Wednesday, February 18, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/army-missile-defense-blimp-has-americans-worried-about-privacy/

Could Army use high-tech blimp to spy on Americans?
CBS NEWS
February 18, 2015

Floating over Maryland's Baltimore suburbs is the newest system launched by the Army to protect the Eastern Seaboard. While officials say the new security system won't be keeping an eye on residents below, many are skeptical, reports CBS News correspondent Chip Reid.

At the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, soldiers practiced the complicated choreography of launching an unmanned blimp nearly as long as a football field.

"Every time I see it take off, it literally is like the first time. It's that amazing," Cpt. Matt Villa said.

He said it takes his breath away.

"When it's up in the air, it is literally like a balloon on a string," Villa said.

That string is barely an inch thick and almost 2 miles long. It's made of Kevlar and designed to keep the blimp in place even in hurricane-force winds.

"It could go up to 10,000 feet high," Villa said.

To passing drivers on I-95, about 10 miles away, it looks like a floating white whale and it has thousands of people asking: What in the world is it doing there?

"It's a three-year NORAD exercise that is going to test the integration of this into our missile defense system," Col. Frank Rice said.

If all goes as planned, in about three years, the blimp will approved for permanent duty scanning the sky for incoming cruise missiles. The state-of-the-art radar housed in the bubble underneath the unmanned dirigible has a range of 340 miles -- from Boston to North Carolina.

"We are in the NCR, the National Capital Region, it is our geopolitical center of power in the United States. We have to protect it," Rice said.

He says threats could potentially include missiles launched from a Russian aircraft or submarine, or by terrorists from a highjacked container ship.

Eventually there will be two blimps. He said the one currently undergoing testing will be used to detect cruise missiles in the air while the other would be used to target missile defenses toward any such threat. While he couldn't talk about it in detail, he said the requisite missile defense system is already in place.

Similar blimps have been used on the Mexican border to detect smugglers, and in Afghanistan. But those are equipped with cameras -- and that has some people alarmed.

"People who live in the shadow of this blimp are concerned," Electronic Privacy Information Center associate director Ginger McCall said. She said people have told her they're very unhappy about the blimp floating over their heads.

"It bothers them to look up into the sky and see it looking back at them," McCall said.

Villa said people really needn't worry about the blimp spying on them.

"Like I said, there is no cameras on board and there is nothing that can look at any individual person," Villa said.

McCall wasn't satisfied by that answer, "because I have these documents right here that say that the secondary purpose of this is to surveil and track surface moving targets."

McCall obtained the documents through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act.

"Even without the video surveillance, these blimps are designed to track and surveil surface moving targets, that is people, it's cars, it's individuals going about their daily lives," McCall said.

The Army insists the blimp will never be used to spy on Americans, but following revelations about spying by the NSA, some people are nervous about what they believe could one day become the government's eye in the sky.




“While officials say the new security system won't be keeping an eye on residents below, many are skeptical, reports CBS News correspondent Chip Reid.... That string is barely an inch thick and almost 2 miles long. It's made of Kevlar and designed to keep the blimp in place even in hurricane-force winds. "It could go up to 10,000 feet high," Villa said. To passing drivers on I-95, about 10 miles away, it looks like a floating white whale and it has thousands of people asking: What in the world is it doing there? "It's a three-year NORAD exercise that is going to test the integration of this into our missile defense system," Col. Frank Rice said..... The state-of-the-art radar housed in the bubble underneath the unmanned dirigible has a range of 340 miles -- from Boston to North Carolina. "We are in the NCR, the National Capital Region, it is our geopolitical center of power in the United States. We have to protect it," Rice said. He says threats could potentially include missiles launched from a Russian aircraft or submarine, or by terrorists from a highjacked container ship. Eventually there will be two blimps. He said the one currently undergoing testing will be used to detect cruise missiles in the air while the other would be used to target missile defenses toward any such threat. While he couldn't talk about it in detail, he said the requisite missile defense system is already in place. Similar blimps have been used on the Mexican border to detect smugglers, and in Afghanistan. But those are equipped with cameras -- and that has some people alarmed.... McCall wasn't satisfied by that answer, "because I have these documents right here that say that the secondary purpose of this is to surveil and track surface moving targets." McCall obtained the documents through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act.”

"Even without the video surveillance, these blimps are designed to track and surveil surface moving targets, that is people, it's cars, it's individuals going about their daily lives," McCall said.” A similar blimp is now surveilling smugglers on the Mexico/US border, so it can do this. One thing I am coming to accept – the US is already tracking individuals by telephone numbers and calls, and by auto license tags. To be honest, that is the most shocking thing I've seen in the news. Still, the license tag database is being used to track criminals, the government says. I certainly see surveillance as being helpful against would be jihadists or dangerous criminals of all kinds, and when I look at 9/11 and other worldwide terroristic events I do believe there is a need for good control devices. Besides, this news article says the blimp is to be used as a “spotter” in the sky for incoming missiles targeting our regional center of government. It is not armed with weapons of any kind, at least not at this point.

If the “military industrial complex” or right wing radical groups should succeed in a government takeover we are already in trouble. Heck, my computer regularly fills in my name and address on websites even now. I spent most of a year in 2013 applying for jobs online; I have bought things from Amazon and Walmart; and I'm on Facebook. I'm well known. I don't feel very nervous about that now that I have become enured to the invasion of my privacy that this represents. The real problem is the USA Patriot Act, not a blimp. Besides, the Goodyear Blimp has been flying around for decades. Do we know that it isn't equipped with cameras, infrared sensors and other devices? I'm more interested in this technology than afraid of it. I remain hopeful that things will be okay here in the US, and I fear the Tea Party more than the blimp.





ORIGINS OF TERRORISM – THREE ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-local-efforts-worldwide-key-to-fighting-terror/

Obama: "Military force alone cannot solve" extremism
CBS/AP
February 18, 2015

WASHINGTON -- The summit President Obama is addressing Wednesday on the threat of violent extremism is not the summit he envisioned.

In any event, the president plans to stress to attendees that communities worldwide can be pivotal in dampening the threat of terrorism across the globe.

Planned for last October, the summit never happened before the midterm elections. In the months since, the situation has just gotten worse, with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) metastasizing and European cities learning firsthand that extremism's reach is not confined to the Middle East.

As crises boil over in Yemen and Libya, Mr. Obama is asking Congress to take a tough vote backing his military plan to defeat ISIS extremists in Iraq and Syria. But U.S. military action has so far proven the wrong tool to combat a robust social media and propaganda operation whose success at recruiting fighters and jihadists from western communities like Denver and Chicago has been alarmingly impressive.

With that threat in mind, Mr. Obama is hoping to concentrate the world's focus on the need to combat the underlying ideologies that entice otherwise modern individuals - including many disaffected youth - to behead a non-believer, kidnap a schoolgirl or shoot up a synagogue.

During the three-day conference, Mr. Obama is working to highlight local models for preventing radicalization that could be replicated in other communities.

