Taking 2 weeks off

So I got some friends who went out of town.  And now I have the privilege of dog sitting three big puppies (well one's a tiny puppy and the other two are big kahunas).  So I'll be preoccupied and thus have little time to write or post.  As such, I'll see you all in two weeks.  Feel free to catch up on posts you may have missed :)

Flexible Figures

Another Economist article with a subtitle of "Dynamic Pricing" it discusses applying electronic price displays and constant price updates to retail stores and its impact.  Here is what it entails.

So basically, stores would use electronic displays to show the prices of their goods.  This obviously eliminates the need for people to run around replacing price displays and obviously saves time and paper.  However this is not all it does.  It allows stores to adjust their prices every few hours or even every few minutes.  Apparently prices are affected by things like the time of day, weather, competitor’s sales and any other condition imaginable.  As such a store can pinpoint when a discount is most needed to push the sales of certain goods, and as such some sales can last hours as opposed to days.  In effect the electronic pricing displays smooth demand by adjusting prices based on want and need.  This allows the rich to pay more as they may come in during specific times of the day, or buy certain goods more regularly during certain events while the poor will save money as they require cheaper prices thus prices will adjust to move sales to accommodate them.  However this is still expensive for stores to do in the short term and thus will, once it becomes more affordable switch over. 

In the meantime other businesses have embraced the model.  Sports events, concerts, zoos and similar that all sell tickets can and have used this technology of constant price adjustment to exploit demand for high value tickets while stimulating people to buy unwanted tickets by making those ones cheaper.  Thus demand is stimulated in one event or part of a concert hall while the other is curbed thus ensuring more seats are filled and maximizing profit.   Toll booths too can and have used this technology to adjust their prices every five minutes to get drivers to keep moving so as to avoid a higher price.  Airlines already use this too by charging more for frequent flyers due to thinking that trips are job related.  (Even Amazon adjusts their prices every hour).

There is a risk however as Uber found out the hard way.  Their reputation was damaged when their prices shot up 8 fold during and post hurricane event.  People saw it as price gauging even though it was merely them adjusting for all the variables that affect supply and demand for their services.  As such they have capped their cost increases to 3.5% maximum during such events.  

People also learn to play this price game as some people will go to internet cafes or areas which are considered poor and buy an item thus fooling the algorithms put in place.  Truth be told. I have no problem with this as it means people will go and do business in less affluent areas and thus stimulate that area’s economy buy also buying local goods.

Final Thought:  This is a great idea as people can save more money and businesses maximize profits thus keeping them in business in the first place.  Sure there are people who may not like being charged more which is why balance is needed, but the advantages in savings for businesses and people as a whole is too much to pass up.  

Gender and Politics/Society

When I was growing up, gender meant something very different than what it does today.  Today it means sexual orientation, a person’s attraction to others and how that all manifests.  But what I learned back in school is that it was a description of people’s masculine and feminine roles in society.  That these roles were defined by society itself from generation to generation.  However the term is often used in place of describing a person’s physical sex as well as orientation.  Is this a good development?  What impact does it have?  Here is my opinion.

Between people of various genders and orientations wanting to be treated equal, to write the wrongs of the past and people lacking knowledge of people with other sexual orientations due to their suppression by religious and other majority communities we have created the modern version for the definition of gender.  It now is all encompassing for all people of all forms of sexual attraction with the word sex, simply meaning sex as opposed to defining if a part of a species is male or female.  To me this has resulted in a political class of individuals who have been repressed in the past that have joined together to make a society where it is acceptable to be a particular gender without the dirty or confused looks.  Basically, they reclassify gender to its current definition so that they could have a say in politics and use our politicians want for power and need to use victims against them (good show LGBT community, put the screws to them).  At the same time, references to gender that segment society are slowly being eliminated.  For instance, the "Founding Fathers" are now in text books called the "Founders" or Founders of America, eliminating the term Father and its traditional gender role.  The result of this is a society that does not see gender at all, and potentially will go the ways of the Ancient Greeks and Romans with respect to having sexual relations (basically have fun with whoever you like).  

