Tuesday, January 31
Islamophobia Influencies Democracies
Protesters hold copies of the Quran as they demonstrate in front of the Consulate General of Sweden after Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line, burned a copy of the Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 22, 2023. [Umit Bektas/Reuters]
Earlier this week in the Hague, in an act that made America’s right-wing politicians look like paragons of religious tolerance, Edwin Wagensveid, the Dutch leader of the far-fight Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) group, publicly desecrated a copy of Islam’s holy book and published a video of the hateful act on social media. This followed an incident over the weekend in which Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), burned a Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
Signalling that the incidents in Sweden and the Netherlands are part of a coordinated campaign of hate speech, as he tore and crumpled a page from the Quran, Wagensveld said, “Soon, there will be registrations for similar actions in several cities”. “Time to answer disrespect from Islam with disrespect,” he added,
On cue, and as the provocateurs intended, protests erupted across the Muslim-majority world. Western leaders then responded by lecturing Muslims on the subtleties of free speech and “respect” for diverse opinions.
Beyond this familiar pattern of Islamophobic provocation-Muslim rage-Western condescension, do such acts of provocation targeting vulnerable minorities have any effect on the societies in which they occur? Should non-Muslims living in Western societies care if a holy book they don’t believe in is used in a hateful publicity stunt?
Yes, they should. Because the propagation of Islamophobia makes democracies less free and less safe – not only for Muslims, but for everyone.
I lead research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), a Washington, DC-based non-partisan think tank that provides research and education about US Muslims and the policies that affect them. READ MORE...
Signalling that the incidents in Sweden and the Netherlands are part of a coordinated campaign of hate speech, as he tore and crumpled a page from the Quran, Wagensveld said, “Soon, there will be registrations for similar actions in several cities”. “Time to answer disrespect from Islam with disrespect,” he added,
On cue, and as the provocateurs intended, protests erupted across the Muslim-majority world. Western leaders then responded by lecturing Muslims on the subtleties of free speech and “respect” for diverse opinions.
Beyond this familiar pattern of Islamophobic provocation-Muslim rage-Western condescension, do such acts of provocation targeting vulnerable minorities have any effect on the societies in which they occur? Should non-Muslims living in Western societies care if a holy book they don’t believe in is used in a hateful publicity stunt?
Yes, they should. Because the propagation of Islamophobia makes democracies less free and less safe – not only for Muslims, but for everyone.
I lead research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), a Washington, DC-based non-partisan think tank that provides research and education about US Muslims and the policies that affect them. READ MORE...
Tyre Nichols Versus George Floyd
Putting a knee on someone's neck and killing them unintentionally is WRONG.
Standing around watching this and doing nothing to stop it, is also wrong.
Kicking the perpetrator repeatedly in the chest and face and killing them unintentionally is WRONG.
Standing around watching and doing nothing, or participating in the activity is also WRONG.
HOWEVER...
These two events while similar are still MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE...
Why do I say this?
George Floyd was killed by basically ONE WHITE COP.
Tyre Nichols was killed by FIVE BLACK COPS.
The George Floyd KILLING opened the door for the black community to show their DISGUST of the white community, and make sure that everyone knew that the USA was not just racist but predicated upon WHITE SUPREMACY...
The George Floyd killing opened the door to BLM, CRT, and the WOKE movement not just in a certain area but throughout the entire United States... as if it was one huge gigantic, well orchested movement... not just targeting white people but focusing on Donald Trump as the one who precipitated the entire event by his twitter comments and opinionly expressed opinions in the media.
The George Floyd killing opened the door to BLACK VIOLENCE all across the USA as a way of showing all Americans that the BLACKS were sick and tired of WHITE CONTROL.
NOW LET'S LOOK AT THE TYRE NICHOLS MURDER...
BLACK COPS not white cops
FIVE BLACK COPS versus only 1 white cop while others watched
NO OUTRAGE towards black community that caused this
NO NATION WIDE PROTEST OF VIOLENCE
NO CONDEMNATION of the black community
NO COMMENTS about structural racism in America
NO APOLOGIES about comments targeting white supremacy
NO APOLOGIES to Donald Trump or to those who supported him
East TN has an expression... what goes around comes around... and, I believe that this is exactly what happened here... The blacks were looking for an excuse to rise up and go against their theoretical white supressors and used George Floyd as an excuse and a launching pad for what they had been wanting to do for decades...
And now, that theory... that movement... that desire... has turned back around on them and bitten them in the ASS...
ALL THEIR RHETORIC ABOUT WHITE SUPREMACY IS BULLSHIT...
It was back then and it is now, today...
These 5 black cops killing another black man, proves there white supremacy theory to be a LIE...
BLACKS ARE JUST AS EVIL AS WHITES WHEN IT COMES THE CRIME AND BLACKS AND CORRUPT POWER BY LAW ENFORCEMENT...
