Trump, Muslims and the San Bernardino Shootings

Huffington Post - Donald Trump Calls For 'Complete Shutdown' Of Muslims Entering U.S.

Donald Trump came out and said that until we can figure out what is going on with Muslim Jihadists we should temporarily not let any Muslims into this country. I will start by saying that I don't agree with that; but, that is not what I am going to talk about. The responses from the other Republican candidates and how the media is framing it is what I find interesting.

Lets start with this simple fact. All the Republican candidates have been saying for weeks that we should not allow any Syrian refugees in because some of them might be terrorists. All of them have said that Trump is out of line because he has basically said the exact same thing they have said. Rand Paul even introduced legislation in congress a year ago to prevent people from 30 Muslim countries from coming to the United States and Cruz supported it. As for Carson, he has said that he would never want a Muslim to be President and is for strictly monitoring all visitors to the United States. Most importantly, not one of them has said that they wouldn't prohibit Muslims from coming here. What a bunch of hypocrites. Now I have read many outraged pundits saying how Trump is crazy by saying this; but, the truth is that most Republicans probably agree with him. The other Republican candidates have made an insincere complaint and this will probably get Trump more support not less. This could really pay off for Trump at the next debate, all he has to do is ask which of the candidates is for allowing Muslims from Arabia into the United States. They would be between a rock and a hard place as they have all said they don't want Syrian refugees here because some of them might be terrorists. Will they take that back? I think not.

Now, I want to talk in more general terms about Muslims and terrorism. For background I am Irish and my family has always been Irish Catholic. I am not a Catholic. When I was younger and an agnostic I was sympathetic to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). For a little background, my great-grandfather was in the original IRA before Ireland was freed from English control. In Northern Ireland the Catholics are still treated as second class citizens. While I am now a pacifist, I still want to see Ireland as a single country again with the Irish in charge of their own lands. The war in Ireland has never been about religion, it has always been about political control over Ireland. Now the war with terrorists is not about religion either. It is about political power and who will control Arabia. If they all converted to Hindu, they would still be terrorists. In fact, they are not killing people in Israel because they are Jewish, they are attacking them because they want the land back under Arab control. MOST WARS are about power and money. World War II was not about religion it was about control. Hitler did hate Jews, kill them and use them as an excuse; but, he also hated Russians and Slavs and killed even more of them. Most Muslims are peaceful and law abiding. Most Muslims are just like you and me, they just want to have a decent life with their family and friends. One should also remember that their are more Asian Muslims than Arab Muslims and we don't seem to be afraid of them. Maybe they aren't mad at us because, now this is just a thought, we are not bombing their homes.

In regards to the shootings in San Bernardino, I am extremely disappointed in the media. I have read that it is now confirmed that the female had pledged her allegiance to ISIS. That has not been proven, anonymous sources are not confirmation and no proof has been released to the public. It has also been stated that the killers had a "large stash of weapons and ammunition". That is also nonsense, especially coming from Fox news. The killers had two guns and two assault rifles all bought legally and a few thousand rounds of ammo. If you believe that is a large cache, two people each owning a gun and a rifle then you have no idea of how many people in this country have even more weapons and ammo. There are gun dealers with over a half million rounds of ammo in the United States, look up FPS Russia on YouTube and look at the sort of weapons he has access to. By the way, he is not really Russian.

The shooters in San Bernardino were definitely Muslim with one shooter being of Arab decent and the other of Pakistani decent (Pakistan is in Asia, not Arabia and it used to be part of India). They were not sophisticated with weapons. The bombs they mailed failed to detonate because they were not made properly. It may turn out that these two radical Muslims on a Jihad; but, we don't know that yet and I myself am not convinced. The whole point of a terrorist act is to let people know what you are fighting for or against. These shooters did not say anything.

What is popular on YouTube

Here are some videos that you might find interesting. Personally I know that I am not aware of much pop culture anymore. I don't watch much television and I don't even know who most of the people I see on magazines are anymore. I hope these links amuse and help my readers to know what is popular in society today.

YouTube - Meat Feast Challenge at Foxton's Bar w/ Black Pudding, Haggis, & MORE!!

YouTube - ELDERS REACT TO JERSEY SHORE.

YouTube - Vegan Food Taste Test.

YouTube - Top 10 Controversial YouTube Channels - TopX.

YouTube - Top 10 Daredevil YouTube Channels - TopX Ep. 6.

