Understanding the US - Again

The Strategic Issues & International Relations Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to India's security environment, her strategic outlook on global affairs and as well as the effect of international relations in the Indian Subcontinent. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
Jaeger
BRFite
Posts: 334
Joined: 23 Jun 2004 11:31
Location: Mumbai, India

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Jaeger »

Rudradev wrote:Chetak-ji,

It is important to understand that BLM (the "Black Lives Matter" movement) is one thing. Black Lives Matter Global Network (yes, it is an incorporated private company and supposed non-profit) is another.
...
Meanwhile Hindus, with our "RW-RW Bhai Bhai", are literally nowhere in the game.
Superb summary RD. The other have played a long game from the grassroots level. I only hope Hindus haven't missed the bus on this.
nachiket
Forum Moderator
Posts: 9097
Joined: 02 Dec 2008 10:49

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by nachiket »

Rudradev ji your analysis of the whole far left cabal and the BLM organization and the individuals behind it has been very enlightening indeed. Thank you.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12060
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Vayutuvan »

[quote="Yagnasri"It will find new and new targets for hate. Hindus/Indians will be one of the first set of people who may be attacked in such a case.[/quote]

We are the Model Minority. As soon as we got that label, we became targets.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32225
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by chetak »

Rutgers University's Student Assembly (RUSA) becomes the first American University student government to recognize Hinduphobia, including a scholarly definition of #Hinduphobia institutionally.

Image via@RutgersHSC 1:55 AM · Apr 24, 2021
g.sarkar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4382
Joined: 09 Jul 2005 12:22
Location: MERCED, California

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... g-the-poor
US policing is far less about fighting crime than controlling the poor
Kenan Malik, Sun 25 Apr 2021

‘Lower-class culture is pathological.” So claimed American political scientist Edward Banfield in his 1970 book The Unheavenly City. For Banfield, unlike the middle class, “the lower-class person lives from moment to moment… unable or unwilling to take account of the future or control his impulses”. Poverty was the product of people “not troubled by dirt and dilapidation” or by “the inadequacy of public facilities such as schools, parks, hospitals and libraries”.
In many ways, Banfield was a voice from the past, echoing the arguments of early 20th-century eugenicists and racial scientists. But he became influential in shaping conservative thinking about law and order, particularly in the attempt to present social problems as the fruit of individual pathology rather than a failure of policy. Last year, on the 50th anniversary of The Unheavenly City, conservative social theorist Thomas Sowell celebrated it as a “demolition derby of fallacies that continue to dominate thoughts and actions in our own time”.
As we ponder policing in America after the guilty verdict on Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd – and why during the course of that trial at least 64 people died at the hands of law enforcement – Banfield is a good place to start. Rather than waste money on social policies, he believed, the government should be “creating an armed force… independent of the town population and able to repress its excesses”. That is precisely what has been created.
Banfield’s student James Quinn Wilson became the godfather of the “broken windows” approach. The smallest infraction – loitering, drinking, jaywalking – should, he insisted, be aggressively restrained. The police must target not just criminals but also “disreputable or obstreperous or unpredictable people”. This became the heart of the “zero tolerance” policy of police chiefs such as New York’s William Bratton. Meanwhile, presidents from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton and beyond sought to turn social issues into matters of law and order. It was less a case of combating crime than of managing the disruptive effects of the social inequalities.
Three major features have marked this process. The first is the militarisation of the police. Most of the extraordinary arsenal American police possesses, from grenade launchers to armoured vehicles, comes from the Pentagon through the “1033” programme, under which surplus military equipment is handed over at no cost. Since 1997, the police have received $7.4bn (£5.3bn) of hardware this way. Unsurprisingly, the more tooled-up the police are, the more likely they are to kill civilians – and even pets.
Second, there has been the extension of militarised policing into new areas, such as schools. In 1975, police were stationed in 1% of US schools; by 2018, that figure was 58%. These are not friendly neighbourhood cops. In her book Lockdown High, Annette Fuentes describes a talk by a trainer to school police: “You should be walking around in school every day in complete tactical equipment, with semi-automatic weapons… You must think of yourself as soldiers at war.” Social and medical issues, from mental illness to homelessness, are also seen as issues for “warrior cops”, often with tragic consequences. If you’re poor or black, it is likely that much of your life is lived in the shadow of the police.
.....
Gautam
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

This is exactly why a frail Indian grandpa out on a morning walk gets slammed on the concrete pavement by American police, leading to skull fractures.

