JOUR107.1001--Joseph Maguire for DNI Post---& the 2005 AFGHAN SUICIDE MISSION

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
University of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

The Crash of MH-47

   (The Tarmac)--Following the withdrawal of what's his name for the top spot as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the President has selected former Navy Admiral Joseph Maguire and current Counterterror honcho.  The admiral has a distinguished past and as just about everybody some rather questionable credentials, in particular while he commanded the Special Warfare forces in Afghanistan in 2005.

     A Stars & Stripes report by Giordono and Chudy indicated the MH-47 crashed on June 28th, a Tuesday, in rugged terrain on a rescue mission;
     "The first official report of the crash came around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in Afghanistan, when CJTF-76 officials distributed a news release about the downed craft. According to The Associated Press and CNN, a purported Taliban spokesman called news agencies just before the release and claimed the Chinook had been shot down by members of the deposed religious militia." (Stars & Stripes)
Something was not right about the rescue mission from the outset; reflecting a rather hasty decision flying in the face of terrain, weather and time of day. Had this been VietNam, the mission would not have been flown, the recon team on the ground would have had to fend for itself.

     The helicopter carried a combined unit on Navy SEALS and US Army 160th Special Ops Regt. soldiers from the Combined Joint Task Force-76, there were 17 casualties in the crash and three out of four of the recon team didn't make it either.  It was hit with a rocket propelled grenade. In an AP report published in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on 12 July 2005, Rear Admiral Joseph Maguire of Naval Special Warfare Command had this to say;
     "There's no greater honor for a man to have the opportunity and the privilege to be the commander of such brave men and be associated with them." (AP)
However, there didn't seem to be much of an opportunity for the admiral to do a close followup of why the mission was called in the first place. That was left to Bush nominated Joint Chiefs CO Marine General Peter Pace at his confirmation hearings;
     " News of the copter crash clouded a Senate confirmation hearing for Pace whom President Bush has nominated to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. : (Halima Kazem,LA Times)
Other than calling the dead soldiers some "very, very special folks who were on a mission for this country," nobody seemed to question the rationale of the "mission" that all but bordered on suicide;

     " 'When we've got four SEALS on the ground, four brothers who say, 'We're under fire, we've been shot, we need help now,' we can't wait for the night,' Maguire told reporters on Friday here at the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, after a memorial service that drew more than 2,000 people. "The covenant we have with each other is that we will leave no man on the battlefield.' " (James Dao, Wisconsin State Journal)




     "We can't wait for night," just doesn't add up in a poorly executed, hastily contrived mission that should have been anticipated considering the variables involved: terrain, weather, length of field patrol by the recon unit. Bordering more on a wild guess that some villager spotted Bin Laden in the neighborhood, it appeals more to the senses that eager to get headlines officers sent talented and highly qualified soldiers to their deaths on an ill botched suicide mission.


Followup Reading: The February, 2018 Niger Ambush, Business as usual for the gung-ho generals:
https://eyelessoncampus.blogspot.com/2018/03/eng-102-1105-niger-ambush-what-congress.html


Works Cited
Giordono, j., Chudy, J., https://www.stripes.com/news/chinook-that-crashed-in-afghanistan-likely-brought-down-by-enemy-fire-1.35232
AP, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 12 July 2005, Page 3.
Kazem, Halima,LA Times, 30 June 2005 Page 145
Dao, J., Wisconsin State Journal via NY Times, 09 July 2005, Page 4

JOUR107.1001--Wm Barr Secret 1989 "Vigilante" Memo--WILL MEXICO ABDUCT EL PASO SUSPECT?

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

Just How Far Will Mexico Go to Get the El Paso Shooter?

     (Cantina El Norte)--Today it's being reported that Attorney General William P. Barr is suggesting that American citizens get a certain amount of satisfaction from "vigilante justice" as portrayed in the movies by Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry" and reported on the Yahoo newsapp by David Knowles;
     " 'I believe a sense of justice is hardwired into human beings,' Barr said in an interview on Crime Story podcast. 'Don’t ask me why, but it is there and it’s satisfying to see justice done.'
Barr speculated that films like 'Dirty Harry' (1971), which starred Clint Eastwood as a detective who takes the law into his own hands, resonated with the American public’s impatience with the courts." (Knowles)
 Don't ask him why, especially a congressional committee, because if they did, it might be uncovered that Barr was instrumental way back in 1989 of writing legal counsel for the DOJ regarding the legitimacy of kidnapping foreign officials-fugitives in what many characterized at the time as "vigilante" tactics.