YouTube - Top 10 YouTube Cover Artists - TopX Ep.7.

YouTube - Top 10 YouTube Entertainment and Alternative News Channels - TopX Ep.10.

YouTube - Top 10 Most Popular YouTube Channels of 2014 - TopX Ep.22.

YouTube - AA-12 Fully Automatic Shotgun!!!

Donald Trump and Additional Thoughts on San Bernardino Shootings

Fox - GOP memo suggests Trump reality check for establishment. The National Republican Senate Committee has written a memo outlining how Republicans running for office should emulate his look and feel; but, also chastise him for being anti-woman. I have a link to the actual memo below.

Fox - Panic city: The GOP's pipsqueak 'revolt' against Donald Trump. It is fairly clear that the Republican party establishment is more afraid of Trump winning than they are of a Democrat winning and that is sad. What they are really afraid of is politicians not following party dictates and policy.

Washington Post - Memo on Donald Trump from Ward Baker to NRSC senior staff. The memo is one of the most cynical things I have ever read and highlights the problem with party politics. Lets look at some quotes from it. "Trump says what's on his mind and that is a problem". "People talk about problems not issues". The memo says that candidates should use PR of regular people discussing their problems and how the politician fixed it; but, it hen says "Feature them in your issue phase while you assume the role of citizen-servant". In other words, act like you are actually out for them; but, remember it is just a role. Wow. "We may not like it, but Trump has connected with voters on issues like trade with China and America's broken borders". This should make it apparent to the most strident Republican party that the party does not have your concerns or issues at heart. The memo then says to talk about anything other than outsourcing jobs or trade and that politicians should instead focus on Chinese hackers and their industrial espionage. "Trump has been gaining Democrat adherents and he's solidifying GOP cohorts who feel they have been totally ignored by the Washington Ruling Elite".

UPDATE: I wrote this post a few days ago and today, 12/11/2015, I found someone else discussing it. The video is from YouTube by The Young Turks.

Basically the memo says that the party is experiencing a "populist wave" and to just adopt the illusion you are one of them and wait it out. Trump for his part didn't take much notice of the memo. He said that the memo was basically about people trying to emulate him and that they couldn't. He is right on both charges. He was not surprised because he already knew the politicians lied to their voters. Now you may like Trump or hate him and you may be a Democrat or a Republican;  but, what you should really take from this memo is how insincere the parties are. The parties are not here to represent you, they represent the party big wigs who pay the parties bills and reward the politicians that vote for what they want. Now do you understand why companies that outsource American jobs still get tax breaks?

San Bernardino Shootings Update:

Well two days have passed and the FBI has been reviewing everything that led to the shootings. They have been questioning the people that knew them, reading their e-mails, checking out who they called and every aspect of their lives. Fox news insists that they were Muslim terrorists; but, that hasn't been proven and is probably not true. The thing about terrorism is that you have to let people know that what you did was politically motivated. They covered their heads with masks and did not say one thing while shooting people. My first thought was that this was workplace violence; but, neither terrorism nor workplace violence quite make sense and I will tell you why. Firstly, why did they stop shooting people and leave so quickly? They could have stayed longer and killed everyone in that room. Secondly, why did they return home and then leave again? Where were they heading? If it was just to kill more people they didn't have to leave where they were and if it was workplace violence then why did they have bombs and ammunition? They had made a perfect escape, why go back out? What if what they did was meant to be a distraction for the police? The man made a scene of leaving the party angry, what if that was meant to be his alibi down the road for something else. What if they had planned to rob a bank or store? I am not saying that is what happened or even that they are not terrorists, we just don't know yet. What I find interesting is people assuming that they were terrorists because they were Muslims. Guess what, there are Muslim criminals and bank robbers too.

By the way, I am confused by people saying that the couple involved was sophisticated or trained because they made pipe bombs. Kids were making pipe bombs in the 1970s, it is just not that difficult. It requires no training. You don't have to go to a terrorist website to learn how to do it. Now the fact that the killers had GoPro cameras is interesting if true. The question is what was on them. I would think that the cops would have immediately reviewed what was on the cameras, why have they not said what was on them? We don't know what their motivation was and that is strange. Both workplace murders and acts of terrorism usually include the people attempting to explain their actions. It also turns out that the two stopped going to church three weeks before. Also consider the fact that if the man was truly a devout Muslim why did he attend Christmas parties because this one was not his first. Consider the vehicle was a rental due to be returned Thursday and they wore masks and didn't talk. They were hoping to get off without being caught. By the way, one of the shooters friends was a Messianic Jew.