"We must stand united internationally and here at home," Mr. Obama wrote in an op-ed article Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times. "We know that military force alone cannot solve this problem. Nor can we simply take out terrorists who kill innocent civilians. We also have to confront the violent extremists -- the propagandists, recruiters and enablers -- who may not directly engage in terrorist acts themselves, but who radicalize, recruit and incite others to do so.

"This week, we'll take an important step forward as governments, civil society groups and community leaders from more than 60 nations gather in Washington for a global summit on countering violent extremism. Our focus will be on empowering local communities.

The president went on to say, "We know from experience that the best way to protect people, especially young people, from falling into the grip of violent extremists is the support of their family, friends, teachers and faith leaders. At this week's summit, community leaders from Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Boston will highlight innovative partnerships in their cities that are helping empower communities to protect their loved ones from extremist ideologies."

He later added, "Our campaign to prevent people around the world from being radicalized to violence is ultimately a battle for hearts and minds."

The White House finally put a date on the calendar for the summit last month, in the wake of a shooting at a Paris newspaper that shook Europe to attention and earlier attacks in Canada and Australia. In the weeks since, Mr. Obama and top U.S. officials have sought to portray the U.S. as at a lower risk because of what they call an American tradition of making immigrants feel like full members of their new society.

"We haven't always gotten it right," Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday as he opened the summit. "But we have a lot of experience integrating communities into the American system, the American dream."

Mr. Obama's keynote speech to the summit Wednesday afternoon will follow a series of speeches and panels examining the links between extremism and faith, gender, the Internet and the private sector.

Leaders from local communities will present so-called "pilot programs" they've put in place in Los Angeles, Boston and Minneapolis.

Although the White House has gone to great lengths to avoid linking the campaign directly to Islamic extremism, it comes as the U.S. seeks to enlist other, mostly Arab or Muslim nations to join together to rid places like Yemen, Nigeria and Iraq of militant groups claiming adherence to rigid interpretations of Islam.

The U.S. is not the only country pushing anew for deeper involvement from the rest of the world in preventing the spread of extremist groups. After ISIS militants in Libya beheaded a group of Egyptian Christians in a video released this week, Cairo is pressing the United Nations to approve a new coalition for airstrikes. The U.N. Security Council was to meet Wednesday in an emergency session on Libya.

On Thursday, Mr. Obama will speak at the State Department, where representatives of some 60 countries are scheduled to meet. The White House declined to release a list of attendees in advance, suggesting the U.S. was still working to secure support and participation, but representatives from the United Kingdom, Jordan, France, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait were expected to attend.




“In any event, the president plans to stress to attendees that communities worldwide can be pivotal in dampening the threat of terrorism across the globe. Planned for last October, the summit never happened before the midterm elections. In the months since, the situation has just gotten worse, with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) metastasizing and European cities learning firsthand that extremism's reach is not confined to the Middle East.... But U.S. military action has so far proven the wrong tool to combat a robust social media and propaganda operation whose success at recruiting fighters and jihadists from western communities like Denver and Chicago has been alarmingly impressive. With that threat in mind, Mr. Obama is hoping to concentrate the world's focus on the need to combat the underlying ideologies that entice otherwise modern individuals - including many disaffected youth - to behead a non-believer, kidnap a schoolgirl or shoot up a synagogue. During the three-day conference, Mr. Obama is working to highlight local models for preventing radicalization that could be replicated in other communities. ... Nor can we simply take out terrorists who kill innocent civilians. We also have to confront the violent extremists -- the propagandists, recruiters and enablers -- who may not directly engage in terrorist acts themselves, but who radicalize, recruit and incite others to do so.... Our focus will be on empowering local communities. The president went on to say, "We know from experience that the best way to protect people, especially young people, from falling into the grip of violent extremists is the support of their family, friends, teachers and faith leaders.... representatives from the United Kingdom, Jordan, France, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait were expected to attend.”

I will be interested to learn what methods the attendees will recommend to be deployed at the local level. I do think the problem is starting in areas where our own alienated citizens, plus immigrants who are Islamic in religion or ethnic identity, are having difficulty adapting to Western life and even simply unable to get a job or living in extreme poverty. Young people from all backgrounds have been leaving the US to join religious cults at least since the 1960s – Rev. Sun Myung Moon is an example – and those young people were largely Middle Class. Certain young people are also actually interested in fighting in a cultural war – they want a “cause” to live for and an “enemy” to kill. I grew up in such a relatively peaceful time and place that I can't identify with them, and I tend to consider them to be mentally disturbed. That doesn't mean they aren't highly dangerous individuals. Hopefully this meeting of government leaders will do some good. The following article is also on this same subject.





http://www.npr.org/2015/02/18/387131815/communities-called-on-to-help-prevent-home-grown-terrorism

U.S. Communities Called On To Prevent Home-Grown Terrorism
Scott Horsley
FEBRUARY 18, 2015

The Obama administration says it will take more than air strikes in Syria or friendly troops in Iraq to defeat the militant group that calls itself the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL. The White House says it will also take community outreach in places like Boston and Minneapolis.

Preventing home-grown terrorism is the focus of meetings at the White House this week. President Obama will address the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism Wednesday afternoon.

Counter-terrorism experts say more than 20,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria to sign up with ISIS, including at least 3,400 from western Europe and the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder says it's those western radicals who keep him awake at night. He worries about the threat they could pose if they bring their extremist ideology home from the battlefield. Or if — like the suspected gunman in Copenhagen — they never leave home at all.

"The ultimate solution to this is to make sure that the young men who might be attracted to that siren song have to be dealt with," Holder says. "They have to be made to feel a part of our communities. I think we do a better job perhaps than other nations of integrating those people who might be attracted to the ISIL call. But we have to re-double our efforts."

Participants in the summit will hear about pilot programs in Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, where local officials have tried to combat radicalization. Those efforts have included law enforcement, but also the business community, teachers, families, churches and mosques.

Muslim leaders have cautioned that outreach efforts could backfire, if they're perceived as a tool for intelligence gathering or if Muslim communities are singled out for attention.

The White House has taken pains to say it's worried about all forms of violent extremism. Obama argues that religious tolerance is one of the United States' most powerful weapons.

"One of the best antidotes to the hateful ideologies that try to recruit and radicalize people to violent extremism is our own example as diverse and tolerant societies that welcome the contributions of all people, including people of all faiths," Obama says.

The summit continues Thursday with a gathering of international leaders at the State Department.




“The White House says it will also take community outreach in places like Boston and Minneapolis. Preventing home-grown terrorism is the focus of meetings at the White House this week. President Obama will address the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism Wednesday afternoon. Counter-terrorism experts say more than 20,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria to sign up with ISIS, including at least 3,400 from western Europe and the United States.... "The ultimate solution to this is to make sure that the young men who might be attracted to that siren song have to be dealt with," Holder says. "They have to be made to feel a part of our communities. I think we do a better job perhaps than other nations of integrating those people who might be attracted to the ISIL call. But we have to re-double our efforts."... Participants in the summit will hear about pilot programs in Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, where local officials have tried to combat radicalization. Those efforts have included law enforcement, but also the business community, teachers, families, churches and mosques. Muslim leaders have cautioned that outreach efforts could backfire, if they're perceived as a tool for intelligence gathering or if Muslim communities are singled out for attention.”

