April 18, 2016


News and Views


The 28 Pages -- Two Articles

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/secret-28-pages-9-11-report-under-new-scrutiny-n556831

Secret 28 Pages of 9/11 Report Under New Scrutiny
by KRISTIN DONNELLY
NEWS APR 17 2016, 5:16 AM ET

Image: Osama bin Laden. Former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at an undisclosed place inside Afghanistan. AFP - Getty Images, file
Video -- Play9/11 Anniversary: 9/11 Anniversary: Remembering the Victims 14 Years Later 2:06
Image: SAUDI-ROYALS-DEATH-SUCCESSION, King Salman will meet with President Obama this week. - / AFP - Getty Images
Related: Classified documents Contradict FBI on Post-9/11 Probe of Saudis, Ex-Senator Says
Related: Royal Pains: Two Princes Vie for Power in Saudi Arabia, Make a Mess
Related: Obama, Gulf Leaders Seek to Shore up Regional Security


When the president leaves for a trip to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday an unresolved issue will go with him: did the Saudis play some role in supporting the hijackers responsible for the attacks on September 11th?

The question is being raised in the wake of a renewed push to declassify 28 pages of a 838-page congressional report on the worst terror attack on American soil.

The so-called "28 pages" are locked away in a secure basement room at the Capitol and although they can be read by members of Congress, the pages remain classified.

That the two of the hijackers involved in the September 11th attacks landed in Los Angeles, moved to San Diego and obtained housing, language lessons and identification is widely known.

However, those 28 pages could shed more light on the money and connections used to do so and are said to include information "suggesting specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the United States," according to the chapter's introduction in the report.

Former Senator Bob Graham told "60 Minutes" in an interview, "I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of whom didn't speak English, most of whom had never been in the United States before, many of whom didn't have a high school education — could've carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States."

Graham is the former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chair of the bipartisan joint congressional inquiry into intelligence failures surrounding the attacks. He wants those pages declassified and told "60 Minutes" he believes support for the hijackers came from the government, wealthy people and charities in Saudi Arabia.

The "60 minutes" report reignited debate and interest in the documents, according to Brian McGlinchey, who runs the website 28pages.org, which describes itself as a hub for the movement to declassify those pages.

"I definitely think there is some momentum," he told NBC News by phone.

The timeline to get this done appears to finally be speeding up.

The White House says the Director of National Intelligence hopes to complete the review process by the end of the year. And Graham told the Tampa Bay Times it could happen in the next month or two based on a phone call he got from a senior Obama administration official.

But the White House would not confirm that timeline and also wouldn't confirm the president even has read the 28 pages.

It also seems highly unlikely those pages will be made public before the president's trip to Saudi Arabia. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States has been described by senior administration officials as both complex and complicated, made more precarious by the recent nuclear deal with Iran. This is Obama's fourth trip to Saudi Arabia, more than any other president. The visit will kick off with a bilateral meeting between Obama and the Saudi King Salman.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said he did not know if allegations of Saudi support for the hijackers might come up during the trip, and pointed out the 9/11 Commission has already looked closely at that possibility and ruled it out.

"Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of funding. But we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization," Earnest quoted from the 9/11 Commission report during a briefing last week.

Jim Kreindler and Sean Carter, lawyers representing the families of victims of September 11th attacks, are fighting to have those 28 pages declassified as part of a lawsuit against the government of Saudi Arabia.

Kreindler said the White House could be doing a lot more ensure transparency.

"The administration views the 9/11 families suit as an impediment to the U.S.-Saudi relationship," he told NBC News.

He also points to the position the administration took in 2009, which advocated the Saudi kingdom should be immune from the claims filed by the families of victims because it has sovereign immunity.

"I think that he should raise not only the 28 pages, but the unresolved disputes between 9/11 families and Saudis generally," Carter said of the president's upcoming meeting with King Salman.

But, not everyone agrees those 28 pages would make a difference.

Congressman Adam Schiff, the current ranking Democrat on the Select Committee on Intelligence also wants the 28 pages declassified, but for another reason. He thinks it will put an end all the speculation that the Saudi government was involved.

"The 9/11 Commission investigated these claims and was never able to find sufficient evidence to support them," Schiff said in a statement.

The White House points to a past record of openness and transparency, including declassifying part of Senate's report on the CIA interrogation program and making public instances in which non-combatants were killed in counterterrorism operations oversea. The review of the Joint Congressional Inquiry regarding the 9/11 attacks "remains underway, but every effort is being taken to complete it before the end of the Administration".

"Until these 28 pages are freed from the vault, the American people can't make an informed evaluation of their government's past and present foreign policy and its execution of the war on terror," McGlinchey said.



“When the president leaves for a trip to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday an unresolved issue will go with him: did the Saudis play some role in supporting the hijackers responsible for the attacks on September 11th? The question is being raised in the wake of a renewed push to declassify 28 pages of a 838-page congressional report on the worst terror attack on American soil. The so-called "28 pages" are locked away in a secure basement room at the Capitol and although they can be read by members of Congress, the pages remain classified. …. could've carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States." Graham is the former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chair of the bipartisan joint congressional inquiry into intelligence failures surrounding the attacks. He wants those pages declassified and told "60 Minutes" he believes support for the hijackers came from the government, wealthy people and charities in Saudi Arabia. The "60 minutes" report reignited debate and interest in the documents, according to Brian McGlinchey, who runs the website 28pages.org …. Jim Kreindler and Sean Carter, lawyers representing the families of victims of September 11th attacks, are fighting to have those 28 pages declassified as part of a lawsuit against the government of Saudi Arabia. Kreindler said the White House could be doing a lot more ensure transparency. "The administration views the 9/11 families suit as an impediment to the U.S.-Saudi relationship," he told NBC News. …. He also points to the position the administration took in 2009, which advocated the Saudi kingdom should be immune from the claims filed by the families of victims because it has sovereign immunity. "I think that he should raise not only the 28 pages, but the unresolved disputes between 9/11 families and Saudis generally," Carter said of the president's upcoming meeting with King Salman. …. Congressman Adam Schiff, the current ranking Democrat on the Select Committee on Intelligence also wants the 28 pages declassified, but for another reason. He thinks it will put an end all the speculation that the Saudi government was involved. "The 9/11 Commission investigated these claims and was never able to find sufficient evidence to support them," Schiff said in a statement.”


