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Friday, August 30, 2019

HOW CAN WE FIGHT TERRORISM? PT 3.

Agent, Armed, Armour, Automatic, Black

As we look into the past, and try to Understand the Mindset of the TERRORIST, Sometimes Two Important Points are Forgotten;

-  Those who Plan and Direct Terrorist Operations, are often not the Ones who carry Them Out.

-  The Motivations, Expectations and Backgrounds of TERRORIST OPERATIVES are not Identical, and may Vary According to the Situation and Circumstances.

To say All Terrorists Desire the Same Things, and Act according to a Standard Set of Guidelines is a Simplistic Look at a More Complex Problem.  In Fact, in Many Cases, we find Those Committing Acts of Terrorism to be Simple Pawns, who are caring out the Directives or Wishes of an often Hidden and Shadow Organization, who realize that Survival Means Remaining in the Background, letting others carry out ACTS OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.

What this leaves us with is the following Dilemma, are the Recruitment Techniques and Messages to bring in new Blood for Future Operations, Truly Representative of the Actual Objectives and Goals of the Organization, or are They Modified to Bring in a Wider Pool of Potential Recruits.

So when looking for possible New Recruits, what Categories of Individuals would make the Most Likely Candidates, and how would the Terrorist Message be Adapted to Appeal to Them.

THE YOUNG AND IDEALISTIC-  Individuals who still look at the World Through the Eyes of the Inexperienced and Ill- Prepared Young Adult, who believe That all They need is an Opportunity to prove how Important they are.  The Members of this Group Tend to Act on Impulse, sometimes without considering the Ramifications of Their Actions.  To Them, there is only now, and the Future will take care of itself.

Emotional Immaturity is a Classic Trait to Exploit, being Susceptible to the Attention and Flattery of Older and More Respected Members of Society.

The Message-  "DON'T DELAY. BEFORE IT'S TO LATE, MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW."

END OF PART 3.



Thursday, August 29, 2019

ESQUIRE: Our Lawless President Is Trampling Still More Laws to Build His Big, Beautiful Wall.

US-politics-immigration-Mexico-IMMIGRANTS

BY JACK HOLMES.
8/29/2019.

So the president is promising to pardon his subordinates if they have to break the law to carry out his orders to build the Big, Beautiful Wall, the latest spasm of abject lawlessness from someone whose lifelong principle is that the rules do not apply to him. This is not the best attribute to have in the world's most powerful man, particularly with a supine Congress—where one body is controlled by his lackeys and the other is run by Democrats afraid of their own shadowand a court system increasingly stuffed full of Federalist Society dependables who can help enact conservative priorities from the bench. That's the same court system that OK'd his phony national emergency, which he admitted was phony while announcing it.

ITALICS ARE MINE- DAVID.


Call for submissions: Panel Discussion at the 2020 APA Eastern Division meeting. The Graduate Student Council (GSC) of the APA.



American Philosophical Association
 
Dear DAVID,
 
The Graduate Student Council (GSC) of the APA is now accepting abstracts for a panel discussion on navigating academic philosophy as a first-generation and/or low-income graduate student at the Eastern Division.
 

Outsiders Within: Reflections on Being a Low-Income and/or First-Generation Philosopher

Many philosophers have highlighted the lack of diversity amongst professional philosophers, and there are several active initiatives aimed at encouraging greater diversity, a great portion of which are aimed at supporting diverse undergraduates students on their route to graduate study. One dimension of diversity that often gets overlooked in these efforts—and which overlaps and intersects with other axes of oppression in important ways—is working-class, low-income, and first-generation status. This session aims to provide voice to the experiences of philosophers who come from poverty, identify as low-income, or are a first-generation university student.
 