Is this a bad thing?  Not really.  For one we eliminate a form of prejudice and stigmas that have been in place for thousands of years that have led to the persecution of individuals.  Also, eliminating some (perhaps not all) gender identity references can lead to a society where jobs, family roles, and more are not defined by societal standards, and instead fit the family unit no matter what form it may take (the Supreme Court Ruling on Gay marriage helped this along).  I think terms that define what people prefer will develop further as scientists, and the communities that embrace their gender identities seek to define who they are in the same way people try to classify their ideologies.  But are they going to fast?  I think so.  The issue over public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms is a big example and has caused a great deal of trouble.  Not because men, women and others get changed or release themselves in the same location, but because there are people who will abuse this.  People like Voyeurs, Rapists, or idiot collage kids have used this to attack people at worst or to take advantage of the situation at best.  Sure desensitizing people to other people’s bodies in the same way that violent video games desensitize youth to violence can be a benefit, but when people abuse the privilege of a public setting, then steps must be taken. 

As such where can we take safer steps to make a change that all of society will be ready to take? So maybe elementary to middle school bathrooms, and sports teams should be the first on the list for bathroom/changing room changes and even desegregating sports teams based on girls and boys teams to make them all-inclusive and ensure that children of all sexual orientations get to play (and I mean all people who want to play, not just the team’s top players).  Children should be focused on first because they learn their behavior from adults and Middle Schools/middle grades are when sexual differences begin to be noticed more.  Stores can help by eliminating male and female sections/marketing and re-branding items based on simply style or want (kind of like what Target Stores did).  Desensitizing students by having a sex education course talk about everything, and I mean everything, that has to do with people of various genders having sex, paying for sex and of course reproduction and safe practices to prevent diseases/pregnancy may become a must if this continues (some European countries start their children in these courses in fourth grade).  Other areas of gender elimination or redefinition may continue to occur as well (but I think that steps should be taken in this so as not to mistakenly alter history as has been accidentally done in the past when revisions to terminology have been made in history books as this can cause problems in the future).

Final Thought:  Basically I am OK with the way society is heading with respect to gender despite my personally being religious and my being a straight male.  I do believe we may be going too fast with respect to bathrooms, public showers and changing rooms, but typically liberals want to rush things along while conservative minded people like myself favor slow progress where people accept things over time.  I personally think the sex education courses should do the aforementioned but also include health and wellness type classes so that all aspects of the body are learned including how exercise, food, drugs and diseases affect the body and how to basically protect, diagnose and cure yourself.  But hell, that is just me. Also, what is done is done.  The bathroom changes cannot be taken back and society will adjust with time to the point where we may have public baths like old school Japan (yea, the hot springs and such were mixed bathing).  So at this point it is a waiting game to see what is in store for us and our society.

Can Organizations Become independent like Countries?

So can they?  Can an organization like a business or a charity become independent like a country?  In the past this was not the case, but now given the resources and power people have it is.  Allow me to explain.

So in the past sovereignty and power were concentrated in physical property and thus, whoever controlled that physical wealth controlled all who lived on it.  However with time and technology this changed.  Property and wealth stopped being 100% physical and thus a king’s army or a countries military could no longer enforce their control via force.  The internet was the final death toll for countries consolidation of power.  Now disparate people can use the internet to generate wealth and power without need for permissions from a government.  The reason for this is that with the internet we merely have to pay for access and the rest comes free.  So a business need not need a store front, or a license to sell anymore.  Basically the internet created intangible property that is almost impossible to control or govern.  From their it was only a matter of time before things shifted and people began banding together via businesses, ideas, ideologies and religions into cohesive groups via this boarder less world created via IT.  But even then it was not complete until terrorists actually showed us the way, the Internet’s darker half.  They used the net to recruit, plan and act all in accordance to their own will and identity.  Now while we try to shut them down, people looked at how they organized and began to mimic it, but instead for the betterment of man.  As such, peaceful people can organize peaceful religions into online communities that span boarders.  The people who govern the internet itself are not governments anymore either, but instead various groups who meet and discuss how to maintain, enhance and preserve the internet and what it gives us.  Governments cannot readily control all these private groups because they are IT developers, businesses, entrepreneurs and more that span across multiple countries.  As such a single country cannot control all these groups to exert their influence.  They cannot go in and arrest them all if literally thousands of groups the world over based in over 50 plus different countries are all working together to overcome a single country that seeks to become a tyrant.  Not only that, there will always be a replacement.  As such, if a country is a Dragon hording treasure, the people who live, work and protect the internet are snakes who can never be slayed all at once and will always breed another to take their place.

