cuffs on you regardless of your mental state or the fact that your a trying to find your lost child. Robots also create anonymity for city officials: I can almost guarantee that the more affluent neighborhood (read, "white) will still be patrolled by carbon-based (read, "human") cops while less affluent (read, non-white) neighborhoods will be patrolled by robots.
While the media and activists will pretend to be driving this narrative, it really comes down to money. Just as McDonald's is turning to robots to cut cost and avoid costly personnel issues, so will police department and city hall turn to robots to avoid the problems making headlines today. Shooting a robot cop will not generate the angst, headlines and social media chaos that is happening today. Likewise, the killing of a minority by a robot will not have the same racial implications that it does today.
Robots won't need patrol cars, armored vests, or batons. They can move around on their own, be built out of Kevlar, and smack the crap out of any perpetrators with their "arms". Bureaucrats are already salivating over the huge cost-savings of switching to silicon-based police forces.
The military tends to dictate technology for law enforcement. Both the military and law enforcement are using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The military is already testing robots that stand upright and move like humans. A real life ED-209 is just around the corner.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
More shootings
New sooner does HRC get accused of being "extremely careless" with emails than the nation goes into meltdown over the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Both were African-American, both died at the hands of the police.
Liberals and Black Lives Matter (BLM) went into overdrive on social media claiming that it was time to stop talking and "do" something. They seemingly got their wish when a shooter in Dallas killed 5 officers and wounded 7 others.
My head is still reeling from all of this along with the social media overload of whiny-ass Liberals and indignant Conservatives. The Liberals absolutely see no correlation between their outcries for "action" and the shooter in Dallas (even though they have no problems correlating the shooting in Orlando to gun-ownership). Conservatives smugly blame the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile on the fact that African-Americans just need to obey police officers.
You both got what you wanted and now what? African-Americans are even more convinced that cops can kill them with impunity and cops are more convinced than ever that they need more firepower and better armor. Great, neither of these notions does anything to decrease the number of Americans (black, white, brown) that are dying as a result of violent encounters with the police (who in-turn are also being killed). Wake the fuck up, your shit ain't working!
Here's what I took away from the shit this week. First, the African-American community is no more immune from media hype than anyone else. Outrage about Alton Sterling and Philando Castile? Abso-fucking-lutely except where was your outrage over the 69 murders in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend? Or even the 14 murdered in Chicago this past weekend? You're being worked by the media and don't even see it. Yes, there is a huge crisis where black lives are being taking at an alarming rate but you can't pick and choose….it weakens your argument.
And to the smug-ass Conservatives who think if only African-Americans would obey when the police come-a-knocking, things would be different…you're wrong. A retired O-6, Vietnam veteran who was a hand-to-hand combat instructor and one of the most highly decorated combat veterans in Ohio just posted this on his Facebook page;
"It doesn't take a blue ribbon panel, or DOJ investigation to recognize that this policing protocol is the ultimate subjugation of our citizens. Thrown down on the ground, and piled upon by screaming people pulling at your arms, and exercising calculated methods of a two hundred pound body mashing and twisting on your body. I don't know of anyone that would feel safe in those situations, nor do I know anyone that would accept that kind of treatment. What is up with that policing protocol.
Think about the escalation of events that a situation like being thrown on the ground and knelt on would occur if it happened to you. I can assure you that as much as I respect the difficult job of law enforcement and my personal efforts to always try to cooperate...if a couple of guys try to throw me down and pile on me...we gonna go!! The law enforcement community really needs to revisit on that whole method for dealing with people.
I watch that process time and again as media rolls out "cops doing a tough job" video or pictures with a clearly tortured fellow human pinned under a scrum of cops all shouting "give me your hands" while kneeling on their head.
Guaranteed escalation from anybody! Find another way or the relationship will only get worse! Not a good idea and should be reserved for special tactics elements with clear cut targeting protocols."