If any Indian think tank is going to publish a report on "systemic racial and power abuse with total disregard of human rights and consistant violation of basic individual dignity by American police" i'll be more than happy to support.
Ambar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3173
Joined: 12 Jun 2010 09:56
Location: Weak meek unkil Sam!

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Ambar »

Israeli opposition will not change the U.S. position on rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the White House has said.

Israel’s Mossad spy chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat will travel to Washington on Monday to raise objections to their American counterparts regarding U.S.’s bid to rejoin the deal.

Asked on Friday whether the delegation’s visit will change the administration’s position on rejoining the deal, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: “No.”

The news comes amid ongoing indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna.

“As it relates to Israel, we have kept them abreast as a key partner of these discussions — or of our intentions, and we will continue to do that on any future visits,” she said.

She acknowledged that while the talks with Iran are “challenging,” the US is “encouraged that there are still conversations between all parties and that they are still happening.”

A senior official in Jerusalem maintained that Israel is nevertheless hopeful its voice will be heard, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“We don’t think [rejoining the Iran agreement is] a done deal yet. We’re going [to Washington] because we’re going to try to influence the process,” he said according to the report.

The official was also quoted as saying: “The instructions to the senior security officials that are flying to Washington for talks is to present Israel’s opposition to the agreement in Iran and not to negotiate over it, because we are talking about a return to the previous agreement that is dangerous for Israel and the region.”

“If in the future there are serious contacts on Iran’s part over an improved agreement, Israel will state its position on the characteristics and content that such an agreement should have,” the official added.

The delegation was postponed by a day after more than 40 rockets were fired into Israel from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi canceled his participation in the delegation entirely.
So its not just India that the current US administration is keen on jeopardizing relationship with but also Israel, UAE and KSA.
Paul
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3800
Joined: 25 Jun 1999 11:31

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Paul »

https://www.hindupost.in/society-cultur ... be-diluted

We are truely in a kaliyuga which is intensifying. Only a matter of time before this attitude is carried to Bharatvarsha by Liberals.
Are some in the West trying to decriminalise paedophilia and incest?
BY: ANURADHA APRIL 26, 2021

Most sections of civilized society view child abuse and hurting/exploitation of children as one of the most horrendous crimes. Not just members of civilized society, even convicted criminals in prisons consider sex offenders who hurt children as “lowest of the low.” There have been many instances of sex offenders being killed by fellow prisoners if they get “outed” as child rapists and murderers.

What then explains the effort to normalize or decriminalize paedophilia? California’s Senate Bill 145 was introduced in August 2020 and passed by both Houses to become a law in September 2020. The Bill applies to sex with minors in the 14-to-17 age group. The Bill is said to give the judge the power to review, on a case-by-case basis, instances where an adult–up to 10 years older than the minor from the 14-to-17 age group–has consensual sex with the minor.

Under the earlier California law, any instance of sex by an adult with a minor of any age was treated as prosecutable under statutory rape charges and mandated that the adult becomes part of the sex-offender register. Defenders of the new bill say that very young children—those under 14—are not part of the law and secondly, the new Bill only allows for a case-by-case review in cases where the adult is no more than 10 years older than the minor in the 14-to-17 age group.

Despite this defence, the Bill is clearly an attempt to inch towards legalizing paedophilia. In the past, there have been attempts to define paedophilia as a compulsion, disorder, and illness instead of a crime. Increasingly, media is encouraging this narrative to garner sympathy towards paedophiles and even normalize this perversion.

Effects of being victims of paedophilia and child abuse
Although researchers in the west use the term child sexual abuse with a different emphasis than the term paedophilia, both the crimes are similar and have an identical impact on children and society. Much of child abuse tends to happen in households where parents are divorced.

A US study from 2014 concluded that “children living with their married, biological parents consistently have better physical, emotional, and academic well-being…” and “with the exception of parents faced with un-resolvable marital violence, children fare better when parents work at maintaining the marriage…”

One US study found that if children lived in families where a parent had a new partner, then they are 40 times more likely to face physical and sexual abuse. A Missouri-based study concluded that “children who live with adults who are not biologically related to them are nearly 50 times as likely to die at the adults’ hands as children who live with two biological parents.” Many columns in the US are dedicated to warning single parents of the precautions needed when seeking a new partner so as to prevent abuse of their children from the new partner.