Final Thought:  Essentially the internet created so many communities of people that they can amass equal or greater resources than that of a single country or even multiple countries as they can collect all the information and wealth they have in a single or multiple places making them practicably invincible.  These groups can function in any way they choose by mimicking a government itself or just dedicating themselves to a single task all the while coordinating themselves almost seamlessly.  They are a future where boarders do not exist and everyone can be a king of their own country.

Bernie Sanders: Betrayal or Honor?

Did Bernie Sanders betray his supporters?  Is he a hypocrite now for supporting Hillary Clinton, a proven dishonest politician?  Here are my thoughts.

While I did not support Bernie Sanders, I did find his honesty refreshing.  He told you exactly what he was and what he was about.  That is why so many people found it easy to support him.  But is he a hypocrite?  No, I thought he was at first for supporting Hillary, but he gave his word to support Hillary Clinton if she was to get the nomination.  He was true to his word.  But he knew he was forced out.  Sanders knew he was being pushed out by the corrupt forces in his own party, but he kept his word to maintain his integrity and his honor.  As such he fall on his sword.

Final Thought:  I feel bad for Bernie Sanders.  He did not deserve this, and I cannot imagine how much pain mentally he had to go through to support Clinton.  However he did it and what's done is done.  Hillary is the nominee and aspects of his promises will be done in Hillary's presidency assuming she manages to win with yet another scandal hanging over her head.  I may not agree with what Bernie Sanders thinks politically, but at the end of the day you have no choice but to respect him. (Note: He did get a private jet from the DNC though).

Political Debate Scheduling issues

There is a problem with the upcoming presidential debates.  They are all scheduled on the same day as major sporting events.  So why is this a problem?

The problem is that it reduces viewership of the debates and thus can swing the election from one side to the other.  Discounting the fact that people are going to purposefully miss such an important debate, let alone three due to a sporting event, this could very well mean that either Trump or Hillary would win depending on whose numbers are higher at the time.  Trump even went as far as claiming that it was electioneering based on how the Democratic Presidential debates were held on Saturdays when viewership would be lowest so as to sabotage Bernie Sanders.  Needless to say this has both political campaigns arguing on if and when to change the dates.

Final Thought:  Well I think the debate dates should be changed and be as close as possible to Election Day as possible.  Basically keep it all fresh in the minds of everyone of what each candidate represents.  I think the debate days will be changed and both candidates’ campaigns will have a hell of a time doing so.  And I think these debates will be very fun to watch.

The Khan family VS. Trump

Khizr and Ghazala Khan are the proud parents of a United States soldier who sadly was killed over in Iraq.  They were invited to speak at the DNC as one of many guest speakers.  There speech however included criticism of Trump saying that he probably has not read the United States Constitution, and that under a President Trump their son would not have been allowed to serve citing Trumps idea for a ban on the visitation rights of Muslims and travel into the United States.  Trump fired back targeting Mrs. Khan saying how she kept quiet during the speech potentially due to her being a Muslim Woman and not being allowed to speak.  This was a mistake as Mrs. Khan was quoted soon after that she did not speak because she was filled with emotion as a picture of her son was being displayed and upon seeing her sons’ picture she could not speak without letting all her grief flow out.  Trump screwed up as he basically attacked a Gold Star Mom (the mother of a member of our military) which has many veterans and other groups condemning his comments as stupid and pathetic.  Mr. Trump has so far not taken back any of his statements and has buckled down.

Final Thought:  As we all know, Donald Trump is abrasive, difficult to deal with, and of course 100% politically incorrect.  Should he have reacted?  Yes, but in a way that respected the family of our armed forces.  He has been quoted however saying that he respects Captain Khan who was killed and his service to the country.  If Trump really wanted to answer in a good way, he should have thanked the family for raising a good son and an honorable soldier, and then left it alone.  This never should have gotten this far and potentially sets a precedent that everyone is fair game to be attacked or counter attacked in this election cycle.