This is from a WHITE combat veteran, an MP who was in Vietnam and he can't wrap his head around this shit but the police supporters and conservatives can't understand why BLM and the African-American community are pissed off?!
Now that I've got you good and mad (and if I didn't, ask yourself why not?) consider this. Subtract all of the racial components from the Dallas shooting and what did we learn? The shooter was a private first class in the Army Reserves assigned to 420th Engineer Brigade. Yet this low-level enlisted troop, who was not an elite combat troop such as a Ranger or SEAL, was able to kill 5 veteran Dallas police officers and wound at least 7 more who we can safely assume had more experience.
He also demonstrated why you should never bring a pistol to a rifle fight. One officer place a center-mass shot into the shooter, only to watch his 9mm slug bounce off of the shooters body-armor. The shooter was able to return fire, shooting the officer once in the back and then walking up to the downed officer and executing him with several more rounds at point-blank.
Any attacking force, let's say ISIS, is studying all of this. They will know that police ammunition is ineffective against military grade body armor. They also know that police tactics are rendered useless against even the most basic infantry tactics. Finally, they know that police body armor can't withstand rounds from 7.62 X 39 rifles (contrary to what media reports are saying, the shooter did NOT use an AR-15).
Imagine if this had been a four-man squad with training like what happened in Mumbai in 2004. They also have learned that police shootings don't elicit sympathy from African-Americans and liberals. No one will be looking for ulterior motives.
Cops on the other hand respond by asking for bigger guns and better equipment thinking they are under siege. Of course they forget that a good, centerfire rifle can defeat the latest "tactical" equipment (you can buy a quality 30-06 semi-auto hunting rifle at Wal Mart). Oh wait you say, those rounds won't penetrate? Ok, please stand about 50 feet away and let someone shoot you and your tactical vest with a "non-penetrating" round like a .30-06 or .270 and let me know how you feel. No takers? Don't blame you!
The next encounter between police and "civilians" will be even uglier and as things stand today, I don't see any signs of things abating. The banks aren't impressed either. Gold and silver prices are tanking. Let things continue to get worse in the US and no one will even remember Brexit. I can't even begin to think what this all means for November.
Liberals and Black Lives Matter (BLM) went into overdrive on social media claiming that it was time to stop talking and "do" something. They seemingly got their wish when a shooter in Dallas killed 5 officers and wounded 7 others.
My head is still reeling from all of this along with the social media overload of whiny-ass Liberals and indignant Conservatives. The Liberals absolutely see no correlation between their outcries for "action" and the shooter in Dallas (even though they have no problems correlating the shooting in Orlando to gun-ownership). Conservatives smugly blame the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile on the fact that African-Americans just need to obey police officers.
You both got what you wanted and now what? African-Americans are even more convinced that cops can kill them with impunity and cops are more convinced than ever that they need more firepower and better armor. Great, neither of these notions does anything to decrease the number of Americans (black, white, brown) that are dying as a result of violent encounters with the police (who in-turn are also being killed). Wake the fuck up, your shit ain't working!
Here's what I took away from the shit this week. First, the African-American community is no more immune from media hype than anyone else. Outrage about Alton Sterling and Philando Castile? Abso-fucking-lutely except where was your outrage over the 69 murders in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend? Or even the 14 murdered in Chicago this past weekend? You're being worked by the media and don't even see it. Yes, there is a huge crisis where black lives are being taking at an alarming rate but you can't pick and choose….it weakens your argument.
And to the smug-ass Conservatives who think if only African-Americans would obey when the police come-a-knocking, things would be different…you're wrong. A retired O-6, Vietnam veteran who was a hand-to-hand combat instructor and one of the most highly decorated combat veterans in Ohio just posted this on his Facebook page;
"It doesn't take a blue ribbon panel, or DOJ investigation to recognize that this policing protocol is the ultimate subjugation of our citizens. Thrown down on the ground, and piled upon by screaming people pulling at your arms, and exercising calculated methods of a two hundred pound body mashing and twisting on your body. I don't know of anyone that would feel safe in those situations, nor do I know anyone that would accept that kind of treatment. What is up with that policing protocol.
