“A group of militiamen occupied a federal building at an Oregon wildlife refuge late Saturday and vowed to stay there indefinitely to protest rancher rights.
The standoff came after protesters and militia members converged on the small town of Burns to show support for a pair of ranchers jailed on an arson conviction, according to NBC affiliate KTVZ.
It’s worth backing up and understanding how we got to this point. Two local ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, set fires to federal lands several years ago, were convicted, and served several months behind bars. Recently, however, a federal judge ordered the father-and-son ranchers back to prison because, under federal law, there’s a mandatory minimum for arson on federal land that they had not yet served.
On Saturday, militia members protested the Hammonds’ conviction, which wouldn’t have been especially noteworthy, except some of these militia members then drove to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and took control of its headquarters, posting armed men in camouflage outside.
Among the extremists is Ammon Bundy, Cliven’s son, who posted a message to Facebook over the weekend saying he and his group pose “no threat to anybody,” though the truth is a little more complicated.
A reporter for the Oregonian talked to Ammon Bundy’s brother, Ryan, who also said they’re willing to kill and be killed if necessary. They’re joined by another militia member who posted a video online in which he appears to say goodbye to his family while explaining his rationale for his extremist tactics.
As of now, no shots have been fired and there do not appear to be any hostages at the wildlife refuge. We don’t yet know exactly how many militia members are occupying the building or what they’ve brought with them in the way of supplies.
We do know, however, that we’re talking about armed anti-government radicals who have seized a building that’s not theirs to take. And while the Hammonds’ case was the basis for Saturday’s protest, Ryan Bundy told the Associated Press the goal of the occupation had little to do with sentencing and everything to do with turning over federal land to local authorities so it could be used “for ranching, logging, mining and recreation.”
At a certain level, when armed extremists seize a building, it’s tempting not to care what their “demands” are, but I mention this because of the underlying irony: the anti-government radicals are, as a practical matter, seeking a government handout from Washington in the form of free land.
Given the finite amount of food the militia members brought with them, it seems likely that this standoff won’t last too long, though the Bundys told the Oregonian, “We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely.”
As for the politics, I haven’t heard President Obama’s critics blame this mess on the White House – I assume that’s only a matter of time – but I also haven’t heard any of the Republican presidential candidates, at least one of whom cozied up to Cliven Bundy in 2014, weigh in on the developments in Oregon. For now, they’re “staying mum,” though that may not be sustainable much longer.
Postscript: A variety of readers reached out over the weekend asking what the national conversation would look like right now if a group of armed Muslims – or a group of armed Black Lives Matter activists, for that matter – took control of a federal building, threatening possible violence. As the story in Oregon continues to unfold, it seems like a point worth considering.”
Whats so funny is the Hammond Family doesn’t want the Bundys there.
Goes to show if your going to have a civil disobedience party you may want to ask the people your protesting for how they feel about it. This is one of the reason I’m so against civil disobedience. It can totally backfire on you making you look like a fool. Or even worse no one will care.
Ask my friends. If the subject comes up and I run the other way. There are better ways to get the point across.
Be sure to go visit the remarks and discussion they are pretty funny. Tis is best part of us when we can laugh about something.
I see 2016 the year of the big laugh.
Send Donald Trump to negotiate. Maybe they’ll keep him.
and let’s not forget that federal land is OUR land.
#OregonUnderAttack #YallQaeda #whiteisis
If it was us – the environmentalists we’d be attacked and dragged out. Our pictures all over the news. Our mugshots on every station. Look at dem tree hugging liberal envro-terrorists.
“The militia’s complaint is tyranny,” Trevor Noah said. “They believe the federal government stole their ranches from them.”
“That’s not exactly the truth. See, the real story is, back in 1934, Oregon ranchers were going bankrupt partly because they overworked the land and the government stepped in and bought the failing land to them which sounds like pretty sweet tyranny to me, giving money to people for their worthless shit. Are you serious? I wish the government would come and tyrannize me out of my 1994 Toyota Camry.”