     One report by Anthony Lewis in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1992 uncovered the trail of the vigilante in Justice;
     "Nothing the Supreme Court has done lately has aroused such widespread outrage, here and abroad, as its decision that our government had the right to kidnap a Mexican suspect and bring him here for trial. Governments from Switzerland to Argentina protested. The Economist of London, a pro-American paper, said the decision made America 'a sponsor of vigilante values.' " (Lewis)
No surprise as to where the "vigilante" ruling came from out of the DOJ that the court agreed to;
     "...in 1989, the Bush administration's assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, William P. Barr, wrote a new opinion saying the FBI could legally seize suspects in foreign countries. Barr is now attorney general." (Lewis)

     The particular case in question was related to what David J. Scheffer referred to in the Hartford Courant as the "Lone Rangers of the DEA" in their abduction of Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain for his part in the murder of the US drug enforcement agent Enrique Camarena in 1990. (Chris Kraul, LA Times);

     "If the rule of law was a pillar of Bush's 'new world order,' it is no more. Attorney General William P. Barr, who in 1989 wrote the secret legal opinions that set the stage for Machain's abduction and for the use of U.S. armed forces to invade Panama and seize Gen. Manuel Noriega, can now sponsor such vigilante tactics without fear of judicial scrutiny."  (Scheffer, Hartford Courant)
     That ruling stemmed from a reversal in a Carter administration that Barr overrode allowing the kidnapping of international fugitives outside of US jurisdiction without consent from the foreign government.
     Many of the journalists of the day did in fact call it nothing short of "vigilante" justice. Ronald J. Ostrow in the Los Angeles Times;

      "In a June 21 legal opinion requested by Attorney General Richard L. Thornburgh, Assistant Attorney General William P. Barr reversed a ruling dating from the Carter administration that had denied the FBI authority to take unilateral action overseas. The Carter ruling warned that federal agents using such tac-tics could face kidnapping charges abroad." (Ostrow, Hartford Courant via LA Times)
Barr refused to discuss the ruling to the press. The most interesting part isn't his reversal but the original Carter doc that halted the FBI from nabbing elusive fugitive financier Robert L. Vesco from the Bahamas.  The financier was later arrested in Cuba where he died in 2007 (The Guardian)
     So it's no wonder the frustration AG currently has over prosecution thwarted by foreign governments by refusing extradition of expats and lamenting for the days that he could write orders to pick them up wherever they were. No wonder also that his penchant for promoting the "vigilante" mentality in the public is alive and well, even though extremely questionable coming from a person of Barr's stature. But it brings into focus yet an even darker prospect.
     With the massacre of citizens in El Paso last week, Mexico has demanded the suspect to be extradited as Daniel Trotta reports in Reuters;

     "EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - Mexico will investigate the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people, including eight Mexican citizens, as an act of terrorism and may request the suspected shooter be extradited to Mexico for trial, the country’s foreign minister said on Monday." (Trotta)
Is that same sense of "vigilante" justice currently affecting decisions in the Mexican government? Forget extradition, if there's a clever legal opinion writer in the Mexican Department of Justice, the papers will be waived in favor of outright kidnapping of the alleged killer, possibly in an underground "El Chapo style" raid.


Works Cited
Knowles, D., https://www.yahoo.com/news/attorney-general-barr-explains-the-appeal-of-dirty-harry-due-process-194402659.html
Lewis, A., St. Louis Post-Dispatch 02 July 1992, Page 27
Kraul, C., https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-dea-camarena-20150226-story.html
Scheffer, DJ, Hartford Courant, 25 June 1992, Page 36)
Ostrow, RJ, Hartford Courant, 13 October 1989, Page 119.
Vesco Obit, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/21/internationalcrime.usa
Trotta, D., https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-shooting-mexico/mexico-to-open-first-terrorism-probe-of-an-event-on-u-s-territory-idUSKCN1UW01B
Kidnap image, https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/89452-our-executive-is-missing-kidnap-and-ransom-basics-for-security-professionals