According to the latest release on child abuse in the UK (England and Wales), at least one out of five adults currently in the 18 to 74 age group had experienced at least one form of child abuse (emotional/physical/sexual) before the age of 16. Similarly, 7.5% had specifically experienced sexual abuse.

A sinister experiment was initiated in Germany in 1969, in which children were wilfully placed in the care of known paedophiles, the idea being that it would help ‘reform’ the paedophiles. Devised by Helmut Kentler, the Kentler experiment continued for a whole 30 years. The destructive consequences of this exercise only recently began to be revealed wherein the victims have narrated stories of horror. Some of the victims of this ghoulish experiment are still suffering the effects of the abuse.

Clearly, laws against paedophilia and child abuse cannot be diluted but in fact need to be made more stringent. Children are the most vulnerable component of the social structure and need to be protected and guarded with maximum care so that they thrive and grow up to become healthy, responsible and conscientious adults. Attempts to dilute existing laws like the Senate Bill 145 mentioned above are just another means of hastening the breaking up of societal structures.

Western cultures are already facing the consequences of the broken family institution. Break-up of the family structure has had far-reaching consequences. Divorces and single-parent families are contributing factors for child neglect and child abuse which in turn impact children in terms of emotional and psycho-social well being. These in turn can cause adulthood problems like substance abuse, depression, violent behaviour, suicidal behaviour, and the inability to form healthy relationships.

Although all abused children do not grow up to become adult abusers, there is more likelihood of this happening. Studies show that adults who have been abused can suffer from cognitive disorders, PTSD, emotional distress, impaired sense of self, interpersonal problems, and lifelong physical health issues as well. Weakening of societal institutions thus affects several interdependent factors closely tied in together. Future families are once again affected when adults suffer these disorders due to childhood trauma of one kind or another.

Recently, there has been a call for decriminalizing incest by advocates who are rooting for a New York parent wishing to marry their adult offspring. The argument is that incest should be allowed if consenting adults are involved. Just like the attempt to dilute paedophilia laws, such attempts will only aid in bringing about and accelerating the destruction of societal institutions, thereby creating broken and hurting societies.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by sanjaykumar »

Please look at the civilised French laws on same.
Paul
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3800
Joined: 25 Jun 1999 11:31

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Paul »

It is a different ballgame when the US adopts these tendencies. Hollywood will start to export these nefarous lifestyles.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

sanjaykumar wrote:Please look at the civilised French laws on same.
Paedophila is a serious crime in France as far as I know. There is child sexual abuse like in many western countries, but is the legislation weak around this I dont know. Can you be more specific or cité a reference?
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 767
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by m_saini »

Police killings of Black Americans amount to crimes against humanity, international inquiry finds
The systematic killing and maiming of unarmed African Americans by police amount to crimes against humanity that should be investigated and prosecuted under international law, an inquiry into US police brutality by leading human rights lawyers from around the globe has found.

In a devastating report running to 188 pages, human rights experts from 11 countries hold the US accountable for what they say is a long history of violations of international law that rise in some cases to the level of crimes against humanity.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by sanjaykumar »

There is a reason why the film maker Polanski has been domiciles in France for 2-3 decades.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

My god ! What an unpardonable, disgusting attempt to justify, and dilute laws against paedophilia.

The Roman Catholic Church, other churches of every type, Scouts and Guides... the list of western institutions that have bred and shielded paedophiles is staggering.

Not to mention the whole islamic obsession of virgin houris and ghilmans.

And these people give morality lectures to Hindus and Indians.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

So based on one case you are making a sweeping statement. Polanksi is respected as a film maker, but as a person he has attracted wide spread criticism and disapprobation. He domiciles in France because he is a French-Polish dual citizen.

In any country with a functional legal system, proving a rape case is already extremely difficult when the two persons know each other. Adult 18y+ having sex with a minor <18y is a crime under "sexual abuse" in France irrespective of consent. What should be the age limit of the victim to consider it as "rape" by default and should it be has been debated for many years.

Its a tricky issue with strong arguments for and against. Suggest you read up before posting one-liners.
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4513
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Tanaji »

Polanski lives in France because he has been indicted in US on charges of drugging and sexual relationship with a 13 year old. He is a fugitive in that aspect and has other women accuse him.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

He could very well be guilty of that and other allegations that have been made by several women, some many years after the alleged event. No one is defending him or such behaviour.

But equating that to "France has lax paedophila laws and doesnt care about it" is a very shallow argument.