Silly Wabbits. Go home! You can sneak out in the dead of night before anyone notices and have fun with all those Oreos.
Last week I lost some friends because I simply asked them to wait out an investigation. They said no.
It actually started when the Syrian Refugees crisis was prevailing on the news. Real friends that I know were all happy that Rick Scott was saying there would be no Syrian refugees here even though he has no right to say so and we have been settling them quietly in the state through the good work our churches. People who despise Rick Scott all of a sudden without understanding how things work would not show not one iota of kindness because somehow they thought that there was a terrorist next to them hiding under their bed.
At first I thought it was just like they felt that we have enough problems of our own (and we do) but then they went on and on about how they could be terrorists. Even 5 year children.
I realized most people have no idea what is going on because it is very confusing. I could not believe that so many people were so uncaring. People who claim to care about all kinds of issues just didn’t care. To them these people were not humans.
Sort of like how the Jewish People were treated during WW2. Boats turned away. People being killed. Children drowning. I take Xenophobia personally because after all we (the jewish people) came from the same hood. To me xenophobia today is just an extension of antisemitism.
I don’t understand how people can be so enclosed in their own cocoons that they have no feelings for the others in the human race just because their last name is different.
I’m pretty sure that most people don’t even know that out by Lake O is a wonderful community of middle easterners that have been there for years.
I was sitting here charting. My first reaction was who walks into a center for the developmentally disabled and shoots people? Of course there are lots of answers to that question. It could be some parent who upset with the treatment of their child.
We all sat here waiting for the identification of the shooters. Please don’t let them be:
white christian males
black
middle eastern
my relative
anyone I know
The twitterverse was filled with people waiting for a last name. Even Anne Coulter was sitting and waiting.
Of course if it was some white young male the local news would say something like “I refuse to speak the name of the shooter.” but it wasn’t so all bets were off.
The news media took that and performed their usual feeding frenzy. People hiding under their beds is great for business.
The GOP took this and their intention is to scare you even more.
This take the focus off of what we need in America and puts the focus on war. What happens: The Rich war machine people get richer. You give up more of your rights all in the name of being cowards. Nothing get’s done. All everyone does is fight with each other. What a mess.
America has turned into a bunch of
scaredy cats.
Our friend over at Eye on Miami wrote this great post.
“The heartbreak of Sandy Hook: Adam Lanza shot 20 children and 6 adults dead. Mentally ill kid with a gun. Columbine High School in Jefferson City 12 more school kids dead and one teacher. The executioner was a student. Oklahoma City another home grown terrorist killed 168 people. Aurora, a nut job named James Holmes killed 12 at a movie theater.”
the gorgeous faces of the children killed at Sandy hook
They call the San Bernadino killers “Lone Wolves” and make a big deal out them. A lot is coming out about things they had planned in past. Doesn’t mean they are sponsored by ISIS or anyone else.
Now we totally can’t have female refugees because one of them might be a terrorist.
ter·ror·ism
noun
noun: terrorism
the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.
People are radicalized and indoctrinated in many ways. Religion. Ideologies. We all believe strongly.We all have our causes. But we don’t go around shooting people in the names of causes.
The APA has done a great job researching terrorism.
Filmmaker Maryanne Galvin interviews Steven M. Kleinman, Strategist & Consultant on National Security, Senior Military Intelligence Officer. San Francisco, August 2007. Photo: Cyndi Lenz (me behind the camera and probably the most interesting interview I ever shot)
Let me repeat. Mr Kleinman is a senior military intelligence officer.
Here is the trailer to “The Little Terrorist” a fabulous short film that is featured in Interrogate This.
You can see the whole movie here. It’s only 16 minutes long. It’s quite lovely.
Psychologists are amassing more concrete data on the factors that lead some people to terrorism—and using those insights to develop ways to thwart it.
