My prayer when I first saw this on the news Sunday morning is, "God have mercy."
I understand Omar Mateen was a registered Democrat in Florida. You do excellent work in your analysis here. I think this additional fact should also be in the mix.
I wonder of the true ISIS connection in this tragedy. If he was not a lone wolf only inspired by ISIS, how did ISIS get instructions to Mateen without NSA's data mining finding the connections? Maybe NSA is no longer examining data as we once feared. Mateen was a licensed armed security guard and held a stable job position in an unstable job market for more then five years. The news gives us part of the information. There is far more to this guy. We can assume Mateen's hatred of gays, and maybe hatred of Latin-Americans. There were a lot of Puerto Ricans in that night club.
On Monday morning, reviewing this stuff, my prayer remains, "God have mercy."
I like this. I find transcript had a kernel of logic that was very good. I pray for the day when people would quit arguing politics and find an ability for logical reasoning. I truly wish our Congressmen, Senators and President could think things through with the clarity of thought I see in Bacevich's material here.
I do remember during President Obama's campaign for his first term, he said he would restore world trust and confidence in America. I do remember during Obama's campaign for his second term he said things are better now they would have been if he had not won the. I am sure he was honest with us. Didn't Russian President Putin have some words to say about the Honesty of our Secretary of State Kerry?
First data mining information in the aggregate is no more invasive to individuals then data sets collected by business in marketing. So I am going to speak from a Business Marketing Perspective. When patterns emerge from the aggregate summaries, then you can dig deeper into the Personal Identifying Information that is found in normal public and published directories to focus marketing efforts into target markets.
In this Snowden disclosures it appears we are finding standard Marketing Science applied to National Security and Federal Criminal Investigations of Enemies of our County. I would think Snowden is a Luddite. Just as a group of early 19th century English workmen destroyed laborsaving machinery as a protest, we find Snowden attempting the same activity against the application of Modern Technology for National Security.
Now Snowden acted to violate his Top Secret Security Clearance, and he did it on purpose. The Luddites were guilty of property damage, a criminal activity. Snowden is begging us to put him on trial for violation of his sacred oath required for his Clearance, and I think America must give him his trial for his betrayal against his country.
An excellent and well reasoned analysis. The press spend all night and all day reporting stuff, but they failed to deliver an understanding of where these boys came from.
Yet someone has radicalized them taking advantage of unsettled and lost minds to create this expensive mess.
The victim of this Libyan Terrorist attack was the Ambassador to Libya and three U.S. employees at the U.S. Consulate. They were there at the invitation and approval of the new Libyan government of the Libyan people.
We have here four Americans who study Near Eastern and Libyan culture. These people were there to promote friendship and commerce between Libya and the United States doing business that generally involves plenty of paper work.
To my mind, it is incomprehensible that they would be murdered, and the Consulate and surrounding property would be damaged and destroyed just because some jerk made an awful movie that no one would watch, or wants to watch.
There is no excuse on this event. Innocent people, guests of the Libyan people were giving time and careers toward the establishment of peace, commerce and Libyan prosperity. These innocent guests of Libya were simply murdered by thugs bent on murder and destruction.
I am about as Yankee Doodle red white and blue American as you can get. I can report that I not only understood Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven," I enjoyed it and know that spark of Christian and Muslim brotherhood, working together for the greater good for peace and prosperity is still with the good people of the West, the Near East, and the Far East.
You should have seen the class I was teaching at Florida Metropolitan University. It was International Management. I had students from Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, India, China, Haiti, Jamaica, and Japan as well as two American citizens. The students were Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim. The two from China did not claim a religion, but knew in their heart something is greater then an individual’s activities. The Japanese student was very interesting with a syncretic mixture involving Shinto and Buddhism. The diverse background of my students was extremely beautiful, and now more normal for American cities. This student base of this college was reflective of the cultural diversity of Central Florida in South Orlando.
Now I live in Western North Carolina. The cultural diversity is not here. However, the majority of local citizens desire to do good works, and share the good life with everyone. There are people of good will of every religion everywhere.
The crimes of people like Breivik is a sad ten steps backwards into the evil of world history's checkered past.