This is important, but it isn’t what I thought it would be. An acquaintance of mine in my apartment building spends lots of time listening to late night call in shows which feature everything from flying saucers to US involvement in the 9/11 attack. Some people believe that the US government was actually the perpetrator of the infamous attack. I asked him, “Do you really believe all this stuff?” He said in a defensive tone of voice, “I don’t know.” I quit talking to him much at all after that.

This article is pointing instead to the Saudi government’s either being closely involved or even the origin of the attack. I know that a sizable number of members of the Saudi royal family were summarily expelled from the US in the week or so after the attack. Osama bin Laden himself was a member of the royal family, if I remember correctly. In addition, there have been lots of violent radicals who were originally from Saudi Arabia, and the government there does fight to suppress them. Our laws in this country don’t let us do things like that without the unwanted person actually committing a crime, although the Patriot Act came close to it, and gave the government the discretion to break the law secretly in the interest of “national security.” In that line of thought came the assassination of bin Laden and some of his family.” These are clearly dangerous times, however, and I thought at the time and do now that bin Laden deserved no less than death.

The events since 9/11 and the attack on the Branch Davidians a few years before that by the ATF, DEA and Secret Service were among the sources of violent hatred against “the government” on the part of Tim McVeigh and other radical ”patriots’ and “survivalists.” In the spirit of revenge for that event, the huge fertilizer bomb was created and driven in a van to the Oklahoma City courthouse where those offending government enforcement groups had offices. The photograph of the devastation is appalling.

That’s why the really dangerous Right Wingers in this country are so numerous now. From the KKK to the Sovereign Citizens they are coalescing under the “conservative” cause. As I’ve said before, those people are not “conservative.” They’re extremely radical.

Interesting wording from the above article “both complex and complicated” -- http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10459/what-is-the-difference-between-complicated-and-complex”

“I can't understand: what's the difference between complicated and complex?
They seem to be used interchangeably. Are they actually different at all?”

“...it's complicated. Or do I mean complex?” – Matt Ball Jan 28 '11 at 19:44


Read this larrycuban.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/… – user16914 Jan 11 '12 at 15:22

“In system theory: a system can be very complicated but not complex at all. Is [sic] system is complex when it has emergent behaviour. Complicated systems can be solved with enough computing power. Complex systems cannot be solved.” thegreatcourses.com/courses/understanding-complexity.html – Patrick Savalle Mar 13 '15 at 23:51

‘Complex is used to refer to the level of components in a system. If a problem is complex, it means that it has many components. Complexity does not evoke difficulty.

On the other hand, complicated refers to a high level of difficulty. If a problem is complicated, there might be or might not be many parts but it will certainly take a lot of hard work to solve.

I am forced by my nature to add a more pedantic answer to the list. The content of this answer does not reflect my personal opinion, nor does it reflect common usage, but it does explain why the two words are not precisely interchangeable in all circumstances.

Complexity is intrinsic. Something is complex if it involves a lot of [metaphorical] moving parts even when considered as a Platonic ideal.

Complication is extrinsic. Something is complicated by external influences, or because of external influences.

Pedantically, something can be complex without being complicated, or complex because it is complicated. (Things are rarely complicated without also being complex.) In realms where precision is important, there is often a distinct division between the terms. In medicine, for instance, a broken bone may be described as a complex fracture because the fracture is complicated by breaking the skin, inviting the risk of infection.

Here endeth the pedantry.

In common use, complex is more usually used in a technical sense. Complicated is more likely to appear in everyday language among the general population since most complexity in everyday life is complicated in some way. Complicated may not always be precisely correct, but most people don't spend their lives with a dictionary in one hand and a thesaurus in the other looking for le seul mot juste -- they already have a word that means what they want to say.”


Emergent behavior

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/emergent+behavior --
emergence
(redirected from Emergent behavior)

e·mer·gence (ĭ-mûr′jəns)
n.
1. The act or process of emerging.
2. A superficial outgrowth of plant tissue, such as the prickle of a rose.

Noun 1. emergence - the gradual beginning or coming forth; "figurines presage the emergence of sculpture in Greece"

outgrowth, growth
beginning - the event consisting of the start of something; "the beginning of the war"
rise - a growth in strength or number or importance


ENOUGH OF THIS!!



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-bashes-new-york-election-law/

Why Bernie Sanders says he won't read the 28 pages, even though he can
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
April 18, 2016, 10:14 AM


Bernie Sanders says he has not yet read the 28 pages that are redacted from a congressional report on 9/11 that a number of lawmakers are demanding be declassified -- even though he has access to the pages.

Asked in an interview on "CBS This Morning" if he should read them if he's running to be commander-in-chief, Sanders said, "The difficulty is, you see then, if you read them, then you're gonna ask me a question, you're gonna say, 'You read them, what's in them?' And now I can tell you honestly I have not."

Even though he hasn't read the documents, he acknowledged that there is speculation that the 28 pages "may indicate that parts of the Saudi family may have funded some of the terrorists."

Sanders said he supports legislation pending in the Senate that would allow the U.S. to sue any government that may have been involved in terrorism that kills Americans. The Obama administration, meanwhile, opposes the bill, and Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate financially if the bill passes.

The issue of the 28 pages has attracted more attention recently in light of a recent 60 minutes segment in which some lawmakers and families of 9/11 victims called for their declassification.

In the interview, Sanders also slammed the election law that will prevent independent voters from casting votes in New York's primary on Tuesday.

"It's bad New York state election law. What it says to the many hundreds of thousands or more independents who would like to vote tomorrow for me or for anybody else -- they' can't participate," the presidential candidate said.

"I think that that's wrong and that does hurt us because we win independent voters about two to one," Sanders added, in effect lowering expectations a little for the outcome.

Only registered Democrats and Republicans can participate in their respective party's primary on Tuesday in New York. Every state sets its own rules, and one of the reasons why Sanders has performed well in states that hold caucuses is because independents are usually allowed to participate. A CBS News battleground tracker poll released Sunday found that Clinton has a 10-percentage-point lead ahead of Sanders in New York 53 to 43 percent.