By Tori DeAngelis
November 2009, Vol 40, No. 10
“Given these complexities, the psychology of terrorism is marked more by theory and opinion than by good science, researchers admit. But a number of psychologists are starting to put together reliable data. They’re finding it is generally more useful to view terrorism in terms of political and group dynamics and processes than individual ones, and that universal psychological principles—such as our subconscious fear of death and our desire for meaning and personal significance—may help to explain some aspects of terrorist actions and our reactions to them.
In fact, the notion that terrorists could be talked out of committing violence using peaceful dialogue and a helping hand is no longer an idealist’s pipe dream, but actually the aim of a growing number of “de-radicalization” programs worldwide, says social psychologist Arie Kruglanski, PhD, co-director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, one of several university-based Centers of Excellence established under the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
“While there is still a big need to assess these programs,” says Kruglanski, who is studying some of these programs, “in some cases, there appear to be some authentic successes.”
The lure of terror
For years, psychologists examined terrorists’ individual characteristics, mining for clues that could explain their willingness to engage in violence. While researchers now agree that most terrorists are not “pathological” in any traditional sense, several important insights have been gleaned though interviews with some 60 former terrorists conducted by psychologist John Horgan, PhD, who directs the Pennsylvania State University’s International Center for the Study of Terrorism.
Horgan found that people who are more open to terrorist recruitment and radicalization tend to:
Feel angry, alienated or disenfranchised.
Believe that their current political involvement does not give them the power to effect real change.
Identify with perceived victims of the social injustice they are fighting.
Feel the need to take action rather than just talking about the problem.
Believe that engaging in violence against the state is not immoral.
Have friends or family sympathetic to the cause.
Believe that joining a movement offers social and psychological rewards such as adventure, camaraderie and a heightened sense of identity.
(Does this sound familiar at all?)
Beyond the individual characteristics of terrorists, Horgan has learned that it’s more fruitful to investigate how people change as a result of terrorist involvement than to simply ask why they enter in the first place. That’s because asking why tends to yield pat, ideological responses, while asking how reveals important information about the processes of entry, involvement and leaving organizations, he has found. Potential areas to tap include examining the myriad ways people join organizations, whether via recruitment or personal decision; how leaders influence people’s decision to adopt certain roles, for example by glorifying the role of suicide bomber; and factors that motivate people to leave.
Some psychologists believe terrorism is most accurately viewed through a political lens. Psychologist Clark McCauley, PhD, a co-investigator at START and director of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at Bryn Mawr College, has come to see terrorism as “the warfare of the weak”—the means by which groups that lack material or political power fight what they see as oppressive forces. As such, he believes that terrorist actions and government reactions to them represent a dynamic interplay, with the moves of one group influencing those of the other. As one example, if terrorists commit an attack and a state uses extreme force to send a punishing message back, the terrorists may use that action to drum up greater anti-state sentiment among citizens, lending justification to their next actions. Yet research focuses almost solely on terrorist actions and neglects the important other side of the equation, he contends. “If you can’t keep track of what we’re doing in response, how can you ever hope to figure out what works better or worse?” McCauley says.
Studying de-radicalization
In the real world, psychologists also are exploring the effectiveness of initiatives taking place in countries including Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Kingdom that are seeking to soften the hearts and minds of terrorist detainees. In preliminary research, Kruglanski and colleagues note that many of these programs share:
An intellectual component, often involving moderate Muslim clerics who hold dialogues with imprisoned detainees about the Qu’ran’s true teachings on violence and jihad.
An emotional component that defuses detainees’ anger and frustration by showing authentic concern for their families, through means such as funding their children’s education or offering professional training for their wives. This aspect also capitalizes on the fact that detainees are weary from their lifestyles and imprisonment.
A social component that addresses the reality that detainees often re-enter societies that may rekindle their radical beliefs. A program in Indonesia, for instance, uses former militants who are now law-abiding citizens to convince former terrorists that violence against civilians compromises the image of Islam.