Various media reports indicate Anders Breivik belonged to an ultra-right-wing fundamentalist group named, “The European Military Order and Criminal Tribunal (the PCCTS -
Knights Templar).” That group bears no relation philosophically or by affiliation to any Masonic group or to The International Order of the Knights Templar, known throughout the world as Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH). OSMTH and regular Masonic fraternal groups both desire to share Christian Love by doing good works.
I must respond to this one. I agree you Dr. Cole. That person in Norway, Anders Breivik, has caused a great deal of harm. My mind of peace, discussion, and engagement, cannot understand why he was blowing up bombs and hunting non-Nordic looking people in a recreation area. He said he “came into contact with like-minded individuals across Europe.” Breivik in his confession says his group formed a “military order inspired by the extinct Order of Knights Templar crusaders.” Breivik reports a Templar goal: to conquer Europe by 2083 in a string of coups. Norwegian police could not say whether the group existed. Breivik wrote in his manifesto that he was a boy when his life's path began to turn. It was during the first Gulf War, when a Muslim friend cheered at reports of missile attacks against American forces.
It is right to be alarmed to find anyone cheering bombings and missile attacks. However, Brejvik wants to be a vigilante, Ku Klux Klan style, instead of engage in discussion for understanding. If he knew and respected the values of modern day Templar organizations, he would not have done this evil awful thing.
In York Rite Freemasonry there is a group called the Knights Templar. This American encampment has the sole purpose of charity. This modern order’s mission is particularly the Templar Eye Foundation for medical research of the eye. This group has a great desire is to bring Light to the blind of the world.
What did modern Masons and Masonic Templars gain from the original Crusader Knights? That would be an important lesson. The Crusader Knights were destroyed by the greedy despotism of the French King, Philip the Fair, and the bigotry of Pope Clement V. This is very similar to the troubles Jesus faced with the despotism of Rome, and the bigotry of the Sanhedrin.
This major lesson, free thinkers everywhere should pay close attention, as expressed in the American and French Revolutions, for people everywhere of any religion, or any country: resist "unbridled authority," and bring the Light of peace and understanding to the world. The press attempting to relate Breivik to any modern Masonic or Templar activity disgusts me. I wish they could report the truth. Breivik suffers from his own personal delusions unrelated to any modern Templar or Masonic ideal.
I read this once, and twice, and try to figure out what was truly going on here. Many times when I worked for the Department of State decades ago, I would see something, and hear something entirely different on the news. Knowing Juan Cole, his high degree of intelligence, his skill in logical thinking, and his dedication to his studies as a History Professor of the Near East, I know what I would want If I was in the White House.
I would want my staff to “get Juan Cole” on my team so I could be better informed on the conditions of the Near East in terms my Cowboy American Mind could grasp. I would “get Juan Cole” a Top Secret Clearance that would require a background investigation so he would be eligible to assist me in service to our country.
The cognitive lenses of Juan Cole’s education and experience would help the White House focus resources toward solving the problems caused by this war generated by the attack on New York on 9/11. In my experience the truth behind some of the news articles is never exactly what we were expecting.
It was just wrong. Plain and simple wrong for that white house employee to request the CIA's investigation of Juan Cole. I feel the White House, Bush's or Obama's would find Juan Cole's decades of historical study to be extremely valuable for understanding who is out there in the Near East. It was not President Bush that went after Juan Cole, but it was some self appointed mind guard of the President. Anoter perfect example proving Ivan Janis was correct about Groupthink. These errors in decision caused by Groupthink always generate fiascos like this.
This is an interesting discussion. It seems this discussion has been going on in the United States since the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts.
It is a true shame the underlings in the Bush Administration desired to discredit Dr. Juan Cole, as his well reasoned thoughts and insightful observations could have been well used to focus the war towards America's true enemies.
It is a dangerous world out there, and there are enemies of our nation. But there are also many people of good will out there that simply desire the freedom and peace required to do business, earn a living, and share the good life with their children, family, and friends.
My prayer when I first saw this on the news Sunday morning is, "God have mercy."