DNC and Russian Hackers

As mentioned in yesterday's article, Russian Hackers got into emails passed between the Democratic Party leadership and the Hillary Clinton campaign.  In these emails it revealed a scheme to remove Bernie Sanders from the race.  Obviously this pissed off a lot of voters in the Democratic Party and has a lot of voters either switching sides, to other candidates like Trump or just not voting at all.  But this is not the biggest issue that comes from this.

These Russian hackers potentially work for the Russian Government.  As such Russia is supporting Donald Trump in the election.  This is all left to theory, but it is my guess that they may find Donald Trump to be a deal maker and thus more likely to end the current proxy war between the United States and Russia going on in Syria with respect to ISIS/ISIL.  But why does Russia want this to end?  Simple, ISIS/ISIL are Sunni Muslim while Russia's allies are Shiite Muslim (Syria and Iran) and Russia can finally build their oil pipeline through the upper part of the Middle East and then reap the economic benefits.  Economic benefits they need as their economy is still not exactly stable.  Additionally Trump does not mind this outside manipulation and influence as it benefits him directly with him even jokingly calling for Russia to release more emails that would make Hillary look bad (something that Trump has taken flack for saying).  And WikiLeaks is going to apparently release more emails as well which may further hurt the Clinton campaign.  

Final Thought:  Do you find it as disturbing as I do that a foreign country is manipulating our elections?  Well if you do not, then you should think again as this means our government will stop being our own.  We could potentially get a puppet President in office and we would stupidly vote them in (Cough think Syria's President Cough Cough).  This is a dangerous situation and we must tread carefully with our want to know what else Hillary Clinton has lied about and the potential of a President Trump.

DNC Reaction

OK we all had a weekend to digest the Democratic national convention and while the presentation was good via excellent speakers, Hillary was overshadowed according to the pundits (Hers was one of the few speeches I missed).  But here is my analysis with some pundits analysis mixed in to make up for what I was missing.

So every speaker at the convention that I saw was great and that includes Michelle Obama and of course President Obama and former President Bill Clinton.  The crowd got swept up in the speeches and it humanized Hillary Clinton.  This was a necessary component as she is often seen as simply a cut throat politician.  Bernie Sanders though was booed by the crowed as he threw his support behind Hillary.  I think this is in part due to the honesty that Bernie represents in politics even if you do not agree with his politics, while Hillary is viewed as a liar and a cheat.  Even worse Russian Hackers released emails that showed that Hillary and the rest of the DNC conspired to remove Bernie from the race.  This is a black mark on Hillary and her campaign let alone the DNC.  This will make the DNC look like it is subverting the Democratic process even though political parties are technically not officially part of the election.  Selections of candidates have always been decided by the party heads and it is only recent that political parties allow any sort of Democratic control by its members.  

Final Thought:  Overall it was all about clinching Hillary as the nominee as the first woman candidate for President in a major political party.  It was all about making her look less like a scheming politician and more of a human being with family values and a family (dysfunctional though they may be).  However hard liners in her party criticize her choice for Vice President saying he is too far to the middle, but this is a calculated move to appeal to the right in the general election especially voters who are disenfranchised by Donald Trump.  However, despite the success of the convention, the DNC and Hillary's campaign is bleeding money, while Trump is spending modest sums.  This may come down to who can out last who in with respect to funding so as to avoid fizzling out.

Hillary's VP: Who is Tim Kaine

Senator Tim Kaine was chosen as Hillary Clinton's running mate.  The man is a Harvard law graduate, attorney and a Senator since 2012.  Additionally he served as Mayor of Richmond Virginia, and lieutenant governor and then Governor of Virginia as well.  So who is he?

For one he is an environmentalist and a believer in climate change even going so far as preserving over 400,000 acres of land.  He signed legislation banning smoking on government property and in restaurants in Virginia.  He also expanded mental health care access in Virginia after the Virginia tech shootings and has it so that anyone involuntarily committed cannot get a firearm.  As Virginia's governor he made tough decisions on cutting spending to meet that State's requirements on balancing the budgets.  He also proposed a $4 billion in tax increases but none of these passed.  He also served as Democratic national committee chair from 2009 to 2011.  He served as a member on the armed services committee, committee on budget, and committee on foreign relations while serving in Congress.  While in the Senate he serves on numerous other committees and sub committees relating to national security and power projection including "Emerging threats and Capabilities", "Sea power" and also served on committees relating to counter terrorism in Parts of Asia and trade.  Basically this guy has experience in areas that Hillary Clinton may be lacking in and more.

