The Senate was created by the Framers to be the body of Wise Men, Statesmen, and senior leaders. Today's Senate falls far short of the Framers intent. What does it say about Republicans that they would allow themselves to be led by a junior flip who has zero foreign policy experience? Instead of a Caucas they acted like rabble, a mob, a leaderless organization. I'm not sure most who signed it even read the letter.
As for Cotton he did not honor that time honored tradition from the US Cavalry for new Lieutenants assigned to the Western Posts. They were all told: "Ride at the Back of the Column, and Keep Your Mouth Closed".
Democrats need to begin right now collecting data and showing the citizens of AL that he is a puppet of the military industrial complex, which brings no benefit to AK. They can also begin grooming an opponent. Cotton is a prime example of why vets running for office should face extra scrunity because the ranks of the Officer Corps is filled with war mongers and Neo Cons.
Professor Cole I hear what you're saying, and I understand that the West in general, and the U.S. In particular are complicit in what has happened in the ME. I'm well aware that since the dawn of the American Republic that we have been, for lack of a better word, mucking around in the ME.
We have rarely if ever gotten our relations with that part of the world right. From viewing them as millions of people to convert to Christianity to seeing them as some monolithic culture as portrayed in the Arabian Nights, or noble beings akin to our native Americans we have rarely treated them as equals.
Having said that I see nothing that justifies the savagery of the latest group, ISIS/ISIL the extreme barbarism of this group, and the Messianic nature of its leadership speaks to something that is far beyond it's the West's fault.
Since it is the West's fault we are prepared to and will take our anger with the West and its proxy governments out on average Arab citizens who did nothing to create the conditions that led to the rise of ISIS. So they engage in an orgy of killing and torture of innocent citizens. They act like sociopaths and psychopaths, and they are drawing the same type people around the world.
You have called these youths literate mostly, but I question what does that mean? Literate to me means that one is capable of critical, reasoned thought. How can anyone look at this group and conclude this so-called Caliph with a self-announced leader is a better person govern than anything currently in existence.
In my view the current explanations fall far short. What is the unifying principle that causes individuals to engage in wanton murder, rape, and torture of innocent individuals. Do they actually believe that they are engaging in these brutal acts in the name of Allah? How is that possible?
Does anyone believe that if we did nothing they would turn into a decent state with respect for the rule of law? Color me skeptical that the effects I'm seeing now can be laid at the feet of the West. There has to be other facts bearing on this problem that has nothing to do with the West.
Danny one would hope that to be true. However facts show that that is no guarantee that you won't still be roughed up, or for that matter killed.
The police are supposed to be our public servant. However, all too often they act like they are our masters, and in the inner cities and poor neighborhoods everywhere an occupation force.
An entire body of work shows what can happen to otherwise decent human beings when they are given what appears to be unlimited authority combined with the authorization to kill a civilian based on a spilt second decision making process. The inevitable result of this kind of power is abuse in ways small and large.
From verbally disparaging civilians to being gruff and aggressive when the situation calls for the opposite. Police are supposed to be an island of calm in the middle of a hurricane.
Is policing an extraordinarily difficult job? Of course it is, but when you give one human being the full coercive power of the state to end a life, they have to be held to the highest standards possible. We have to apply strict scrutiny to their actions.
It's also the case that without community support and trust effective policing is all but impossible. Violent Crime in any neighborhood is caused by a very small element who intimidate the majority community.
The problem with police who in the occupation mentality is that through a windshield everyone begins to seen as a potential criminal.
What can we do to start to reverse this situation?
1. Look at the selection process to be a police officer (PO) Having taken one of those tests and passed myself I didn't see it as nearly comprehensive enough to determine if we should trust a person with authority to kill.
2. Continuing retraining, ree their personal mental state, and the fact that they are the servants, not the masters. This includes police education about the communities they police.
3. Police should not be allowed to investigate their own prospective criminal acts. It shouldn't be an Internal Affairs Division (IAD) either. I don't know what you call it or how it's organized but it cannot be controlled by the Chief of Police, but it must have police representation.
4. Lapel/Body cams will be worn by all officers on duty who have cause to interact with the public, or those arrested and under the control of the police.
5. The composition of police especially in the small towns, counties and cities. While it may not be possible to have an entire police to live in the jurisdiction they police, it is a huge problem when few to no police live within the jurisdiction. In the Ferguson case the officer in question lives 45 miles away in a totally different world. Combine this with a lack of community policing, and you have a long term problem. Some percentage of the police have to come from the jurisdiction they police.
6. Community policing. I don't care how they do it, but get those officers out of their squad cars. Get them onto the sidewalks where they have to interact with the community. They don't have to do it all the time but they must do it part of the time.
7. The police have to be involved in community affairs beyond policing. I don't know if it involves sponsoring sports leagues or what? Whatever they do it has to involve the young people of a community. Enough of them have to see the police outside their official roles.
8. An organization, an official one, of community leaders, including young people who interact with the police. Who do not allow rumors to take over an information vacuum and a lack of transparency within police forces.
I don't see any other way to restore trust, especially in inner city neighborhoods, between the police and those communities.