Some of these efforts have already shown promise, says Kruglanski. For example, Egypt’s largest radical Islamic group, Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, renounced bloodshed in 2003, the result of a deal brokered by a Muslim attorney between the group and the Egyptian government, and a program where Muslim scholars debated with imprisoned group leaders about the true meaning of Islam. As a result, the leaders wrote 25 volumes arguing for nonviolence, and the group has perpetrated no new terrorist acts since, Kruglanski says. A second major Egyptian group, Al Jihad, renounced violence in 2007 based on a similar program.
Five other such initiatives in Northern Ireland, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Colombia are being studied by Pennsylvania State University’s Horgan. His not-yet-published research proposes a framework that policymakers can use to evaluate these programs, including examining how each effort conceptualizes and measures success, and evaluating the reality and practical significance of these success claims.
Given his own experience talking with former terrorists, Horgan is cautious about how much to expect from these programs. In his recent study, he discovered that some of these efforts not only lack clear criteria for establishing what constitutes “success,” but also that actual de-radicalization is rarely a feature of such programs—that former terrorists may rejoin society and keep from engaging in terrorist actions, but retain their radical beliefs.
So we have big brains that are working on this.
Why isn’t anyone reading this stuff?
Why? Because people would rather not educate themselves and go hide their bed and be terrorized by CNN or Fox News being intimidated in the pursuit of political aims. Now that’s terrorism.
Save January 12,2016 for Florida Awake the State. This year the Treasure Coast will have our very own “Awake the State” group at 4 PM. The Meeting place will be the River Warrior Lodge.
Thank you to Mary Westcott Higgins, candidate for State Representative for District 82 for bringing “Awake the State” to the Treasure Coast.
“We will rally on the bridge to “Awake the State” the first day of Legislative Session. We will “Awake the State” with signs addressing our concerns. Then, we will have snacks and drinks at the Lodge.”
Awake The State is an organic, grassroots movement of everyday Floridians fighting to protect and restore our middle class.
This is a non partisan event.
From the “Awake the State” website.
“Gov. Rick Scott and his extreme allies in the Legislature have launched an all-out assault on Florida’s middle class. They’ve put our public schools in danger, harmed the quality of health care Floridians receive, and cost our communities thousands their jobs.
Floridians are fed up with their governor and legislative leaders insisting on extreme, regressive policies that hurt hard working Floridians. Enough is enough.
It’s time to Awake The State and urge our state legislators to end the war on our middle class and instead work to protect and restore our middle class by investing in our future.”
We are being assaulted by all sides by the very people who were elected to protect us.
From the Awake the state website
Commonly Asked Questions
What is Awake the State and how did it begin?
Ever since Gov. Scott and legislative leaders announced their plans to cut thousands of jobs, raise taxes on middle class Floridians and make the deepest cuts to education in history, people from all across the state have been looking for a way to voice their opposition.
Progress Florida, Florida Watch Action and America Votes joined together to provide a platform for everyday Floridians to make their voices heard. In 2011, Awake the State started as a Facebook page that quickly grew to thousands strong who organized rallies in cities all across the state of Florida on March 8th, the opening day of the legislative session.
Who is behind it?
Awake the State is made up of Floridians from every walk of life including educators, healthcare workers, police and firefighters, advocates for consumers, middle class families and more.
So please join in so we can all make a difference.
Here is your blog reading music. I was doing some research and I came across this. Norval Marley, the father of Bob Marley, was of Syrian Jewish descent. This(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Jews)
I don’t know about you but when I look for a leader I look for someone who will, in a crisis, do their research, not over react, take everything into consideration. Actually know what the deal is.
In the last week we’ve seen a lot of ugliness coming out of people just reacting and not understanding. I found it very sad that people could not take the five minutes to google to find out but actually believe the hype that was pushed by the news.
We have got to do better.
“Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public. The study of crisis management originated with the large-scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s It is considered to be the most important process in public relations.
Three elements are common to a crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time. Venett argues that “crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained.” Therefore, the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident.”