Asked how bad the Democratic primary process is in terms of delegate allocation, Sanders said, "I have serious problems with it. You know, this is the establishment, folks."

He was referring to the superdelegates -- elected officials who can choose to support any candidate they want -- who overwhelmingly support Hillary Clinton.

Sanders said that even if he loses New York, he plans to go all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July.

"We are going all the way. we are going all the way through California, we're going into the convention in Philadelphia, we think we have a path toward victory and we're going to fight for every single vote that's out there," he said.



EXCERPTS -- “Asked in an interview on "CBS This Morning" if he should read them if he's running to be commander-in-chief, Sanders said, "The difficulty is, you see then, if you read them, then you're gonna ask me a question, you're gonna say, 'You read them, what's in them?' And now I can tell you honestly I have not." Even though he hasn't read the documents, he acknowledged that there is speculation that the 28 pages "may indicate that parts of the Saudi family may have funded some of the terrorists." Sanders said he supports legislation pending in the Senate that would allow the U.S. to sue any government that may have been involved in terrorism that kills Americans. The Obama administration, meanwhile, opposes the bill, and Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate financially if the bill passes. …. "I think that that's wrong and that does hurt us because we win independent voters about two to one," Sanders added, in effect lowering expectations a little for the outcome. Only registered Democrats and Republicans can participate in their respective party's primary on Tuesday in New York. Every state sets its own rules, and one of the reasons why Sanders has performed well in states that hold caucuses is because independents are usually allowed to participate. A CBS News battleground tracker poll released Sunday found that Clinton has a 10-percentage-point lead ahead of Sanders in New York 53 to 43 percent. …. Sanders said that even if he loses New York, he plans to go all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July. "We are going all the way. we are going all the way through California, we're going into the convention in Philadelphia, we think we have a path toward victory and we're going to fight for every single vote that's out there," he said.”


Sanders hasn’t been in the news as much as Clinton has down through these fifteen years or so, and as a result was not as well known. He did something that was very interesting. His website issues “photographs” which contain strong and courageous political statements in just a short sentence or two. Sometimes it’s a fact, often a quotation from an important historical figure, and many times his own personal opinions. Those statements showed me how mentally and verbally adept he is at analyzing a situation and speaking. Shortly after that he announced his run for the presidency. At that time, I was torn between him and Elizabeth Warren, but then she announced that she is not running. They are both good, strong, intelligent small d big D Democrats, and I’m so glad they are around. We need more like that, though, if we are to break the backs of Kochian thinkers (and non-thinkers).


Leaked ISIS Documents

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/isis-files-what-leaked-documents-reveal-about-terror-recruits-n557411

NEWS ISIS UNCOVERED
The ISIS Files: What Leaked Documents Reveal About Terror Recruits
by RICHARD ENGEL, MARC SMITH and TRACY CONNOR
APR 18 2016, 7:40 AM ET

Video -- Apparent ISIS Recruitment Forms Give Rare Look Inside Terror Operation 2:39
Video -- ISIS Using Social Media and Violence to Recruit 2:00
Related -- Watch 'NBC Nightly News' on Monday for more on the ISIS Files
Video -- NBC News' Richard Engel interviews Abu Mohammed, who says he stole the ISIS files from a senior commander. NBC News
RELATED: How we obtained the secret personnel files
Related: Read the Combating Terrorism Center report on the ISIS files
Related: Who Is ISIS Trying to Reach With Beheading Videos? 0:42
Video -- NBC News' Richard Engel interviews Abu Mohammed, who says he stole the ISIS files from a senior commander. NBC News
Video -- PlayWho Is ISIS Trying to Reach With Beheading Videos? who Is ISIS Trying to Reach With Beheading Videos? 0:42
Video -- Play How ISIS mastered Internet recruitment 6:20


A trove of ISIS personnel records obtained by NBC News has now been analyzed by experts at West Point, who say it's the largest and "most significant" document cache of its kind, providing new insight into the terror group's grand ambitions and diverse recruits.

The files reveal that the jihadists who joined the Islamic State in 2013 and 2014 were largely uninterested in suicide missions, better educated than expected and, to the alarm of those trying to stop the export of terror, very well-traveled.

NBC News received the dossiers from a Syrian man who said he stole the information, stored on a flash drive, from a senior ISIS commander. Over the last month, NBC News has worked with the Combating Terrorism Center at the elite military academy to transform them into a database of more than 4,000 foreign fighters from 71 countries.

The analysts believe the documents, which were also given to a British media outlet, are genuine and the details in them revelatory. They show the bureaucracy behind ISIS' enlistment operation and a surprisingly varied fighting force captivated by the promise of a global Muslim caliphate.

"The largest takeaway from these documents is the massive diversity of the population," Brian Dodwell, deputy director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, told NBC News.

"We are talking an average age of around 26, 27 years old but we're talking about everywhere from teenagers up until men in their 60s," Dodwell added. "We're talking about very diverse backgrounds from an education perspective — individuals who list their education as none up to those who listed their educations as Ph.D.s, masters degrees, MBAs … Everything from laborers to doctors and lawyers."

The papers, written in Arabic and fully translated by NBC and West Point for the first time, provide a snapshot of each fighter — from nom de guerre and blood type to travel history and contact numbers for next of kin.

Among the key findings:

Most don't want to be martyrs

Each candidate was asked if he wanted to be a regular fighter or a suicide bomber or suicide fighter, but only 12 percent ticked the box for martyrdom.

That ratio stands in stark contrast to another set of foreign fighters, those who joined Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, more than half of whom volunteered to blow themselves up, according to West Point. And analysts say the disparity reflects how ISIS marketed itself to the world and the kind of future it envisioned.


"While they do need some suicide bombers, if all of their troops selected into the suicide category who would be left to fill that conventional army? Who would be left to serve as the Sharia officials, the police or the administrative?" Dodwell said.

"They're selling this narrative of victory and sustaining... Many of these individuals it would seem are buying into that message and are going into there to live — not die."

They cover the generation gap

Nearly two-thirds of the enlistees were in the 21-30 age group, but the other ends of the spectrum were also well-represented. Some 40 recruits were under age 15 and about 400 were under 21. Almost a quarter fell between ages 31 and 40. About 4 percent were between 41 and 50 and there were even 42 men over the age of 50.