It is not a WHITE ISSUE... ladies and gentlemen, IT IS A LAW ENFORCEMENT issue...
WAKE UP AMERICA...
The Drug War is a Game
Jose Irizarry, a once-standout DEA agent sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for conspiring to launder money with a Colombian cartel, speaks during an interview the night before going to a federal detention center, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. After years of portraying Irizarry as a rogue agent who acted alone, U.S. Justice Department investigators have made an abrupt shift, following his confessional roadmap to question as many as two-dozen current and former DEA agents and prosecutors accused of turning a blind eye to his flagrant abuses and sometimes joining in.
(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — José Irizarry accepts that he’s known as the most corrupt agent in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history, admitting he “became another man” in conspiring with Colombian cartels to build a lavish lifestyle of expensive sportscars, Tiffany jewels and paramours around the world.
But as he used his final hours of freedom to tell his story to The Associated Press, Irizarry says he won’t go down for this alone, accusing some long-trusted DEA colleagues of joining him in skimming millions of dollars from drug money laundering stings to fund a decade’s worth of luxury overseas travel, fine dining, top seats at sporting events and frat house-style debauchery.
The way Irizarry tells it, dozens of other federal agents, prosecutors, informants and in some cases cartel smugglers themselves were all in on the three-continent joyride known as “Team America” that chose cities for money laundering pick-ups mostly for party purposes or to coincide with Real Madrid soccer or Rafael Nadal tennis matches. That included stops along the way in VIP rooms of Caribbean strip joints, Amsterdam’s red-light district and aboard a Colombian yacht that launched with plenty of booze and more than a dozen prostitutes.
“We had free access to do whatever we wanted,” the 48-year-old Irizarry told the AP in a series of interviews before beginning a 12-year federal prison sentence. “We would generate money pick-ups in places we wanted to go. And once we got there it was about drinking and girls.”
All this revelry was rooted, Irizarry said, in a crushing realization among DEA agents around the world that there’s nothing they can do to make a dent in the drug war anyway. Only nominal concern was given to actually building cases or stemming a record flow of illegal cocaine and opioids into the United States that has driven more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths a year.
“You can’t win an unwinnable war. DEA knows this and the agents know this,” Irizarry said. “There’s so much dope leaving Colombia. And there’s so much money. We know we’re not making a difference.”
“The drug war is a game. ... It was a very fun game that we were playing.” READ MORE...
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — José Irizarry accepts that he’s known as the most corrupt agent in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history, admitting he “became another man” in conspiring with Colombian cartels to build a lavish lifestyle of expensive sportscars, Tiffany jewels and paramours around the world.
But as he used his final hours of freedom to tell his story to The Associated Press, Irizarry says he won’t go down for this alone, accusing some long-trusted DEA colleagues of joining him in skimming millions of dollars from drug money laundering stings to fund a decade’s worth of luxury overseas travel, fine dining, top seats at sporting events and frat house-style debauchery.
The way Irizarry tells it, dozens of other federal agents, prosecutors, informants and in some cases cartel smugglers themselves were all in on the three-continent joyride known as “Team America” that chose cities for money laundering pick-ups mostly for party purposes or to coincide with Real Madrid soccer or Rafael Nadal tennis matches. That included stops along the way in VIP rooms of Caribbean strip joints, Amsterdam’s red-light district and aboard a Colombian yacht that launched with plenty of booze and more than a dozen prostitutes.
“We had free access to do whatever we wanted,” the 48-year-old Irizarry told the AP in a series of interviews before beginning a 12-year federal prison sentence. “We would generate money pick-ups in places we wanted to go. And once we got there it was about drinking and girls.”
All this revelry was rooted, Irizarry said, in a crushing realization among DEA agents around the world that there’s nothing they can do to make a dent in the drug war anyway. Only nominal concern was given to actually building cases or stemming a record flow of illegal cocaine and opioids into the United States that has driven more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths a year.
“You can’t win an unwinnable war. DEA knows this and the agents know this,” Irizarry said. “There’s so much dope leaving Colombia. And there’s so much money. We know we’re not making a difference.”
“The drug war is a game. ... It was a very fun game that we were playing.” READ MORE...
Monday, January 30
What Everyone Wants to Know
"The happiest people do not have the best of everything.
They just make the best of everything they have."
They just make the best of everything they have."
How Government Documents Are Classified
Documents sought by the U.S. Justice Department from former President Donald Trump may contain material related to what The New York Times described as “some of the most highly classified programs run by the United States.” The Washington Post reported that “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought” during a search of Trump’s Florida home on Aug. 8, 2022.
Classified information is the kind of material that the U.S. government or an agency deems sensitive enough to national security that access to it must be controlled and restricted.
