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Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 31 Aug 2015 11:26
by svinayak
the loss of boomer babies in the US workforce. The delta I came up with is 59 million people will be needed by 2030.

The loss of the baby boom generation:

o A potential (gap) of 59M people will be needed in the US economy to offset retiring baby boomers in the next fifteen years.

o In Silicon Valley, there is a shortage of experienced Java Engineers.

o US government is the largest employer of skilled programmers.


Population totals:
A. The Depression Era. Current Population: 11-12 million (and declining rapidly)

B. World War II. Current Population: 11 million (quickening decline)

C. Post-War Cohort. Current Population: 41 million (declining)

D. Boomers I or The Baby Boomers. Current Population: 33 million, most will retire by 2019

E. Boomers II or Generation Jones. Current Population: 49 million, most will retire by 2030

F. Generation X. Current Population: 41 million will retire by 2041

G. Generation Y, Echo Boomers or Millenniums. Current Population: 71 million

H. Generation Z. Current Population: 23 million and growing rapidly


Current employment consist mainly of groups D, E, F, and G = 194M people
Within the next fifteen years, employment will consist mostly of groups F, G, and H = 135M* people
Delta = -59 Million less people in the workforce by 2030

*Generation Z is still growing rapidly; although, babies born today won’t be working in fifteen years to offset the decline of Boomers.
Source: http://www.socialmarketing.org/newslett ... ation1.htm

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 04 Sep 2015 01:52
by ramana
Both John Kaisch and Jeff Bush worked for Lehman Brothers just before the crash of 2008.

Expect Trump to call them Lehman Brothers soon.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:33
by Muppalla
ramana wrote:Last night on CNN a Republican commentator was lamenting how Trump is an ideal punching bag for Hillary amma. Next minute the Democrat spokesman was saying the very things that the Republican was lamenting about!

So soon either Republicans shut Trump up or get their own Manchu in Democrats.
If Joe Biden bids then Hillary will be cornered.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 04 Sep 2015 07:31
by Tuvaluan
If the democrats want to mess with Trump, then the best time to do it is after he wins the primary, not before.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 04 Sep 2015 11:22
by svinayak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R06z35CCzM

Round Table on European security - Katrina Vanden Heuvel, publisher editor of The Nation
Katrina Vanden Heuvel is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of the magazine The Nation. She has been the magazine's editor since 1995. She is a frequent guest on numerous television programs

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 13 Sep 2015 03:00
by Vayutuvan

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 26 Sep 2015 01:24
by ramana
John Boehner quits as Speaker and from Congress after talking one on one with Pope Francis.

Wish Pope Francis talks to Hillary Clinton and Donald (t)rump too.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 26 Sep 2015 06:26
by UlanBatori
U saw the remarkable coincidence too? Boehmer surprises me. I used to think he was an A-1 jerk until he stood up to the uber-jerk Ted Cruz. But he is a devout Catholic, and invited the Pope to address COTUS. The Pope was blunt about criticizing the Republicans. Boehmer decides to quit. Stunning. The guy seems to have grown a conscience and some guts in his old age.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 26 Sep 2015 07:20
by Satya_anveshi
Boehner did the crying routine again....cried after resignation, cried while pope was giving congressional lecture, again when pope was waving hands at public and it seems he cried many more times in the past (click link for pictures :D)
It's unclear why Boehner is so inclined to cry in public. He is the second oldest of 12 brothers and sisters and grew up in southwest Ohio, which isn't exactly known for breeding sensitive men. He worked as a night janitor at one point before opening a small business. He has served in Congress since 1991, which perhaps would make anyone prone to bouts of crying :rotfl: .