The oldest person in the database was nearly 70, a married father of five from Kyrgystan who wanted to be a fighter and not a suicide volunteer.

Many have families

While six out of 10 fighters were single, 30 percent reported being married — and they had more 2,000 children between them. The notes on some of the applications show that some showed up with hopes of bringing their families along later if they could get the money needed for travel.

The Caliphate called to them

The dates on the records give a sense of what might have propelled some these men to join ISIS. One peak came in November 2013, a few months after the militants split off from the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and rebranded themselves as the Islamic State or ISIS.

But the biggest recruitment period was July 2014, following some of ISIS' most significant territorial seizures and the announcement that it was establishing a caliphate with dominion over the world's Muslims.

They were schooled

"They are perhaps more educated than we would expect," Dodwell said.

A third went to high school and a quarter had a college education; only 17 percent said they stopped their schooling after elementary or middle school. That level of education was higher than the average for many of the countries the men called home.

While the stats might suggest that the fighters had prospects in their homeland, the West Point experts noted that many of them had more menial jobs than their education might suggest — a possible source of frustration that could have played into their decision to join up.

The group was less educated on Islam than might be predicted. Seventy percent said they had only a basic understanding of sharia. And in an unexpected turn, those with a deeper understanding of Islamic law were actually less likely to choose to be suicide bombers or fighters, despite the religious justification for suicide attacks.

They're jacks of all trades

The applicants came from all job sectors. Listed occupations included beekeeper, perfume salesman, airline steward, Saudi intelligence worker, soldier in the Tunisian army. One reported he was in "counter-narcotics," another that he was a hashish dealer. "May God forgive him and us!" that file added. There was someone who worked at a Starbucks in London, and another who boasted of being a mixed-martial arts trainer with gold medals to his name.

Overall, though, the fighters were more likely to have worked in low-skilled jobs. Only 104 had high-skilled or white-collar positions. There were 700 laborers, roughly 10 times the number of teachers, IT employees, or those in the military or police. But the vast majority were employed before they joined: Only 255 said they were jobless. Another big group had yet to enter the labor force: 656 students.

They span the globe

The three biggest feeder countries were Saudia Arabia (797 fighters), Tunisia (640) and Morocco (260), although Tunisia has the highest per capita rate. But they came from all corners of the world — from China (167) to Iceland (1) and Australia (13) to Trinidad and Tobago (2).

About 10 percent hailed from Western nations, including the United Kingdom (57) and the United States (14). In Europe, France (128) and Germany (80) had the highest numbers.

The international nature of the group is cause for concern, giving a glimpse of the ease with which ISIS members might be able to move around and blend in across the globe. Fifty-eight cited the U.S. as a country they had visited.

"They were from all over the world and the individuals had traveled all over the world," Dodwell said. "I wouldn't say a majority of them, but a good number of them were heavily traveled. One individual said he had been to 38 countries around the world. So some of them certainly have international experience and significant experience moving throughout the region and throughout the world."

Each record contained a field where the person processing the paperwork could make notes. The miscellaneous entries were both haphazard and telling. They detailed issues with forged or lost passports, criminal records, health problems, and special family situations.

"Important, he has expertise in chemistry," one notation said. Another: "He has experience in making explosives. He refused to provide his mother's name out of concern for her safety."

The dossiers contain the names of those supposedly vouching for the recruits, and it's clear connections were important.

"His brother executed the metro operations in Madrid," one note said, apparently referring to the 2004 commuter train bombings by an Al Qaeda cell that killed 191 people. A different applicant "tried to join the State through Abu-Ayman al Iraqi [a top ISIS commander killed in 2014] but they refused for lack of recommendation," the file said.

Problems with vision or hearing were duly recorded, along with other medical conditions. "His right leg is amputated," one file said. "He wears a prosthetic."

There were contact numbers for family members and also instructions on whether they were to be contacted. One Spanish fighter left this directive: "He does not want anyone to know."

A college student from Libya who volunteered to be an inghimasi, a type of fighter who plans to die on the battlefield, left a message for those at home: "Tell my mother and my father to forgive me."

The cache included more than 400 exit forms for members who were leaving ISIS territory — the majority were allowed to take a leave of absence for medical treatment, mainly in Turkey, while others were permitted to take care of family issues or bring their families back. But those weren't the only reasons. Two forms contained the word "LIED" in red letters with the ominous warning that the person would be arrested if they returned. In some other cases, ideological differences were noted.

To validate the documents, the West Point center cross-referenced them against a repository of ISIS records maintained by the Defense Department and corroborated about 98 percent.

Dodwell said that while much of the material confirmed the center's understanding of who joins ISIS and why, the "massive amount of diversity" was the biggest eye-opener and poses a challenge for those researching how to counter radical extremism at the root level.

"What it shows us is that it's very difficult to determine who exactly these types of programs should be targeted towards because they come from all walks of life," he said.



EXCERPTS -- “The analysts believe the documents, which were also given to a British media outlet, are genuine and the details in them revelatory. They show the bureaucracy behind ISIS' enlistment operation and a surprisingly varied fighting force captivated by the promise of a global Muslim caliphate. …. The files reveal that the jihadists who joined the Islamic State in 2013 and 2014 were largely uninterested in suicide missions, better educated than expected and, to the alarm of those trying to stop the export of terror, very well-traveled. NBC News received the dossiers from a Syrian man who said he stole the information, stored on a flash drive, from a senior ISIS commander. Over the last month, NBC News has worked with the Combating Terrorism Center at the elite military academy to transform them into a database of more than 4,000 foreign fighters from 71 countries. The analysts believe the documents, which were also given to a British media outlet, are genuine and the details in them revelatory. They show the bureaucracy behind ISIS' enlistment operation and a surprisingly varied fighting force captivated by the promise of a global Muslim caliphate. …. While the stats might suggest that the fighters had prospects in their homeland, the West Point experts noted that many of them had more menial jobs than their education might suggest — a possible source of frustration that could have played into their decision to join up. The group was less educated on Islam than might be predicted. Seventy percent said they had only a basic understanding of sharia. And in an unexpected turn, those with a deeper understanding of Islamic law were actually less likely to choose to be suicide bombers or fighters, despite the religious justification for suicide attacks. …. The international nature of the group is cause for concern, giving a glimpse of the ease with which ISIS members might be able to move around and blend in across the globe. Fifty-eight cited the U.S. as a country they had visited. …. The international nature of the group is cause for concern, giving a glimpse of the ease with which ISIS members might be able to move around and blend in across the globe. Fifty-eight cited the U.S. as a country they had visited. …. The cache included more than 400 exit forms for members who were leaving ISIS territory — the majority were allowed to take a leave of absence for medical treatment, mainly in Turkey, while others were permitted to take care of family issues or bring their families back. But those weren't the only reasons. Two forms contained the word "LIED" in red letters with the ominous warning that the person would be arrested if they returned. In some other cases, ideological differences were noted. To validate the documents, the West Point center cross-referenced them against a repository of ISIS records maintained by the Defense Department and corroborated about 98 percent. …. "What it shows us is that it's very difficult to determine who exactly these types of programs should be targeted towards because they come from all walks of life," he said.”