Here is a listing of the people killed.

Huffington Post - These Are The Victims Of The San Bernardino Shooting.

Would You Allow Suspected Terrorists to Buy Guns?

There was a shooting today in San Bernardino. 14 people are reported dead and 17 reported injured. I was watching what was happening on Fox news. We don't know a lot about why or who just yet. While reporting on the event the Fox reporters continued saying that the perpetrators had "long guns". Later Bill O'Reilly said they used large caliber guns. Nobody uses these terms in the real world. The weapons are called assault rifles. Try going into a gun shop and asking for a long gun or a large caliber gun and the dealer will show you a 44 caliber pistol. It has been told to reporters at Fox that the police were looking for people with AK47s, those are assault rifles.

It turns out that at least one of the weapons was more like an AR15. It is an assault rifle. The term "long gun" turns out to have been in an answer that a police officer gave to a newspersons question. He told them that long guns were used. It was in response to a question if the perpetrators used guns.

UPDATE:

So I have continued watching the news reports during the day. That is what retired people do. It was interesting to watch Fox assume this is a terrorist attack and hearing their logic on why it must be. I doubt very much this was a terrorist attack. Hey, it may be; but, the facts do not indicate that at this time other than the fact that the killers were of Arabian decent. One of them was born here though. They were married and had a six month old child and the people they killed were co-workers of the husband who had even thrown a baby shower for him and his wife months earlier. Wait, he killed them at their annual Christmas party and had attended in prior years having worked for the County for five years. It has been reported from the beginning that he got in an argument at the party; but, Fox believes he only went to the party to scope out the victims. They say they cannot understand why the killer left the party and returned after preparing (changing clothes and getting weapons and his wife). I am shocked that they are not aware of such a thing as it has happened in many workplace violence situations.

I will tell you my "guess" right now and if Fox can guess then so can I. This was workplace violence. I have known two groups of people killed in separate acts of workplace violence. Both cases had racial aspects; but, neither was racial. They were both based on psychosis and persecution illusions. Both the perpetrators were lousy employees who were incapable of accepting responsibility for their work approach. I would like to know what the performance reviews were of the suspect in this case.

Here is my question for you. If it turns out that the killer was both a Muslim and was being disciplined at work for poor performance, which will you assume is true that he was a terrorist or a disgruntled employee? What if he killed them because he felt they were treating him poorly because he was an Arab or a Muslim? Look workplace violence is committed by Christians, Atheists, Hindus, Muslims and any other group you can think of.

COMMENT:

I will start by reiterating that I have been a preacher and am a pacifist. Okay, yeah, I have some biases on right and wrong. Now let me ask a question. I keep reading that guns don't kill, people do. Well, tell me guns did not kill these 14 people and wound another 14 (it is believed that 3 hurt themselves escaping)? For Ben Carson I will also ask a question, how do you get people to rush a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle within seconds of his entering a room? For the Republican candidates I ask how can you say, "We just have to accept this can happen?" Here is another question, why should it be easier to get a gun then vote? Now, the reason Fox wants to blame these killings on terrorists is clear; but, they bought the guns here and probably legally. If we are so worried about terrorists (foreign or domestic) then why let anyone buy a gun without checking their history out? Should it be legal for suspected terrorists to buy guns here?

Republicans are calling for investigating all Muslims extensively before letting them move here. Yet they are for no investigations into people wanting to buy guns or assault rifles or body armor. The guy that killed the people in San Bernardino was born here. Tell me how many foreigners have been responsible for mass shooting in the United States. Yeah. We do it to ourselves. Can we deal with that and think about that?

Here is the truth. San Bernardino is nothing, it is an uninhabited area of desert, not far away is Los Angeles, an area of millions. I remember after 9-11 driving back from the east coast to the west coast. I remember being in the Midwest towns and people being afraid that the next terrorist attack was going to be in their town, even if it only had a few thousand people. Muslim ground troops are not headed for Iowa or Ohio or any other meaningless place. Sorry if you are from the Midwest; but, if there are terrorists coming here, they are looking for New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Do you really believe Jerktown, Missouri is at more risk that New York?