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 27 Sep 2015 17:43
by UlanBatori
His eyes are like that onlee, Maybe.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 27 Sep 2015 19:05
by A_Gupta
The Pakistaniyat of the Republican Party
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/2 ... esignation
This is something that should not slip by lightly. The video above is of a roomful of Republican voters interrupting the speech of a Republican Senator and presidential candidate with a standing ovation at the news that the Republican House Speaker has been forced to resign. It is hard to watch this outburst of joyful anger (or angry joy?) without wondering: what in the world is going on with the Republican party? Why would news of the humiliating resignation of John Boehner spark an immediate Republican celebration?
....
It finds that 60 percent of Republicans feel betrayed by their party, and that 66 percent of Republicans don’t think their party did all it could to block Obama’s agenda. The poll asks why respondents think their party leaders failed at this: they didn’t really want to stop Obama; they weren’t smart enough; they would rather fight each other. The Fox poll doesn’t even offer respondents the option of choosing the real reason — that Republicans structurally lack the votes!
* April 2011: House Republicans threaten a government shutdown unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.

* July 2011: Republicans create the first-ever debt-ceiling crisis, threatening to default on the nation’s debts unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.

* September 2011: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

* April 2012: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

* December 2012: Republicans spend months refusing to negotiate in the lead up to the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

* January 2013: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.

* September 2013: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

* October 2013: Republicans actually shut down the government.

* February 2014: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.

* December 2014: Republicans threaten another shutdown.

* February 2015: Republicans threaten a Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

* September 2015: Republicans threaten another shutdown [over Planned Parenthood].
One of the two major parties, the Republican Party, has become an insurgent outlier — ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 27 Sep 2015 20:57
by UlanBatori
This is a Republican generation that has never had to dodge the Draft. IOW this is what the Hitler Jugend might have been if they had not had the moderating influence of seeing poverty and the iron discipline of a military life first-hand in their communities and their youth. These ppl grew up with no empathy for other humans. Had these been around in 1861 they would have joined the Confederacy, as long as they didn't actually have to go to the front.

The Pakistaniyat analogy is 400% apt. I shudder to think of the choices that the voters have to face come November '16. Hillary vs. Ted Cruz? or vs. Fiorina? or Trump? Wish Ted Turner or Warren Buffet would run. Or maybe Petreaus, the only person in DC that has been accused of having a brain.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 28 Sep 2015 16:23
by A_Gupta
The two parties in the US system are not supposed to behave like parliamentary parties.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... ng/407563/

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 28 Sep 2015 16:29
by A_Gupta
The Evangelical involvement in politics began to protect segregrated schools, and not as falsely claimed, Roe v. Wade on abortion.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... z37ZUUJbXw
When the Roe decision was handed down, W. A. Criswell, the Southern Baptist Convention’s former president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas—also one of the most famous fundamentalists of the 20th century—was pleased: “I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person,” he said, “and it has always, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed.”

Although a few evangelical voices, including Christianity Today magazine, mildly criticized the ruling, the overwhelming response was silence, even approval. Baptists, in particular, applauded the decision as an appropriate articulation of the division between church and state, between personal morality and state regulation of individual behavior. “Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the Supreme Court abortion decision,” wrote W. Barry Garrett of Baptist Press.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... z3n29v2Qdw

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 28 Sep 2015 16:31
by Yagnasri
Petreaus had to resign under some cloud recently. Right? How can he be a candidate for US presidential race.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 28 Sep 2015 16:48
by Gus
Well his cloud was an attractive woman - something that is easily forgiven if he "finds" God. Plenty republicans redeemed themselves like that.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 28 Sep 2015 17:03
by JE Menon
The woman was not the cloud, it was that he gave her classified documents. Still, one can find lose documents and still find god, and so long as you have a nice Roman sounding name and have words like "surge" and "ranger" and in the wordcloud that makes up your halo - you can be president. If a Muslim can be president....

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 29 Sep 2015 06:38
by UlanBatori
Petreaus in person is very impressive. Awesome brain. Like a Tendulkar of the US Armed Forces (i.e., short, lean, compact, smart).

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 29 Sep 2015 16:36
by A_Gupta

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 29 Sep 2015 16:46
by A_Gupta

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 29 Sep 2015 16:48
by A_Gupta
The cowardice of John Boehner
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-com ... hn-boehner
Instead, Boehner tried nothing, accomplished nothing, and lost his job anyway. It’s the legacy he deserves.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 06 Oct 2015 16:50
by A_Gupta
America's non-representative democracy:

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 06 Oct 2015 16:57
by hnair
UlanBatori wrote:Petreaus in person is very impressive. Awesome brain. Like a Tendulkar of the US Armed Forces (i.e., short, lean, compact, smart).
True that. Out of box thinker in many ways. Apparently he used to keep a holy kitab, with tons of post-its sticking out from pages, when journos visit his tent. These got faithfully reported in the press as "religious jernail" :lol: He was making all the right moves, until he decided to not save that one email as "draft". Wonder if he would have prevented the current free fall of US conservatism?