I kept all the excerpts above because I could find none that were not important. The young fundamentalists were “captivated by the promise of a global Muslim caliphate…” This reason for their joining ISIS is a lot like the Germans in WWII who were trying to help conquer the world for the Fatherland, or the Christian Crusaders who were equally zealous to establish Christianity in the Holy Land. Loving your religion and group identity somehow “jumps species” to ultranationalism and group hatred. It’s not a grudge match only (though I feel sure that is part of it), but a higher calling than can be found in regular daily life in some poor and boring small village, or a Belgian ethnically concentrated enclave of Islamic people. It’s interesting that so many of them who, despite higher than average levels of education, were working in menial jobs, so sheer frustration and maybe a sense of failure has contributed to some mental imbalance in the recruits. It’s very much like our black vs white issues in the US. It’s mainly among the poor but also among the rich, if their group hatred has been carefully fed by their friends and family. Such an extreme view of life is, to me, very clearly a form of insanity and extremely dangerous.



http://www.salon.com/2016/04/18/elizabeth_warren_comic_book_hero_senator_is_latest_to_star/

Elizabeth Warren, comic book hero? Senator is latest to star
MONDAY, APR 18, 2016 01:15 AM EDT

BOSTON (AP) — Her parents didn’t hail from the planet Krypton, and she was never bitten by a radioactive spider, but that hasn’t stopped Elizabeth Warren from starring as a comic book hero.

“Female Force: Elizabeth Warren” tells the true-life story of Warren’s rise from Oklahoma schoolgirl to U.S. senator and champion of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

The 22-page comic is the brainchild of Portland, Oregon-based publishers Storm Entertainment and is part of a larger series designed to celebrate the lives of notable women. Past subjects include Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Madonna, Sarah Palin, Condoleezza Rice, Facebook executive Cheryl Sandberg, Nancy Reagan, Tina Fey and Caroline Kennedy.

The most popular comic in the series told Michelle Obama’s life story, and sold about 75,000 copies. There have been about 70 titles in all.

Publisher Darren Davis said he was drawn to Warren’s story because of the role strong women have played in his life.

“She’s a woman that has it all. She has the family. She has the career. She has a strong work ethic,” he said. “We thought she had a really strong story.”

Instead of leaping over tall buildings in tights and a cape, or battling mad jokers and villainous penguins, Warren’s political superpowers are focused on something she sees as even more threatening: the Wall Street and Capitol Hill power brokers she holds responsible for hollowing out the middle class.

The bulk of the book steers clear of ideological battles and instead zeroes in on Warren’s personal and professional struggles, from hardscrabble childhood and young mom to law student, law professor and candidate for Ted Kennedy’s old U.S. Senate seat.

“We really want to showcase these people’s lives and where they came from rather than making some political statement,” he said.

Warren had nothing to do with the book, and learned about it only after publication. She hasn’t commented publicly commented on her turn as comic book hero.

Matt Reyes, manager of New England Comics, said there’s a niche audience for a biographical comic book that tells Warren’s story, especially in her hometown of Cambridge.

“I have customers who teach politics and ethics across the street” who would be interested in the book, said Reyes, whose store is in Harvard Square opposite the Ivy League campus and its Kennedy School of Government. Warren taught at Harvard Law School.

“It’s a fairly specific audience,” added Reyes, who said he has spotted Warren in the neighborhood. The store is about a mile from Warren’s home.

Some would just as soon paint Warren as a comic book villain instead of hero.

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Kirsten Hughes said Warren “would raise taxes faster than a speeding bullet and … her big government agenda would trample small business with a single bound.”

“A comic book seems like the perfect way to tell the story of a politician so detached from reality,” Hughes said.

Davis — whose other biographical comics range from Donald Trump to Pope Francis — has high hopes for the Warren comic. He said there’s huge interest in the Massachusetts Democrat.

“She’s trending better than the pope,” he said.



“Female Force: Elizabeth Warren” tells the true-life story of Warren’s rise from Oklahoma schoolgirl to U.S. senator and champion of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. The 22-page comic is the brainchild of Portland, Oregon-based publishers Storm Entertainment and is part of a larger series designed to celebrate the lives of notable women. Past subjects include Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Madonna, Sarah Palin, Condoleezza Rice, Facebook executive Cheryl Sandberg, Nancy Reagan, Tina Fey and Caroline Kennedy. The most popular comic in the series told Michelle Obama’s life story, and sold about 75,000 copies. There have been about 70 titles in all. …. Warren’s political superpowers are focused on something she sees as even more threatening: the Wall Street and Capitol Hill power brokers she holds responsible for hollowing out the middle class. …. Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Kirsten Hughes said Warren “would raise taxes faster than a speeding bullet and … her big government agenda would trample small business with a single bound.” “A comic book seems like the perfect way to tell the story of a politician so detached from reality,” Hughes said.”


The bad news is that this “comic book” is not available on good old fashioned paper, because when I try to maneuver on a touch screen I can’t control the image at all and I think I would become infuriated with the thing. I hate it when the business powers of the world totally eliminate a good reliable product of some kind just because some new technology has been invented and, more importantly, aggressively marketed. There have been two news articles in the last couple of years about LIBRARIES that have made the (ridiculous) business decision to go entirely paperless.