Final Thought:  Senator Kaine is actually somewhat conservative.  He is personally against abortion, but supports Roe vs Wade.  So he basically does not want the Federal government to be making reproductive decisions but does support some restrictions like parental involvement for minors.  Also, he is in favor of LGBT community rights such as gay marriage (something I am not opposed to either).  Overall he is more middle of the road than Hillary Clinton and more likely to compromise on issues.  So a great choice by her to attract people who have not decided who they are voting for or are middle ground politically which normally would be turned off by Hillary's far left Progressiveness. 

Trump's VP: Who is Mike Pence

So Donald Trump chose Governor Mike Pence of Indiana to be his running mate.  Before that he represented Indiana's 2nd and 6th congressional districts from 2001 to 2013, before being elected Governor in 2013, a position he has held since.  But what does he stand for?

He is a supporter of the TEA Party and their support for limiting the size of government, taxes, and government spending.  He has served on multiple committees in congress including the judiciary committee, small business committee, agriculture committee, international affairs committee and foreign affairs committee.  Basically he has a well-rounded background with respect to government experience and knows his way around Washington, hence this is the reason why Trump chose him.  Trump needed someone who could help him know how to work the mess that is Washington D.C.'s politics and it turns out that it is Governor Pence.  Likewise Pence is a TEA party guy just like Ted Cruz, and just like Cruz is against abortion, something that will appeal to the more conservative crowd of the Republican Party and the conservative groups in between.  He also opposed the Wall Street bailouts, opposed "card check" (something that would have eliminated the secret ballot for union votes) and called for a flat tax that would allow for people to keep more of their income.  Pence even voted for Earmark reform, for partial privatization of Social Security, and is in favor of free trade agreements.  Overall a very staunch conservative and his policies reflect that.

Final Thought:  To me he is a white Ted Cruz!  They share similar views and ideas on reform, and both support the TEA party and reform in Washington D.C.  Even their views on homosexuality and abortion are similar.  This man, Governor Pence was a great choice in making Trump more palatable to the Republican base and staunch conservatives.  

Trumps Acceptance Speech

Ok, so some of the wording in Trump's speech had me and other libertarians worried, those libertarians being John Stossel and Glenn Beck.  Basically something did not sit right and sounded very fascistic.

In the speech the words "I am the Law and Order candidate", “I am your voice", "I will fix the problems", "I will end the violence" were all used.  It felt very top down.  As if a President Trump would be akin to an emperor and order all our problems away.  That the people had nothing to do but do as they were told.  For libertarians like myself this is antithetical to our thinking.  A president to many of my ilk want a President to hold back the corruption and say "yes you the people will" and "I will empower you and protect your freedom".  But instead we got chants from the crowd saying "yes you will" with Trump being the "YOU" as the person to take care of everything.  Essentially we are chaining ourselves to someone as metaphorical slaves.

On top of the aforementioned, Trump said that he will not allow businesses to move overseas, a statement reiterated by Ryan Priebus (current head of the GOP) and some of Trump's children.  Basically a fascist policy of punishing businesses from going overseas (a sentiment shared with the Democratic Party to my knowledge).  Problem is, no law and no government is allowed to infringe upon a business's right to leave the country or to do any sort of business overseas.  This is based on the principle of tacit consent where if you do not like the laws in your home country you can move with the expectation of obeying the laws of the place you move too.  Basically you can choose which laws to follow by moving somewhere else.  But the way it sounds from Trump and the current RNC is that freedom will be taken away.

Final Thought:  These are the key points that made libertarians wonder if Trump is the lesser of two evils and if such a concept can be accepted in American politics anymore.  At the rate it is going, Hillary and Trump are both potentially equally as bad as each other (Hillary being as bad with respect to government takeovers of businesses, the economy and health care).  Hopefully me, Beck and Stossel are wrong and that those words are merely for the impact and not the policy, but words tend to have deeper meanings behind them.  I hope I am wrong.