JOUR107.1001--Senate Majority Leader & The Witch Doctor--SYMBIOSIS OF VOODOO & POLITICS

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada. Reno
Fall 2019
 

     (The Peristil)-- Ritual in politics for the 2020 election cycle is now reaching into the realm of the spiritual as the Senate majority leader faces a new and unexpected threat to his personal safety, as reported by Gregg Re across the jungle on the drums;
     "In a livestream video of the protest, Black Lives Matter Louisville leader Chanelle Helm, standing with other demonstrators outside McConnell's home, said that he 'should have broken his little raggedy, wrinkled-(expletive) neck' rather than fracturing his shoulder.
'Just stab the m----- f----- in the heart,' Helm said, after a fellow demonstrator referenced a McConnell voodoo doll." (FOX News)
     Exactly who suggested  the horrible fate for Mitch is unclear and as it is often stated in the media, probably an "anonymous source" that chose not to be identified due to privacy issues.
     For her part, the BLM leader Ms Helm makes light of the voodoo ritual in John P. Wise's report for KFVS, Channel 12;
     "Helm offered no apologies for the protest that has been lighting up social media for two days now. Part of what made the protest controversial was talk of stabbing voodoo doll made to look like McConnell. Helm said it wasn’t serious.
     'Of course, they saw me saying that he should be stabbed in the heart as a voodoo doll as a threat because, that’s violence to them because being outside of his home disrupting his peace, that’s violence to them,' " she said. (KFVS)
Bringing the supernatural into the real world is definitely not a good idea. The history of it in Haiti can be traced as far back as the early slave plantations before independence.

     Michel Laguerre, the foremost expert on Haitian voodoo, author of Voodoo and Politics (St. Martin's Press, NY 1989) was convinced that the two have a symbiotic relationship;
     "Laguerre claims that secret Voodoo societies exist beneath the government of Port-au-Prince and that these societies are sources of civil government and political power vis a vis the country's government. This claim has much influenced Wade Davis who made this thesis central to his study of zombification in Haiti. However, the thesis leaves one with certain suspicions. If Voodoo is not to be regarded as a quietist religion which leaves people at the mercy of the loa, the spirits, and if it is to be seen as a sources of political organization for the common people, then it must be seen as an extremely ineffective political organization." (Webster.edu)
     Haitian mixing of politics and voodoo has fascinated media for decades and was the topic of Mike Dorning's Chicago Tribune article in 1994;
     "Likewise, the voodoo religion exerts an influence on decisions taken in the national palace. The Haitian military chose to broadcast the declaration of a state of siege Aug. 1 at the seemingly peculiar hour of 3 a.m., the time of night when voodoo spirits are believed to be strongest, observed a U.S. Embassy spokesman.
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, the country's dictator until 1971, cloaked his long rule in numerous voodoo images and cultivated rumors that his palace secretly was guarded by zombies. He added to his dominion over rural areas by exercising influence through, among others, local voodoo priests." (Dorning, Tribune)
Voodoo influencing politics isn't nearly as troublesome as politics influencing voodoo, according to some of the local witch doctors, the houngans and mambos.

     Perhaps one of the most powerful political leaders who combined the forces of voodoo and politics was the notorious Haitian President Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, in power from 1957 to 1971;

     "A contributor to the daily Action Nationale (1934), Duvalier was markedly influenced by the mystic scholar Lorimer Denis and became a member of Le Groupe des Griots, a circle of writers who embraced black nationalism and voodoo as the key sources of Haitian culture." (Britannica)
To maintain his grip on power, Papa Doc created what came to be known as "The Bogeymen," or Ton Ton Macoutes;
     "In 1959, only two years after becoming president, 'Papa Doc' created a paramilitary force that would report only to him and would be fully empowered to use unremitting violence to maintain the new administration’s authority to summarily dispose of its enemies. This marked the birth of one of the most brutal paramilitary organizations in the hemisphere and was justified by the leader’s profound paranoia towards the threat posed by the regular armed forces." (COHA)
     The article describes the intimate relationship between the oppressive regime of Duvalier and the Ton Tons, whose leaders were higher ups in the voodoo culture. The spiritual power of the secret religion was not lost on the President.
     To what degree the local rep for Black Lives Matter hoped for some evil divine intervention by reference to the voodoo doll, along with the unnamed source, is a rather moot point, based as she described as "not serious." In real life, voodoo and its relationship to politics is all too real.