ANTI-GOVERNMENT CITIZENS IN DANGEROUS PLACES

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/constitutional-sheriffs-cops-who-think-government-our-greatest-threat-n557381

Constitutional Sheriffs: The Cops Who Think the Government Is Our 'Greatest Threat'
by JULIA HARTE and R. JEFFREY SMITH
NEWS APR 18 2016, 6:47 AM ET

Photograph -- Richard Mack, the former sheriff of Graham County, Ariz., speaks at the 10th annual Second Amendment Action Day rally on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on May 12, 2015, AP
Photograph -- Suspended Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch talks with reporters on the courthouse steps in Bristol, Fla., on Oct. 31, 2013 after his acquittal on charges of official misconduct and falsifying official records. Finch admitted freeing a concealed weapons suspect who had been frisked in a traffic stop, but said he did so because he believes the Second Amendment gives citizens a legal right to bear arms. Bill Cotterell / AP
Video -- Play' Domestic terrorists' in custody for Vegas plot 'Domestic terrorists' in custody for Vegas plot 1:11


The full version of this story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.

Sheriff Nick Finch let a pistol-packing man out of the Liberty County, Florida, jail, a decision that led state authorities to charge Finch with a crime — but also made him a hero to a radical and growing movement among sheriffs across the country.

It's a movement that doesn't just reject gun control — it encourages law enforcement officers to defy laws they decide are illegal. And it sometimes puts police on the same side as "sovereign citizens," a fringe group that the FBI considers one of the most serious domestic terrorism threats.

On March 8, 2013, one of Sheriff Finch's deputies pulled over a driver and found a loaded pistol in his pocket, according to the deputy's sworn statement. Carrying a concealed firearm without a license is a felony in Florida, so the deputy arrested the driver.

Finch, however, ordered the driver released, and someone whited out his booking record. Finch later said he decided that "I know what law rules the day, and it's the U.S. Constitution."

Click here to read the full version of this story.

Gov. Rick Scott ordered Finch's suspension. But then a former Arizona sheriff named Richard Mack called, and a group that Mack heads — the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association — became engaged.

Suspended Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch talks with reporters on the courthouse steps in Bristol, Fla., on Oct. 31, 2013 after his acquittal on charges of official misconduct and falsifying official records. Finch admitted freeing a concealed weapons suspect who had been frisked in a traffic stop, but said he did so because he believes the Second Amendment gives citizens a legal right to bear arms. Bill Cotterell / AP

Mack has referred to the federal government as "the greatest threat we face today," and describes his association — which states on its website it is supported by the John Birch Society and Gun Owners of America, as well as annual dues payments of $50 — as "the army to set our nation free." He said in an interview with CPI that he has grown the army by training more than 400 sheriffs in how to interpret the Constitution and how to resist authorities and laws that violate it.

Mack claims the dues-paying support of several hundred of the nation's more than 3,000 sheriffs and the sympathies of hundreds more, but it's hard to assess how many endorse his denunciation of the federal government as the corrupt and illegitimate enforcer of laws that trample on states' rights.

On occasion, however, his group's sheriffs have found themselves expressing views that resemble those of the sovereign citizens' movement, which was also founded on claimed rights of legal defiance.

Dozens of sheriffs around the country — including John Hanlin, the sheriff of Douglas County, Ore., the site of last October's mass shooting of eight students and a professor at Umpqua Community College — joined Mack in an aggressive letter-writing campaign to the White House after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, in which they vowed not to enforce any federal laws that tightened gun restrictions.


Richard Mack, the former sheriff of Graham County, Ariz., speaks at the 10th annual Second Amendment Action Day rally on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on May 12, 2015, AP
After the armed standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge earlier this year, Mack traveled repeatedly to Oregon, appearing at high schools and fairgrounds, and giving interviews in which he criticized federal authorities. He's also promised to help elect new sheriffs in the region who share his views. Gun laws are a focus of his ire, but federal lands restrictions and tax laws have also been in his sights.

After Sheriff Finch's suspension, Mack organized a fundraiser in nearby Panama City and brought in Stewart Rhodes, head of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, the same group that made headlines last August for patrolling the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, with guns. (Mack is on the Oath Keepers board of directors.) Sympathizers created a Facebook support page for Finch, and online commentators expressed outrage at what they called an unconstitutional attempt by the state to interfere with his support for gun rights.

During Finch's boisterous trial in October 2013, he was joined in the Liberty County courtroom by Mack, several other Florida sheriffs, and dozens of new supporters. The judge had to admonish the crowd not to laugh as the state presented its case against Finch, and in the end, the jury acquitted him of misconduct and falsification of records. He was reinstated as sheriff, and later granted back pay as well as attorney's fees of more than $160,000. Finch, 53, remains the sheriff of Liberty County.

Winning over law enforcement officials

On a chilly morning last October, roughly 60 people — mostly older white men — sat at long plastic tables beneath the fluorescent lights of an auditorium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to attend a "Tribute to Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers."

At the meeting, four or five political groups — the local chapters of the Tea Party, Freedom Works, United Conservatives Fund — laid out their literature, candy, and swag on folding tables at the back of the room. The speakers included two local police officers, the president of Mississippi's Gulf Coast Rangers citizen militia, a veteran who tracks gun laws in Mississippi, an investigator for the state's attorney general, and finally, the star attraction: Sheriff Richard Mack. But only one Mississippi county sheriff showed up: Billy McGee, from the surrounding Forrest County.

Mack, who is over six feet tall and bears a passing resemblance to Ronald Reagan, stood before the crowd in a casual, desert-hued suit. Audience members queued to have him sign their copies of a booklet summarizing his case against the Brady Act, called "The Victory for State Sovereignty." In America, he said as audience members nodded, "gun control is against the law. And we don't get to violate the law just because we have a shooting in Oregon or Sandy Hook or anyplace else."

"What we want now is for many of you to come to our certification training," he said. "You come to a two-day seminar, get certified, and then you get back here to your state and you start providing this training, bam, bam, bam, go to every sheriff's office, go to chiefs of police, go to county commissioners and show them this training." Details about how to get the certification training, Mack assured the audience, would be forthcoming.