Rape, incest, child abuse are notoriously difficult to prove, esp when plea bargain doesnt exist. They take time, need huge bandwidth and getting a conviction is difficult. Media exposure makes things worse. In every case the burden on the victim is so enormous that in the end even a conviction with max sentencing doesnt feel like a victory. Each time, a life is destroyed if not deeply scarred.

French govt, law makers, justice system, associations and people are all aware of the problem and its magnitude. solutions are not easy to find or implement. But no one has given up.

Please read up there are enough articles and docus on the web.

Last from me on this. OT for this thread.
ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1134
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by ricky_v »

The ambassador’s comments are unprecedented and raise serious questions about what is fueling U.S. foreign policy and the future of U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Are progressive values hindering resolutions? Exacerbating conflict? Damaging U.S. interests? Is the Biden administration transforming forever wars into culture wars?
Image
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... l-meeting/
There are also longstanding issues that are often called the “root causes” of immigration. We are looking at the issue of poverty and the lack, therefore, of economic opportunities; the issue of extreme weather conditions and the lack of climate adaptation; as well as corruption and the lack of good governance; and violence against women, Indigenous people, LGBTQ people, and Afro-descendants.

And we want to work with you to address both the acute causes as well as the root causes in a way that will bring hope to the people of Guatemala that there will be an opportunity for them if they stay at home.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by sanjaykumar »

It is not too difficult to read up on the age of consent and its history. France has a sexual culture that has been unconventional to the anglo-American eye.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

Yes, sexual liberalism was and is in vogue in France in "vogue", intellectuel, artsy, filmi, media and even political circles. Add LGBTQ++ to it now. This trend has often included under age sex, incest and allegations of rape keep cropping up against famous personalities alive and dead all the time.

While 2 consenting adults can do whatever the heck they want, the above crimes are clearly seen as a scourge and no way condoned by general people. Family values are strong, though more liberal, individualistic and sex is not a taboo subject (within limits) at dinner table with teenage kids. Marriage is not a "sacred" institution but is coming back as a trend, though long standing non-married couples with children are quite common. But so are divorces and re-mixed families.

By no means a perverse free for all society or system preying on minors. I've lived here for over 2 decades and thats my experience.
Rudradev
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4226
Joined: 06 Apr 2003 12:31

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Rudradev »

sanjaykumar wrote:It is not too difficult to read up on the age of consent and its history. France has a sexual culture that has been unconventional to the anglo-American eye.
While it may be true that sexual mores on the European continent are different from those in America, let's also remember that the derogatory stereotype of a libertine, decadent, and sexually promiscuous culture in France is one that has been promoted aggressively by Anglo-Saxon supremacists... both by puritanical Protestants during the Reformation, and later by American Eugenicists obsessed with the inherent moral virtues of TFTA Nordic peoples.

The same people, in other words, who wrote primarily of "the moral debasement and Satanic debauchery of heathen orientals" in their accounts of India.

Incidentally, not so well-advertised is the fact that in American states, the age of consent for a woman can be as low as thirteen.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by sanjaykumar »

Hehehe. To point out others’ peccadilloes is not to claim naïveté of those from whose derrière-s the solar effulgence emanates.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by sanjaykumar »

And yes that description is emblematic of non Christian or non white people.

The hypersexualised ape is well known trope. That Obama was certainly a sexual deviant amongst the august caesers of the last century.
darshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4018
Joined: 28 Jan 2008 04:16

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by darshan »

I had forgotten about this IRS feature last year. Sometimes it comes handy to lower tax bracket.


https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/guid ... -fund.html
KLNMurthy
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4825
Joined: 17 Aug 2005 13:06

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by KLNMurthy »

Cyrano wrote:So based on one case you are making a sweeping statement. Polanksi is respected as a film maker, but as a person he has attracted wide spread criticism and disapprobation. He domiciles in France because he is a French-Polish dual citizen.

In any country with a functional legal system, proving a rape case is already extremely difficult when the two persons know each other. Adult 18y+ having sex with a minor <18y is a crime under "sexual abuse" in France irrespective of consent. What should be the age limit of the victim to consider it as "rape" by default and should it be has been debated for many years.

Its a tricky issue with strong arguments for and against. Suggest you read up before posting one-liners.
Polanski was already convicted in California court. He fled to France to avoid going to prison in the US.

BTW, his victim was 13 or 14 years old.

He is under the protection of the French intellectual-arts establishment which freely and openly expressed the opinion that the laws should not apply to a great man like Polanski.

