Government
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: WAR & POW’S
Written by Akan Bosemann
Not all of the facts are known just yet but everyone seems to be weighing in with their two cents on the release of Bowe Berghdal and whether he’s a traitor or not. I have some questions to ask. What would cause a soldier to desert? If they knew he had left his post in the past, what were the specifics of those incidents? Why was he not returned home or discharged? What was happening there in Afghanistan with American troop presence occupying and fighting “Taliban” and/or insurgents?
Next question I need answers to is the condition of this American soldier since his capture and imprisonment (for let’s all say it together) FIVE (5) years in the custody of the Taliban? With the President announcing that the war would be over and troops pulled out of Afghanistan how would that news impact Berghdal’s well being in the custody of the Taliban?
I’ve heard some statements from service men talking about oaths taken and broken by this man to the military and his military brethren. I’ll lean on the bible with reference to oaths in which it says we are to swear no oath at all. Simply let one’s answer be Yes or No.
Matthew 5:34 – 37 “But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
I’ll ask if one’s belief is that the cause one thought he/she was fighting for turned out not to be what he/she was led to believe it was about in fact and one had “sworn” an oath does that mean one can’t change their mind and decide to no longer fight for something they no longer believe in?
Perhaps we should all reserve judgment until we know all the facts in this story.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Jury Duty Episode 2.5
I call today’s post episode 2.5 due to the fact that I’m 2.5 days into serving jury duty and am actually pleased with the way it’s been working out thus far.
Initially, like most people when I saw the summons for last Friday, I was like oh crap!!! Not being too much a morning person, the idea that I’d have to actually get up and go early during rush hour to court was not my idea of a fun or an ideal situation, especially with how jury duty has worked out for me in the past.
I never forgot those long days of just sitting there waiting to hear your name called from among the pool of people there. Well as a law-abiding citizen I answered my summons and went. Day 1 ( yesterday) started out in typical fashion. I arrive at the courthouse, go through metal detection, and then have to surrender my camera to the police officer until the end of the day.
You would have thought this cop had never seen a camera before the way he gushed over it. Every other word out his mouth was an”Oh boy!” and “let me give you a receipt, I know you don’t wanna forget this”. It was almost to the point where I looked at him sideways like is he planning on jacking my shiznit? You best believe I scrutinized the receipt carefully for any errors in the description written on the receipt before proceeding to the jury room.
I sit for several hours before my name is called. Lucky day!!! Once inside the room that myself and several others were summoned to, a court employee in charge of gathering jury pools told us that sometimes they have cases that get done in a single day. I found that hard to believe.
I smiled at the thought of serving one day and being done with service for several more years…perfect! Well, due to the fact that several hours passed since the typical 9am start time, we were told that we would have to come back the following morning for the case to start.
Whoo hoo!!! since we weren’t going to be utilized that day we were free to go for the rest of the day. I wanted to give that court employee a high-five!! Before Stephen A. Smith could say “quick, fast, and in a hurry”, I was gone.
That ladies and gentlemen is what you call the Get Away.
Day 2 began with me rushing with rush hour’s masses from the bus to the train which was packed full of the typical selfish idiots who don’t move all the way into the train cars but block the doors.
I managed to squeeze into an express train just in time to see the hapless people oblivious to what rush hour means, standing on the escalators blocking both sides, appearing with sad faces as the doors closed behind those of us who rushed up the stairs to catch the train.
For some reason today the trains weren’t moving quite the way I’d have liked especially for rush hour on an express train but I managed to make it to the courthouse a few minutes after the 8:50am call time.
Arriving for duty your honor and ready to give evidence!!…evidence.
Today I decided to leave the camera at home and once inside the court and in the room we were to gather we were greeted by the same court employee from the day before who then proceeded to tell us that the case wasn’t ready for today and would start tomorrow.
Ladies and Gentleman, there is a God!!! God worked it out so good that we were given two options. Option A) stay with the rest of the jury pool for the day where we might be placed on another case. Or Option B) Leave for the day with full attendance credit and return same time tomorrow for this one day trial. Oh I almost forgot with the option of staying you could also end up still having to come back the following day anyway.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know which option I selected. Attendance was taken and those of us who elected to leave for the day were gone.
Stay tuned for day 3…
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Decompression and The Social Unplug
Written by T.D Moody
I find it amazing how fast and important social networking has become. I remember as a high school kid one Social Studies teacher I had, telling our class that the future was in networking. He went on to say, basically, when you get to college make as many friends as you can especially affluent ones. This being due to it’s more a matter of who you know, not what you know.
I thought that a strange saying back then, but came to realize the truth in his statement. Today’s world consists of a new “smart phone”, apps for just about anything, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and on and on to connect people all around the world.