A local named Paul Boudreaux, 53, raised his hand from the third row. "What do you do about the sheriffs that are complicit with the federal government?" he asked.

"Ignore them," Mack replied. He reminded the audience that there are nearly 3,100 sheriffs in the country and that the association is aiming to get approximately one fourth of them to support its mission: "If we get that 600 or 700, there's going to be no stopping. And then everybody in this country has at least two or three places in each state where they can go for refuge, find a true constitutional sheriff who'll tell the federal government, 'You're not going to abuse citizens anymore.'"

Asked later what the worst abuses were that the federal government had committed in his community, Boudreaux brought up the gopher frog: an endangered species native to the Gulf region. To protect it, Boudreaux said, some of his neighbors have had hundreds of acres of land condemned as habitat where the frog can live. "Fortunately, because of our Second Amendment, we've still got the freest country on Earth," Boudreaux added, crossing his arms.

"But the sheriff needs to know," Boudreaux said, expressing a view that most legal scholars vigorously dispute, "that he can forbid federal agents from coming into his county and trying to enforce laws that are unconstitutional."

Roots of the movement

Mack first made it to the national stage in 1996 as a sheriff from Arizona, when he and a sheriff from Montana challenged a provision of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act before the U.S. Supreme Court. Using attorneys paid by the National Rifle Association, they argued it was unconstitutional for the federal government to require local chief law enforcement officers to run background checks on prospective gun buyers — and won, in a 5-4 ruling that struck down that provision of the act.

But Mack was defeated in the Democratic primary that year, and has since lost three more elections in two states for different offices. He nonetheless became a popular speaker, initially at John Birch Society and National Rifle Association banquets, and later at Tea Party events. In May 2011, he registered the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association with the state of Texas, but is just now filing for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. As a result, the group's financing is largely opaque.

According to Mack, more than 100 sheriffs have shown up at the annual conventions his group has organized, including many in 2014 when Finch received the group's top honor: Constitutional Sheriff of the Year. Finch and 40 other sheriffs signed a resolution there declaring they would not tolerate any federal agent who attempted to register firearms, arrest someone, or seize property in their counties without their consent.

Mack says he envisions the sheriffs' "take back" of the United States as a peaceful event. But he uses apocalyptic language to depict social conditions in America, describing sheriffs as a bulwark to forestall the violence for which armed, angry citizens around the country are preparing. Finch, too, said he sees sheriffs as a safeguard against all-out civil war. "If all the sheriffs would get on board and stand in the gap, then maybe we can avoid the violence that I believe probably is going to come at some point," Finch said.

The constitutional sheriff movement, according to the teachings of Mack and his supporters, is rooted in the historical definition of sheriffs as the most powerful law-enforcement officers within their counties. The idea harkens to medieval England, when Anglo-Saxon kings tasked sheriffs with enforcing their edicts. English colonists brought the tradition to the Americas, and began electing their own sheriffs in the mid-1600s, entrusting them with overseeing the judicial process, carrying out legal decisions, and keeping the peace. Under the latter authority, they could organize citizen brigades to catch outlaws or defend against attackers, an arrangement known as "posse comitatus."

In the 1970s, a minister in the white supremacist Christian Identity movement, William Potter Gale, wrote a series of articles that would come to be known as the handbook of the Posse Comitatus movement. Gale described sheriffs as the only "legal" law enforcement officers in the country and urged citizens to form their own militias to resist encroachments on their rights if sheriffs did not. The constitutional abuses he cited included the federal income tax system, gun control, federal education, and civil rights laws. He advised citizens to form their own "common law" courts to try officials who violated the constitution, and prescribed archaic punishments, such as hangings.

Contemporary "sovereign citizens," who generally reject federal authorities, are inspired partly by Gale's rhetoric and partly by past bloody clashes between federal officials and citizens charged with illegal gun sales and ownership. Terry Nichols, who is now in prison for planning the Oklahoma City federal center bombing that killed 168 people 21 years ago this week, is a member of the sovereign citizen movement, according to the FBI.

That April 19 bombing deliberately coincided with the date of three iconic events in the radical right's historical pantheon — the "hot heard round the world" at the Battle of Lexington & Concord in 1775; a violent FBI battle in 1985 with members of an extremist Christian group in Arkansas known as the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord; and the FBI's climactic confrontation in 1993 with religious extremists belonging to the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, starting a fire that killed 76 people.

Nowadays, sovereign citizens number in the hundreds of thousands, and U.S. law enforcement agencies consider them the top terrorist threat in the country, according to a July 2014 survey by a University of Maryland-led terrorism study consortium. At least 14 police officers have been killed and another 14 injured in 62 incidents involving sovereign citizens since 9-11, according to J.J. MacNab, a frequent writer on anti-government extremism who consults for government agencies. Most of their attacks are "unplanned, reactive violence targeting law enforcement officers during active enforcement efforts," the Department of Homeland Security said in a Feb. 5, 2015, report.

In one such incident, West Memphis police officer Brandon Paudert and another officer pulled over a sovereign citizen named Jerry Kane and his 16-year-old son in a van with out-of-state plates in May 2010. The duo had been traveling around the country peddling debt-avoidance seminars based on sovereign citizen beliefs. Kane had been threatening anti-government violence for years on his Internet radio show, and the traffic stop escalated rapidly into a tussle in which the younger Kane shot both cops dead with an AK-47. Police officers caught up with both Kanes hours later in a Walmart parking lot, where they were killed.

Mack and his supporters dismiss the idea that they are supportive of the violent measures taken by sovereign citizens. But some of his association's members have found common cause with the group. In March 2011, for example, New Hampshire sheriff Christopher Conley — who was listed as a member of the council of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association from November 2012 until 2015 - expressed support for claims made against the Internal Revenue Service by a sovereign citizen named Charles Gregory Melick. A deputy federal marshal had served a summons on Melick at Conley's office, requiring him to appear in court about unpaid taxes, but Conley decided to write to a judge on Melick's behalf, arguing that the service was not legally valid. "I have a duty to protect people's Constitutional rights and protections," Conley said in his note.

