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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Getting My Money’s Worth



A trillion here, a trillion there….

Countless (and unknowable) trillions of dollars are spent annually by NATO / western countries on (so-called) defense spending and (so-called) intelligence spending and (so-called) homeland security spending.

There are satellites covering virtually every square inch of inhabited earth; every phone call, email, web site, and internet chat page is monitored.  Before boarding an airplane, passengers are strip-searched.  Armed military patrol every major airport and train station.

Every financial transaction monitored, money transfers scrutinized, detailed regulation of every commercial transaction.


The State Department on Monday issued a worldwide alert three days of ahead Thanksgiving cautioning travelers of "increased terroristic threats" from ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and other groups.

A “worldwide alert.”  Everywhere I go is at risk of a terrorist action.

Well, hopefully it will be over soon.

The alert expires Feb. 24.

I am afraid to ask…of what year?

Can they at least be specific about the tactics and targets, what I should look for?

"These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics, using conventional and non-conventional weapons and targeting both official and private interests," the alert says.

Got it?  Everywhere you go, for an indefinite period of time, and under every possible means, you are under terrorist threat.

Worth every penny????

10 comments:

  1. Hi Joe,
    In the wake of the attacks in Paris, there has been a lot of talk about the motivations of ISIS and similar groups. The two loudest positions seem to be either a) ISIS doesn't represent Islam itself and that the attackers were solely motivated by France's military intervention in the Middle East, or b) The attack wasn't blowback, and that Paris was attacked because it an inherent quality of Islam to be aggressive and hostile. Now, I am not at all implying that some of the underlying principles of these points are mutually exclusive, but how do you look at it? Pope Benedict has said that this particular branch of Islam has abandoned reason, but is not Western interventionism a main driving force in unleashing Mohammedan wrath upon us? Is it possible that, though there is something innate in Islam that nurtures violent radicalism, the intervention of the West has allowed these tendencies to rise to the surface? Islam is a fighting religion, after all. Looking forward to your response.

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    Replies
    1. Is this comment in the right thread?

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    2. Yes. I had asked this question to somebody else and forgot to change the name to "Bionic".

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    3. The vast majority of Muslims do not commit any such atrocities. So-called Christian nations have been doing the overwhelming majority of the killing for many decades now. Do we ask the same questions about Christianity being a fighting religion?

      How about the west stop destroying one Muslim country after another, and let's see how things play out. That's how I look at it

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    4. Inbreeding and their adherence to THE Quran itself. They're mentally ill people.simple as that. It's not or FAULT their the way the ARE.

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    5. Thomas

      ALL Muslims? Really?

      Adherence to the Quran, as if there is only one possible interpretation? Have you counted the number of Christian sects? Interpretation of what are considered Holy Books vary rather widely.

      You are not very good at putting yourself in someone else's shoes, it seems.

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    6. Thank you for your response, Bionic. However, you have said that mass migration from Moslem countries was a danger to civilization, and that certain Islamic leaders (Such as Gaddafi) have made this intention clear. How do you square that? Thank you.

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    7. I think you are taking great liberties in paraphrasing what I have written, however, consider the WASP bigot and what he might do or ask the government to do if he sees too many women with head scarves walking around the neighborhood.

      I exaggerate to make a point - there is less need to call for coercive governance the more "in common" the community, the less "forced" in unnatural ways the evolution in culture.

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  2. Just be glad we don't get all the 'defense' we pay for.

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  3. Is it not like the warning label ,on your mattress??
    I am more afraid of the guy at are local "very rural" dump
    that has been ordered by the EPA to write my
    plate number down.






    "Just following orders"he says

    Yea,just like Milgram's experiment??

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