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 15 Oct 2015 01:40
by Karan M
Unbelievable - what a complete mess?!?!?!?

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archive ... ndictment/

But Anand Gopal’s No Good Men Among the Living shows that everything has not been said. His new and shocking indictment demonstrates that the failures of the intervention were worse than even the most cynical believed. Gopal, a Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor reporter, investigates, for example, a US counterterrorist operation in January 2002. US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, had identified two sites as likely “al-Qaeda compounds.” It sent in a Special Forces team by helicopter; the commander, Master Sergeant Anthony Pryor, was attacked by an unknown assailant, broke his neck as they fought and then killed him with his pistol; he used his weapon to shoot further adversaries, seized prisoners, and flew out again, like a Hollywood hero.

As Gopal explains, however, the American team did not attack al-Qaeda or even the Taliban. They attacked the offices of two district governors, both of whom were opponents of the Taliban. They shot the guards, handcuffed one district governor in his bed and executed him, scooped up twenty-six prisoners, sent in AC-130 gunships to blow up most of what remained, and left a calling card behind in the wreckage saying “Have a nice day. From Damage, Inc.” Weeks later, having tortured the prisoners, they released them with apologies. It turned out in this case, as in hundreds of others, that an Afghan “ally” had falsely informed the US that his rivals were Taliban in order to have them eliminated. In Gopal’s words:

The toll…: twenty-one pro-American leaders and their employees dead, twenty-six taken prisoner, and a few who could not be accounted for. Not one member of the Taliban or al-Qaeda was among the victims. Instead, in a single thirty-minute stretch the United States had managed to eradicate both of Khas Uruzgan’s potential governments, the core of any future anti-Taliban leadership—stalwarts who had outlasted the Russian invasion, the civil war, and the Taliban years but would not survive their own allies.

Gopal then finds the interview that the US Special Forces commander gave a year and a half later in which he celebrated the derring-do, and recorded that seven of his team were awarded bronze stars, and that he himself received a silver star for gallantry.

Or consider Gopal’s description of the fate of several principal Afghan politicians in the book:

Dr. Hafizullah, Zurmat’s first governor, had ended up in Guantanamo because he’d crossed Police Chief Mujahed. Mujahed wound up in Guantanamo because he crossed the Americans. Security chief Naim found himself in Guantanamo because of an old rivalry with Mullah Qassim. Qassim eluded capture, but an unfortunate soul with the same name ended up in Guantanamo in his place. And a subsequent feud left Samoud Khan, another pro-American commander, in Bagram prison, while the boy his men had sexually abused was shipped to Guantanamo….

Abdullah Khan found himself in Guantanamo charged with being Khairullah Khairkhwa, the former Taliban minister of the interior, which might have been more plausible—if Khairkhwa had not also been in Guantanamo at the time….