I understand Omar Mateen was a registered Democrat in Florida. You do excellent work in your analysis here. I think this additional fact should also be in the mix.
I wonder of the true ISIS connection in this tragedy. If he was not a lone wolf only inspired by ISIS, how did ISIS get instructions to Mateen without NSA's data mining finding the connections? Maybe NSA is no longer examining data as we once feared. Mateen was a licensed armed security guard and held a stable job position in an unstable job market for more then five years. The news gives us part of the information. There is far more to this guy. We can assume Mateen's hatred of gays, and maybe hatred of Latin-Americans. There were a lot of Puerto Ricans in that night club.
On Monday morning, reviewing this stuff, my prayer remains, "God have mercy."
How many of Syria's chemical weapons came from Iraq just before the US invasion of Iraq?
I like this. I find transcript had a kernel of logic that was very good. I pray for the day when people would quit arguing politics and find an ability for logical reasoning. I truly wish our Congressmen, Senators and President could think things through with the clarity of thought I see in Bacevich's material here.
I do remember during President Obama's campaign for his first term, he said he would restore world trust and confidence in America. I do remember during Obama's campaign for his second term he said things are better now they would have been if he had not won the. I am sure he was honest with us. Didn't Russian President Putin have some words to say about the Honesty of our Secretary of State Kerry?
First data mining information in the aggregate is no more invasive to individuals then data sets collected by business in marketing. So I am going to speak from a Business Marketing Perspective. When patterns emerge from the aggregate summaries, then you can dig deeper into the Personal Identifying Information that is found in normal public and published directories to focus marketing efforts into target markets.
In this Snowden disclosures it appears we are finding standard Marketing Science applied to National Security and Federal Criminal Investigations of Enemies of our County. I would think Snowden is a Luddite. Just as a group of early 19th century English workmen destroyed laborsaving machinery as a protest, we find Snowden attempting the same activity against the application of Modern Technology for National Security.
Now Snowden acted to violate his Top Secret Security Clearance, and he did it on purpose. The Luddites were guilty of property damage, a criminal activity. Snowden is begging us to put him on trial for violation of his sacred oath required for his Clearance, and I think America must give him his trial for his betrayal against his country.
An excellent and well reasoned analysis. The press spend all night and all day reporting stuff, but they failed to deliver an understanding of where these boys came from.
Yet someone has radicalized them taking advantage of unsettled and lost minds to create this expensive mess.
The victim of this Libyan Terrorist attack was the Ambassador to Libya and three U.S. employees at the U.S. Consulate. They were there at the invitation and approval of the new Libyan government of the Libyan people.
We have here four Americans who study Near Eastern and Libyan culture. These people were there to promote friendship and commerce between Libya and the United States doing business that generally involves plenty of paper work.
To my mind, it is incomprehensible that they would be murdered, and the Consulate and surrounding property would be damaged and destroyed just because some jerk made an awful movie that no one would watch, or wants to watch.
There is no excuse on this event. Innocent people, guests of the Libyan people were giving time and careers toward the establishment of peace, commerce and Libyan prosperity. These innocent guests of Libya were simply murdered by thugs bent on murder and destruction.
Ditto to what you said Juan. Plus it is nice to find an old high school friend to share a new thought or two.
I am about as Yankee Doodle red white and blue American as you can get. I can report that I not only understood Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven," I enjoyed it and know that spark of Christian and Muslim brotherhood, working together for the greater good for peace and prosperity is still with the good people of the West, the Near East, and the Far East.
You should have seen the class I was teaching at Florida Metropolitan University. It was International Management. I had students from Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, India, China, Haiti, Jamaica, and Japan as well as two American citizens. The students were Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim. The two from China did not claim a religion, but knew in their heart something is greater then an individual’s activities. The Japanese student was very interesting with a syncretic mixture involving Shinto and Buddhism. The diverse background of my students was extremely beautiful, and now more normal for American cities. This student base of this college was reflective of the cultural diversity of Central Florida in South Orlando.
Now I live in Western North Carolina. The cultural diversity is not here. However, the majority of local citizens desire to do good works, and share the good life with everyone. There are people of good will of every religion everywhere.
