I mean. Clearly. But as far as handling it...it's basically nothing. It doesn't have a strong kick. It isn't particularly loud. What a weenie.
I respectfully disagree with some of this. I agree that becoming energy independent (and massive reinvestment in our infrastructure) would be a good step in reducing 'terrorism.' My disagreements/agreements run thus: 1) Even calling it 'terrorism' is stupid. There are 'Acts of War' and 'murder.' By carving out this bullshit exception, what we have allowed is for foreign governments to use straw-men to attack US interests with impunity because they argue 'oh, hey, not our guy, we didn't do that, this wiiiiilllllld and craaaaaaaaazy guy did it. If you're a country that can't seem to control your citizens to the extent that they fund and harbor individuals that commit murder on foreign soil, then I thought our policy was we would hold that country accountable. We have failed to do so (for many reasons, but the biggest is the fear of 'terrorism' keeps Americans from questioning our insane military expenditures too much so the wealthy can get wealthier). 2) In essence, our policy in Iraq paved the way for ISIS. 3) Trying to win hearts and minds in the ME is probably a good idea, but first we have to cut the head off the Medusa, instead of fucking around with the individual snakes. 4) The best step towards reducing 'terrorism' and one that would yield almost immediate results would be to remove the leadership of Saudi Arabia, put them on trial, freeze their assets, and throw them in jail. Saudi Arabia is, and has been, the greatest threat in the ME for decades. I would argue the close relationship between the House of Saud and certain administrations in the US over the last 4 decades borders on treason. Install an American SC, rebuild what needs to be rebuilt using the seized money, create a Constitution, and essentially treat it like we did Japan and Germany in the aftermath of WWII. Frankly, I would suggest turning Saudi Arabia into a giant kitty litter box as they are responsible for a lot of 'terrorism' (which I would call 'Acts of War') either directly or indirectly. They are a brutal regime that is an extreme islamic government. The fact they were redacted from the 9/11 report, including the last 28 pages (which are highly classified) is beyond treason. You turn off the spigot of money, and eventually a lot of this nonsense will dry up. If you're fighting a war on 'terror' - then fight it, and go to the source. That is how you actually get this shitshow to stop. You hold a government responsible for its citizens which sends a very clear message to other countries that we will treat these attacks as 'Acts of War' and respond accordingly. Going after the end users, the fodder, and the crazies, without going after the masterminds, governments, and moneymen has been an exercise in futility.
I dont think we disagree as much you think. I am all for hawkish foreign policy, but I was attempting to come up with other solutions that may work in conjunction with a military response, or at least should be attempted. The "winning hearts and minds" part is. Toppling the dictator always sounds good, but the US better have the strength of will to deal with the resulting power vacuum. We didnt with Iraq after Saddam, and now we have ISIS. Saudi Arabia may actually have nuclear weapons. Trying to hold the Saudi government responsible is the excuse they need to yank the leash on OPEC and the world's oil supply.
I think the problem there is that by toppling and then taking over...I mean. The rest of the world may not be so much a fan. You've got a fairly hard sell convincing everyone else that SA is a bunch of giant assholes who deserve it when we're sporting Trump as our nominee for the Republican party. Glass houses and all. (This isn't me saying SA aren't a bunch of assholes. This is me saying that essentially 'taking over' a very powerful foreign country may be a bigger elephant than Americans can stomach.)
I don't believe Americans have the stomach for prolonged, brutal conflict anymore. And won't until something more egregious and tragic than Pearl Harbor or 9/11 happens. And even then, they don't and won't understand that conflict is long and drawn out. Wars aren't short lived anymore. Ground conflict is ugly and brutal. Our people will go, be wounded, be broken physically and mentally, and many will die. American life post war won't be cushy, because PTSD, even as we understand it now, creates all kinds of new conflicts at home. And we don't have the infrastructure to care for our military like that. We don't have the government it takes to resolutely march in and fucking annihilate an enemy. We don't have generals like Patton who give speeches to our men about ripping out guts and shitting down necks. It's just not a thing. Vietnam changed that perspective. Korea, both World Wars, and everything prior was considered duty to your country because the country called and it was time to serve our nation and our people. Not so much anymore.
Going back to the Orlando shooter... I think just about everyone in the media on the many sides of the issue is missing the point. I don't think it was Islam's instruction to kill gays that was the impetus so much as his guilt over being gay. Instead of "I'm Muslim, I'm going to go kill gays," it was "I'm worthless and shameful; I'm going to attack the thing my religion makes me hate about myself." Looking back at American politics, some of the most vocal anti-gay conservatives have turned out to be on the DL. It's a similar thing, but much worse when your own religion tells you that you need to be eliminated.