Nine Guantanamo inmates claimed the most striking proof of all that they were not Taliban or al-Qaeda: they had passed directly from a Taliban jail to American custody after 2001.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 15 Oct 2015 05:52
by UlanBatori
H&D? BO goes to Africa
Washington (CNN)The United States deployed approximately 90 troops to Cameroon Monday as part of an effort to assist Cameroon and other regional governments in their efforts to battle extremist groups in the region. President Barack Obama sent a letter to Congress Wednesday informing lawmakers of the move. .. under the War Powers Resolution, Obama said the total number of U.S. military personnel would eventually rise to approximately 300, and would provide airborne intelligence, surveillance and other reconnaissance operations at the request and invitation of the Cameroonian government. "These forces are equipped with weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security, and they will remain in Cameroon until their support is no longer needed," he wrote. Cameroon, along with other countries in West Africa have been locked in battle with Boko Haram, a terror group based in northern Nigeria that has been waging a years-long campaign of terror aimed at instituting its extreme version of Sharia law. Militants from the group killed about 30 people and wounded 145 others in attacks on a market and infirmary in northern Cameroon last month, just the latest of many attacks Boko Haram has launched over the years in Cameroon, Chad and other countries that border Nigeria. Thousands of people have been kidnapped or killed by Boko Haram inside Nigeria, and the United States has deployed military resources there as well in the last year to assist the Nigerian government in their efforts against the extremist group. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza said the forces were deploying at the invitation of the government of Cameroon, and would coordinate their actions with the Cameroonian military. "The combined activities conducted at this location are designed to better enhance the capability and capacity of our partners in the Cameroon defense forces to promote stability and security within Cameroon and the surrounding region," Baldanza said. The surveillance flights flown by the United States are meant to help Cameroon and other partner governments in the region to better secure their borders from attack by Boko Haram and other extremist groups in the region according to Pentagon officials. Most of the surveillance flights provided by the United States would be conducted by "unarmed remotely piloted aircraft," Baldanza said.
..White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the deployment announcement was not made due to a change in any threat assessment, :roll: but rather to assist in the regional struggle against terror groups operating there. "This is obviously a unique capacity that the United States has to bring to bear to this effort and it will be used in support of the ongoing regional counter-extremist efforts that are ongoing there," Earnest said.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 16 Oct 2015 21:56
by habal
http://www.voltairenet.org/article170083.html

mportant article about why Strauss-Kahn was set up and Libya was attacked:
to stop the yuan gaining the position of world currency and hasten the demise of the dollar:

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 17 Oct 2015 00:09
by Satya_anveshi
With election debates in US, we get to sample general ignorance that prevails US polity and this can tell us why the world has become so f'd up place to live under US's global brinkmanship:

Here, democrat presidential candidate mentions that Assad's invasion of Syria is his biggest blunder:
Uploaded Oct 16, 2015

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 17 Oct 2015 06:04
by krishna_krishna
Gurus,A thought regarding porky new clear deal, although it seems part of India containment my feeling is that massa will ask something sinister for desh to give up in return for that not to happen but it will happen and desh would be left rubbing hands as usual and the thing would be delayed but not stopped.

Can't help dhoti shiver , massa played this beautifully black stab namo or always in the work in case he refused to oblige.i believe this is continuum to what played during end of mms era he started getting anti masa if u can see his statements and actions during that time, dealing with Russia the russkies also were surprised by his u turn. Just some pindi Chana gas effect

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 17 Oct 2015 20:50
by Paul
Image

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 05 Nov 2015 22:47
by ramana
Three x-posts....

Satya_anveshi wrote:A bit OT but to provide complete perspective on amerikan exceptionalism nuisance (in addition to being a myth):

The Myth of American Exceptionalism
Vladimir Putin recently said America is not exceptional, and the flag-draped idiocracy has gone nuts. How dare he! And Putin's history of brutal lawlessness became hotly discussed, which is what's called an "Ad Hominem" attack - rather than argue the point, attack the speaker. And with Putin there is so much to attack! The guy is a jerk. But what about the whole "exceptionalism" thing?

Now, I've never understood the concept of "American Exceptionalism." What is it, exactly, that we are an exception to? It seems to mean, basically, that whatever rules apply to all other countries should not apply to us. No one should have nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons - except us, and we can use them whenever we like. Offensive military action, attacking a country that has not attacked you, is absolutely wrong... except when we do it. Then it's unquestioningly hunky-dory. No country should interfere with the internal political workings of another country, try to influence its elections, or assassinate its elected leaders without declaring war. Except the United States, which has used all those weapons and more to undermined every government - democratically elected or not - that we cannot profit from. "American Exceptionalism" is simply the belief that internationally recognized rules, morals, and ethics should apply to everyone - except the United States. I'm sure every country would love to have the same exceptionalism, but they are not strong enough to impose their will on just about everyone else. So instead we are despised for openly demanding that every other country accept that the U.S. is special, exceptional, and fundamentally better than they.