Think about the escalation of events that a situation like being thrown on the ground and knelt on would occur if it happened to you. I can assure you that as much as I respect the difficult job of law enforcement and my personal efforts to always try to cooperate...if a couple of guys try to throw me down and pile on me...we gonna go!! The law enforcement community really needs to revisit on that whole method for dealing with people.
I watch that process time and again as media rolls out "cops doing a tough job" video or pictures with a clearly tortured fellow human pinned under a scrum of cops all shouting "give me your hands" while kneeling on their head.
Guaranteed escalation from anybody! Find another way or the relationship will only get worse! Not a good idea and should be reserved for special tactics elements with clear cut targeting protocols."
This is from a WHITE combat veteran, an MP who was in Vietnam and he can't wrap his head around this shit but the police supporters and conservatives can't understand why BLM and the African-American community are pissed off?!
Now that I've got you good and mad (and if I didn't, ask yourself why not?) consider this. Subtract all of the racial components from the Dallas shooting and what did we learn? The shooter was a private first class in the Army Reserves assigned to 420th Engineer Brigade. Yet this low-level enlisted troop, who was not an elite combat troop such as a Ranger or SEAL, was able to kill 5 veteran Dallas police officers and wound at least 7 more who we can safely assume had more experience.
He also demonstrated why you should never bring a pistol to a rifle fight. One officer place a center-mass shot into the shooter, only to watch his 9mm slug bounce off of the shooters body-armor. The shooter was able to return fire, shooting the officer once in the back and then walking up to the downed officer and executing him with several more rounds at point-blank.
Any attacking force, let's say ISIS, is studying all of this. They will know that police ammunition is ineffective against military grade body armor. They also know that police tactics are rendered useless against even the most basic infantry tactics. Finally, they know that police body armor can't withstand rounds from 7.62 X 39 rifles (contrary to what media reports are saying, the shooter did NOT use an AR-15).
Imagine if this had been a four-man squad with training like what happened in Mumbai in 2004. They also have learned that police shootings don't elicit sympathy from African-Americans and liberals. No one will be looking for ulterior motives.
Cops on the other hand respond by asking for bigger guns and better equipment thinking they are under siege. Of course they forget that a good, centerfire rifle can defeat the latest "tactical" equipment (you can buy a quality 30-06 semi-auto hunting rifle at Wal Mart). Oh wait you say, those rounds won't penetrate? Ok, please stand about 50 feet away and let someone shoot you and your tactical vest with a "non-penetrating" round like a .30-06 or .270 and let me know how you feel. No takers? Don't blame you!
The next encounter between police and "civilians" will be even uglier and as things stand today, I don't see any signs of things abating. The banks aren't impressed either. Gold and silver prices are tanking. Let things continue to get worse in the US and no one will even remember Brexit. I can't even begin to think what this all means for November.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Action versus planning
Tyler Cowen, economist and author, observed "The more information that's out there, the greater the returns on just being willing to sit down and apply yourself. Information isn't what's scarce, it's the willingness to do something with it."
Think of all of the meetings you have sat through where page after page (or worse, PowerPoint slide after slide) is pushed in front of you with mind-numbing amounts of data. Not real information by the way, just shear numbers, graphs and charts. You spend 2 or more hours with your fellow inmates hearing the same information rehashed and repackaged in the hopes that it will reveal some new reality. Instead, you often leave with no greater charter or purpose than when you first plopped down in your seat.
You would think the one place relatively immune from this practice would be the military but alas you are mistaken. My experiences in the Air Force and Air National Guard increasingly was spent producing inordinate amounts of data just to sit in meetings to pretend like we understood what we were looking at (the one service I found even more hamstring by this phenomena is the Army National Guard. Good lord can those soldiers pile data onto a single PowerPoint slide!!).