What I see, is when ever one needs to get something done it’s rare that things get done without the aid of others. This is true whether it’s in getting a new job, finding a great airline hookup, for free upgrades and/or flights, or a bartender who comps a few rounds, or a door man at a club, or a real estate agent to find you the best available apt at a bargain. Social networking is the wave of the future and it’s for that reason that I find it also a dangerous tool.
Aside from the fact that keeping up with so many “friends” be it on Facebook or Twitter or any other major social networking site, can feel like a 2nd or 3rd job. Personally, I find it essential, not to be so plugged in to everything trying to keep up with so much information going on. I’m also in favor of advocating decompression breaks at work where cell phone and computer use stops completely for an hour to allow one to relax and unplug for a bit from this crazy world we live in.
The dangerous aspect of social networking today is that it’s so instantaneous, one is capable of defamation for potentially hundreds of millions of people to see online immediately. Or one’s entire personal history, information, & contacts grouped, arranged, then studied and monitored far more easily. This is because the user of social network sites volunteers the info that is then collected and saved about them, their family and friends.
In my opinion it’s too much information to be floating around unprotected. Privacy is the underlying issue. However, for those who don’t find it a problem to have all their business exposed, that doesn’t mean that the rest of society feels that way or should tolerate their right to privacy being discarded or treated as some old rag. Eric Snowden’s exposure of this helps cement a healthy distrust of government in conjunction with the war on our civil liberties.
I’m in no way advocating completely severing all networking ties but being vigilant in what one uploads socially. Clearly, today’s world says once it’s out there, it’s out there, fair game. By the way the protections built into the laws that allow corporations such as the telephone companies and internet service providers to violate personal privacy with no liability are nothing to laugh at either. In effect one has no legal remedy to the overt and blatant trampling of their rights.
Subpoena or no, intrusions into the private lives of citizens will not make any one of us safer from terrorism. This is a tactic to distract the public at large from the real issue, & gain support from the people to voluntarily submit themselves to total control and oppression if not suppression of life.
We have to really remind ourselves of the fact that most people wouldn’t be aware of the governments spying scandal if an insider (and now notorious) whistle-blower Eric Snowden hadn’t exposed it. For his bravery he’s now being persecuted and labeled in mass media pretty much as an “enemy of the state“. Why does the main stream media not keep the story focused on the content of his release versus the government’s pursuit of him?
Rationally thinking I have to conclude that it’s because he was working for them and violated the very trust they had placed in him that we the people are to misguidedly place in our “elected” officials in government making decisions that directly affect the lives of us the citizenry it’s supposed to serve and protect. Which leads me to my next point.
I wonder if it’s just me or whether anyone else has thought about how social networking has changed us as a society from the standpoint that now some of us think we’re actually closer to people when right next to one another with the aid of an electronic device in our hands texting one another back and forth versus an audible real life conversation?
I’m not saying it’s not without some really cool and/or beneficial uses but it’s seemingly replaced the traditional sit down and honest talk of years past. I suppose the logical explanation for this new trend in social interaction is the fact that one can see what it is one is about to say to someone else and decide if what they communicate comes across the way intended.
It also gives one the opportunity to analyze what another party is communicating before giving an answer. Typically I find cell phones & tablets are a social prop much like a mask that one can hide behind instead of looking the person in the eye while talking face to face.
Expressions, and body language do speak volumes. Thinking about all of that under a microscope without one’s personal permission, arbitrarily at the disposal of elites & the military industrial complex is a heinous and frightening idea.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Privacy…Do you mind?
Written by T.D Moody
I’ll be the first to admit that I happen to love technology. Not all of its incarnations and variants but mostly the most beneficial and time-saving devices and gadgets that can and often times does make life a bit easier and/or simpler. Advances in medical procedures and anesthesiology, the computers and robots used for advanced and complicated surgeries are some examples.
That being said after reading a few articles on the upcoming “Google Glass” I have no doubt that privacy is being dealt another death-blow with devices as powerful as the early impressions of Google Glass come forth by techies, supporters, and detractors alike.
Years ago while reading some tech content I remember seeing it said that the technology available to the average consumer is actually 50 years or more behind what’s actually possible now and that the technology is suppressed and doled out in piece meal installments for several reasons.
One of these reasons and probably the most obvious is profits. Each iteration of a new “hi-tech” device comes with some modest upgrades but is still far less than what’s actually possible yet people will want the upgrade and continue to chase and pay for the progression. I think that’s a natural part of mankind to want to keep getting better and wanting more, and more, and more.