There is a Syrian Refugee Crisis. What happens? Our GOP Governors and GOP Presidential candidates instead of showing how they could be leaders turn it into a way to show their base exactly how stupid and immature they are. Even some Democrats. Wouldn’t it be better to do the right thing and then educate your electorate? (Patrick Murphy and Gwen Graham)
Do we really need elected officials to have gut reactions like a sixteen year teen ( Sorry an insult to the 16 year old teen.) with out even understanding the issue. If they are too lazy to look this stuff up by themselves don’t they have staff?
What they don’t know is they already have been doing this.
They don’t have the legal right to make these statements. They could make it difficult but it would look crazy since they already have been doing so and this could cut down the amount of money they are given from the Federal Resettlement Fund which would really mess with Florida’s resettlement of Cubans who come here and automatically get accepted.
“Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said one tactic states could use would be to cut their own funding in areas such as resettling refugees. The conference is the largest refugee resettlement organization in the country.
But “when push comes to shove, the federal government has both the plenary power and the power of the 1980 Refugee Act to place refugees anywhere in the country,” Appleby said.”
In a manner of moments the fight went on Facebook and I’m sure many arguments and many unfriendings happened.
What I don’t want is a Governor who thinks he speaks for me. Governor Rick Scott before blurting out that would not take any Syrian refugees should have done a few things.
He should have actually found out the deal was, do some research and not totally over act like the rest of the GOP Governors and the one’s running for President. How self centered can these people get? Did you ask the citizens of Florida what they wanted? No. Have you ever? No. Do you even care about Florida? No You just care about what your friends the Koch brothers will give you.
So here are some things all your staff should have told you.
So far this fiscal year, 1,393 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the United States, according to State Department data. The United States plans to admit, “several hundred more” [Syrian] refugees before the end of this month, for a total of 1,500-1,800 individuals this fiscal year, the State Department told The Fix on Wednesday.
Here’s a map depicting the areas of the United States in which these individuals were settled.
“Here’s what we know about previous years: Refugee resettlement data, like many other federal measures, is recorded for each fiscal year — the period between Oct. 1 and Sept. 30. In fiscal year 2012, during which the conflict in Syria was well underway, the United States admitted 31 Syrian refugees. That was followed by a slight uptick to 36 in fiscal year 2013, and a jump to 105 Syrian refugees in 2014. In fiscal year 2015 (which as we noted is still ongoing): 1,393.”
So this has been going on already.
The process for a refugee to get in is very rigorous.
Information about the sponsoring agency is communicated back to the originating RSC, which then works with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to transport the refugee to his or her new home. The cost of refugee transportation is provided as a loan, which refugees are required to begin repaying after they are established in the United States.
Once in the United States
The Department of State has cooperative agreements with nine domestic resettlement agencies to resettle refugees. While some of the agencies have religious affiliations, they are not allowed to proselytize. The standard cooperative agreement between the Department of State and each of the domestic resettlement agencies specifies the services that the agency must provide to each refugee. All together, the nine domestic resettlement agencies place refugees in about 190 communities throughout the United States. Each agency headquarters maintains contact with its local affiliated agencies to monitor the resources (e.g., interpreters who speak various languages, the size and special features of available housing, the availability of schools with special services, medical care, English classes, employment services, etc.) that each affiliate’s community can offer.
As the cooperative agreement requires, all refugees are met at the airport upon arrival in the United States by someone from the sponsoring resettlement affiliate and/or a family member or friend. They are taken to their apartment, which has basic furnishings, appliances, climate-appropriate clothing, and some of the food typical of the refugee’s culture. Shortly after arrival, refugees are helped to start their lives in the United States. This includes applying for a Social Security card, registering children in school, learning how to access shopping facilities, arranging medical appointments, and connecting refugees with needed social or language services.
The Department of State’s Reception and Placement program provides assistance for refugees to settle in the United States. It supplies resettlement agencies a one-time sum per refugee to assist with meeting expenses during a refugee’s first few months in the United States. Most of these funds go toward the refugees’ rent, furnishings, food, and clothing, as well as to pay the costs of agency staff salaries, office space, and other resettlement-related expenses that are not donated or provided by volunteers.