Late Update: 08/08/19/1140PDT:

     As for the BLM rep, it appears her FB account was temporarily locked due to a post related to voodoo:

I used to think reading was critical but listening is too. White men protecting white men. Blocked from @Facebook because white men think voodoo dolls are death threats. #TheCaucasity pic.twitter.com/ZdeCcMQWOr

— Chanelle Helm (@ChanelleHelm) August 7, 2019

Works Cited
Re, G., https://www.foxnews.com/politics/twitter-locks-out-mcconnell-campaign-for-posting-video-of-calls-for-violence-at-mcconnells-home
Wise, JP., https://www.kfvs12.com/2019/08/06/photos-social-media-raise-stakes-mcconnell-supporters-critics/
Laguerre, http://faculty.webster.edu/corbetre/haiti/bookreviews/laguerre2.htm
Book Cover, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-19920-4
Dorning, M., https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-08-23-9408230151-story.html
Papa Doc, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Duvalier
Bogeymen, http://www.coha.org/tonton-macoutes/

NOTE: Recent University of Nevada, Reno, (Summer 2019)  final exam in Core Humanities 212 with Dr. Stephen Pasqualina included an essay question on Haitian voodoo and zombies. The author of this article received an "A" on the final.
   

JOUR107.1001---Biden vs Trump Campaigns; Industries, Demographics, Donors--OPEN SECRETS EXPOSED

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

     (EOC/HQ)--Criticism over a candidate manager's release of top donors for a particular 2020 campaign are absurd (Entralgo, Think Progress) as most of the data is available at sites that monitor Federal Election Committee (FEC) data, and readily available to the public. One such reliable site is Open Secrets related to the Washington, DC firm "The Center for Responsive Politics" (cpr.org).

     Two leading candidates' election financial profiles, challenger VP Joe Biden (D) and incumbent President Donald Trump (R) can be examined through any number of variables at the site, many of which give real insight to not just the candidate, but the contributors as well. From appearances, Biden will probably maintain his lead in the horse race that is the Democratic ticket, currently populated with a variety of contenders. If it's money that will separate the winner, then Biden appears to be the horse most likely to succeed, unless there's an unseen emerging Trojan.

     Open Secrets bio of Joe Biden is as follows;
     "Joe Biden is the former United States vice president under Pres. Barack Obama. During his time as vice president, Biden was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also became a favorite subject of comedic internet memes. Before being elected to the vice presidency, Biden served as a senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009."
     Campaign finance information is broken down into four main categories: Geography, Industries, Contributors and Demographics. Note that VP Biden's main geographic contributors are New York, Los Angeles and DC. The actual donor demographics for Biden are currently unavailable but looking at previous information, it shows that male contributors outranked female donors by nearly 3 to 1. (Biden 2008)



The prevalent ratio throughout appears to be gender related, with men contributing far more than women for the top contenders. The also rans, the women in the current 2020 cycle, may have different ratios. As for industries, the lawyers and law firms far outspend any of the other categories listed in support of Joe at $2.1M thus far, exceeding the runner up, retired at $1.5M.(Joe, Industries) Top law firm individuals are Morgan & Morgan and Paul, Weiss.

     As for the incumbent, President Trump, his Open Secrets bio reads;
     "Billionaire real estate developer, businessman and television personality Donald Trump — who had never held public office — flirted with the idea of running for president for decades before jumping into the 2016 race. After running an unconventional and underfunded campaign in 2016 but receiving free media attention valued at about $5 billion, Trump’s reelection campaign looks to be flush with cash. Having declared his 2020 bid the day he took office, Trump has drawn unprecedented fundraising hauls, attracting both large and small donors."
     The President's main geographic contributors are in the metro areas of Los Angeles, New York and Dallas. Los Angeles? That's in that place President Trump called a "disgrace" in a rally last week in Cincinnati. (ABC)