What all of this sitting around and staring at data meant was there are any number of highly trained, highly qualified senior officers and NCOs sitting around talking instead of doing. Oh if you think there are any renegades out there, understand that ANY and EVERY decision a commanding officer or NCOIC makes has to be backed up by copious amounts of data. No 20 plus years of experience doesn't matter…did you base you decision on all of the PowerPoint slides provided to you? And in-turn, did you provide all of YOUR PowerPoint slides in advance BEFORE taking action?
Mr. Obama strikes me very much as a thinker versus a doer. He seems very uncomfortable working without a script. Action to him is the absolute last recourse, much better to hold meetings and give speeches than to actually have to make a decision. Corporate America, and its collusive partners in academia, have all conspired to create the great information age but in so doing also created the great age of inaction.
ISIS has had profound impacts on the public's psyche mainly because they act without planning! Oh my, how can this be? In today's age, shouldn't we need meetings to form committees to form action plans that need to be approved by the board of directors? How can some Third World, heathens condemned to living in a place where summertime temps go above 120 degrees Fahrenheit act with such reckless abandoned?
And this is the whole reason we have seen ISIS continue to grow and become more active because the reaction by the West to these attacks continues to be "Let's have a meeting and discuss a plan of action". ISIS, and other groups as well, has figured out they can act faster than our decision-cycle allows us to react.
Mr. Obama and his cabinet appear loathe to act without "buy-in" from all of the required players (to which you need to ask, "and just who the hell decides that?" Another meeting of course!). ISIS has figured out how to reach new recruits virtually and activate them within the country they want to target. There is no tell, virtually no "chatter", and as long as the recruit has no prior-record none of the current analytical models will be triggered.
TSA is still looking to stop the next 9/11 by screening all passengers before going on board an aircraft…completely ignoring that by doing so, they are creating a target rich environment for the next terrorist attack. Mr. Obama can't bring himself to call out radical Islamists because none of his data shows that this is a solution. So instead, he appears to be a man of inaction and without realizing it contributes to furthering the very chaos he wishes would just stop.
The Orlando attack worked because the venue, a loud night club, prevented people from realizing what was happening (and possibly taking on the attacker) before it was too late. ISIS has found a model that works and is going to keep running with it. In the meantime, our data-driven society will continue to hold meetings and look at graphs and charts and worry about the next attack.
It is time to act and stop analyzing!
Think of all of the meetings you have sat through where page after page (or worse, PowerPoint slide after slide) is pushed in front of you with mind-numbing amounts of data. Not real information by the way, just shear numbers, graphs and charts. You spend 2 or more hours with your fellow inmates hearing the same information rehashed and repackaged in the hopes that it will reveal some new reality. Instead, you often leave with no greater charter or purpose than when you first plopped down in your seat.
You would think the one place relatively immune from this practice would be the military but alas you are mistaken. My experiences in the Air Force and Air National Guard increasingly was spent producing inordinate amounts of data just to sit in meetings to pretend like we understood what we were looking at (the one service I found even more hamstring by this phenomena is the Army National Guard. Good lord can those soldiers pile data onto a single PowerPoint slide!!).
What all of this sitting around and staring at data meant was there are any number of highly trained, highly qualified senior officers and NCOs sitting around talking instead of doing. Oh if you think there are any renegades out there, understand that ANY and EVERY decision a commanding officer or NCOIC makes has to be backed up by copious amounts of data. No 20 plus years of experience doesn't matter…did you base you decision on all of the PowerPoint slides provided to you? And in-turn, did you provide all of YOUR PowerPoint slides in advance BEFORE taking action?
Mr. Obama strikes me very much as a thinker versus a doer. He seems very uncomfortable working without a script. Action to him is the absolute last recourse, much better to hold meetings and give speeches than to actually have to make a decision. Corporate America, and its collusive partners in academia, have all conspired to create the great information age but in so doing also created the great age of inaction.