Europe is also notorious for paedophilia 'clubs' which organize child-buggery tours to places like Sri Lanka and Thailand. Maybe even Goa though I am not sure. The law may be the law, but such activity goes on as a kind of open secret.

Europe may be many things, some even good things, but arguing for Europe's moral high ground in this aspect is a losing proposition.
KLNMurthy
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4825
Joined: 17 Aug 2005 13:06

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by KLNMurthy »

Tanaji wrote:Polanski lives in France because he has been indicted in US on charges of drugging and sexual relationship with a 13 year old. He is a fugitive in that aspect and has other women accuse him.
Convicted, not indicted. He is a felon.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

From wikipédia on Polanski
<<<
"On 11 March 1977, three years after making Chinatown, Polanski was arrested at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for the sexual assault of 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. Gailey had modeled for Polanski during a Vogue photoshoot the previous day around the swimming pool at the Bel Air home of Jack Nicholson.[141][142] Polanski was indicted on six counts of criminal behavior, including rape.[133][143] At his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to all charges. Many executives in Hollywood came to his defense.[144] Gailey's attorney arranged a plea bargain in which five of the six charges would be dismissed, and Polanski accepted.[145]

As a result of the plea bargain, Polanski pleaded guilty to the charge of "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor",[146][147] and was ordered to undergo 90 days of psychiatric evaluation at California Institution for Men at Chino.[148] Upon release from prison after 42 days, Polanski agreed to the plea bargain, his penalty to be time served along with probation. However, he learned afterward that the judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, had told some friends that he was going to disregard the plea bargain and sentence Polanski to 50 years in prison:[147][149] "I'll see this man never gets out of jail," he told Polanski's friend, screenwriter Howard E. Koch.[150] Gailey's attorney confirmed the judge changed his mind after he met the judge in his chambers:

He was going to sentence Polanski, rather than to time served, to fifty years. What the judge did was outrageous. We had agreed to a plea bargain and the judge had approved it.[150][151]

Polanski was told by his attorney that "the judge could no longer be trusted" and that the judge's representations were "worthless".[152] Polanski decided not to appear at his sentencing. He told his friend, producer Dino De Laurentiis, "I've made up my mind. I'm getting out of here."[150] On 31 January 1978, the day before sentencing, Polanski left the country on a flight to London,[153][154] where he had a home. One day later, he left for France.[155][156] As a French citizen, he has been protected from extradition and has lived mostly in France since then.[157] Since he fled the United States before final sentencing, the charges are still pending.

In 1988, Gailey sued Polanski. Among other things, the suit alleged sexual assault, false imprisonment, seduction of a minor, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In 1993, Polanski agreed to settle with his victim. In August 1996, Polanski still owed her $604,416; court filings confirm that the settlement was completed by 1997 via a confidential financial arrangement.[158] The victim, now married and going by the name Samantha Geimer, stated in a 2003 interview with Larry King that the police and media had been slow at the time of the assault to believe her account, which she attributed to the social climate of the era.[159] In 2008, she stated, "I don't wish for him to be held to further punishment or consequences."[158]
>>>>
France govt doesnt handover Polanski not because they love him. Its due to their politics with US.
g.sarkar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4382
Joined: 09 Jul 2005 12:22
Location: MERCED, California

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by g.sarkar »

Cyranoji,
The case of Roman Polanski which happened in 1977, is from a bygone era. Mr. Polanski was charged with oral copulation, sex and sodomy with a 13 year old. He also gave her drugs. He was famous as a film maker, and known to the local police due to the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate by the Charles Manson group (Helter Skelter). He took a plea deal of a lesser charge of an unlawful sex with a minor. The court then allowed him to travel to Europe, where he was photographed with young girls. If someone had committed anything similar today, he would get a stiff sentence and be on a sex offender list for the rest of his life.
Gautam
Last edited by g.sarkar on 01 May 2021 15:21, edited 1 time in total.
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

Agreed. Enough about a pervert, no?
g.sarkar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4382
Joined: 09 Jul 2005 12:22
Location: MERCED, California

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by g.sarkar »

Cyrano wrote:Agreed. Enough about a pervert, no?
You are lucky that you are able to dismiss perversion so easily, and do not have to live with it.
Gautam
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5461
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by Cyrano »

Eh... what exactly are we arguing about? In this "Understanding the US - Again" thread?
g.sarkar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4382
Joined: 09 Jul 2005 12:22
Location: MERCED, California

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by g.sarkar »