     Surprising is the "Industry" that is the top contributor to Trump 2020; "Retired." The amount ponied up by the formerly employed add up currently close to $12M with the next nearest category, "Real Estate," a cheap $1.4M. (Trump, Retired) Obviously the President is a big hit with all the old fogies out on the golf course at Torrey Pines. The gender ratio again reveals about the same for the President as for the VP,  63 percent men and 34 percent women. (Trump, Gender)

     Most revealing is current spending by the two main players. VP Biden has thus far squeezed a combined Campaign Committee-Outside Group total of $24M and spent $13M, or 54 percent. (Biden, Cash) Right now, the fact that there are so many candidates in the race for the Democratic ticket, cash is relatively scarce for all of them and most of their emails to would-be donors are designed to soak small donations from just about everybody. The emails are pretty much "message delivery failures" on the issues themselves.



     By contrast, through a number of official and self-organized groups, President Trump has raised $150M already, but his campaign has spent $112M, or nearly three out of every four dollars it has been given. (Trump, Cash)

     That hardly appears to be any indication at all of a "conservative" and it also indicates that Joe expects to fight a long battle with very few assets against the President.
     The turning point in the campaign for the two top horses in the race may not be the home stretch, as the incumbent usually has the advantage and the bets increase for him as they approach the finish line. The best hope for Joe is that he convinces the other horses to get out of the race as soon as possible so that cash can flow to his campaign.
     Joe also has a problem with women, not just as rival contenders, but recent allegations about inappropriate conduct. In order to increase his cash flow, he needs to get the ladies to back him up, and not just as runner ups to the men putting up cash, but on an equal percentage footing. Joe might also hope that funding for the President will dry up and the incumbent will overspend thinking the main challenger is a viable contender, which, in fact, he is. That's the reason the political language is directed more on the opponent than on the issues. Joe would do well to stay away from that horse race.

     This Just In: So what's Joe doing in Iowa today, exactly what he shouldn't be, "fanning the flames" of his defeat, under a headline in Associated Press by Steve Peoples and Bill Barrow that reads, "Trump fanning the flames of white supremacy;"
     "BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of '
'fanning the flames of white supremacy' in his most aggressive attack yet on the character of the man he would like to defeat in 2020.
'Trump offers no moral leadership,' Biden declared in Burlington, Iowa. The president 'seems to have no interest in unifying the nation.' " (Peoples, Barrow, AP)
The more the challenger attacks and undermines his opponent, the more it shows his lack of an agenda; with the few dollars he has to run a campaign, he needs to make every appearance count.

     This Also Just In: The Trump campaign is taking heat for its Facebook ads calling the illegal immigrant situation an "invasion"  as reported on national media;
     " 'The Trump campaign has run hundreds of thousands of Facebook ads on many topics, including illegal immigration,' Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtough told ABC News when asked about the ads. 'By objecting to an accurate description of the situation, Democrats and the media are trying to make it impossible to oppose illegal immigration without being called racist.' ” (ABC)
According to the article, 2000 ads featured the word out of  over 240,000; at a total cost of $14.5M across FB and GOOG, from the end of last year to the present.


Works Cited
Entralgo, R., Absurd, https://thinkprogress.org/democratic-lawmaker-criticized-for-posting-publicly-available-trump-donor-information-on-twitter-f7970846d7d3/
Open Secrets, https://www.opensecrets.org/
Biden 2008 donors, https://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/donordemCID.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00001669
Joe, Industries, https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/industries?id=N00001669
"Disgrace, " https://abc7news.com/politics/trump-says-california-is-a-disgrace-to-the-country/5439096/
Trump, Retired, https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/industries?id=N00023864
Trump, Gender, https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/demographics?id=N00023864
Biden, Cash, https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/candidate?id=N00001669
Trump, Cash, https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/candidate?id=N00023864
Peoples, S., Barrow, B., https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-trump-fanning-the-flames-of-white-supremacy/ar-AAFtiDY?ocid=spartanntp
Invasion, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-campaign-defends-thousands-of-ads-warning-of-migrant-invasion/ar-AAFugTb?ocid=spartanntp

JOUR107.1001--Kamala Harris (D-CA) & Activision Video Games--CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS 2020

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019


     (The Arcade)--Curious how some of the most vocal opponents to language used that may or may not incite white terror against ordinary citizens come from those who have investors in their campaigns. California's junior Senator, Kamala Harris (D-CA), has been talking up the condemnation on the usual public soap box, Twitter;