I think back to my days as a kid playing video games on Coleco Vision (for those old enough to remember it) at a friend’s place before Atari and Nintendo came on the scene. Then came the Sega Master System followed by Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Each system boasted technological upgrades and games that improved on performance and graphic displays. Game play and overall execution of games was the stronghold of Nintendo for years over even the Sega Genesis.
This was due in large part to the fact that while Genesis sported better specs and graphics performance from a 16 bit system versus an 8 bit Nintendo, Nintendo’s games were better thought out more developed, more rewarding, and challenging than Genesis games which were merely eye candy with little substance in terms of game play and endings.
Today it’s XBox 360, PS3 (PS4 coming soon), and PC gaming. How times have changed. Did I mention even the privacy policies of the current gaming consoles are lengthy, wordy, and essentially basically state the system can spy on you through your agreed use of it and agreeing to its terms of service policy. Playing games online, links to accounts it’s everywhere.
Now with the news of the upcoming release of Google Glass mixed reviews are coming in where privacy comes to the forefront and is in the spotlight like never before with the availability of social media and instant uploads and sharing.
One doesn’t have to see the potential for abuse and more secretive spying into the lives of ordinary people where we are all the reporters and the reported. When given technology without the restraints and safeguards to respect and protect personal privacy, there is no place left where anything is private. Every conversation had can recorded in one’s own home. Willing surveillance of one’s every move is possible and treated as some simple novelty or toy and nothing more.
Knowing people are people and will push any boundaries or limits in front of them when there is no restraint is good enough reason to view this technological advance with trepidation. Is it true that every one wants to be a celebrity? I don’t believe so but with Google Glass and it’s sure to come successors and competitors, the potential to turn every one into a “celebrity” is real whether wanted or not. It’ll be like “Smile” your on the Net” , “Smile your on the toilet and we all can see your …ewww!!! In real-time.”
Now with seemingly random killings in unsuspected areas popping up all over, a social climate is emerging in which it is becoming an accepted norm in order to “feel safe” to surveil everything and everyone and some how no privacy = security. In actuality it equals total enslavement. NO FREEDOM. History is repeating itself and most of us are happily, blissfully, distracted with gadgets and toys that spy on us even more so than having a soldier quartered in our own homes.
Google Glass seems benign on the surface as it’s just being introduced, but isn’t that the way all things start out? Small, a seed, baby step after baby step in progression until it reaches it’s fullness and we’re all staring at each other in disbelief at the horrors we collectively allowed to grow and fall upon us. Orwellian depicted Police States rising all over the world in the name of “Peace and Security” is very frightening and very real.
Educating ourselves and not being so caught up in the bells and whistles of the latest gadgets and gizmo’s to the point of being willfully ignorant is crucial. It seems the more tech dependent we become and the more surveillance we accept, the easier it becomes to see the invisible bars and prisons we’re all in. Very much like in the movie “The Matrix”
If this seems too unreal and far fetched, I suggest going around the city and counting the number of surveillance cameras that are openly displayed in public. From the subway stations, to the new buses that have cameras all throughout, to buildings inside and out. Then consider how many satellites there are watching us from the sky and the advanced real-time capabilities of GPS. Is it really that difficult to believe or are we “tuning it out” and refusing to see what’s in plain sight?
Mini computers that can monitor our every movement will be marketed as the newest “Hi-tech” advance that should be embraced without resistance or questioning of its true purpose and/or potentials. How I want to wake from this nightmare. The president’s speech on U.S. government authorized drone strike policy is somehow supposed to instill confidence in authorized killings of any target deemed “terror suspect” or “person of interest”.
To me that’s like saying,”Anyone can be considered is a potential terrorist or extremist when they question the policies and actions of government.” “We need to go over to this country and kill 200 people because according to our records these people are classified and approved as terrorist groups and extremists with links to weapons of mass destruction.” How do we confirm these classifications is there any oversight?
I remember President Obama in one of his re-election campaign speeches saying not that we the American people needed “Smaller” Government as our nation’s founders intended but “Smarter” Government like those hideous and frightening IBM ads popping up all over the place as if they are improving the world for people.
Everything is happening the way it is for a reason it is no coincidence. America is at a crossroads this is true as President Obama said in his speech, but the future nation being left to the children of tomorrow is nothing more than a stolen future and guarantee of enslavement. I fear being older and living to see the younger generations of today and tomorrow looking back in history at my generation and the generations before mine that are responsible for their future.
President Obama tells us the future of terrorism is home-grown and foreign. No one is safe. Problem…Reaction…Solution. Game Over. “Oversight?” What Oversight? There is supposed to be in place already the traditional checks and balances in government. Obfuscating the main issue with spin and word play is in my mind an inexhaustible skill being utilized again and again in speeches to assure us that the Government is actually doing things that will help us, the People.
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