There is what's called a profile in courage. What we witnessed however from mr tough guy Christie and other Republicans supplecants were profiles in cowardice. If you can't stand in a room and tell zionists, who if the world turned its back would expel Palestinians, the truth; they have no business laying claim to the title of most powerful man in the world. They were pure cowards to prostrate themselves before an international gambling mogul. It was a discussing display of gutless behavior, politicians putting the interests of zionists, who in no way speak for the majority of Jews here or in Israel ahead of the National Interest of the US. I don't want to hear anymore talk about tough Christie. What I'll take away is Christie kneeling and kissing the feet of a billionaire ardent Zionist who makes his money off of hapless gamblers.
Come on people,a country that has not been a democracy for 7,000 years, suddenly becomes one. Then they elect their first President with almost no other democratic institutions in place and you expect this guy to be a Nelson Mandela? No way. Before he's been on the job 6 months he has his first international crisis on his hands.
Surely, you don't expect him to right away act like an experienced hand? We'll get him through this, and he will be better in the long run.
Morsi understands that Egypt cannot prosper without the West. I'm sure he will figure it out, as long as we don't panic and make his situation worse.
When the President made his statement on Telemundo I turned to a friend that his low key calm statement was brilliant. Well said in the language of diplomacy. That and the followup phone call sure as hell got Morsi's attention.
This is the exact reason that we don't need another arrogant ass in the White House. Was Romney serious or just plain stupid to think that anyone on earth would be cowed because he is President? The more I hear that guy talk the more dis likable and disgusting he becomes. It's amazing that a guy who has been running for President for almost a decade knows so little about the world and foreign policy.
The U.S. has not had a policy in its interest since President Eisenhower. Because Congress has acted as an extension of the Israeli Knesset no President has been able to articulate a foreign policy that would benefit both the U.S. and Israel. The Israelis just don't seem to know that time is not on their side.
@jar So the mass graves, the burned bodies, the raped women and the eye witness accounts of the atrocities committed by Qaddafi's secret police and armed forces are myths, or made up stories? What did the rebels do? Exhume the dead then burn the bodies inside a warehouse so they could claim they just discovered the atrocity? Did they hire thousands of actors, then stage a fake release from several prisons where Qaddafi held political prisoners?
Listen, the man is a murderous, ruthless thug who because he had established a tenuous relationship with the West in general and with Washington in particular became more delusional than he already was. He never once dreamed that President Obama would force his hand when he openly talked about slaughtering thousands of his own citizens!
Every event is not a conspiracy, nor is there some puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes. What you see is what you get.
I meant the citizens of AK. If Senator Cotton has his way he sees war as the solution to every problem in the Middle East.
The Senate was created by the Framers to be the body of Wise Men, Statesmen, and senior leaders. Today's Senate falls far short of the Framers intent. What does it say about Republicans that they would allow themselves to be led by a junior flip who has zero foreign policy experience? Instead of a Caucas they acted like rabble, a mob, a leaderless organization. I'm not sure most who signed it even read the letter.
As for Cotton he did not honor that time honored tradition from the US Cavalry for new Lieutenants assigned to the Western Posts. They were all told: "Ride at the Back of the Column, and Keep Your Mouth Closed".
Democrats need to begin right now collecting data and showing the citizens of AL that he is a puppet of the military industrial complex, which brings no benefit to AK. They can also begin grooming an opponent. Cotton is a prime example of why vets running for office should face extra scrunity because the ranks of the Officer Corps is filled with war mongers and Neo Cons.
Professor Cole I hear what you're saying, and I understand that the West in general, and the U.S. In particular are complicit in what has happened in the ME. I'm well aware that since the dawn of the American Republic that we have been, for lack of a better word, mucking around in the ME.
We have rarely if ever gotten our relations with that part of the world right. From viewing them as millions of people to convert to Christianity to seeing them as some monolithic culture as portrayed in the Arabian Nights, or noble beings akin to our native Americans we have rarely treated them as equals.
Having said that I see nothing that justifies the savagery of the latest group, ISIS/ISIL the extreme barbarism of this group, and the Messianic nature of its leadership speaks to something that is far beyond it's the West's fault.
Since it is the West's fault we are prepared to and will take our anger with the West and its proxy governments out on average Arab citizens who did nothing to create the conditions that led to the rise of ISIS. So they engage in an orgy of killing and torture of innocent citizens. They act like sociopaths and psychopaths, and they are drawing the same type people around the world.
You have called these youths literate mostly, but I question what does that mean? Literate to me means that one is capable of critical, reasoned thought. How can anyone look at this group and conclude this so-called Caliph with a self-announced leader is a better person govern than anything currently in existence.
In my view the current explanations fall far short. What is the unifying principle that causes individuals to engage in wanton murder, rape, and torture of innocent individuals. Do they actually believe that they are engaging in these brutal acts in the name of Allah? How is that possible?
Does anyone believe that if we did nothing they would turn into a decent state with respect for the rule of law? Color me skeptical that the effects I'm seeing now can be laid at the feet of the West. There has to be other facts bearing on this problem that has nothing to do with the West.
Danny one would hope that to be true. However facts show that that is no guarantee that you won't still be roughed up, or for that matter killed.