Cyrano wrote:Eh... what exactly are we arguing about? In this "Understanding the US - Again" thread?
No argument at all. I actually agree to the points you made in your post. I was just bringing to attention the fact that in the US the laws have evolved and the same crime may get a complete different ruling today. I am sure that is the case in most countries, laws are not static and change as the society changes. The punishments dealt to sex offenders today in US is very harsh compared what it used to be. Their life in prison is more harsh in comparison. At least that is my observation.
Gautam
ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1134
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by ricky_v »

https://www.firstthings.com/article/202 ... ace-theory
More recently, the presidents of the six seminaries of the SBC issued a public statement, declaring that CRT is incompatible with the Baptist Faith and Message (the doctrinal standard of the SBC). The polarized response to this statement indicates just how deep the disagreement on CRT in Southern Baptist circles now runs.
Critical theory began in the 1930s with the work of men such as Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, and ­Theodore ­Adorno. of similar lineage These men evolved Marxist doctrines to explain why the proletariat in places like Germany flocked to the nationalist parties of the right, such as Hitler’s National Socialists, instead of allying with the left to precipitate communist revolution. The proletariat, they concluded, suffered from false consciousness.
Critical theory, whatever form it takes, relies on the concept of false consciousness—the notion that the oppressors control society so completely that the oppressed believe their own interests are served by the status quo. This is a wonderful idea. It allows every piece of evidence that might refute one’s ­theory to be transformed into further evidence of how deep and comprehensive the problem of oppression is. If factory workers buy houses in the suburbs and vote for Republicans, that’s not a fact that requires rethinking Marx’s theories; it’s a sign of how all-­powerful bourgeois ideology has become.
Critical race theory is American in its origin and content, but Black Lives Matter has given it currency worldwide. People in countries where racism is not a function of skin color or of the history of slavery have adopted its slogans and actions. In this we see the latest act of American pop-cultural ­imperialism, emanating from elite university seminar rooms rather than Disney World.
CRT portrays life as a zero-sum game. Some people do not have power. They struggle and do not ­flourish. This happens because somebody else has seized power from them and oppresses them in an ongoing and unrelenting way. The oppression has solidified into a self-justifying system. There is a comprehensive explanation for all the evils we suffer.

Those premises speak powerfully to the moral imagination of our age. We harbor a belief that, with enough goodwill, intelligence, and resources, our social problems can be solved, and evils eradicated. This was the conceit behind the War on Poverty in the 1960s, as well as other ambitious endeavors to transform society. If we believe solutions are available, then it follows that someone is to blame for persistent problems such as poverty or racial imbalances in achievement. Those in power must lack the will to find solutions, or they are too selfish to allocate resources. Utilitarianism as a moral philosophy adds to this presumption that someone is to blame for social evils. Jeremy Bentham held that most social evils could be alleviated if rational people applied the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number. That they do not do so can be explained only by their perfidious character and bondage to old-fashioned ways of thinking.
The he-who-is-not-­with-us-is-against-us rhetoric ensures that even tentative reservations will sound, well, racist. How many of us want to identify ourselves as not “­antiracist”? Who wants to appear to deny that black lives matter?
All-embracing and transformative views often have a religious quality. Critical race theory is no exception. It has a creedal language and liturgy, with orthodox words (“white privilege,” “systemic racism”) and prescribed actions (raising the fist, taking the knee). To deviate from the forms is to deviate from the faith. Certain words are heretical (“non-racist,” “all lives matter”). The slogan “silence is violence” is a potent rhetorical weapon. To fail to participate in the liturgy is to reject the antiracism the liturgy purports to represent—something only a racist would do.
. He concludes with suggestions for how today’s Christians should address the past: making Juneteenth a federal holiday, reparations, and the establishment of black-only seminaries.
Critical theories define central injustices as systemic. This means that everyone is complicit, even if no one in particular is responsible. The system is immoral; individual agents and acts reflect the evils of the system. This analysis generates a strong tendency toward a flattened moral register without scale or hierarchy. All racist, sexist, or homophobic deeds manifest and reinforce the evil of the system. All acts, and even words, are tinged with violence: An insult is described in terms we think appropriate to a blow with the fist (“verbal assault”). By talking all the time about “systemic racism,” we undermine our ability to distinguish among degrees of evil—which is ­necessary not in order to excuse evil acts, but to rank them on a moral scale.
It is an axiomatic assertion about “white Christianity,” a category that remains undefined. Does it comprehend Russian Orthodox believers in Moscow? Progressive Lutherans in Finland? Are white-skinned people who gather to pray and worship inevitably practicing “white Christianity”?
It is a paradoxical but pervasive truth that those who criticize “systemic racism” have access to the elite organs of the establishment, whether the New York Times or (in the smaller world of American evangelicalism) publications such as Christianity Today, a privilege not typically extended to their critics. To set forth one’s opinions in such influential publications without the serious possibility of being challenged in their pages—that is surely a form of social power.
Last edited by ricky_v on 04 May 2021 06:10, edited 1 time in total.
ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1134
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by ricky_v »