There are several degrees of classification. Documents related to nuclear weapons will have different classification levels depending on the sensitivity of the information contained. Documents containing information related to nuclear weapons design or their location would be highly classified. Other information may still be highly classified but deemed not as sensitive. For example, in 2010 President Barack Obama declassified the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile.
In general, classified documents must be handled in a way that protects the integrity and confidentiality of the information they contain. This includes securing documents in a safe or other authorized storage container when the documents are not being used by staff. If staff needs to move them from one place to another, they must follow security protocols to do so.
Though classified information can be taken off the premises in the course of official duties, taking classified documents home is prohibited by executive order.
Clearance and classification
Before coming to academia, I worked for many years as an analyst at both the State Department and the Department of Defense.
I held a top-secret clearance, frequently worked with classified information and participated in classified meetings. For example, I dealt with information related to weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation.
Handling written classified information is generally straightforward. Documents are marked indicating classification levels.
Tens of thousands of people working for the U.S. government both directly and as contractors have security clearances allowing access to classified information. Many people with security clearances never handle classified material but need to be cleared so they can be present when classified information is discussed.
But not all of classified details describe covert operations or identities of spies. Many are rather mundane. A former colleague of mine who was a retired CIA analyst used to tell his students he would never knowingly, but almost certainly would inadvertently, share a tidbit of classified information in the classroom. It is difficult to remember many “smaller” details that are sensitive.
Dealing with large amounts of classified information over a career increases the possibility of accidentally sharing a small nugget. Sharing classified information knowingly, or revealing information one should know is sensitive, is a different matter.
Here’s how the system of classification works.
Classification levels and content
The U.S. government uses three levels of classification to designate how sensitive certain information is: confidential, secret and top secret.
The lowest level, confidential, designates information whose release could damage U.S. national security. The designation “secret” refers to information whose disclosure could cause “serious” damage to U.S. national security. The designation “top secret” means disclosure of the document could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to national security.
At the top-secret level, some information is “compartmented.” That means only certain people who have a top-secret security clearance may view it to reduce the risk of any revelations. Just because someone has a clearance at a level that matches a document doesn’t mean the person has a need to access it.
This is often used for the most highly sensitive information, such as that pertaining to sources and methods – that is, how and from where intelligence is collected.
Several other designations indicate restricted access within the top-secret and secret designations. The Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information is a designation given to classified material related to the design and operation of nuclear weapons. This designation would be in addition to a secret or top-secret designation, but is not a level of classification. For example, a person with a top-secret clearance working on counterinsurgency issues would not have Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information access.
It is common for written documents to contain information that is classified at different levels, and some information that isn’t even classified. Individual paragraphs are marked to indicate the level of classification. For example, a document’s title might be preceded with the marker “U,” indicating the title and existence of the document are unclassified.
Within a document, paragraphs might carry the markers “S” for secret, “C” for confidential or “TS” for top secret. The highest classification of any portion of the document determines its overall classification. This approach allows for the easy identification and removal of classified portions of a document so that less sensitive sections can be shared in unclassified settings.
A sitting president can access any classified material. READ MORE...
So What Now?
How many frigging people actually do that?
A bottle of wine only contains about 2-3 glasses maybe 4, so one needs to replace that bottle with another at least every other day which is 3-4 bottles of wine every week... because the viewer is led to believe that this is done everyday of the week.
The average price of a bottle of table wine is between $5 to $15... so, I will split the difference and say $10... So, that is $30 to $40 every week, again splitting the difference is $35...
Since there are 52 weeks in a year, then the annual cost of drinking 2-3 glasses of wine each night is $1,820...
I doubt is the average American drinks like that every night, even though television is supposed to reflect the reality of life.
Beer works out to about $1/bottle, so that is $3/day or $21/week or $1,092 annually.
The average cost of a decent bottle of bourbon, scotch, or vodka is between $20 to $30 so we are splitting the difference at $25.
A bottle of whiskey contains about 16 shots or 16 drinks whether you drink it straight or mix it with something.
If you have 2-3 shots each day, then a bottle will last about one week+/-... so, you will consume 52 bottles annually... at $25/bottle that is an annual cost of $1,560...
Summarizing:
Wine is $1,820
Whiskey is $1,560
Beer is $1,092
If you follow this routine from age 20 to age 80 or roughly 5 decades, then you have spent about $50,000 in a lifetime on alcohol...
- What about going to parties?
- What about holiday get togethers?\
- What about vacations?
- What about going out to a bar with friends of colleages?
- What about attending weddings or funerals?
- What about New Year's Eve?
- What about going to professional athletic events?
- What about going on cruises?
- What about when you were lonely or depressed?
- What about dating?
- What about drinking in College?
- What about drinking in the military?
HOW STUPID IS ALL OF THIS???
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