"One of the best antidotes to the hateful ideologies that try to recruit and radicalize people to violent extremism is our own example as diverse and tolerant societies that welcome the contributions of all people, including people of all faiths," Obama says.” The current groundswell of right wing feeling isn't going to make this easy, as there have been some incidents alreadyof Islamic people, or others wearing turbans or with brown toned Mediterranean skin, being injured or killed by otherwise honest white, Christian Americans. I do hope the pilot programs mentioned here will be of help, and will spread to other cities and neighborhoods.


RELATEDARTICLE:

http://leb.fbi.gov/2014/october/a-new-approach-to-countering-violent-extremism-sharing-expertise-and-empowering-local-communities

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin – 2014 October
A New Approach to Countering Violent Extremism:
Sharing Expertise and Empowering Local Communities

By the executive staff of the FBI’s National Security Branch
10/7/2014

The Boston Marathon bombings, the failed truck bombing at the Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas, and a litany of other failed or thwarted terrorist attacks on the United States all underscore a serious problem with violent extremism.[1] It is not just a local, federal, or, even, a monetary problem. It is everyone’s problem. FBI Director James B. Comey offered insight. 

As the Boston bombings illustrate, we face a continuing threat from homegrown violent extremists. This threat is of particular concern. These individuals are self-radicalizing. They do not share a typical profile; their experiences and motives are often distinct. They are willing to act alone, which makes them difficult to identify and stop. This is not just a Washington, D.C.; New York; or Los Angeles phenomenon; it is agnostic as to place. We also face domestic terrorism from individuals and groups who are motivated by political, racial, religious, or social ideology—ideology fueled by bigotry and prejudice—as we saw in Overland Park, Kansas.[2]

Law enforcement and federal government officials know how pervasive this problem is, and they have developed strategies to stop more disenfranchised Americans from transitioning from radical thinkers to radical extremists. The idea is to reach people before they cross that line. One of the key strategies for countering violent extremism (CVE) is to reach out to communities to build trust and rapport to stem the tide of violence.

Empowered Locals

Every local police department strives to engage communities and develop working relationships with citizens. Yet, when these communities have citizen groups consisting largely of immigrants—with a different language, culture, and sometimes a distrust of law enforcement—there are additional challenges when building a positive relationship.

Law enforcement officials in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis/St. Paul have learned this firsthand. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 32,449 Somalis live in Minnesota, with the largest concentration in the Minneapolis area.[3]

Terrorism organizations often target this group of Somalis to encourage their young men to become foreign fighters. Therefore, breaking down barriers and promoting open communication between the community and police are critical. This chipping away at barriers and building trust is challenging work that requires open dialogue and a willingness to cooperate. It also will not happen overnight.

We understand the importance of reaching out to our very diverse communities, many of whom feel isolated from the mainstream. When police and civic leaders do not reach out to isolated communities, which still occurs too frequently in areas throughout the United States, then these isolated communities can become breeding grounds for violent extremism and radicalization. Isolationism and a lack of partnerships with the mainstream society can lead to distrust and disenfranchisement.[4]

Over the past decade in St. Paul, the police department has gone from having no relationship with the local Somali community to a robust one that has garnered international accolades. The agency has created several community outreach initiatives to promote communication.

Both the FBI and local police departments now attend numerous community meetings. Local police and FBI officials participate in Somali Independence Day celebrations each June. The city of St. Paul has created an elder council of Somali leaders to advise the department and air concerns. More than 500 Somali youth participate in St. Paul’s Police Athletic League.[5] Last summer the St. Paul Police Department hosted its first Halal cookout.[6]

In Minnesota, through strong partnerships between the community and law enforcement, we have been able to charge—locally or at the federal level—some really bad actors and recruiters of young people for nefarious purposes. In fact, much of the open-source information that has been shared by us has been a great benefit to our Joint Terrorism Task Force and our FBI partners. We still have a lot of work to do every day in fostering these strong relationships; however, I do not think you will find many cities in the United States that have had the success stories we have had in countering not only violent extremism but also countering the radicalization narrative….[7]  

St. Paul police officials have worked closely with the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office in community outreach efforts.[8] The FBI had to overcome some erroneous perceptions before laying the groundwork for reaching out and building trust.
Through community outreach, I tried to dispel a lot of the misconceptions people have about the FBI. Even after 100 years, people watch movies and TV shows and have the image of an FBI special agent as a white male with an expressionless face wearing dark sunglasses and a raid jacket. When you get to know people, they learn we are diverse and that we are real people. We have families. We are human beings with hopes and fears and concerns, just like everybody else. It helps to form real relationships with the members of the communities that we serve.[9]

Community outreach in the area has achieved tangible results. Because of the relationships built with the community, local law enforcement agencies and the FBI have prevented several local young men from traveling overseas to fight for or with terrorist organizations.

There are members of the Somali community who may not feel comfortable reaching out to us directly, but they will reach out through their community leaders. We hope that by engaging these community leaders, they will come to us if they learn that someone is being radicalized.[10]

Success in Minneapolis is just one example of the inroads law enforcement agencies and their communities are making with CVE across the country. For example, in June the FBI’s Countering Violent Extremism Office (CVEO) attended the Los Angeles based Countering Violent Extremism/Interagency Coordination Group (CVE/ICG) meeting, hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Muslim Community Affairs Unit.[11] The CVE/ICG was formed in 2008 to coordinate and implement outreach strategies by leveraging Los Angeles city human relations representatives, police agencies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and FBI community outreach and investigative resources to foster enhanced community relations and build intelligence transparency.[12]

The efforts of the CVE/ICG have been lauded not only in Los Angeles but also across the nation as being a model of collaborative efforts in addressing community engagement and implementing proactive CVE measures. The group recognizes that CVE and addressing radicalization are not problems law enforcement can address through arrests alone. Instead, to counter this trend, the city of Los Angeles is positioning itself to address at-risk individuals and communities. The CVE/ICG participates in numerous community events to build trust and rapport with local leaders, which aids their collective outreach efforts.

The FBI’s CVEO, along with its federal counterparts, is leveraging its resources to empower local partners to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from inspiring, radicalizing, financing, or recruiting individuals or groups in the United States to commit acts of violence. That shared mission must penetrate four layers deep and reach not only leaders with influence but also their communities.

The FBI has a shared responsibility with our law enforcement, civic, faith-based, and community partners to curb the catalysts of violent extremism and help communities build resistance to violent acts. If someone is headed toward radicalization, we want to see if there is someone in the community who can help steer that individual toward a better path.[13]

In all CVE efforts, partnerships and collaborations are critical. No single entity controls CVE, but each has an interest in preventing violent extremism. The White House’ strategic approach to CVE encompasses this conclusion.

White House Strategy

In 2011 the White House disseminated its national strategy “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States” and the corresponding Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP).[14]This strategy outlines the federal government’s role in empowering American communities and their local partners to counter violent extremism.