The U.S. has always had two things that make us special, and have dictated our rise to dominance - the Atlantic and the Pacific. That's it. We have oceans that divide us from our major industrialized enemies. This means that in both of the major wars of the 20th century our factories didn't get bombed. Really, that's it. Every other industrial nation had their factories destroyed, and lost a lot of their skilled workforce. The U.S. - which also entered both wars after much of the damage had been done - didn't suffer industrial collapse, and after each war benefitted by becoming the factory for the rest of the world. Basic consumer items were "Made in America" because it was very difficult to make them anywhere else, and the world was happy to buy them from us. Our economy boomed because our factories hadn't been bombed, and they hadn't been bombed because we have these two big oceans on either side. It's nothing inherent in the American soul or mind, no special spirit, no divine providence, no exceptionalism. Our factories didn't get bombed, and theirs did. And our economic slide began in the late 60's, when they finished rebuilding their factories. So there is nothing exceptional about our economy, or our economic theories, or our way of life.

And, despite our militarism, our military isn't exceptional, either. Historically the U.S. has actually been very select about waging war. History: In WWII England declared war on Nazi Germany, France declared war on Nazi Germany, the U.S.... didn't. We waited until Germany declared war on us, years later, after our "allies" had been devastated. That's how important defeating Fascism was to America. In WWI we didn't enter it until the war was almost over. In the war against Spain we declared war on a poor nation who's empire was collapsing as colonial rebels fought for freedom... and the U.S. spent more time and money fighting against those Freedom Fighters than we did against the Spanish. The war on Mexico? We took land from a poor, weak country. Vietnam? Somalia? Iraq? Afghanistan? And don't get me started on the Indian Wars. I'm no militarist, but Alexander the Great took on the freakin' Persians! Rome fought Carthage, the Moors took on the Mediterranean Basin, the Irish took on the British, the British took on Napoleon, and Napoleon took on the rest of Europe. Geronimo took on the United States. The Mongols took on the world. American Military prestige is built on not fighting major powers at their height, on fighting small powers, or coming into major wars late.

And with our history of spying on,blacklisting, jailing, and killing law-abiding unionists, civil rights activists, environmentalists, feminists, Anarchists, Communists, and Socialists, and with the evolving story about how extensive the NSA's spying on us has been, how craven our elected officials have been in the face of it, or how journalists have been and continue to be jailed for reporting on our government's misdeeds, one certainly can't say our freedoms are exceptional. They can be ignored by the government just like the rights of the citizens of every other country.

And in a time of monarchy was our democratic founding exceptional? Remember: the Founders didn't want independence right off the bat, they wanted something like Home Rule. And when they did get independence there was a movement to make Washington "President for Life," i.e. king - like so many other countries had. Except the Swiss. They've have had democracy for almost 800 years. If our democracy makes us exceptional should that make them extra-super exceptional?

No, it shouldn't, because no country is exceptional. America is just another country which benefitted from an accident of geography. Heck, if the colonies had been a bit closer to England the American rebellion (I can't say "our rebellion" since my ancestors were, at that time, enslaved by those fighting for "freedom") probably would have been crushed like the rebellions in Scotland and Ireland. So jumping up and down about how "exceptional" America is strikes my as pointless. Egypt thought it was exceptional, so did Persia, so did Rome. So did England at their height, and so did Japan before their fall. So did Germany. So did the U.S.S.R.

I'm not saying the United States isn't neat, or that I'd want to live anywhere else. I like lotsa stuff about my country! I like the free public schools, the clean water, and the clean-ish air. I like the lack of dead bodies in the street. Of course right now there are those want to privatize education, de-fund the whole water and air cleaning thing, and give everyone guns, but that's beside the point. There are a lot of great things about my country, but insisting on being exceptional isn't one of them. In fact, given the history of Great Powers, our trumpeting our exceptionalism is, ironically, rather typical.