RNC reaction

We have come a long way from the old school politics of backroom deals, or have we?  The Republican National Convention and this week's Democratic National Convention both give the illusion of choice with respect to which candidates are chosen to possibly lead.  However, like all Presidential picks, it is the party uplifting select members of the party and then having the core of the party choose who will represent them.  In this case it is Donald Trump.  Which basically means he was chosen because he can bring in more votes than the other potential candidates and thus a win for the Republican Party this November.

Like most conventions, the family of the candidate is used like a chess piece.  You need to humanize the candidate so that people know that despite being well off that they are family men and women and thus can emphasize with the little people.  Also, if you notice that the media made sure to place emphasis on the fact that Trump and his children did not use Teleprompters.  This in part is a dig at President Obama and at the same time to show that these kids and this potential President are special (not many people can memorize a 50 to 120 minute speech and then say it as well as they did).  

There were some well-deserved critics of some of the speakers though.  Governor Christie among others mocked Hillary, but this was neither the time nor the place to do so according to analysts at Fox news.  The analysts said that this is supposed to be a time to prop the candidate up and show support, not a time to attack.   Needless to say when President Bush and his family, along with Senator Cruz said they will not be supporting Donald Trump it caused a stir in the crowd, especially Cruz's speech which was all about being principled.  Cruz of course was mocked, but he is standing up to his principles and there should not be anything wrong with that.

Final Thought:  In my opinion, the RNC did what it normally does.  There was nothing unexpected that occurred at all during the event save Cruz's speech.  However Trumps acceptance speech for the nomination had some disturbing elements which I will be focusing on tomorrow.  Overall rating of the convention by me is a 5 out of 10.  It appealed to the base and people who are patriotic and that is it.

News overshadows News

It was an eventful and saddening weekend to say the least.  Thursday was a terror attack in France, then Friday was the coup in Turkey and then Sunday the Police being murdered in Baton Rouge.  With each incident the stories got overshadowed by one another in the media, even Trumps Vice presidential pick.  A cycle of attention flipping that seems to be never ending. Once Turkey's coup occurred the American media went silent on France, and then on Sunday they went silent on Turkey for the shooting of the police.  It goes to show you that when a news event occurs they are more concerned about ratings rather than the story that needs to be told.  All the events are important and should not overshadow one another in my opinion.  

This overshadowing I think plays into corporate greed and our attention spans.  The Media jumps from one event to another to keep people watching their ads. and entice more companies to buy ad space so that they make money.  Basically, the more attention grabbing stories will get all the focus because it is new and fresh. Thus  yesterday’s story becomes just that, yesterdays.  I find the lack of analysis annoying.  I want more details and knowledge of potential impacts on my way of life and the world at large, but the media just wants you and your money.

Final Thought:  Reporters are supposed to be historians as the first recorders of history.  They have an obligation to wrench out every little detail and then confirm all the facts so that history does not get it wrong and that we can learn lessons from these incidents.  But news just flips from one subject to another to accommodate our short attention spans while filling the news media's pockets with cash.  It is upsetting to me because the victims and those sacrificed in these incidents, including potential future victims, deserve more from our media.  They deserve more from us so that we learn how to prevent evil from occurring again.

Louisiana Police Shooting

On Sunday, Louisiana had a different kind of terrorist incident.  In this case it was domestic terrorists who sought to murder police in reaction (as far as we know) to police/black American conflicts.  

Police (according to CNN) responded to a call that a man was walking while carrying a rifle along the highway in Baton Rouge.  Once the police arrived the suspect and potentially two other suspects opened fire killing three officers and wounding another three.  The firefight apparently took place in a known drug trafficking area at a spot where police regularly go to for coffee.  Police were even concerned about potential bombs and the area had to be cleared and secured.  

It seems people are forgetting that our Justice system is supposed to judge criminals, not vigilantes, but in this case the murderers are terrorists through and through.  They did not act for the sake of justice in my mind, but instead targeted cops who had nothing to do with any of the past cop vs black American shootings.  While real vigilantes fight for justice, this was cold blooded murder.