This mandate enhances information sharing, facilitates a greater understanding of the threat from radicalization, strengthens law enforcement cooperation and expertise, and assists communities in building resilience against extremist propaganda. The SIP provides a blueprint on a whole-of-government approach to address these issues and focuses on three priority areas: 1) enhancing and expanding engagement; 2) building CVE expertise; and 3) countering violent extremist propaganda.

The White House National Security Council (NSC) staff continues to drive the CVE program’s advancement.[15] One change has been the alignment of NSC efforts and its interagency policy committee with the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice, National Counterterrorism Center, and DHS.[16] These agencies form the Group of Four (G4) and help carry out and advance the NSC’s CVE mission.

Three Cities Model: NSC advocates a comprehensive approach to CVE, which aligns lines of effort with existing resources in a three-pronged approach: mapping out department and agency programs, establishing measurable goals, and formulating assessments on desired outcomes. The three cities selected to participate in the city model development are Boston, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles.

Community-Led CVE Models: NSC assesses local and community CVE prevention and intervention models for possible applicability nationwide.

Research: The SIP calls for analysis in five broad areas, including the Internet, homegrown violent extremism, disengagement, non-al-Qaida extremism, and preoperational indicators. A working group is identifying pertinent research for dissemination to the interagency partners and local communities, promoting intelligence transparency.

Disengagement: The working group is researching innovative ways to apply resources to target at-risk individuals before mobilization to violence, including law enforcement responses other than disruptions.

Underlying Causes and Motivations

For more than 15 years FBI behavioral and counterterrorism experts have studied what leads individuals down the path to radicalization. The FBI and its federal partners have an opportunity to provide a roadmap for the U.S. Intelligence Community; state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners; and community leaders to help prevent radicalization. The CVEO draws from a variety of behavioral models to identify individuals susceptible to radicalization and to thwart efforts before those persons mobilize.

Behavioral experts hypothesize that violent extremism possesses similarities to other modes of social behavior and developmental models. Most notably, violent extremism is not a linear progression, but an evolving, dynamic situation involving numerous factors, catalysts, inhibitors, and mobilization variables.

To illustrate, the Pyramid Model on activism and radicalization contends that once an individual experiences changes in feelings, beliefs, or actions, the need for activism becomes the primary motivator, manifesting in increased levels of radicalization.[17] Other behavior models parallel societal behavioral patterns.

Social Identity Theory: An individual’s self-image and status are directly connected to the group they belong to, resulting in social categorization. A sense of belonging becomes an important factor in pride and self-esteem. The central theme is that group members seek to find negative aspects of other groups, which enhances their self-image, but also might result in prejudice, hatred, and violence toward other groups.

Gang Model of Criminal Behavior: A gang member feels deindividualized and willing to commit violent acts consistent with the gang’s behavior and feels less personal responsibility. This separation from self results in less accountability and self-awareness and manifests in instances of deviant behavior.

Causation Model of Juvenile Delinquency: A child is vulnerable to detrimental influences from familial, socioeconomic, educational, or ideological factors, resulting in criminal deviant behavior. The child is subjected to dysfunctional behavioral norms, rather than supportive or nurturing norms, resulting in delinquent behavior. Once exposed to dysfunctional norms, the child begins to exhibit behavior contrary to social expectations.

Risk Model: An individual becomes at-risk when three elements are present: threat, vulnerability, and consequence. These three elements are not independent of each other, but, rather, all must be present to result in an at-risk individual. The sum of these three elements equates to an individual’s risk, which considers motivation, intent, capability, opportunity, and psychological gain from acting on intentions.

The FBI works with its interagency partners, academia, and other countries who have collectively conducted social science research to better understand the catalysts driving violent behavior. The dilemma in this evaluation process is to identify when an individual passes from thought to action, which involves an escalation of behavior toward radicalization. Once radicalized, some individuals act upon their thoughts and become mobilized. The FBI and its partners must either recognize when an individual exhibits radicalized behavior or take preemptive action during mobilization and subsequent execution of their intended plans. Intervention along this behavioral continuum is referred to as “left of boom,” illustrating that countering extremist views can take place at any time during the behavioral progression leading up to a violent act. Intervention might take many forms, including risk mitigation and conflict resolution, disengagement, deradicalization, or disruption, including arrest.

An act of violent extremism, or “right of boom,” often is met with a reflexive response involving investigation, increased security measures, or, possibly, military action. This also must include a reflective, intelligence-gathering response, which assesses the underlying causes and motivations behind the violent act.[18] Because the FBI is both an intelligence and law enforcement agency, it is well positioned to assess extremists and their world, as well as to employ its law enforcement authorities to address the threat with a reflexive response as warranted.

SEE THIS WEBSITE FOR MORE.









http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-terror-attacks-60-minutes/

A new kind of terrorist
Clarissa Ward
Feb 15 2015

The following is a script from "A New Kind of Terrorist" which aired on Feb. 15, 2015. Clarissa Ward is the correspondent. Randall Joyce, producer.

It's been more than a month since Cherif and Said Kouachi killed 12 people in an attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine in Paris. The next day, Amedy Coulibaly joined in the carnage -- first shooting a policewoman and then four shoppers in a kosher grocery store.

The killings shook France to its core. Now that the immediate shock has worn off we're starting to learn more about how French authorities missed this threat. The picture that is emerging is of a new kind of terrorist, born and raised in some of France's roughest neighborhoods, a threat so close to home they didn't see it.

Cell phone cameras captured the final moments of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The gunmen were so confident, the sidewalk execution of a wounded police officer so cold blooded, many concluded it was the work of a sophisticated terror network. Analysts seized on the tight grouping of bullet holes in a police windshield as evidence that the attackers were highly-trained, hinting at an exotic foreign threat. As the gunmen carried out the killings, they shouted that they were part of al Qaeda in Yemen. When a third man launched separate attacks, Paris felt like a city under siege.

As the identities of the gunmen leaked out, there was another shock to come. Cherif Kouachi, his brother Said and Amedy Coulibaly were all well known to French authorities. Two of the men had been in and out of prison. All three had once been under surveillance.

Criminologist Xavier Raufer, has taught some of France's top cops and is now learning from them how the system broke down in this case.

Clarissa Ward: All three of these men were very well-known to the police. How did this happen?

Xavier Raufer: And not only were they known to the police on the terrorist side, because they had the terrorist past but they were also known on the criminal side. Those are not 100 percent pure terrorists. Those are hybrids-- people, who at the same time, are hardened criminals. So, why did that happen? Is that the French legal system has a small box for a terrorist, has another small box for criminals and if you are at the same time one and the other, you fall into the crack in the middle and you are lost. This is basically what happened.

Clarissa Ward: Is this the new face of terrorism, this hybrid between jihad and petty criminals?

Xavier Raufer: Of course. Those are the only ones that are left. You know, jihad as an ideal has degenerated along the last 10 or 20 years. Fifteen, 20 years ago the bin Laden type. Now you have common criminals and thugs. One day they drink beer, the next day they smoke pot, the third day they are in a mosque. So, those are totally unstable people. They are human bombs, you know. They can explode any time.