     "Mass shootings don’t happen at this frequency anywhere else on the planet. They happen in America because our so-called leaders lack the courage to act.  I’ve had enough.
As President, if Congress fails to act, I will take executive action to keep our communities safe."
Senator Harris, however hasn't had enough money given to her by the video game manufacturer of "Call of Duty" which has been cited in the aftermath of El Paso-Dayton as contributing in keeping our communities anything but safe.
     Open Secrets, the online portal that lists campaign contributions to candidates, shows Activision Blizzard individuals contributing more than $13K to her 2018 campaign;
     "#89  Activision Blizzard  $13,551  $13,551  $0"  (Open Secrets)
This might explain why the focus is deflected away from video game manufacturers and toward "white supremacist" language from the President, carefully avoiding the hotbutton NRA link in the process.

     A close read at Open Secrets of the board members of Activision shows who contributed to Harris', (and others') campaign;
     Reveta Bowers (Dir)-$1000/2016 (to Harris)  (in addition to $5000 to Obama in 2011);
     Bobby Kotick (Dir) - $5400/2015-16 (to Hillary Clinton)
     Robert Morgado (Dir)- $1000/2019- (to Tulsi Gabbard)
     Casey Wasserman (Dir)- $2700/2018 (to Adam Schiff); $2700/2017 (to Cory Booker)
     Elaine Wynn (Dir) $2700/2016 (to Harris); $5000/2018 (to Dem Congress Campaign Cmtee)
If ever there was a "call to duty" it's the Activision board members stuffing the candidates' pockets with cash to keep legislation deflected away from curbing violence in video games, or even bringing the topic to the table in the halls of Congress.
     Nothing could be more clear than why all the studies that link violent video games to domestic mass homicides is systematically suppressed by the politicians.

Works Cited
@KamalaHarris, "Enough", Twitter, 6:33 PM · Aug 6, 2019
Campaign 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00036915&cycle=2018&recs=100&type=I
Activision Board, https://www.activisionblizzard.com/board-of-directors
Harris photo, KCFJ 570 Radio
Call of duty image, G2A

JOUR107.1001--El Paso-Dayton Blowback: Erstwhile Politician Alert---THE "DUSTBIN OF HISTORY" REPORT

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

     (The Border)--Bad to worse can only describe those former political stars who have also chosen the dual home-grown strikes on El Paso and Dayton to further their forgotten political clout. Former President Barack Obama did some target shooting himself as reported by Josiah Bates in Time mag online;

     " 'Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, these [shooters] may act alone, but they’ve been radicalized by white nationalist websites that proliferate on the internet,' Obama’s statement read." (Time)
Sorry, Mr. Obama, the army that was ISIS invaded an entire Middle East nation and didn't "act alone." He was also careful not to incriminate other so-called "foreign terrorist organizations" so as not to alienate the Muslim world beyond the defunct ISIS thugs by singling out Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It's another one of those craftily designed statements the ex-president has become accustomed to releasing thinking there would be no hard scrutiny of his language.
     Not to be outdone by Obama, the Clintons each acted alone in releasing statements pegged to the El Paso-Dayton double siege. Former President Bill Clinton's can be found in Marina Pitofsky's report in The Hill;

     “How many more people have to die before we reinstate the assault weapons ban & the limit on high-capacity magazines & pass universal background checks?” (Pitofsky, The Hill)
Clinton goes on to say "We must act now" but doesn't have any capacity as a lawmaker to do anything about it other than rant like all the others who are no longer official lawmakers with the capacity to ban high-capacity weapons and ammo. The article currently has 4886 shares at The Hill, for whatever it's worth.
     Former SecState Hillary Clinton, also issued a statement that can be found by Rebecca Klar at The Hill;

     "With two mass shootings in America in less than 24 hours, thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action...The House has sent common-sense gun safety legislation to the Senate. Demand that @senatemajldr and your Republican elected officials join Democrats to pass it," (Klar, The Hill)
The headline reads "Clinton calls on McConnell" but in fact she calls on a Twitter handle to make the necessary legislation.  The article has 4156 shares, 700 below Bill's.