Conley was never directly punished for his choice not to detain Melick, but lost the 2012 election.

In 2014, at least three sheriffs showed up with constitutionalist citizen militia groups and members of the Oath Keepers to support Cliven Bundy's standoff against the federal Bureau of Land Management at his ranch in southern Nevada. In a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. a few months after the Bundy Ranch standoff, Oath Keepers President Steward Rhodes gave those sheriffs a special shoutout. "You had Brad Rogers [of Indiana] there, he came on our behalf, you had Sheriff Peyman from Kentucky, you also had Jeff Christopher from Delaware," he told the audience.

"So if we're a bunch of radical anti-government crazy cop killers, why were there police officers standing right there with us?" Rhodes asked. "It's cause we're all in this together."

Bob Paudert, Brandon's father and the chief of the West Memphis police at the time of the deadly traffic stop, said he is troubled by the number of sheriffs and police officers who adopt the ideology of armed resistance embraced by sovereign citizens, but he can understand why they do. "Even I agree with a lot of what they say," he told the Center for Public Integrity, such as the principles of standing up for states' rights and reining in the federal government. "But law enforcement is not the enemy."

Executive editor Gordon Witkin contributed to this article.

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.



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NBC -- “The Center for Public Integrity was founded in 1989 by Charles Lewis. We are one of the country's oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations. …. Our mission: To serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions, using the tools of investigative journalism. The Center is a nonprofit digital news organization; it is nonpartisan and does no advocacy work. …. Sheriff Nick Finch let a pistol-packing man out of the Liberty County, Florida, jail, a decision that led state authorities to charge Finch with a crime — but also made him a hero to a radical and growing movement among sheriffs across the country. It's a movement that doesn't just reject gun control — it encourages law enforcement officers to defy laws they decide are illegal. And it sometimes puts police on the same side as "sovereign citizens," a fringe group that the FBI considers one of the most serious domestic terrorism threats. It's a movement that doesn't just reject gun control — it encourages law enforcement officers to defy laws they decide are illegal. …. On March 8, 2013, one of Sheriff Finch's deputies pulled over a driver and found a loaded pistol in his pocket, according to the deputy's sworn statement. Carrying a concealed firearm without a license is a felony in Florida, so the deputy arrested the driver. Finch, however, ordered the driver released, and someone whited out his booking record. Finch later said he decided that "I know what law rules the day, and it's the U.S. Constitution." …. Gov. Rick Scott ordered Finch's suspension. But then a former Arizona sheriff named Richard Mack called, and a group that Mack heads — the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association — became engaged. …. Finch admitted freeing a concealed weapons suspect who had been frisked in a traffic stop, but said he did so because he believes the Second Amendment gives citizens a legal right to bear arms. Bill Cotterell / AP …. Mack has referred to the federal government as "the greatest threat we face today," and describes his association — which states on its website it is supported by the John Birch Society and Gun Owners of America, as well as annual dues payments of $50 — as "the army to set our nation free." He said in an interview with CPI that he has grown the army by training more than 400 sheriffs in how to interpret the Constitution and how to resist authorities and laws that violate it. Mack claims the dues-paying support of several hundred of the nation's more than 3,000 sheriffs and the sympathies of hundreds more, but it's hard to assess how many endorse his denunciation of the federal government as the corrupt and illegitimate enforcer of laws that trample on states' rights. …. In the 1970s, a minister in the white supremacist Christian Identity movement, William Potter Gale, wrote a series of articles that would come to be known as the handbook of the Posse Comitatus movement. Gale described sheriffs as the only "legal" law enforcement officers in the country and urged citizens to form their own militias to resist encroachments on their rights if sheriffs did not. The constitutional abuses he cited included the federal income tax system, gun control, federal education, and civil rights laws. He advised citizens to form their own "common law" courts to try officials who violated the constitution, and prescribed archaic punishments, such as hangings. Contemporary "sovereign citizens," who generally reject federal authorities, are inspired partly by Gale's rhetoric and partly by past bloody clashes between federal officials and citizens charged with illegal gun sales and ownership. Terry Nichols, who is now in prison for planning the Oklahoma City federal center bombing that killed 168 people 21 years ago this week, is a member of the sovereign citizen movement, according to the FBI.”


There is much more to this article, and all good reading, but I have neither the space nor the time to include it. Go to the Sovereign Citizens, Posse Comitatus, Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, John Birch Society, and the Christian Identity movement.

I have a video tape from some 15 years ago of a news interview with members of the Christian Identity “Church,” and it is both disgusting and frightening. This article confirms my fear that these groups are “fringe” in their opinions, but not nearly as out of step with the views of many of our citizens as I would like. Like Donald Trump and his extremely crude manner of speaking which he knows incites violence and racist fervor, these NeoNazi elements are in a new phase of popularity in America.

I hate to say it, but it’s our widespread distaste for in depth education -- as George Wallace called the educated, “pointy headed intellectuals” -- and broadminded convictions of all kinds, that is the real reason for this cancerous growth on our populace. While I, and probably most Middle Class, educated Americans of liberal religious trends of thinking, tend to think of the upsurge of hateful and dangerous groups as coming more or less directly from poverty; there have been wealthy and prominent racists as well. In the black neighborhoods there is a certain amount of racism and hatred of positive thinking as well. I understand their reasons, but the attitudes that some of them carry around are detrimental to a civilized society.

It’s an ideology that is the very opposite to Christianity, an emotional stance of frigidity, a mental illness rather than merely a “reaction” to poverty. Poverty has produced as many good people as bad. It imposes restrictions on our lives, but doesn't automatically produce the cynical and vicious turn of mind that I'm seeing in the US today. I do hope America and human society in general is not becoming engulfed by an epidemic of unmitigated and unadulterated social Darwinism. That's like "pure capitalism;" it's a very dangerous thing. If that continues to happen unabated here we will become as lawless as so many unstable nations around the world are, or as bad as the Western US states before the law tracked down and arrested (or hung) the outlaw gangs that ran rampant. Billy The Kid and Jesse James are heroes to many Americans, but actually they were violent and merciless men. I hope this country can go forward to a more sensible and gentle turn of mind than we now have.