Cherif Kouachi is a perfect example of that hybrid phenomenon. He and his brother Said were orphans of Algerian descent who ended up in foster care. As a teenager, Cherif was more interested in rap than religion. This video, shot by his friends, documents that period in his life when was he smoking pot and chasing girls. He worked as a pizza delivery boy, but his life changed in 2003 when he became radicalized by a group of young Muslims in this Paris neighborhood. They were angry about the American invasion of Iraq and set up a recruitment ring to send young French Muslims to fight jihad against U.S. forces. But Cherif was arrested the day before he was due to fly and he served 20 months in jail for his part in the conspiracy.

Vincent Ollivier was Kouachi's lawyer at the time. He says his client was a bit of a coward who was actually glad to be caught.

Vincent Ollivier: He was a lost and confused young boy. And he talked to the judge to me and to the court later that he was relieved of being arrested because he was afraid to go to Iraq and he thought that it-- wouldn't come back-- at least in one piece. So he was kind of relieved to be arrested, yeah.

Clarissa Ward: Do you believe that?

Vincent Ollivier: At this time, I believed it quite strongly. Maybe he played us all but this wasn't my feeling.

One investigator involved in the case told us Cherif and his associates were dismissed as "mad dogs and morons" who posed no serious threat.

Alain Chouet: "The problem was not to know if we would have a terrorist attack but when..."

Alain Chouet is the former head of security intelligence at the DGSE which is France's CIA. He says French authorities were focused on the wrong threats.

Alain Chouet: No one in Yemen in al Qaeda gave to the Kouachi brothers any instruction to attack Charlie Hebdo such on such day, such time, such date.

Clarissa Ward: So what did they give them? What kind of instructions--

Alain Chouet: They had no instructions. It's their own initiative.

Clarissa Ward: Some people have suggested that security forces were so fixated on finding terrorists, kingpins, pa-- part of a larger network, that to focus on a petty criminal like Cherif Kouachi or Amedy Coulibaly, it seemed not very exciting-- not very important.

Alain Chouet: So when you are always catching little fishes which are forgotten after two or three years, then you try to catch a bigger one. And you put all your means on the possibility of catching a big one.

Clarissa Ward: But now it seems that little fish are the real danger.

Alain Chouet: Sure. The problem is ours. The problem is in our own society, on our own territory.

Amedy Coulibaly's life is a good illustration of that problem. Like Cherif he was a hybrid. He had a long rap sheet for armed robbery. And was trying to live the good life, gangster style. On beach vacations he posed for pictures with his girlfriend who was in a bikini. But look at this later photo, the couple is still together but the picture is radically different.

This is where it's believed his transformation took place, in an infamous French prison, Fleury-Merogis, where Coulibaly served time for robbery. It was here that he met Cherif Kouachi and where they both came under the influence of this man: Djamel Beghal an al Qaeda operative doing time for a conspiracy to blow up the U.S. embassy in Paris. Beghal was in solitary confinement but Coulibaly later described how the men would communicate by talking through an open window and even passing notes to each other. The dysfunctional French prison system had put the little fish in with a shark.

Clarissa Ward: Djamel Beghal was in solitary confinement, right? How, if you're in solitary confinement in prison, are you still able to radicalize two young men?

Alain Chouet: It's a joke. How do you want that to isolate someone when you have 50,000 cells and 65,000 prisoners?

After they were released from prison the three continued to mee. These surveillance photos show Cherif and Coulibaly visiting Beghal in the French countryside.

Xavier Raufer: Beghal, for them, is the guru type. They don't know much about Islam. So, they are like kids, saying, "Mommy, what if I do this? Mommy, what if I do that?" And who is Mommy? It's the guru--

Beghal and Coulibaly were soon heading back to prison for another plot. But what has surprised everyone is that after Coulibaly was released in March of last year he was never followed again.

Alain Chouet: Well, it's funny. But in France, for the sexual criminals, we have a databank, fingerprints, DNA. They are obliged to go to the police precinct or to the gendarmerie every week. They have to say where they live, where they work, and so on. But for the terrorists, nothing. When they are finished with their sentence, with jail, it's finished. Nobody follows.

Clarissa Ward: How is that possible?

Alain Chouet: It's possible. (laugh)

In 2011, after at least one of the Kouachis briefly visited Yemen, the brothers went quiet and just seven months before the attacks, their surveillance stopped. As with their friend Coulibaly, they had slipped off the radar.

Xavier Raufer: During that time, the Kouachi brothers were quietly preparing, buying hoods, buying machine guns, Kalashnikov, and stealing cars in order to attack Charlie Hebdo. This is what happened.

Clarissa Ward: So, in a sense, because they have this criminal experience, they're also better able to outsmart the authorities because they have so much experience with law enforcement. They know how they work.

Xavier Raufer: They are streetwise, you know. They have been trained to spot the cops arriving, the police car, undercover car. They can spot them from other cars. They know where to buy guns. They are streetwise.

That's because they grew up in places like this, poor French suburbs called "banlieues," known for high crime, high unemployment and poor integration. The fear is that they have become fertile recruiting ground for radical Islamists looking for foot soldiers.

This banlieue called Epinay sits on the edge of Paris and is a hub for moving drugs into the capital. After getting approval from local crime bosses, we took a tour with Rabah Serrai, a social worker who has lived here all his life.

France has very strict gun laws. But this man told us that if you have the cash buying a Kalashnikov assault rifle is not difficult here.

What is difficult is getting a job and getting out...

(Voice of translator): France has never been able to put all its children at the same level. This country has left some by the side of the road. And these abandoned children grow up badly. They are badly educated. They have a bad image of their country and they are easy prey for fanatics.

By the time the Kouachis and Coulibaly popped back on the radar with their attacks it was too late for French authorities to connect the dots.

Security services still don't know the extent to which the plots were coordinated. While the Kouachi brothers said they were sent by al Qaeda, Coulibaly declared allegiance to ISIS but it's unlikely that either group provided much more than inspiration.

Alain Chouet: We can assume that-- problem of Kouachi or Coulibaly is not a terrorist problem. It's a psychiatric problem.

Clarissa Ward: What motivates them is something inside of them, something psychological?

Alain Chouet: Yeah, themselves, their own personality, their own self, bad image.

Clarissa Ward: Is it a desire to be heard by society, a desire to be appreciated or understood or have an impact?

Alain Chouet: The desire to be someone which they never have been in their life.

Cherif Kouachi may have succeeded in becoming one of France's most famous terrorists but French authorities ordered he be buried without ceremony in an unmarked grave in this cemetery outside Paris. They've gone to great lengths to ensure that no one will ever know exactly which grave is his...the same treatment given to his brother, Said, and his friend, Amedy Coulibaly.