Final thought:  Baton Rouge is now being described as a powder keg ready to explode.  It seems some people want a race war and more police on black American incidents.  Our nation is burning and crying out for peace and true justice, not cold blooded murder.  Pray for the families who have lost their loved ones.  Pray that this situation gets resolved before it is too late. 

Turkey's Coup.

On Friday last week the Turkish military attempted a Coup to take control from its current President Erdogan.  The military sees itself as a protector of secularism and democracy in Turkey and this coup was a direct reaction to Erdogan's Islamist policies and his crackdown on democratic freedoms such as freedom of the press.  However the coup failed.

This coup was the fourth in Turkey's history and this one failed.  The military failed to gain public support or even support from the rest of the Turkish security and military forces.  As such Erdogan escaped and is now using the security forces he has to rout out all the members of the military and government that plotted the attempt.  According to the BBC over 6,000 have been arrested so far and more are expected to be as military and governmental facilities are taken back one by one.  Interestingly, the Turkish people see Erdogan as tyrannical and yet they did not back the militaries attempted takeover.  This could mean two things.  One, the Turkish people favor democracy and its ideals and thus trust their system and or two, there is enough refugees from Syria and other places that believe in Erdogan's version of Islamic politics that the Turkish citizens are intimidated into supporting Erdogan and his dictatorial policies.  That, or they are more fearful of Erdogan and what he can do to them if they support the other side.

Final Thought:  The situation obviously ended in failure for Turkey's military.  But the question is, did the United States and other countries back the wrong horse? (Yea America backed Erdogan).  Should we have supported Turkey's military coup as a means to save their democracy and the gateway to Europe rather than let the country fall into Islamic Fascism and become a terrorist haven?  In this only time will tell.

July 14th Terror Attack

Yet again France was attacked, this time on their Independence Day, Bastille Day.  What occurred was horrific.  A terrorist used a truck to slam into a crowd of people killing over 80 people.  The evil man responsible waited for the police to remove the vehicle barriers and disperse so that the truck could obtain its maximum killing potential.  As terrorist plowed through the crowed he began shooting from the crew cab as some heroic members of the crowed tried to grab on to remove the driver.  That terrorist was shot and killed by police.  It was planned and it will happen again.  

This is what we can expect from terrorists from now on.  They seek death and destruction alone and everyone is fair game.  Isis/Isil of course later claimed responsibility for this heinous attack on innocents.  These terror organizations have to be taken far more seriously and we have to be willing to get our hands dirtier.  These people use others as human shields and some of those "human shields" do so purposefully.  But because of how the Middle East is and its culture you cannot tell who is good or bad or even what side they will be on that given day.  Even Senator John McCain was embarrassed to find that he had taken a picture with a known Isis/Isil terrorist when he was in Syria.  These terrorists, Jihadists, flock from terror group to terror group seeking martyrdom and death.  People think we are taking this situation seriously, but in my opinion we are not.  Simply using drones to bomb the enemy will not work.  Also, according to a report from the "Blaze" show "For the Record" they are not even bombing all the targets of opportunity such as Isis/Isil headquarters in Dabiq Syria because it is in the middle of the city.  We Americans have become squeamish in this fight.

Final thought: France and other countries are suffering because of terrorism because we are failing to use the full resources available to strike back.  These people in France, or the terror attack last month in Istanbul or anywhere should not die needlessly because we fail to fight back.  We must mourn our lost loved ones and then strike in the same way a General Sherman or a General Patton would and rend the enemy asunder. 

Tax Returns: Public Knowledge!!!

Should how much we pay in taxes be made accessible to the public?  Let us review some of the arguments for and against.

The against unsurprisingly sights privacy.  You can see how much people pay along with how much they deduct for their debts, medical bills and even charity.  Some people don't want others to know they have high debts or medical bills as they feel embarrassed or they feel it may hurt them when interacting with their peers or potential job opportunities.  Basically, an employer, or group can see if you look like a liability more easily, or people can learn of your financial situation and try to take advantage of you.

