Saturday, January 02, 2016

There is a larger picture, too. Oppression has been an increasing strategy between the USA government and the American people since September 11, 2001.

...There are five ways that an "architecture of oppression" (click here) has already grown publicly and been normalized since September 11, 2001.

1. The Patriot Act
The big daddy of reactionary power grabs, (click here) the Patriot Act was put before Congress on a rare fast-track by Attorney General John Ashcroft just nine days after September 11. It was passed in a whirlwind of jingoistic fervor with only two hearings in the House and none by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) was the only senator who voted against it.
The Patriot Act made a variety of significant changes to law. It defined or redefined terrorism, domestic terrorism, cyberterrorism, and established or modified existing laws that indict those crimes. The powers of the US Attorney General and the Secret Service were expanded to eliminate barriers to investigating terrorism. Surveillance abilities were enhanced including weakening restrictions on wiretapping and other stored communications like voicemail. The power of the Treasury Department to regulate financial transactions and importantly foreign corporate or personal transactions was also broadened in an effort to crack down on financing terrorism....

The climate crisis matters.

January 1, 2016

...Human-Caused Climate Change (click here)

For a lot of people on this mountain, California's historic drought has been a glimpse of what skiing might be like with climate change.

Extreme snowboarders like Jeremy Jones began noticing the changes here as early as 2003.

A few years later, he founded a group called "Protect Our Winters," where by professional skiers and riders like him lobby Congress on climate policy and try to raise public awareness about human-caused climate change.

"If we do get to a point where we can't operate a ski area, the least of our problems is gonna be us skiers and snowboarders riding down these mountains," Jones says....


No racing here: A grassy, snowless, competition slope in Levi, Finland, in late November, when it is normally covered in snow.

25 November 2015
By Daily Mail Reporter
 
This year Scandinavia (click here) is not its frozen self, with unusually warm weather delaying the onset of winter in northern areas normally decked in white. 
 
The lack of snow has been bad news for winter sports — World Cup ski races have been dropped, or held on artificial snow, and mountain ski resorts are unable to open.
There are even reports of bird song and blooming gardens in some places typically entering the winter freeze at this time of year.

'Some flowers, like roses, have actually begun to blossom for a second time,' said Mats Rosenberg, a biologist in Orebro, south-central Sweden. 
 

Weather experts say this autumn is on track to become one of the warmest on record in northern Scandinavia, where the start of winter has been delayed by more than a month in certain locations....

"Black Lives Matter" successfully let the malpractice of a prosecutor be known.

Protesters gather to demand that Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty not be relected in March. Photograph: Afi Scruggs for the Guardian 

January 1, 2016

Anger over the decision (click here) not to charge the police officers involved in the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland has reached the neighborhood of the prosecutor who handled the case.
Holding pictures of Tamir and wearing signs declaring “Fire McGinty”, about 100 protesters marked New Year’s Day by marching to the home of Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty. Once there, they lay prostrate on the sidewalk for four minutes: the time the boy lay unattended after he was shot on 23 November 2014.
The message was clear: McGinty must not be re-elected.
“It’s very important for the community to understand that we are doing a rally cry, and vote McGinty out of office,” said Latonya Goldsby, Tamir’s cousin and the spokesman for his family....

Prosecutor and Judges should not be elected. They should be confirmed by state legislatures after being nominated by Governors. Malpractice is a reason for impeachment. Malpractice can be litigated by the federal government.

Injustice should not be possible due to a prosecutor favoring a particular outcome. 

The prosecutors are scared of increasing crime if police officers are successfully brought to justice. That is enforcing oppression as a method of law enforcement which increases victimization. USA law enforcement is using oppression as a strategy? That is astounding and has to be addressed.

So, let me get this right. It is necessary, once in awhile, to kill a black man as an example of effective law enforcement. That is the equivalent of a hanging in the public square. 

IF THERE IS AN INCREASE in crime after a police officer is successfully prosecuted, then the law enforcement police never had an effective method in the first place.

If oppression is the only method for law enforcement to decrease crime statistics, then our democracy is lost. To realize law enforcement is defending oppression as a method creates the opportunity for corruption.