Different News Articles and Some Thoughts

Fox - Washington Free Beacon - Labor costs to skyrocket for American cars. Since 2008 most auto jobs in the United States saw no cost of living raise. Now, 7 years later they are getting raises of 5 to 9%. This seems to horrify certain conservatives. There are two things I wish to point out. Firstly, American car manufacturers have most of their parts made oversees, not in America. As previously reported, the cars with the highest percentage of American parts are Japanese auto manufacturers. Second, the executives at the companies that took bailouts and were responsible for the economic crash continued getting bonuses since 2008.

Las Vegas Review Journal - Nevada pursues Route 160 widening project. Now, you have probably never heard of this highway as it goes from Las Vegas to Pahrump, Nevada. It is two lanes in both directions and is practically empty most of the time. I have driven it many times and know it well. In fact, I was once snowed in on it's highest point. There is no need to widen it as it is lightly travelled now. Nevada is saying that they are going to widen it for safety and increased traffic. Huh? What increased traffic? What is going to be built north of Las Vegas near Nellis Air Force Base?

Business Insider - Switzerland is about to launch a huge experiment in 'the war on cash'. This is a very interesting article about how the central banks in Switzerland and Sweden are charging negative interest rates on money issued to other banks. Basically, this is charging people a fee for holding their money rather than paying interest. Well, in the countries mentioned about few use actual cash and most transactions are electronic so the people don't notice their money being taken away as much.

Fox - 'Needless experiment': Cities weigh gov't-backed broadband, critics see tax $$ at risk. Basically, some cities and states want to provide their residents with universal Wi-Fi. This is not surprising as it is municipal right of ways that allow the towers to be put up. Certain companies see an opportunity to make lots of money and therefore want to prohibit cities from building wi-fi for their residents. This is amusing as the internet was created by the government and not private industry.

Yahoo - AFP - IMF poised to put Chinese yuan in elite currency basket. I have been saying this was coming for a few years now. While most people will not understand what it means to be a reserve currency or a "hard" currency, it basically means that your currency is accepted in other countries. The dollar has been the world currency for decades; but, that could very well end and that will make it harder for us to pay our debts.

Schools and Opportunities

In the United States everyone under 18 is required to go to school. That is pretty common in most of the civilized world; but, it was not always so. Up until the 1900s kids either worked on the farm or in factories and coal mines by the time they were about 12. Back in the middle ages and prior almost nobody knew how to read and write. In the 1800s it was even illegal to teach slaves how to read in much of the United States. As industry grew in the 1900s, the country needed more educated people. Prior to that the only poor and middle class people that learned to read were either in the church or the military.

It has been said that "knowledge is power" and restricting people from having access to the history of the world and an understanding of how we got where we are was restricted to the "elite", to "those in power and their children", the rest of us did not have a need to know in the eyes of the rulers of this world. Collectivism, working together, is the idea that we all deserve a chance to prove our value, a chance to prove that we can do at least as or more than others who have an advantage in the game already because of wealth, collectivism means a belief in merit over birth and connections.

I shall simplify. What method should be used to determine who succeeds? Should you succeed because your family can pay for you to succeed, because you are the most suitable and best to succeed or because of a lottery drawing? Those are all things we can build the rules around that determine who succeeds. Which do you choose? If you choose merit then you need to create a system that allows people to compete based on merit and merit alone. By destroying the public school system, do you really believe that people who cannot afford a decent school have the same chance as do those who can afford better teachers?

Cocaine Mummies and Polynesia

So here is a fun one for you. This museum was testing some Egyptian mummies and discovered that they had traces of tobacco and cocaine. The problem is that the Egyptians are not known to have gone to South America and even if they had, they then would have had to pass through the cape of South America and travelled up the western coast of South America to Peru. Still, that is one of the more popular theories. It is also not possible for the Peruvians to have travelled to Egypt and not have any reports of it. Neither the Egyptians nor the Peruvians were known as great seafarers. Both had boats but they were basically small fishing boats. This has left the "scientists" confused.

YouTube - Cocaine Mummies of Ancient Egypt

I find the idea that the shipping had to be done by the Egyptians hilarious. Back 3,000 years ago there was only one culture that we know was travelling sufficiently far and across the ocean and that is the Polynesians. Not only that; but, we know that they had been in South America as in the last couple of years DNA proved it. There is an old tribe in South America that was found to have Polynesian DNA and it also appears that they did not intermarry with the Indians much.