The police are supposed to be our public servant. However, all too often they act like they are our masters, and in the inner cities and poor neighborhoods everywhere an occupation force.
An entire body of work shows what can happen to otherwise decent human beings when they are given what appears to be unlimited authority combined with the authorization to kill a civilian based on a spilt second decision making process. The inevitable result of this kind of power is abuse in ways small and large.
From verbally disparaging civilians to being gruff and aggressive when the situation calls for the opposite. Police are supposed to be an island of calm in the middle of a hurricane.
Is policing an extraordinarily difficult job? Of course it is, but when you give one human being the full coercive power of the state to end a life, they have to be held to the highest standards possible. We have to apply strict scrutiny to their actions.
It's also the case that without community support and trust effective policing is all but impossible. Violent Crime in any neighborhood is caused by a very small element who intimidate the majority community.
The problem with police who in the occupation mentality is that through a windshield everyone begins to seen as a potential criminal.
What can we do to start to reverse this situation?
1. Look at the selection process to be a police officer (PO) Having taken one of those tests and passed myself I didn't see it as nearly comprehensive enough to determine if we should trust a person with authority to kill.
2. Continuing retraining, ree their personal mental state, and the fact that they are the servants, not the masters. This includes police education about the communities they police.
3. Police should not be allowed to investigate their own prospective criminal acts. It shouldn't be an Internal Affairs Division (IAD) either. I don't know what you call it or how it's organized but it cannot be controlled by the Chief of Police, but it must have police representation.
4. Lapel/Body cams will be worn by all officers on duty who have cause to interact with the public, or those arrested and under the control of the police.
5. The composition of police especially in the small towns, counties and cities. While it may not be possible to have an entire police to live in the jurisdiction they police, it is a huge problem when few to no police live within the jurisdiction. In the Ferguson case the officer in question lives 45 miles away in a totally different world. Combine this with a lack of community policing, and you have a long term problem. Some percentage of the police have to come from the jurisdiction they police.
6. Community policing. I don't care how they do it, but get those officers out of their squad cars. Get them onto the sidewalks where they have to interact with the community. They don't have to do it all the time but they must do it part of the time.
7. The police have to be involved in community affairs beyond policing. I don't know if it involves sponsoring sports leagues or what? Whatever they do it has to involve the young people of a community. Enough of them have to see the police outside their official roles.
8. An organization, an official one, of community leaders, including young people who interact with the police. Who do not allow rumors to take over an information vacuum and a lack of transparency within police forces.
I don't see any other way to restore trust, especially in inner city neighborhoods, between the police and those communities.
There is what's called a profile in courage. What we witnessed however from mr tough guy Christie and other Republicans supplecants were profiles in cowardice. If you can't stand in a room and tell zionists, who if the world turned its back would expel Palestinians, the truth; they have no business laying claim to the title of most powerful man in the world. They were pure cowards to prostrate themselves before an international gambling mogul. It was a discussing display of gutless behavior, politicians putting the interests of zionists, who in no way speak for the majority of Jews here or in Israel ahead of the National Interest of the US. I don't want to hear anymore talk about tough Christie. What I'll take away is Christie kneeling and kissing the feet of a billionaire ardent Zionist who makes his money off of hapless gamblers.
Come on people,a country that has not been a democracy for 7,000 years, suddenly becomes one. Then they elect their first President with almost no other democratic institutions in place and you expect this guy to be a Nelson Mandela? No way. Before he's been on the job 6 months he has his first international crisis on his hands.
Surely, you don't expect him to right away act like an experienced hand? We'll get him through this, and he will be better in the long run.
Morsi understands that Egypt cannot prosper without the West. I'm sure he will figure it out, as long as we don't panic and make his situation worse.
When the President made his statement on Telemundo I turned to a friend that his low key calm statement was brilliant. Well said in the language of diplomacy. That and the followup phone call sure as hell got Morsi's attention.
This is the exact reason that we don't need another arrogant ass in the White House. Was Romney serious or just plain stupid to think that anyone on earth would be cowed because he is President? The more I hear that guy talk the more dis likable and disgusting he becomes. It's amazing that a guy who has been running for President for almost a decade knows so little about the world and foreign policy.
The U.S. has not had a policy in its interest since President Eisenhower. Because Congress has acted as an extension of the Israeli Knesset no President has been able to articulate a foreign policy that would benefit both the U.S. and Israel. The Israelis just don't seem to know that time is not on their side.
@jar So the mass graves, the burned bodies, the raped women and the eye witness accounts of the atrocities committed by Qaddafi's secret police and armed forces are myths, or made up stories? What did the rebels do? Exhume the dead then burn the bodies inside a warehouse so they could claim they just discovered the atrocity? Did they hire thousands of actors, then stage a fake release from several prisons where Qaddafi held political prisoners?
Listen, the man is a murderous, ruthless thug who because he had established a tenuous relationship with the West in general and with Washington in particular became more delusional than he already was. He never once dreamed that President Obama would force his hand when he openly talked about slaughtering thousands of his own citizens!
Every event is not a conspiracy, nor is there some puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes. What you see is what you get.