https://mereorthodoxy.com/critical-theory-mood/
Critical Theory as Method
It is not surprising that the evangelical thinkers who have argued against the outright rejection of Critical Theory have been academics.

First, Jacobs argued that “some of the questions raised by ‘critical theory’ are empirical ones’” and thus should be “assessed by gathering and sifting evidence.” For example, “has the history of what became the United States been deeply, indeed essentially, implicated in the slave trade since 1619?” or “is our society still dominated by white supremacy?” Second, Jacobs argued that one could be a “deeply orthodox Christian and answer ‘Yes’ to all those questions” and that one could be a “deeply orthodox Christian and answer ‘No’ to them all. It would depend on the evidence you gather and how you evaluate it.”

In fact, this was the conclusion of the Southern Baptist Convention — at least in the summer of 2019 — when they passed a resolution “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.” The resolution acknowledged the concerns “raised by evangelicals over the use of frameworks such as critical race theory and intersectionality” but ultimately concluded “that critical race theory and intersectionality should only be employed as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture—not as transcendent ideological frameworks.”
Critical Theory as Metanarrative
Though they never elucidate how exactly CRT is “incompatible” with the Baptist Faith and Message, what is abundantly clear in the presidents’ statement and in their individual comments attached to the statement was that they viewed CRT exclusively as a metanarrative and not a method. While the labels “worldview” and “secular ideology” appear frequently in the statement, not once was Critical Theory referred to as a “method” or “analytical tool” as it had been in the 2019 resolution.

This apparent reversal of the 2019 resolution prompted several prominent African American pastors to leave the SBC because it appeared that the SBC seminary presidents had unnecessarily (and unilaterally) removed a useful tool for understanding racism in the American past and present.
Additionally, Shenvi is right in pointing out that many of the original “Critical Theorists” (to use a helpful anachronism) were in fact “individuals with worldviews that are contrary to the Christian faith.” Indeed, what is admittedly slippery about the distinction between method and metanarrative is that the early practitioners of the method were fully immersed in the metanarrative and hoped to use the method towards their secular eschatalogical ends.

Though I maintain that Critical Theory can be safely and profitably used as an academic method (contra Mohler, et al), I am well aware that most secular millennials on Twitter are not manifesting Critical Theory as a method. For many, it is clearly a metanarrative — the big story that gives them a sense of identity and mission in a secular age.
Critical Theory as Mood
The evangelical debate about Critical Theory has stalled because too many of its public intellectuals are (still) operating out of a truncated anthropology — one that is predominantly cognitivist and undervalues, even ignores, affectivity. As a result, white evangelical thinkers often misunderstand their black and brown brothers and sisters because they still think about humans as fundamentally “thinking things” rather than “liturgical beings” as James K.A. Smith so persuasively pointed out over a decade ago in his seminal work Desiring the Kingdom (2009).
Finally, this mood functions in the context of an “imagined community” to borrow Benedict Anderson’s well-known concept. Because the particular form oppression is perceived to be systemic and widespread, there is an underlying assumption that other people (often of the same status) have also experienced it and share similar feelings of anger, sorrow, and weariness.
g.sarkar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4382
Joined: 09 Jul 2005 12:22
Location: MERCED, California

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... s-farmland
Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why?
Nick Estes, 5 Apr 2021