“As the identities of the gunmen leaked out, there was another shock to come. Cherif Kouachi, his brother Said and Amedy Coulibaly were all well known to French authorities. Two of the men had been in and out of prison. All three had once been under surveillance.... Alain Chouet: Well, it's funny. But in France, for the sexual criminals, we have a databank, fingerprints, DNA. They are obliged to go to the police precinct or to the gendarmerie every week. They have to say where they live, where they work, and so on. But for the terrorists, nothing. When they are finished with their sentence, with jail, it's finished. Nobody follows.... Clarissa Ward: So, in a sense, because they have this criminal experience, they're also better able to outsmart the authorities because they have so much experience with law enforcement. They know how they work. Xavier Raufer: They are streetwise, you know. They have been trained to spot the cops arriving, the police car, undercover car. They can spot them from other cars. They know where to buy guns. They are streetwise. That's because they grew up in places like this, poor French suburbs called "banlieues," known for high crime, high unemployment and poor integration. The fear is that they have become fertile recruiting ground for radical Islamists looking for foot soldiers.... France has very strict gun laws. But this man told us that if you have the cash buying a Kalashnikov assault rifle is not difficult here. What is difficult is getting a job and getting out. (Voice of translator): France has never been able to put all its children at the same level. This country has left some by the side of the road. And these abandoned children grow up badly. They are badly educated. They have a bad image of their country and they are easy prey for fanatics.... While the Kouachi brothers said they were sent by al Qaeda, Coulibaly declared allegiance to ISIS but it's unlikely that either group provided much more than inspiration. Alain Chouet: We can assume that-- problem of Kouachi or Coulibaly is not a terrorist problem. It's a psychiatric problem. Clarissa Ward: What motivates them is something inside of them, something psychological? Alain Chouet: Yeah, themselves, their own personality, their own self, bad image. Clarissa Ward: Is it a desire to be heard by society, a desire to be appreciated or understood or have an impact? Alain Chouet: The desire to be someone which they never have been in their life.”

Poverty, negative social identity, unhealthy home and cultural settings – again and again these show up as causative factors in crime of all kinds, and I do consider becoming a jihadist to be more a matter of criminality than religion. Joining the Mafia, the Bloods or the Crips, is similar to joining ISIS. Males are genetically wired to procure food and shelter, and protect that shelter. That's why they are more likely to become criminals if they can't get a decent job and take care of themselves than women are. What makes them want to follow in the footsteps of the Columbine killers or Osama bin-Laden? They are filled with anger and don't “see themselves” as a lawyer or a businessman. They also share societal beliefs that are destructive. One article on the school achievement gap between black young men and whites spoke of the black viewpoint that studying hard and going to college is “acting white.” The killers that make the news do just that – they get attention and “win,”rather than simply becoming a depressed and hopeless drunk/drug addict or worse, a homeless person – losers not winners. I do hope outreach to these hard core poverty areas can make a difference. What would really make a difference is a $10.00 minimum wage and bringing back the industries that have left the US due to tax laws that allow them to have their headquarters in the US (for tax benefits), but the factories in India where labor is even cheaper than it is here. It makes me feel tired to think of these things.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-legislators-target-advanced-placement-history-courses/

Oklahoma lawmakers target A.P. history courses
CBS NEWS
February 18, 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma state legislators, already at odds with the controversial common core curriculum, have raised questions about the legality of teaching Advanced Placement courses in the state's public schools.

An Oklahoma House Common Education Committee hearing was held Monday on a bill targeted at A.P. history guidelines. Under the measurement, the state's Board of Education would review the guidelines and bar the use of state funds for the A.P. history courses, the Tulsa World reported.

During committee debate, legislators suggested that A.P. courses bear similarity to Common Core, which they feel could be seen as an attempt to establish a national curriculum on schools across the country. In addition, legislators believe A.P. courses violate a repeal of Common Core and that legislation gives control of the curriculum to the state.

The bill being debated on Monday, H.B. 1380, was authored by Rep. Dan Fisher, who said the A.P. U.S. history course places emphasis on "what is bad about America," and along with teacher Larry Krieger said it pays no attention to "American exceptionalism," according to the Tulsa World.

Advanced Placement is a series of tests and courses developed by the College Board, the private, non-profit corporation that also administers the SAT college admissions exam. It was developed with the help of high school and college educators and it allows high schoolers to earn college credit. It is not required for graduation and public schools are not mandated to offer the courses.

But John Williamson, of the College Board called Fisher and Krieger's contentions "mythology" and that the A.P. courses are for students who are able to do college level classwork.

After discussion Fisher's bill passed 11-4, with all Republican members of the committed in favor.



American exceptionalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Americanism (ideology).

American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other nations.[2] In this view, U.S.exceptionalism stems from its emergence from the American Revolution, thereby becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation"[3]and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, democracy and laissez-faire. This ideology itself is often referred to as "American exceptionalism."[4]

Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and other American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense.[4][5] To them, the U.S. is like the biblical "City upon a Hill"—a phrase evoked by British colonists to North America as early as 1630—and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.[6]

The theory of the exceptionalism of the U.S. can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the country as "exceptional" in 1831 and 1840.[7] The exact term "American exceptionalism" has been in use since at least the 1920s ….

In 1989, Scottish political scientist Richard Rose noted that most American historians endorse exceptionalism. He suggests that these historians reason as follows:

America marches to a different drummer. Its uniqueness is explained by any or all of a variety of reasons: history, size, geography, political institutions, and culture. Explanations of the growth of government in Europe are not expected to fit American experience, and vice versa.[11]

However, postnationalist scholars have rejected American exceptionalism, arguing that the U.S. had not broken from European history, and accordingly, the U.S. has retained class-based and race-based inequalities, as well as imperialism and willingness to wage war.[12]

The phrase "American exceptionalism" originates from theAmerican Communist Party. The term comes from an English translation of a condemnation made in 1929 by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin criticizing Communist supporters of Jay Lovestone for the heretical belief that America was independent of the Marxist laws of history "thanks to its natural resources, industrial capacity, and absence of rigid class distinctions".[9][13] Early examples of the term's usage include a declaration made at the 1930 American Communist convention proclaiming that "the storm of the economic crisis in the United States blew down the house of cards of American exceptionalism".[14]

The phrase fell into obscurity for half a century, until it was popularized by American newspapers in the 1980s to describe America's cultural and political uniqueness.[14]The phrase became an issue of contention between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign, with Republicans attacking Obama for allegedly not believing in it.[15]



Postnationalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Postnationalism or non-nationalism[1] describes the process or trend by which nation states and national identities lose their importance relative to supranational and global entities. Although postnationalism is not strictly the antonym of nationalism, the two terms and their associated assumptions are antithetic.

There are several factors that contribute to aspects of postnationalism, including economic, political, and cultural elements.