Now lets talk about the South Pacific. To start with, it is big, it is one-third of the earth. It is much, much bigger than the Atlantic Ocean and had been travelled much larger distances than the Atlantic was ever travelled until the 1500s when Europeans finally travelled both the Atlantic and the Pacific. The purpose of all long boat trips back then was necessity. Ask yourself, for a moment, why were the Polynesians the only people to bother to keep searching the ocean for other lands? Next question, why didn't the Polynesians take over New Zealand or Australia? Australia is much closer to where Polynesia begins than is Hawaii and a heck of a lot easier to get to with many more resources and miles of beach.

I will post a link to a map; but, the South Pacific was inhabited by a small number of groups. The three biggest groups are the Polynesians, Melanesians and Micronesians. We know these groups were all seafaring and had regular interaction. The Polynesians were the greatest sailors of the three. All three of these groups could reach the Philippines and New Guinea which is part of Melanesia. The Polynesians are thought to be descendants of the Austronesians who stretched from Taiwan to Madagascar about 3,000 BC. Let me simplify all of this, we know the Polynesians had travelled to both South America and Asia. This is accepted and also that it happened thousands of years ago.

When I was at University some of my Professors thought I should become one too and one of them suggested that I become an expert in Polynesian government. He thought it would be a good niche and guarantee me a spot as a Professor as there weren't any others specializing in it. Truth is, the governing of Polynesia was never something that interested me, I was more interested in their history as a whole. I was actually fascinated with Polynesia from a Sociological standpoint and the effect World War II had on destroying their way of life.

One of the most fascinating questions is why did the Polynesians bother travelling the Pacific in the first place. Hawaii is thousands of miles away from other islands and sits pretty much alone; but, for some reason the Polynesians travelled there and peopled it. Why? Australia was closer as was South America and Africa. Why travel so far on the chance that you might find another island? Why don't we see much DNA swapping between Africa and the Polynesians and a lot between the Polynesians and the Asians?

Now, we have found Chinese silk in clothes worn by Egyptians. That proves that Egypt and China had trade. If not directly, then by intermediaries. Anything that could go to China could therefore end up in Egypt. The Polynesians were shown to be partly from Taiwan. All of what I have discussed is established, I have given you the link. Read up anywhere about Polynesia, check the time frames. So what makes it so hard for the established historians to understand that the Polynesians were the most likely candidate for having transported the cocaine, tobacco to Asia and then travel from Asia to Egypt. Why do they want to believe that the Egyptians were the ones that had to travel to Peru and apparently do so on a semi-regular basis and not have developed ships more suited to the travel?

Both Darwinians and Anthropologists have the same bias. It is a social big bang theory, the idea that an event in one place fanned out and created the rest. Since the creation of patents we now know that multiple people can create the same thing at the same time or the same things at different times without knowing of the others invention, like the typewriter. South America and Egypt had pyramids, as did many other countries, without knowing about the others. No idea is unique and if it works, it will be found. The bigger question is how things travel.

I want to talk about trade secrets. For over a thousand years, the creation of silk was a trade secret held by China. The silkworms only lived there and were not allowed to be moved under penalty of death, yet, silk and Indian spices travelled the old world. If you wanted to trade back in the day, you had to have a good transportation system OR series of transportation systems. If the Polynesians were travelling from Asia to South America, as is now proven, then what would you expect them to transport to use as trade? Polynesia's number one commodity is Coconut meat. That would be hard to transport over long distances and still have value. Cocaine works pretty well and has immediately obvious effects proving it's value, same for tobacco.

For those of you who like a alien explanation for why the Egyptians and South American's made pyramids, consider the fact that the Polynesians were also masters of moving megaliths and shaping them as they did on Easter Island. Take all of this in and ask yourself why science has denied that the Polynesians traveled to Asia and South America for so long and it is only in the last 15 years that we know they were all wrong. What is so horrible about believing that the Polynesians had an effect on trade between the old world and the new world. It is much easier to get from Easter Island to South America then it is to get there from the old world and the Polynesians have already demonstrated that they did it.

You know what the Arabian nomads and the Polynesians had in common? They both traded in the most expensive things that didn't quickly spoil. Opium comes mainly from Afghanistan; but, was used in Egypt by the priests alone and in China. Egypt does not produce opium and never has as far as we can tell. They had to trade for it and limited it's use to their priests. What do you think they would have thought of cocaine? The mummies found to have cocaine in them were royalty. Is it that hard to believe that cocaine would have been limited to the use of royalty when it was so valued and hard to obtain?

Wikipedia - Polynesia