Instead of demanding special treatment from the world, perhaps we should focus on making this country the best we can, helping those most in need, investing in creating an environmentally sustainable economy to hand on to our children, and emphasizing peaceful conflict resolution rather than threatening to hurl missiles at anyone we don't like. That is how we can be, if not exceptional, at least admirable.
ramana wrote:American Exceptionalism is the idea that people can form a state without a king in the modern world.
In other words America is the first Western state formed without a feudal system.
This is the great exceptionalism.
Even Romans had to breakdown and resort to Imperialism from their City state during Octavius rule.
The Greeks never went beyond city states.
This non-feudal state idea caught like wild fire and triggered French Revolution and the modern world.
Satya_anveshi wrote:That claim is shattered due to the facts mentioned in previous article:

>>>And in a time of monarchy was our democratic founding exceptional? Remember: the Founders didn't want independence right off the bat, they wanted something like Home Rule. And when they did get independence there was a movement to make Washington "President for Life," i.e. king - like so many other countries had. Except the Swiss. They've have had democracy for almost 800 years. If our democracy makes us exceptional should that make them extra-super exceptional?

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 07 Nov 2015 00:38
by panduranghari
The Two Asian Americas
Other Asians—Indians, Koreans, and Japanese—followed, and they, too, faced xenophobia. Koreans, who wished to fight for their freedom from Japan, were treated as Japanese subjects; Indians were considered British subjects. But these groups were not as large as the Chinese, and thus not as threatening. Still, stereotypes spread fast. Of thirty-nine immigrant groups, Indians were, according to the 1911 United States Immigration Commission, “the least desirable race of immigrants.” The editor of the Bellingham Reveille, in Washington, described Hindus as “repulsive in appearance and disgusting in their manners,” and, in 1907, the entire South Asian population was forced out of Bellingham in a single night with cries of “Drive out the Hindus.” (Bellingham, a lumber-mill town, had a long history of receiving—and then expelling—poor Asian laborers.) .
There are now, in a sense, two Asian Americas: one formed by five centuries of systemic racism, and another, more genteel version, constituted in the aftermath of the 1965 law. These two Asian Americas float over and under each other like tectonic plates, often clanging discordantly.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 11 Nov 2015 17:38
by A_Gupta

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:20
by UlanBatori
SOD fires ADC for being an SOB
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced Thursday that he had fired his senior military assistant, Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis, "after learning about allegations of misconduct."
Details about the alleged misconduct were not immediately available.
As Carter's top military aide, Lewis had power to control the flow of people and issues into Carter's office, as well as controlling the Defense chief's military schedule.
Good grief! The guy is/was a Lt. Gen!!!! And his job is described as that of a desi chaprasi.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:25
by ramana
Bellingham had riots in early 20th century and lot of Indians were targeted.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:33
by UlanBatori
Lt. Gen. Lewis
NPR's Tom Bowman reports Lewis is accused of an improper personal relationship.

"I expect the highest possible standards of conduct from the men and women in this department, particularly from those serving in the most senior positions," Carter said in the statement. "There is no exception."

Lewis, a longtime Carter aide, previously worked for him when Carter was deputy secretary of defense under Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel, and before that when Carter was the Pentagon's top weapons buyer. Lewis also served as chief of Army Public Affairs and prior to that as a top commander with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) based at Fort Campbell, Ky.
ubstantiated.

The last time the Defense Department Inspector General investigated an officer of such a high rank came in November 2012 when the FBI uncovered thousands of personal e-mails exchanged between Marine Gen. John Allen, then the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and a Tampa socialite named Jill Kelley. Although the e-mails were never made public, the inspector general found no evidence of wrongdoing. Allen retired shortly thereafter.