The crimes of people like Breivik is a sad ten steps backwards into the evil of world history's checkered past.
Various media reports indicate Anders Breivik belonged to an ultra-right-wing fundamentalist group named, “The European Military Order and Criminal Tribunal (the PCCTS -
Knights Templar).” That group bears no relation philosophically or by affiliation to any Masonic group or to The International Order of the Knights Templar, known throughout the world as Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH). OSMTH and regular Masonic fraternal groups both desire to share Christian Love by doing good works.
I must respond to this one. I agree you Dr. Cole. That person in Norway, Anders Breivik, has caused a great deal of harm. My mind of peace, discussion, and engagement, cannot understand why he was blowing up bombs and hunting non-Nordic looking people in a recreation area. He said he “came into contact with like-minded individuals across Europe.” Breivik in his confession says his group formed a “military order inspired by the extinct Order of Knights Templar crusaders.” Breivik reports a Templar goal: to conquer Europe by 2083 in a string of coups. Norwegian police could not say whether the group existed. Breivik wrote in his manifesto that he was a boy when his life's path began to turn. It was during the first Gulf War, when a Muslim friend cheered at reports of missile attacks against American forces.
It is right to be alarmed to find anyone cheering bombings and missile attacks. However, Brejvik wants to be a vigilante, Ku Klux Klan style, instead of engage in discussion for understanding. If he knew and respected the values of modern day Templar organizations, he would not have done this evil awful thing.
In York Rite Freemasonry there is a group called the Knights Templar. This American encampment has the sole purpose of charity. This modern order’s mission is particularly the Templar Eye Foundation for medical research of the eye. This group has a great desire is to bring Light to the blind of the world.
What did modern Masons and Masonic Templars gain from the original Crusader Knights? That would be an important lesson. The Crusader Knights were destroyed by the greedy despotism of the French King, Philip the Fair, and the bigotry of Pope Clement V. This is very similar to the troubles Jesus faced with the despotism of Rome, and the bigotry of the Sanhedrin.
This major lesson, free thinkers everywhere should pay close attention, as expressed in the American and French Revolutions, for people everywhere of any religion, or any country: resist "unbridled authority," and bring the Light of peace and understanding to the world. The press attempting to relate Breivik to any modern Masonic or Templar activity disgusts me. I wish they could report the truth. Breivik suffers from his own personal delusions unrelated to any modern Templar or Masonic ideal.
Just me,
Warren Lunsford
I read this once, and twice, and try to figure out what was truly going on here. Many times when I worked for the Department of State decades ago, I would see something, and hear something entirely different on the news. Knowing Juan Cole, his high degree of intelligence, his skill in logical thinking, and his dedication to his studies as a History Professor of the Near East, I know what I would want If I was in the White House.
I would want my staff to “get Juan Cole” on my team so I could be better informed on the conditions of the Near East in terms my Cowboy American Mind could grasp. I would “get Juan Cole” a Top Secret Clearance that would require a background investigation so he would be eligible to assist me in service to our country.
The cognitive lenses of Juan Cole’s education and experience would help the White House focus resources toward solving the problems caused by this war generated by the attack on New York on 9/11. In my experience the truth behind some of the news articles is never exactly what we were expecting.
It was just wrong. Plain and simple wrong for that white house employee to request the CIA's investigation of Juan Cole. I feel the White House, Bush's or Obama's would find Juan Cole's decades of historical study to be extremely valuable for understanding who is out there in the Near East. It was not President Bush that went after Juan Cole, but it was some self appointed mind guard of the President. Anoter perfect example proving Ivan Janis was correct about Groupthink. These errors in decision caused by Groupthink always generate fiascos like this.
This is an interesting discussion. It seems this discussion has been going on in the United States since the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts.
It is a true shame the underlings in the Bush Administration desired to discredit Dr. Juan Cole, as his well reasoned thoughts and insightful observations could have been well used to focus the war towards America's true enemies.
It is a dangerous world out there, and there are enemies of our nation. But there are also many people of good will out there that simply desire the freedom and peace required to do business, earn a living, and share the good life with their children, family, and friends.