Bill Gates has never been a farmer. So why did the Land Report dub him “Farmer Bill” this year? The third richest man on the planet doesn’t have a green thumb. Nor does he put in the back-breaking labor humble people do to grow our food and who get far less praise for it. That kind of hard work isn’t what made him rich. Gates’ achievement, according to the report, is that he’s largest private owner of farmland in the US. A 2018 purchase of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland – which is traditional Yakama territory – for $171m helped him get that title.
In total, Gates owns approximately 242,000 acres of farmland with assets totaling more than $690m. To put that into perspective, that’s nearly the size of Hong Kong and twice the acreage of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, where I’m an enrolled member. A white man owns more farmland than my entire Native nation!
The United States is defined by the excesses of its ruling class. But why do a handful of people own so much land?
Land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, land is about race and class. The relationship to land – who owns it, who works it and who cares for it – reflects obscene levels of inequality and legacies of colonialism and white supremacy in the United States, and also the world. Wealth accumulation always goes hand-in-hand with exploitation and dispossession. In this country, enslaved Black labor first built US wealth atop stolen Native land. The 1862 Homestead Act opened up 270m acres of Indigenous territory – which amounts to 10% of US land – for white settlement. Black, Mexican, Asian, and Native people, of course, were categorically excluded from the benefits of a federal program that subsidized and protected generations of white wealth.
The billionaire media mogul Ted Turner epitomizes such disparities. He owns 2m acres and has the world’s largest privately owned buffalo herd. Those animals, which are sacred to my people and were nearly hunted to extinction by settlers, are preserved today on nearly 200,000 acres of Turner’s ranchland within the boundaries of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory in the western half of what is now the state of South Dakota, land that was once guaranteed by the US government to be a “permanent home” for Lakota people.
The gun and the whip may not accompany land acquisitions this time around. But billionaire class assertions that they are philosopher kings and climate-conscious investors who know better than the original caretakers are little more than ruses for what amounts to a 21st century land grab – with big payouts in a for-profit economy seeking “green” solutions.
Our era is dominated by the ultra-rich, the climate crisis and a burgeoning green capitalism. And Bill Gates’ new book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster positions himself as a thought leader in how to stop putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and how to fund what he has called elsewhere a “global green revolution” to help poor farmers mitigate climate change. What expertise in climate science or agriculture Gates possesses beyond being filthy rich is anyone’s guess.
......
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissahol ... 4de1b84272
Bill And Melinda Gates Announce Divorce
Melissa Holzberg, Forbes Staff, May 3, 2021

Bill and Melinda Gates, who jointly run the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private philanthropic foundation, announced on Monday they will divorce after 27 years of marriage.
......
Gautam
ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1134
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by ricky_v »

https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Biden-s ... do-Pacific
In order to compete more successfully with China, the Biden administration has argued that the United States must strengthen its Indo-Pacific alliances and partnerships. What the new administration has not answered is a critical question on the minds of many: Will Washington prioritize national interests or national values?
If President Joe Biden plans to prioritize national interests, as was mostly the case under the Trump administration, then some key countries will be more amenable to assisting the U.S. in its intensifying great power competition with China.
And yet, early signs suggest there is good reason to believe that Biden will prioritize national values. Most prominently, Biden has pledged to hold a Summit for Democracy before the end of this year. That means countries such as Vietnam and semi-authoritarian Singapore -- spotlighted in the administration's Interim National Security Strategic Guidance as key partners in the competition against China -- would presumably not be invited.
Nations that do not vocalize their opposition to the coup are effectively supportive of Beijing's policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries -- not exactly a good thing for U.S. competition with China. Washington will have to consider just how far to push these countries and whether doing so might compromise cooperation against China in other areas.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32225
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by chetak »

This is beijingbiden's and comma-la heiress's amrika.............

good show wokes, way to go


Image
KLNMurthy
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4825
Joined: 17 Aug 2005 13:06

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by KLNMurthy »

g.sarkar wrote:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... g-the-poor
US policing is far less about fighting crime than controlling the poor
Kenan Malik, Sun 25 Apr 2021

‘Lower-class culture is pathological.” So claimed American political scientist Edward Banfield in his 1970 book The
Gautam
If you have time, please share your own perspective on US law enforcement.
darshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4018
Joined: 28 Jan 2008 04:16

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by darshan »

What about other islamist states in US? Illinois is only one of them.
darshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4018
Joined: 28 Jan 2008 04:16

Re: Understanding the US - Again

Post by darshan »


https://worldmuslimcongress.org/the-sta ... d-al-fitr/
TXHB 1231| 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature.

A BILL TO BE ENTERED AS AN ACT

relating to the designation of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as optional holidays.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
...
Thanks to our friend Mr. Amir Rupani who made this possible. Mr. Rupani is one of the most influential Muslims in Texas.

Mahatma Gandhi had said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”. Yes, it is always good to be a part of society to bring change. Mr. Rupani sets that example; he is a Republican and has been a friend of George Bush, Rick Perry, and Greg Abbot and has had accomplished several proclamations and declarations.
....
Post Reply