Carter’s immediate predecessors as defense secretary – Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel – didn’t sack any generals during their tenure. Robert M. Gates, who served as Pentagon chief under both President Obama and former President George W. Bush, was much less reluctant to hold senior leaders accountable. He fired several high-ranking generals, including the Air Force’s top commander, a four-star Army general who led the war in Afghanistan, and the general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Lewis, who spent much of his childhood in Chicago, attended West Point and later commanded troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has a long history with Carter, who became defense secretary in February. Lewis served as Carter’s military aide when the now-secretary served as undersecretary of defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, and again when Carter was Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Lewis’ recent rise through the military ranks was swift. In keeping with the three-star level of the military assistant position, the Senate confirmed Lewis’ promotion to Lt. Gen. in June.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 14 Nov 2015 06:21
by UlanBatori
Interesting news item, incl. 4 ppl hiyar
Washington (CNN)An Ohio man is facing charges of soliciting the murder of U.S. military members in a novel case that could test the power of the federal government to criminalize the act of re-blogging ISIS threats.
Terrence McNeil, 25, allegedly used his Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook accounts to cheer on ISIS attacks in Iraq and Syria. He posted anti-American comments and "allahu akbar" upon hearing of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, terrorist attack that killed military members at recruiting stations in July.
None of this broke the law.
But in September, authorities say he used Tumblr to re-blog a file that had been posted on the Internet by the so-called Islamic State Hacking Division, and which contained the names and personal data of U.S. military members. The file included a call by ISIS for attacks on members of the U.S. military.
The text on a photograph included in the file read, in part:

"O Brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the Khilafah, it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam. Know that it is wajib [necessary] for you to kill these kuffar! and now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for?"
Related: Purported ISIS militants post list of 1,400 U.S. 'targets'
John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, said "McNeil solicited the murder of members of our military by disseminating ISIL's violent rhetoric, circulating detailed U.S. military personnel information, and explicitly calling for the killing of American service members in their homes and communities."
The McNeil case represents a small part of a broader effort by the U.S. government to try to silence the prolific social media propaganda machine of ISIS. Officials say ISIS's sophisticated online messaging has helped recruit more than 250 Americans to travel or attempt to travel to join the group.
In late August, the U.S. said one of its military airstrikes had killed Junaid Hussain, a British man who was one of the best known ISIS online propagandists and recruiters. Last month at the request of the FBI, Malaysian police arrested a hacker who allegedly was responsible for stealing the U.S. military members person data and who then passed on that information to Hussain.
The FBI says that Hussain is one of the ISIS members who then distributed the files of personal information of U.S. military members, which others such as McNeil helped to spread.
Since the death of Hussain, U.S. officials have noted a drastic decline in the number of Americans who have attempted to travel to join ISIS, according to senior U.S. counterterrorism officials. It's not clear if his death and the resulting damage to the ISIS propaganda machine has caused the reduced recruitment, or if the decline is temporary, these officials say.
Some civil liberties groups have expressed concern that the Justice Department may be moving too far into criminalizing activities that should be protected speech.
McNeil isn't charged with material support of terrorism, a more common charge in cases related to ISIS.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 07 Dec 2015 00:20
by A_Gupta
shiv wrote:I just had a look at the US's first amendment. The practice of religion cannot be prevented. Jihad, technically cannot be opposed because it is part of Islam. Illegal acts resulting from jihad cannot be prevented because they have to be done first to be illegal.

The US is going to face a constitutional crisis. The last time this happened IIRC was after 9-11 when the US went right ahead and restricted some freedoms (am I right?). What will happen this time?
1. The First Amendment does not permit one to break the law.

2. The current standards of US jurisprudence are that a law that restricts some religious practice needs to be justified by the government as being required because of a "compelling state interest" and that the law is the least burdensome (to religion) way of achieving that state interest.

IMO, there is no legal or constitutional problem (but I'm not a lawyer) in restricting jihad, even prior to illegal acts. So e.g., a law which said "the accumulation of weapons with the purpose of jihad is criminally punishable" might pass constitutional tests. IMO, it is purely a political problem, with a huge part of the country singing the "terrorism has no religion" mantra. If terrorism has no religion then how can there be a compelling state interest to restrict jihad, which is the war-like manifestation of a particular religion?

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 07 Dec 2015 01:29
by TSJones
UlanBatori wrote:Interesting news item, incl. 4 ppl hiyar
Washington (CNN)An Ohio man is facing charges of soliciting the murder of U.S. military members in a novel case that could test the power of the federal government to criminalize the act of re-blogging ISIS threats.
Terrence McNeil, 25, allegedly used his Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook accounts to cheer on ISIS attacks in Iraq and Syria. He posted anti-American comments and "allahu akbar" upon hearing of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, terrorist attack that killed military members at recruiting stations in July.
None of this broke the law.
But in September, authorities say he used Tumblr to re-blog a file that had been posted on the Internet by the so-called Islamic State Hacking Division, and which contained the names and personal data of U.S. military members. The file included a call by ISIS for attacks on members of the U.S. military.
The text on a photograph included in the file read, in part:

"O Brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the Khilafah, it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam. Know that it is wajib [necessary] for you to kill these kuffar! and now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for?"
Related: Purported ISIS militants post list of 1,400 U.S. 'targets'
John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, said "McNeil solicited the murder of members of our military by disseminating ISIL's violent rhetoric, circulating detailed U.S. military personnel information, and explicitly calling for the killing of American service members in their homes and communities."
The McNeil case represents a small part of a broader effort by the U.S. government to try to silence the prolific social media propaganda machine of ISIS. Officials say ISIS's sophisticated online messaging has helped recruit more than 250 Americans to travel or attempt to travel to join the group.
In late August, the U.S. said one of its military airstrikes had killed Junaid Hussain, a British man who was one of the best known ISIS online propagandists and recruiters. Last month at the request of the FBI, Malaysian police arrested a hacker who allegedly was responsible for stealing the U.S. military members person data and who then passed on that information to Hussain.
The FBI says that Hussain is one of the ISIS members who then distributed the files of personal information of U.S. military members, which others such as McNeil helped to spread.
Since the death of Hussain, U.S. officials have noted a drastic decline in the number of Americans who have attempted to travel to join ISIS, according to senior U.S. counterterrorism officials. It's not clear if his death and the resulting damage to the ISIS propaganda machine has caused the reduced recruitment, or if the decline is temporary, these officials say.
Some civil liberties groups have expressed concern that the Justice Department may be moving too far into criminalizing activities that should be protected speech.
McNeil isn't charged with material support of terrorism, a more common charge in cases related to ISIS.
you cannot advocate violence against the government. this was decided long, long ago. or against any other fellow citizen for that matter.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 07 Dec 2015 06:10
by shiv
A_Gupta wrote: IMO, there is no legal or constitutional problem (but I'm not a lawyer) in restricting jihad, even prior to illegal acts. So e.g., a law which said "the accumulation of weapons with the purpose of jihad is criminally punishable" might pass constitutional tests. IMO, it is purely a political problem, with a huge part of the country singing the "terrorism has no religion" mantra. If terrorism has no religion then how can there be a compelling state interest to restrict jihad, which is the war-like manifestation of a particular religion?
Secularism runs up against the same problems everywhere. I am certain that the people who framed the US constitution were not thinking of Islam when they wrote about freedom of religion. They probably only knew about shades of Christianity.

There is a difference between the CIA deniably funding a terrorist group and a loose conglomeration of Islamist madrassas deniably funding and encouraging terrorists. Both are deniable, but when the CIA (or ISI) does it a nation state with a unique identity and interests can be blamed.

When the same thing is done by a religious group they have the double cover of protection of religion under all circumstances as well as lack of defined nation with borders.

The religions have a huge advantage over everyone in the world in the way laws are framed globally. Religions are fully encouraged in religious nation states, and religions cannot be suppressed in secular nation states. Heads religion wins, tails secularism loses.

Re: Understanding the US-2

Posted: 07 Dec 2015 07:42
by Singha
http://fox59.com/2015/12/04/firearm-sal ... ales-soar/
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Dec. 4, 2015) - Retailers are seeing a surge in gun sales throughout the country and right here in Indiana.

The FBI reports more than 860,000 background checks for firearm purchases have been made in Indiana so far this year. That’s up 10,000 from 2014.

A record was even set nationally just last week- on Black Friday, there were 185,000 background checks across the nation for firearm purchases in a single day.

Local retailers tell us calls for tougher gun laws from the President and others along with violence in Indiana and around the globe are reasons for the increase.

“I think every time that we hear about violent crime in particular about defenseless victims, people say, I don’t want to be that defenseless victim. I want to have the capacity to defend myself and more importantly my family,” says Second Amendment attorney and certified NRA firearms instructor Guy Relford.

Gun sales doubled between 2008 and 2012. They have also doubled since then.

Relford encourages new gun owners to take a safety course on how to handle the firearm properly.