Abstracts addressing the following questions are of particular interest: How do philosophers who are the first in their families to attend university learn to navigate the academic lifestyle? Does impostor syndrome ever go away, or at least get better? How do low-income and first-generation philosophers deal with the sense of double-alienation, both in academic spaces and when they return to their families or first homes? How does class intersect with other underrepresented identities to further marginalize certain philosophers in the field? Have class and socioeconomic status been adequately theorized by philosophers? Are low-income and/or first-generation students encouraged to pursue philosophy (by their families? Mentors? Professors?) and adequately supported if they decide to do so? What unique challenges arise for graduate students from low-income and/or first-generation backgrounds?
 
This session seeks to explore some of these questions and others, and to provide a space for discussion and community building among those philosophers who have experienced socioeconomic disadvantage along their route to graduate study and/or professional philosophy.
 
Topics of discussion may include (but are not limited to) the following:
  • Alienation
  • Stereotype Threat
  • Impostor Syndrome
  • Overcoming Stereotypes
  • Returning Home and Cultural Code Switching
  • Researching SES/Class
  • Intersectionality & Class Struggle
  • Deciding to Pursue Philosophy While Poor
  • Class Bias
  • Race & Class, Gender & Class, Sexual Orientation & Class
  • The Intersection of Immigration Status and First-Generation Status and/or Class Struggle
  • Obstacles to Pursuing Graduate Study
  • Moving for Graduate Study as a Low-Income Person
  • Conferences as Exclusionary for Low-Income People
  • Navigating Academia's Elitism as a Low-Income Person
  • Learning the Norms
  • Hidden Curriculum, Social Expectations, and Navigating Academic Spaces
  • Mentoring Low-Income/First-Generation Students
  • Cultivating Support Systems and Community Building

Submissions

Abstracts for talks of 15-20 minutes prepared for anonymous review should be sent to both Arianna Falbo (arianna_falbo@brown.edu) and Heather Stewart (hstewa27@uwo.ca). In the body of the email, please include your name, institutional affiliation (if any), position (if any), and contact information. Please attach an anonymized abstract of up to 500 words describing the primary focus of your presentation and what you hope for the audience to take away from it. The organizing committee hopes to select panel participants from various stages of the procession, including graduate students, post-docs, as well as junior and senior faculty. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer any funding for selected speakers.
 
Deadline for Submissions: September 30, 2019
 
Selection of Presenters: Early October
 
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Arianna Falbo at arianna_falbo@brown.edu or Heather Stewart at hstewa27@uwo.ca.
 
For more information about the Graduate Student Council of the APA, please visit our webpage.
 
Find us on Facebook, or e-mail us at contact-gsc@apaonline.org.
 
Thank you,
 
Sahar Joakim
APA Graduate Student Council Chair
 

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Trump's most blatant assault yet on LGBTQ rights. JENNIFER WEXTON.

I’ve made it a priority to fight so that Americans no longer face discrimination because of who they are or who they love.

And David, I’m enraged by the latest actions of Donald Trump against the LGBTQ community. His administration is taking steps to allow private employers to fire employees based on sexual orientation.

As reported by Buzzfeed News on Friday:
The Trump administration took its hardest line yet to legalize anti-gay discrimination on Friday when it asked the Supreme Court to declare that federal law allows private companies to fire workers based only on their sexual orientation.

An amicus brief filed by the Justice Department weighed in on two cases involving gay workers and what is meant by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination "because of sex." The administration argued courts nationwide should stop reading the civil rights law to protect gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers from bias because it was not originally intended to do so.
The Trump administration’s outrageous legal filing is only the latest step in their campaign against LGBTQ rights. They’ve made it harder for same-sex couples to adopt. They ended an Obama-era rule that protected transgender Americans in public housing programs from discrimination. And they’ve let Mitch McConnell hold up a Senate vote on the Equality Act for months.

The media spends a lot of time on Trump’s erratic behavior, tweets, and offensive statements. At the end of the day, what’s even more disturbing to me are his policies -- because his policies go right against the values of liberty, fairness, and justice that I’ve fought for my whole career.

His administration’s argument for employment discrimination should be condemned across the political spectrum. And that’s why I need your help today so we can raise our voices as high as possible.

Add your name now and demand that the Supreme Court stand on the side of equality.

Thank you,

Jennifer