Though the Department of State’s Reception and Placement program is limited to the first three months after arrival, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement works through the states and other nongovernmental organizations to provide longer-term cash and medical assistance, as well as language, employment, and social services.
Refugees receive employment authorization upon arrival and are encouraged to become employed as soon as possible. Based on years of experience, the U.S. refugee resettlement program has found that people learn English and begin to function comfortably much faster if they start work soon after arrival. Most refugees begin in entry-level jobs, even if they have high-level skills or education. With time, many if not most refugees move ahead professionally and find both success and satisfaction in the United States.
After one year, refugees are required to apply for permanent residence (commonly referred to as a green card) and after five years in the United States, a refugee is eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.
You get the picture.
I can’t tell you the multiple time Rick Scott has over reacted from a freakin fan at a debate when he refused to go (This should been a clue to the clueless) to closing down recruiters instead of waiting five minutes to find out the shooting was by a mentally ill person and not ISIS hiding under our bed. (http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/rick-scott-orders-guard-recruiters-to-armory/2237822)
“Ever since last Friday’s terror attacks in Paris, Gov. Rick Scott has been a mainstay on national news outlets criticizing President Obama’s plan to relocate 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States.”
Keep talkin your self into this hole. Because it’s a long way down.
“And the 425 figure isn’t tied solely to Syrian refugees. It represents the capacity Florida has to accept additional refugees from anywhere in the world, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families, one of Scott’s own agencies.
In addition, federal officials say they have not discussed a specific number of Syrian refugees that could come to Florida.
“We have not asked Florida to take 425 refugees,” a State Department official told POLITICO Florida. “No specific number of Syrian refugees has been discussed with the governor of Florida.”
Whoops.
Does he even know we have 92 people in Florida right now?
Do me a favor: before you REACT do some research.
“Three elements are common to a crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time. Venett argues that “crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained.” Therefore, the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident.”
Xenophobia is the fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange.[1][2] Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity. Xenophobia can also be exhibited in the form of an “uncritical exaltation of another culture” in which a culture is ascribed “an unreal, stereotyped and exotic quality”.
A Pew Research Center survey released on September 29 shows a mixed and polarized response among Americans to the Syrian refugee crisis. By a narrow margin of 51 to 45 percent, the public approves of the Obama administration’s decision to accept more refugees. Democrats favor this move by 69 to 29 percent, while Republicans oppose it by a similar margin of 67 to 30. The split among Independents, with 51 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed, closely mirrors the population as a whole.
Breaking down the response by subgroups, some familiar patterns emerge. Accepting more refugees is backed by racial and ethnic minorities, young people, those with college and professional degrees, and by Catholics and religiously unaffiliated individuals. Groups in opposition include whites, older Americans, those with less than a college education, and white mainline as well as evangelical Protestants.
When asked a more general question—whether the United States should be “doing more” in response to the refugee crisis, the response was less polarized. Fifty percent of Democrats said we should do more, 11 percent less, while 35 percent thought our current level of effort is about right. Among Republicans, 35 percent favored an increased effort, 28 percent thought we should do less, and 29 percent supported our current policies.
The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained
It’s a great video and explains how the Syrian people got to where they are.
What is a crisis but something happens when you don’t deal with an issue. The world has ignored the issue and now we have a crisis and the world needs to deal with it.
What if we had a room where we could send representatives to all sit down and try to figure out a solution. Ohhh we have one. This is what they have been up to.
“But it’s important to remember: The brutal leaders of Islamic State, or ISIL, do not represent Islam. This is a truly extreme death cult, and it should not be succeeding in the 21st century. There are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, while the number of fighters for ISIL number perhaps 30,000, according to CIA estimates. So why has this fringe cult accomplished as much as it has? Why are candidates for the U.S. presidency, including former Gov. Jeb Bush, seriously talking about abandoning such basic constitutional principles as separation between church and state, proposing that the United States help only Christian refugees?
One word: fear.”