ISIS has had profound impacts on the public's psyche mainly because they act without planning! Oh my, how can this be? In today's age, shouldn't we need meetings to form committees to form action plans that need to be approved by the board of directors? How can some Third World, heathens condemned to living in a place where summertime temps go above 120 degrees Fahrenheit act with such reckless abandoned?
And this is the whole reason we have seen ISIS continue to grow and become more active because the reaction by the West to these attacks continues to be "Let's have a meeting and discuss a plan of action". ISIS, and other groups as well, has figured out they can act faster than our decision-cycle allows us to react.
Mr. Obama and his cabinet appear loathe to act without "buy-in" from all of the required players (to which you need to ask, "and just who the hell decides that?" Another meeting of course!). ISIS has figured out how to reach new recruits virtually and activate them within the country they want to target. There is no tell, virtually no "chatter", and as long as the recruit has no prior-record none of the current analytical models will be triggered.
TSA is still looking to stop the next 9/11 by screening all passengers before going on board an aircraft…completely ignoring that by doing so, they are creating a target rich environment for the next terrorist attack. Mr. Obama can't bring himself to call out radical Islamists because none of his data shows that this is a solution. So instead, he appears to be a man of inaction and without realizing it contributes to furthering the very chaos he wishes would just stop.
The Orlando attack worked because the venue, a loud night club, prevented people from realizing what was happening (and possibly taking on the attacker) before it was too late. ISIS has found a model that works and is going to keep running with it. In the meantime, our data-driven society will continue to hold meetings and look at graphs and charts and worry about the next attack.
It is time to act and stop analyzing!
Friday, July 1, 2016
Of losing allies and increasing attacks
ISIS, the group once infamously dubbed the "JV Team" by Mr. Obama, has attacked Istanbul and may be behind the current attack in Pakistan. American media still frames the attack in Orlando around LGBT rights or gun-control (and we are to completely forget about the rampage in San Bernardino) instead of ISIS or dare I say radical Islam?
We are going into the 4th of July weekend with a record number of travelers moving around the US. As friends and families gather for backyard barbecues, baseball and fireworks, it seems like and especially ripe environment for the next attack to occur around the celebration of the US declaring its independence from England.
Mr. Obama is not very happy with the petulant British who voted to get out of the EU. Now the Obama White House is turning to Germany as their main European allies…at a time when most of Europe despises Germany how Angela Merkel's policies have led to a flood of immigrants. Some of which seem to be behind the spike in increased violence throughout Europe.
Unfortunately for Team Obama, US Attorney Loretta Lynch has created an uproar by meeting with former President Clinton ostensibly to discuss grandchildren…even though the conversation held up her flight for 30 minutes and it took place suspiciously as the FBI mulls over what to do with former Secretary Clinton.
Losing allies in the midst of increasing attacks, the response from the White House has been unimpressive as usual. The TSA has decided expand their checkpoints further out. Too little too late with the added bonus of concentrating even more passengers for an attack such as the one in Istanbul to occur.
We are going into the 4th of July weekend with a record number of travelers moving around the US. As friends and families gather for backyard barbecues, baseball and fireworks, it seems like and especially ripe environment for the next attack to occur around the celebration of the US declaring its independence from England.
Mr. Obama is not very happy with the petulant British who voted to get out of the EU. Now the Obama White House is turning to Germany as their main European allies…at a time when most of Europe despises Germany how Angela Merkel's policies have led to a flood of immigrants. Some of which seem to be behind the spike in increased violence throughout Europe.
Unfortunately for Team Obama, US Attorney Loretta Lynch has created an uproar by meeting with former President Clinton ostensibly to discuss grandchildren…even though the conversation held up her flight for 30 minutes and it took place suspiciously as the FBI mulls over what to do with former Secretary Clinton.
Losing allies in the midst of increasing attacks, the response from the White House has been unimpressive as usual. The TSA has decided expand their checkpoints further out. Too little too late with the added bonus of concentrating even more passengers for an attack such as the one in Istanbul to occur.
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