Day: February 22, 2017

Closing Thought–22Feb17

I am not by any measure of the imagination a techno geek….I include such posts in my closing thoughts and hope that my readers with more knowledge will find it worthy of comment and correct any mis-statements that may be included….

The buzzword of the year is —-cyber-security….both personal and national…..a new report covers just how it works within the confines of a democracy…..

“War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” This 19th-century quip, often attributed to the satirist Ambrose Bierce, deserves a 21st-century update: “Attacks against the U.S. are God’s way of teaching Americans how weaker enemies are stronger than they seem.”

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are the paradigmatic examples of this. On September 11, 2001, they gave Americans, along with the rest of the world, a lesson in “asymmetric warfare”—armed conflict between two sides whose relative military power differs significantly, and in which one party can gain advantage by targeting the other one’s weak points.

Source: How Democracies Lose in Cyberwar – The Atlantic

This is my swan song for the day….go out and live a bit….be well, be safe…..chuq

The Malcolm X Letter

We are celebrating Black History Month….that time when we all should be focusing on the contributions made to the American society by our African-American citizens.

Malcolm X had a letter, hand written letter, just before his death about a cure for racism…….it was written while on Hajj…..

Mecca, Saudi Arabia – April 26th, 1964

I have just completed my pilgrimage (Hajj) here to the Holy City of Mecca, the hollyiest City on earth, which is absolutely forbidden for non-Muslims to even rest their eyes upon. This pilgrimage is the most important event in the life of all Muslims, and there are over 226,000 who are here right now from outside of Arabia. From Turkey came the largest contagion, around 50,000 in over 600 buses. This refutes Westerner propaganda that Turkey is turning away from Islam.

I know of only 2 others who have made the actual Hajj to Mecca from America, and both of them are West Indians who also converts to Islam. Mr. Elijah Muhammad, 2 of his sons, and a couple of his followers visited Mecca outside the Hajj season, and their visit is known as the “Omra”, or Lesser Pilgrimage. It is con-

Source: THE MOST REMARKABLE REVELATORY LETTER EVER WRITTEN BY MALCOLM X | Moments In Time

This newly discovered letter is fascinating to read….most people do not realize that Malcolm after his hajj became more content in his own skin and became a orthodox Muslim as opposed to the Nation of Islam…..could this have lead to his assassination?

Personal opinion….yes it did!

Please, Take My Job!

Just last week I wrote a closing thought about robots and the jobs that are lost because of their use…..you may check out the post here…..

I, Robot I recall many years ago when the news of the first robots being used by the auto industry was all the talk…..of course the pro side was that they would do hazardous work and thus wou…

Source: Closing Thought–14Feb17 – In Saner Thought

To be truthful it was a negative post on the loss of jobs…so when I read this article to the contrary I felt I needed to post it also……there is always 2 sides to every report, right?

Over the next 15 years, 2 to 3 million Americans who drive for a living – truckers, bus drivers and cabbies – will be replaced by self-driving vehicles, according to a December 2016 White House report on the ascent of artificial intelligence (AI). An estimate by the University of Oxford and Citi, a bank, predicts that 77 percent of Chinese jobs are at risk of automation over roughly the same period.

Millions of people around the world would lose their jobs under these scenarios, potentially sparking mass social unrest and upheaval.

Source: Robots are taking jobs, but also creating them: Research review – Journalist’s Resource Journalist’s Resource

While I was writing this update I found yet another  piece about robotics and jobs…..this time it is something that Bill Gates had to say……

Job-stealing robots should be taxed the same as humans, Bill Gates says. “If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level,” the Microsoft founder tells Quartz. He says governments should tax companies that replace workers with machines and use that money to fund jobs that can only be performed by humans, such as caring for children and the elderly. In what is perhaps a surprising declaration for a man who built his fortune through innovation, the billionaire philanthropist contends the pace of automation in job-killing industries ought to be slowed, and taxes can help do that. “It is really bad if people overall have more fear about what innovation is going to do than they have enthusiasm,” he says.

While the European Parliament last week nixed a robot tax for now, notes the Telegraph, such a levy is being pushed by the French socialist candidate for president. But the idea of taxing machines is picking up steam even in the unlikely climes of Silicon Valley, which seems to favor the customers, not the industry, footing the bill, per the Financial Times. But the world’s richest man doesn’t think manufacturers would mind paying up. “I don’t think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax,” he says. “It’s OK.” Skeptics took to Twitter, blaming Microsoft’s own technology for lost human jobs. (Read the full interview here.)

This is a fascinating debate….I can see both sides of this issue….but then there are the workers….many promises are made and seldom followed through….how will this situation be resolved?

A good question for a rainy day.

War On Terror: A Rethink Is Needed

I know that we hear daily just how well we are doing in our fight against terrorism…..daily reports on amount of baddie dead or just how well our “allies” are proceeding…..

Personally, I feel that the tactics we are employing are stale…there may be other tactics in the making but from where I sit we are spinning our wheels on the War on Terror……

Trump is now in command…..but the people he has put in charge are champions of the stale policies of the past….we need a rethink and soon……

Although Donald Trump had good inclinations on some foreign policy issues during his campaign and transition period — for example, staying out of unneeded brushfire wars, reexamining U.S. alliances, and pushing wealthy allies to do more for their own security — his policy toward “radical Islamic terrorism” always needed some work.

Now, having been president for only a short time, this policy — including slamming the door shut on the legal immigration of refugees (including desperate Syrians fleeing from the country’s civil war) and entry of people from seven predominantly Muslim countries — needs a lot of work.

In the meantime, to show that he is doing at least something for Syrian refugees, he is talking to Arab allies not affected by the ban — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — about setting up safe zones in Syria to keep refugees there.

Source: Trump Needs to Rethink Terror Policies – Consortiumnews

Keep in mind…we cannot defeat terrorism….for terror is a tactic not a entity…..

This should take priority….something that should not be decided over brunch at some golf club…..if not it will only get worse…..

In Search Of A ‘Reichstag Fire’ Moment

Recent situations have shown that Trump’s presidency is not as popular as some bloggers and writers would have you believe…..

Trump has had purges, would be scandals, bad press and a meltdown over Twitter, massive protests…….he needs an occurrence to get his presidency on track……

He, Trump, needs something that can change the road that his presidency is traveling…..a little of my now famous historical perspective would fit nicely…….

Given his serious unpopularity, an incident for illegal power grab is increasingly a dangerous possibility.

Donald Trump and his top Islamophobe nomenklatura gathered at the White House, now led by the militant crusader Stephen Bannon, are on a desperate lookout for their “Reichstag Fire” and their favourite propaganda outlet, Fox News, is franticly searching for it – even in Canada.

“Reichstag Fire” was an arson attack on the Reichstag, the German parliament, in Berlin on February 27, 1933. The incident was soon abused by Adolf Hitler and his gang to demand a suspension of civil liberties in systematic preparation for his putsch for total fascist power.

Source: Trump’s desperate search for a ‘Reichstag Fire’ | USA | Al Jazeera

Please if any of the Right wing bloggers read this…I am NOT calling Trump a fascist….only that he needs something like the “fire” to sway the people to his visions.