Those in favor of release, it helps insure people pay by embarrassing people who try to dodge their taxes.  So it makes it harder to hide them siphoning money into a tax haven, and prevents corruption as all eyes are now on the people who earn so much yet contribute so little.  It basically leaves no place to hide for people with respect to paying their taxes.  Additionally, Sweden, Norway, and Finland all have public tax records.  Their reasoning according to the Economist is that it spurs continuous debate on the tax code to see that it is not too burdensome and that it helps people see if they are pulling their own weight with respect to contributing to the government in taxes.

Conclusion:  I find myself siding against people's privacy on this issue for government is something that is owned by the people and people do need to see who is pulling their weight with respect to contributions.  Not to mention embarrassing people into not having a tax haven and preventing corruption and tax dodging is an extreme benefit as we can boycott those people who try to usurp the system.  It even ensures that our politicians don't take bribes as we can see all the money in all of the bank accounts if they multiple and are able to ask where the additional money came from that they did not earn through their job.  Basically we can tackle corruption and tax dodgers all at once.

Drones and cops

For the first time a drone was used to kill a person in the United States by police.  In this case it was the active shooter who shot police in Dallas Texas.  This is history making.

Now I do not celebrate death of anyone including a murderer.  However, it is important to note that a drone (one typically used to disarm bombs) was used to detonate a bomb close enough to the suspect to kill him.  It is these kinds of situations where a shooter holds an advantageous position that drones in my opinion should be used in place of an officer.  If police went in to apprehend the shooter, the shooter would have opened fire, potentially killed more police, and the cops would have shot the shooter anyway.  In essence the shooter was most likely going to die anyway.  And this is exactly the kind of jobs drones excel at.  They perform the dull, the dirty and of course the DANGEROUS.  Once a suspect is determined to be nonnegotiable and is a danger to police and those around them, then a drone should be sent in to settle the matter.   It was excellent police work by cops, in my opinion, in order to protect themselves and other innocents in the area.  

This however sets a precedent where cops may begin deploying drones more readily to "end" incidents.  As such this particular incident must be looked at with close scrutiny to help develop standards and procedures for when drones may be used to exhibit deadly force.  If not developed carefully by using the Dallas shooter situation as a case study, then the drones may be abused with respect to lethal capacity.  Remember, drones were originally used in war as recon machines and to disarm bombs which correlated directly with what police do in various situations.  Now the drone’s capacity for killing is being explored as well.

Final Thought:  Like I said, we must be careful so as to not screw this up.  Cops know this was an extreme situation and they also know this is going to change how they operate.  So cops, and lawmakers are going to have to decide how to use this "tool" in future situations.  I am glad it exists for it will protect more lives, but the potential for abuse and misuse is still there.  Thankfully I have faith in police to do the right thing. 

Should Cops wear cameras?

After all the incidents and questions of innocence or guilt between Black Americans and cops I feel cops have to wear cameras.  Not to protect the people from the cops, but to protect the cops.

An audio/visual camera recording a cop constantly especially during an incident can mean all the difference in keeping a cop out of jail in these situations where onlookers can be confused or misinterpret what is going on between a cop and an individual they are interacting with.  But to do this, a 360 degree view is needed and really good microphones.  So we would be able to see what happened in the Ferguson shooting, or the shooting in Dallas from the cops’ point of view.  No longer will we question what a cop is saying or what the suspect is doing/saying as we will get a clearer picture of who and what cops are dealing with.  It even may help with investigators seeing things they may have missed and can also help in court cases with the claims of suspects and inmates who resist while being detained and the public having a conversation on uses of force by police.  Basically a camera and microphone covers all the bases with respect to covering the cops from being harmed in the public eye.

Police may even begin to announce what they are doing to clarify what is going on via these cameras so that people who do not know of police tactics or procedures can readily understand why cops do what they do.  Basically it will aid in clearing up misunderstandings.  Also, a 360 degree camera may aid in identifying witnesses and cameras in the back of police cars and on and in police vehicles will help with cases like with the death of Freddy Grey.  

Final Thought:  Cameras and microphones can give us a 360 degree view of the world around a police officer.  They can even identify where a particular sound is coming from and from whom via technology and with a heads up display can warn officers of approaching danger from behind.  We can protect our police and even eliminate the select minority of bad officers who abuse their power.  Let us end the confusion and the potential race war by giving our cops a tool to help protect themselves.