Increasing globalization of economicfactors, such as the expansion of international trade with raw materials, manufactured goods, and services, and the importance of multinational corporations and internationalization of financial markets, have shifted emphasis from national economies to global ones. At the same time, political power is partially transferred from national authorities to supernational entities, such as the United Nations, theEuropean Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and NATO. In addition, media and entertainment industries are becoming increasingly global and facilitate the formation of trends and opinions on a supranational scale. Migration of individuals or groups between countries contributes to the formation of postnational identities and beliefs, even though attachment to citizenship and national identities often remains important.[2][3][4]

Postnationalism and human rights[edit]

In the scholarly literature, postnationalism is linked to the expansion of internationalhuman rights law and norms. International human rights norms are reflected in a growing stress on the rights of individuals in terms of their "personhood," not just theircitizenship. International human rights law does not recognize the right of entry to any state by non-citizens, but demands that individuals should be judged increasingly onuniversal criteria not particularistic criteria (such as blood descent in ethnicity, or favoring a particular sex). This has impacted citizenship and immigration law, especially in western countries. Germany, for example, has felt pressure to, and has diluted (if not eradicated), citizenship based on ethnic descent, which had caused German-born Turks, for example, to be excluded from German citizenship. Scholars identified with this argument include Yasemin Soysal, David Jacobson, and Saskia Sassen.[5]

In the European Union[edit]

The European integration has created a system of supranational entities and is often discussed in relationship to the concept of postnationalism.[6][7][8]

In the media[edit]

Catherine Frost, professor of political science at McMaster University, argues that while the internet and online social relations forge social and political bonds across national borders, they do not have "the commitment or cohesiveness needed to underpin a demanding new mode of social and political relations".[9]




“Oklahoma state legislators, already at odds with the controversial common core curriculum, have raised questions about the legality of teaching Advanced Placement courses in the state's public schools. An Oklahoma House Common Education Committee hearing was held Monday on a bill targeted at A.P. history guidelines. Under the measurement, the state's Board of Education would review the guidelines and bar the use of state funds for the A.P. history courses, the Tulsa World reported.... During committee debate, legislators suggested that A.P. courses bear similarity to Common Core, which they feel could be seen as an attempt to establish a national curriculum on schools across the country.... During committee debate, legislators suggested that A.P. courses bear similarity to Common Core, which they feel could be seen as an attempt to establish a national curriculum on schools across the country.... It is not required for graduation and public schools are not mandated to offer the courses. But John Williamson, of the College Board called Fisher and Krieger's contentions "mythology" and that the A.P. courses are for students who are able to do college level classwork. After discussion Fisher's bill passed 11-4, with all Republican members of the committed in favor.”

On the term “American Exceptionalism” – Even though I have a love of the US as my home and of the South in particular, I grew up being taught little about racism and class warfare in my high school courses, and as a result college “blew my mind.” I didn't know that Japanese American citizens were put into “concentration camps” of a sort here in the US. We may be in for more of that with the Islamic people who come here. I hope not. I am forced to admit at this time that my pride in America is not as strong as it was when I was sixteen years old or younger. I remember my feelings of shame and horror when I saw a photograph of a group of black people in Greensboro, NC, who were being confronted – menaced – by a sizable group of policemen with guns and German Shepherds. The dogs were straining at their leashes to get to the blacks. That was in the early days of the Civil Rights movement when the sit ins had just begun. I didn't see my white police officers as the heroes, and I was in sympathy with the attempted integration of lunch counters. All American people have a right to sit down and eat among any company. I grew up separated from blacks because housing in those days was rigidly controlled. Blacks who tried to move into a white neighborhood, “integration” as it was called, were likely to find a cross burning on their lawn and yes, there were lynchings.

I never developed the scorn and hatred that so many whites have toward blacks, and I certainly didn't see them as enemies. When socially unfair practices are abandoned in this country and poor people are welcome at the Country Club, I will have full pride in my origins. I feel lucky to live in a relatively safe country with regular and free elections, but I don't think I “deserve it” because I'm white. I deserve it because I'm willing to fight for that freedom; I do my best to be a good citizen; I participate in political discussion and I vote at almost all elections. I personally hope I won't ever have to fight against my government itself for my freedom.

That's why when I see movements like this one to gut the truthfulness of our public educational system and the necessary poverty programs which some conservatives would happily eliminate, despite the fact that they fully expect help if they should happen to need it, I stand firm in my own beliefs. I do my bit with this blog and try to research topics that are of interest in the true picture of our society as it grows and progresses. I want to see that the needy are fed and clothed, and then most definitely educated fully. Good, unbiased history is one of the basic things high schoolers need to learn. They shouldn't have to go to college to learn the true story of how all those Cherokees got to Oklahoma, and why General Custer wasn't a fallen hero.

Obama's idea of free community college would be useful, as many poor people won't be able to afford college other than to proceed toward a degree slowly, while working at a job to pay for it. There is no other ladder for the poor to rise in their social status besides winning the lottery or getting a good education. I never forget, either, that even without an increased upward mobility, there is the improvement of individual citizens as human beings with a conscience that is at stake. Uneducated people are much more likely to abuse and harm minority groups than are the educated. When all we have is our white skin to give us a higher social status, that is the beginning of movements like the White Supremacists around the world and the USA.





A PLEASANT CHANGE OF PACE


http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/03/08/goats_yelling_like_humans_why_do_goats_yell_like_that_we_asked_the_experts.html

Why Do Goats Yell Like That? Experts Weigh In.
By Forrest Wickman
MARCH 8 2013

If you’re among the millions who have spent a significant portion of the past month watching videos of goats yelling like humans, you may have wondered: Why do goats yell like that? Are they distressed? Do they yell for any particular reason? Are they trying to tell us something?

We asked the goat experts. The first thing we learned is that the goat experts are not amused. “Maybe for some it is entertaining,” Dr. An Peischel of Tennesse State University told me. “I am a goat producer and don’t consider it entertainment at all.”

They were quick to point out that some of these “goats” are not, in fact, goats at all. “The individuals making the noises were not all goats,” wrote Dr. Peischel, “There are several sheep involved.”

Yelling, for goats, is not unusual. They will yell for all sorts of reasons. “Mother goats call for their young when they get separated,” explained goat specialist Dr. Daniel Waldron of Texas A&M, and “young kid goats also call for their mothers.” “Goats may also ‘yell’ when they expect to get fed,” continued Dr. Waldron. “If I feed one pen of goats, the second pen may start ‘yelling’ because they want to be fed right now.”

Dr. Jean-Marie Luginbuhl of North Carolina State, a specialist in meat goats, agreed. “In my experience with goats, it does not take much for them to scream bloody murder, as if you are torturing them, when simply handling them.”

And why do they sound so much like humans? It’s a bit of a mystery, apparently. But the first thing to realize is that not all goats do sound like humans. Instead, they each have “distinctive voices,” Dr. Luginbuhl explained. While some individual goats may yell like humans, others have different voices and may not sound like humans at all.

While I had the attention of these goat specialists, I had to ask: Why are goat eyes so weird? Drs. Luginbuhl and Peischel disagreed with the premise: Goat eyes are “not weird,” they maintained. Nonetheless, goats are one of only a few species—others include sheep and octopi—to have pupils that are horizontal. Human pupils, in contrast, are round, while many predators (cats, snakes, alligators) have vertical pupils. Peischel suggested that having horizontal pupils “increases their peripheral vision so that they can detect approaching predators.”