The GOP wants you to be scared so you’ll vote for them. You’ll crawl from under you bed and run quickly to the polls or get a mail in ballot and then go hide your bed because the boogie man is going to get you.
Fear motivates people to behave irrationally. To throw away all human kindness.
Mista Gimleteye from Eye on Miami wrote this today.
Psychologists are amassing more concrete data on the factors that lead some people to terrorism—and using those insights to develop ways to thwart it.
By Tori DeAngelis
“While researchers now agree that most terrorists are not “pathological” in any traditional sense, several important insights have been gleaned though interviews with some 60 former terrorists conducted by psychologist John Horgan, PhD, who directs the Pennsylvania State University’s International Center for the Study of Terrorism.
Horgan found that people who are more open to terrorist recruitment and radicalization tend to:
Feel angry, alienated or disenfranchised.
Believe that their current political involvement does not give them the power to effect real change.
Identify with perceived victims of the social injustice they are fighting.
Feel the need to take action rather than just talking about the problem.
Believe that engaging in violence against the state is not immoral.
Have friends or family sympathetic to the cause.
Believe that joining a movement offers social and psychological rewards such as adventure, camaraderie and a heightened sense of identity.”
We are human. No one one wakes up in the morning asks to be disenfranchised, alienated or angry.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tampa Bay, FL – “Governor Scott’s demand that Congress act to prevent Syrian refugees from settling in Florida reminds me of another shameful time in U.S. history,” said Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida President Susan Smith. “Seventy-six years ago, the S.S. St. Louis, carrying almost 1,000 Jews seeking refuge from the Nazis, was refused entry into the United States. Those refugees were forced to return to Germany where many of them did not survive the Holocaust.
“Republican governors and politicians are feeding hysteria that threatens to poison our country for years to come,” said Smith. “By falling into this trap, we inadvertently support and further the mission of ISIS to foment hatred and division, and we will once again find ourselves on the wrong side of history.”
President Obama calls this rejection of Syrian refugees “a betrayal of our values.”
“In school, we all learn the words to the poem which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty,” Smith said. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
“And who, today, is more tempest-tossed than Syrian refugees? No one is suggesting that we open our borders without security checks. But as leaders on the global stage, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to demonstrate the values on which our country was founded: welcoming those who seek safety and freedom from oppression.
“We can do better. We must do better.”
The Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida is a chartered caucus of the Florida Democratic Party.
###
let love not hate and common sense and compassion prevail.
Lyrics to Thick as a Brick. (Jethro Tull) Sing with me!
Really don’t mind if you sit this one out.
My words but a whisper your deafness a SHOUT.
I may make you feel but I can’t make you think.
Your sperm’s in the gutter your love’s in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
You make all your animal deals and
Your wise men don’t know how it feels
To be thick as a brick.
And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away in
The tidal destruction
The moral melee.
The elastic retreat rings the close of play
As the last wave uncovers
The newfangled way.
But your new shoes are worn at the heels and
Your suntan does rapidly peel and
Your wise men don’t know how it feels
To be thick as a brick.
And the love that I feel, is so far away
I’m a bad dream that I just had today and you
Shake your head and
Say it’s a shame.
Spin me back down the years
and the days of my youth.
Draw the lace and black curtains
and shut out the whole truth.
Spin me down the long ages, let them sing the song.
The mainstream media is so freaked by Bernie Sander’s success last night they all of sudden love Hillary.
Yesterday I debated all day if I should go to a local debate party or stay home in the moose jammies and twitter. I wanted to go out but I’m on the 9th day of a 12 day in a row and I needed to get up for work this morning. I’m glad I stayed home. Me, my moose jammies, Mark Ruffalo, Donald Trump, Paula Dockery, Michael Moore and all kinds of unknown people all having a discussion in real time about the debate. It was actually fun. I did not want to miss a moment.
I had to turn the pre game off because it was damm obnoxious. CNN you should go review what people said. It was like a pre execution newscast.
At the end I felt like there were many really important issues that were actually discussed that didn’t have to with baby brains based on a fake video.
cyndi lenz 