The "Black Lives Matter" movement need to organize with more sophisticated messages. I understand the outrage of injustice at the deaths of innocent black men, however, the messages by an organized minority movement has to be sophisticated and concise. Sorry, if that seems racist in itself, but, a nation of people have to hear a clear message to end this violence against innocent black men. In particular, Tamir was a child. 

What is the possibility a Caucasian or Hispanic child could be a victim? Tamir was the victim. He and his family are entitled to victim rights. The death of this child cannot be ignored as a profound problem with law enforcement.

One other thing. The DEFINITION Law enforcement statistics should be standardized and reported regularly. In Chicago, we witnessed manipulation of statistics through a shifting baseline of definitions. So, in the USA there is every reason to believe crime statistics are grossly inaccurate and prove nothing. The people of the USA have no idea of what crime actually looks like.

I would think inaccurate police statistics would relax the demand of citizens for more guns in their hands. Very odd. That hasn't happened. The increase of demand for guns in the USA provides a very clear picture of a real disconnect between the reporting of any reduction in crime rates and demand for guns. 

It seems to me the groups seeking responsible policies and laws for guns, need to have a resource regarding accurate crime statistics and a campaign to the TEACH the American people they are far safer than ever realized before. Even realizing the gun statistics in the USA are manipulated for political purposes does not negate the view that there is a real disconnect between crime statistics and guns. 

In examining 'the surge' for gun and ammunition purchases after mass shootings is bizarre to the reality of such crimes. If we are to believe the survivor of the WDBJ murders, Vicki Gardner, in that response to such attacks disabled by the surprise of the violence; then the increase of sales of guns after such attacks is meaningless. "The response" comes after the realization of the gun and it will always be late. There will always be deaths. The 'surprise' of the presence of the gun is the enemy. 

Currently, the only response that works is assaulting the murderer between changing of the gun clips. That can be documented. The idea a victim would no longer be a victim if they were concealed carry is a myth to mass shootings. The only effective way to minimize and end gun violence is control the opportunity to access of a gun.

Realizing the facts about mass murders and concealed carry is a myth, the messaging of the gun groups has been propaganda for sale and endangers lives. People are dying in gun violence in the USA for gun profits due to the fear generated by propaganda.

It is treason. Saudi Arabia has been experiencing the Arab Spring. It is war.

January 2, 2016


The Middle East (click here) was braced for sectarian violence Saturday after Saudi Arabia said it had executed 47 prisoners, including a prominent Shia cleric who had organized anti-government protests.
There were warnings of a backlash against the ruling Al Saud family after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was named on list of prisoners carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Al-Nimr was a central figure in protests that erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring, and his execution may spark new unrest among the oil powerhouse's Shia minority.
Scores marched through Nimr's home district of Qatif shouting "down with the Al Saud" and, in the neighboring country of Bahrain, police fired tear gas at several dozen people who gathered to protest the news, the Associated Press reported. 

The King has every right protect the country. Below is a video showing the clash between a well armed Saudi Arabia and the Houthis rebels. It is wrong for Iran to continue to support violence. Iranian shipments of munitions have been intercepted. 

These outbreaks of war across the middle east only provides opportunity for Daesh. Iran's support of the Houthis provides for destabilizing in the region. Iran has an interest in ending the opportunity for Daesh. Iran is just as susceptible to instability as any other country. 

Iran should be seeking peace initiatives to bring not just stability, but, survival of the Shia. Iran has a purpose for it's sovereignty. In that sovereignty lies a far greater purpose to end the violence and save the lives of the Shia.

If I recall, don't USA tanks usually fight in a column and not as a single unit in conflict with a handful of rebels? It looks as though Saudi Arabia could use some advice. It is swatting at flies by allowing single tanks to attempt to end scattered rebel groups. The rebels would be forced to fight as a unit if the tanks were together and carrying out successful movement across the region. Minimizing the scattering of rebels provides for a real front that can end any idea of guerrilla attacks. The rebels cannot conduct a real war, so much as an opportunistic war. End the opportunities for violence.

With a war front, the Yemeni military (if there is such a thing) can come from behind to isolate the rebels along that front.