“Why do goats yell like that? Are they distressed? Do they yell for any particular reason? Are they trying to tell us something? We asked the goat experts. The first thing we learned is that the goat experts are not amused. “Maybe for some it is entertaining,” Dr. An Peischel of Tennesse State University told me. “I am a goat producer and don’t consider it entertainment at all.” They were quick to point out that some of these “goats” are not, in fact, goats at all. “The individuals making the noises were not all goats,” wrote Dr. Peischel, “There are several sheep involved.”.... “Mother goats call for their young when they get separated,” explained goat specialist Dr. Daniel Waldron of Texas A&M, and “young kid goats also call for their mothers.” “Goats may also ‘yell’ when they expect to get fed,” continued Dr. Waldron. “If I feed one pen of goats, the second pen may start ‘yelling’ because they want to be fed right now.”... Dr. Jean-Marie Luginbuhl of North Carolina State, a specialist in meat goats, agreed. “In my experience with goats, it does not take much for them to scream bloody murder, as if you are torturing them, when simply handling them.”... not all goats do sound like humans. Instead, they each have “distinctive voices,” Dr. Luginbuhl explained. While some individual goats may yell like humans, others have different voices and may not sound like humans at all.... Human pupils, in contrast, are round, while many predators (cats, snakes, alligators) have vertical pupils. Peischel suggested that having horizontal pupils “increases their peripheral vision so that they can detect approaching predators.”

Did you know that goats “yell like a human?” I certainly didn't. I saw it on a TV commercial a few days ago, and I was scared, startled, and deeply amused. I decided that some clever writers and producers had thought up the commercial with a human voice dubbed in for sound. Not! Everybody but me knew they yelled, it seems. I got many hits when I looked it up on Google.

Goats are scary enough without that. Their horns are lethal, and according to my father who grew up on a farm, they will definitely charge if provoked. I have petted them several times, but they were in a fence and I was on the other side of it. And about their eyes, those pupils that open up side to side are equally spooky. Between the horns, eyes, the yelling and the unprovoked attacks I can see why primitive people saw them evil. Satan is depicted as a goat, and Jesus spoke of the separation of “the sheep and the goats.”

About the horizontal pupils, it seems it helps them see side to side better – useful if you're looking for a cave lion or something. Cats and snakes do have spooky eyes, too – vertical pupils, though if a cat is in a dark place their pupils open up to be almost round. Cats are definitely magical creatures all the way around, with their sinuous and silent movements. They, too, have been suspected by some Christians, at least during the period of witch hunts.

Islamic cultures raise goats for food, of course. If they taste like sheep, and they probably do, then I would like the meat I feel sure, and I've had goats milk several times. It has the “wild” tang like deer meat, but I like it, and goat cheese is better than that made from cows milk to me, especially on a good Greek salad.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-aggressive-strain-of-hiv-discovered-in-cuba/

New, aggressive strain of HIV discovered in Cuba
By JESSICA FIRGER CBS NEWS
February 16, 2015

Scientists have discovered a highly aggressive new strain of HIV in Cuba that develops into full-blown AIDS three times faster than more common strains of the virus. This finding could have serious public health implications for efforts to contain and reduce incidences of the virus worldwide.

Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium say the HIV strain CRF19 can progress to full blown AIDS within two to three years of exposure to virus. Typically, HIV takes approximately 10 years to develop into AIDS. Patients with CRF19 may start getting sick before they even know they've been infected, which ultimately means there's a significantly shorter time span to stop the disease's progression.

The scientists began studying the cases in Cuba when reports began coming in that a growing number of HIV-infected patients were developing AIDS just three years after diagnosis with the virus. The findings of their study were published in the journal EbioMedicine.

Having unprotected sex with multiple partners can expose a person to numerous strains of the HIV virus. Research has found that when this occurs, the different strains can combine and form a new variant of the virus.

When HIV first enters the human body it latches on to anchor points of a certain protein, known as CCR5 on the cell membranes, which then allows it to enter human cells. Eventually the virus then latches onto another protein of the cell membrane, known as CXCR4. This marks the point when asymptomatic HIV becomes AIDS. In CRF19, the virus makes this move much sooner.

For the study, the researchers analyzed blood samples of 73 recently infected patients. Among the group, 52 already had full-blown AIDS, while the remaining 21 were HIV-positive but the virus had not yet progressed. The researchers compared their findings to blood samples of 22 AIDS patients who had more common strains of the virus.

The researchers found that patients with CRF19 had higher levels of the virus in their blood compared with those who had more common strains.

They also had higher levels of the immune response molecules known as RANTES, which bond to CCR5 proteins in early stages of the virus. The abnormally high level of RANTES in patients infected with the new strain indicates that the virus runs out of CCR5 anchor points much earlier and moves directly to CXCR4 anchor points.

Thanks to advances in medical treatment and the development of highly effective antiretroviral drugs, HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence. But the researchers caution that patients with the new strain of the virus are more likely to be diagnosed when they already have full-blown AIDS and when damage from the disease has taken a toll.

The researchers suspect that this aggressive form of HIV occurs when fragments of other subsets of the virus cling to each other through an enzyme that makes the virus more powerful and easily replicated in the body.

There are currently 35 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization. Scientists have identified more than 60 different strains of the HIV 1 virus, with each type typically found predominantly in a specific region of the world.




“Scientists have discovered a highly aggressive new strain of HIV in Cuba that develops into full-blown AIDS three times faster than more common strains of the virus. This finding could have serious public health implications for efforts to contain and reduce incidences of the virus worldwide. Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium say the HIV strain CRF19 can progress to full blown AIDS within two to three years of exposure to virus. Typically, HIV takes approximately 10 years to develop into AIDS. Patients with CRF19 may start getting sick before they even know they've been infected, which ultimately means there's a significantly shorter time span to stop the disease's progression.... Having unprotected sex with multiple partners can expose a person to numerous strains of the HIV virus. Research has found that when this occurs, the different strains can combine and form a new variant of the virus.... For the study, the researchers analyzed blood samples of 73 recently infected patients. Among the group, 52 already had full-blown AIDS, while the remaining 21 were HIV-positive but the virus had not yet progressed. The researchers compared their findings to blood samples of 22 AIDS patients who had more common strains of the virus. The researchers found that patients with CRF19 had higher levels of the virus in their blood compared with those who had more common strains.... Scientists have identified more than 60 different strains of the HIV 1 virus, with each type typically found predominantly in a specific region of the world.”

I assume the fact that the patient doesn't know he is infected for a longer period of time might also make him more likely to spread the disease widely before he suspects he has the problem. That's unfortunate. Of course it's basically unsafe for anyone to have sex without a condom, between AIDS, Herpes, and three or more other sexually transmitted diseases. Our lack of ability to control our sexual urges gets everyone into trouble, from pregnancy to diseases. A human's most basic enemies are our instincts and feelings, as they influence our behavior toward things that are outside the realm of good common sense. To get an adrenalin rush, people will tie themselves to a bungie cord and jump off a cliff. Of course those same things are life savers, too. Rage, fear and the sexual urge are all basic to who we are – survivors. Luckily human intelligence has allowed us to invent drugs to combat these dangerous diseases, but in the case of AIDS, no preventative vaccine. Hopefully this new AID strain will be controlled by the drug treatments that have been developed already. I don't see people getting clever enough to refrain from unprotected sex – that requires too much self control. We do, unfortunately, reap what we sow.