This kind of stuff has been getting a lot of attention lately. Islam is against homosexuality, unless of course it's pedophilia. Then it's okie dokey. "Taliban leaders in Afghanistan reportedly are using an unusual Trojan horse against national police: “beautiful” young boys held as sex slaves to get past checkpoints and kill police officers. The AFP reported that the attacks in southern Afghanistan have been crippling to the force and exploit the practice of “bacha bazi,” which mean “boy play.” The ancient custom is popular despite ISIS attacks on gay men in the region, according to the report. “The Taliban are sending boys—beautiful boys, handsome boys—to penetrate checkpoints and kill, drug and poison policemen,” Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai, a former police chief in Uruzgan, said. “They have figured out the biggest weakness of police forces—bacha bazi.” http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/0...te-kill-afghanistan-police.html?intcmp=hplnws
And yet another twist.... The redneck from Indiana caught in California with guns and tannerite? First we learned he was bi-sexual and a Bernie supporter, so unlikely to be a terrorist....now they just nailed him for having sex with a 12 year old girl. It seems like there are an awful lot of distractions from the original narrative of an ISIS terrorist attack... http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loca...arade-Charged-with-Molestation-383188631.html
There's a fairly extensive car crash near my house. Five or six vehicles involved, one of them a garbage truck. There are confirmed fatalities. One of the comments on the wreck is "what kind of man does this? It looks intentional I wouldn't be surprised if he's Muslim" Because that's the first thing that popped into that female's head.
Interesting report about the increase in Muslims reporting those that they think are turning extremist. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-cooperation-idUSKCN0Z213U It'd be interesting to dig deeper in to that and see how effective law enforcement is in handling those reports, or just getting some overall numbers in that chain of events.
I can't decide if I want to interpret that as a good thing because their sense of common decency trumps nutty extremism, or a bad thing because it means enough of them are crazy to have to report it frequently. I guess to be fair, when we're talking about American citizens, Jihadists are no more common than any other types of domestic terrorism. While I certainly don't agree with Hitler comparisons, or even think Trump is that racist so much as a buffoon, the way he constantly uses American Muslims to excite his base is worrisome. He's fabricated entire stories on the subject, and even spent several years claiming Obama was a Muslim, like it was a slur and therefore confirmed a bunch of other things Obama never did. Fuck yes, you have to do that. I can understand not wanting to entice your friend or neighbor into getting 100 days of waterboarding at Guantamano Bay, but if they're willing to go through it, I would like to know before they actually do. Interventions and counseling is for drug addicts. I don't think it's appropriate for someone who's deciding who or what he wants to blow up.
To be fair, we have just as many fucking nutjobs on the Christian extremest side of things, they just appear to lack the conviction to do something about it. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sacramento-baptist-pastor-roger-jiminez-post-orlando-anti-gay-preaching/ As far as I'm concerned, that fucker needs to be put away for inciting hate. Same with anyone else who speaks out like that.
For a little break from gun violence, radical islam and mental health... I fucking hate health insurance in the US. Last year my wife had a miscarriage. She went to the ER while this was happening. For whatever reason the insurance company believed she did not have coverage at the time. All premiums were paid up, just a simple blip on their end. We thought we got it fixed. Now we get monthly bills for $3k from the hospital because the insurance company and the hospital keep fighting. This reminds my wife of the miscarriage every time, and she gets very depressed. I call my employer, the insurance company and the hospital. They all circle jerk together and say they have it figured out. Then a month later the insurance company still denies payment and we get another bill in the mail. Cue the sadness and crying again. I have no fucking clue what to do. I'm not going to pay the god damn money. I pay for insurance precisely for reasons like this. I'm on the verge of anger and sadness. Maybe I should call a lawyer and try to get some emotional sadness money or something. I have never been so jealous of Canadians. From your poutine, to your syrup, to your love of hockey and winter, and of course your health care system.
I think that anyone should be free to think and say whatever they want behind closed doors in their own home. As soon as you start making that shit public, via social media or standing in front of a congregation, that's no longer private, and you should be held accountable for spewing "unacceptable" stuff. What is unacceptable? It should be pretty easy to figure out for the extreme stuff ("kill all fags", says the pastor), but have no clue about the grey areas. Maybe just leave them alone and just pick off the no-brainer extreme stuff. Too many people have a gross misunderstanding of what "free speech" means, and think it comes with no accountability. We have to start holding people accountable, in my opinion.
Personally, I think any attempts to legislate speech are going to result in unintended consequences. It's totally possible for some SJW to report someone, and misconstrue a joke and get them arrested. Then you end up throwing thousands of dollars down the drain in a 6 month trial while everyone tries to decide what the guy really meant. In a story like that, the guy would use his religion as a defense. Then the supreme court just reinterprets the law every time there's new judges and the whole thing becomes a farce. I don't know if they're able to make it work correctly in Canada, but as an American all I see is a train going off the rails. I didn't spend a lot of time in insurance, but I think they determined you're going to cost more than you're paying in premiums so they can't legally drop you, but they're hoping they can be assholes enough that you'll do it voluntarily. That they're just utterly incompetent is totally possible too. Most people remain in relatively good health until their 50s or so, so they never realize what an absolute mess our health care system has become. When their friend gets cancer people say things like "Well, he should have made smarter choices, he should have done this and that..." Say what you want about insurance companies and the legislators they buy, those motherfuckers know how to spin a narrative. Then again, when you can convince your base global warming is a myth and the world is 10,000 years old... I think we'll get a single payer system eventually, but it'll take another 30 years.
Gun store claims to have turned away the Orlando shooter weeks ago and alerted the FBI, who came to the store and investigated. https://gma.yahoo.com/orlando-shoot...re-being-141628142--abc-news-topstories.html#