     If the President mistook Toledo for Dayton (Brett Samuels, The Hill), former VP Joe Biden, and leading 2020 Democratic candidate for the White House job, didn't even get the states right according to yet another The Hill report by Julia Manchester;
     "The 2020 presidential hopeful was speaking at the home of businessman Mark Arabo when he referred to 'the tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan the day before' before correcting himself, noting the shootings took place in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio." (Manchester, The Hill)
The article has just under 5600 shares and just over 340 comments.
     Verified;
     "According to San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Lindsay Winkley, about 75 people attended the event, which was held at a private residence in the Del Cerro neighborhood of San Diego. Winkley, who was a pool reporter at the event, told us she personally heard Biden make the gaffe. It came during a speech in which he vowed to ban assault-style firearms if elected president in 2020." (Snopes)

Works Cited
Bates, J., Obama, https://time.com/5644593/obama-statement-mass-shootings-texas-dayton/
Pitofsky, M., Bill, https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/456257-bill-clinton-calls-for-reinstatement-of-assault-weapons-ban-how
Klar, R., Hillary, https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/456122-hillary-clinton-calls-on-mcconnell-gop-to-help-democrats-pass-gun-safety-bill
Samuels, B., Toledo, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/456179-trump-mistakenly-refers-to-shooting-in-toledo
Manchester, J., Biden, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/456160-biden-misstates-location-of-mass-shootings-before-correcting-himself
Gaffe, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-houston-and-michigan/
Obama photo, Quartz
Bill Clinton photo, The American Conservative
Hillary photo, The Daily Caller
Biden photo, NY Post

JOUR304.3001--Violent Video Games & Mass Homicide--AN OPERATIONAL POTENTIAL INNOVATIVE PARADIGM

EOC400.3015
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

      (RSJ Laboratory)-- Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the link between video games and mass attacks on soft targets within the culture has yet to be performed to a degree of understanding. The exam would yield what might be called an "Operational Potential Paradigm," or a procedure to predict where the incident might happen next. Without any type of model to go on, the event will continue to assume what appears as a random act by a lone, fringe element gunman out to get even for some slight, or revenge, or plain sadistic satisfaction.
     Studies in a non-related field by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) examined subliminal messages for advertising in a Secret 1994 document by Richard Gafford titled "The Operational Potential of Subliminal Perception."   A famous one by James Vicary involved  quick-frame flashes across a movie screen suggesting the viewer go to the concession stand and buy popcorn. (Lucia Wang)  Even though that particular subliminal signal experiment was a total fraud, the CIA didn't rule out the potential of the system;

     "It is evident that there are several mighty leaps in logic in the advertising man's argument, and a great many places where his scheme can go astray. He has taken several psychological phenomena which have been demonstrated to a limited degree in controlled laboratory experiments and strung them together into an appealing argument for a 'technique.' Because part of what he is promoting is supported by laboratory data, however, it has enough status to warrant serious attention." (Gafford, CIA)
Thus, the possibility of a link utilizing quantitative and qualitative analysis might be established through an inductive process directly connecting the video game user in cyberspace with an impulse for mass homicide in the real world.
     Gafford further breaks down the concept of operational potential by four requirements;
"a) his behavior itself, b) the relation of his behavior to some stimulus,  c) the stimulus itself, because of its slight impact, d) the precise nature of the stimulus, as well as its relation to his behavior, because of inattention." (CIA)
Translated, it means that the video game user may be so involved in running over gremlins in a Fast & Furious megacar, or mowing down zombies with an automatic weapon, that he is completely ignorant of the mesmeric affect it is having on him. Gafford concludes that the stimulus produces behavior that the "individual is unaware." It is also important that the method of sublimation is kept unknown to that individual.
     Most of the studies have involved quantitative methods, compiling data that can be streamlined into graphs, divided by category, whether the violent video game uses a vehicle, or a gun, to indiscriminately kill the defenseless. Other descriptions of operational potential appear to be limited in character to mechanical performance. (yadda.icm.edu.pl) There doesn't appear to be any consensus on the link between video games and violence other than the more studies done with even larger groups of participants all arrive at negative conclusions.
     What isn't addressed is the subliminal motive, it is taken for granted that the fringe element mows down hundreds of zombies in cyberspace then drives across Texas to El Paso and attacks a Wal Mart, of course there is no connection whatsoever. Unless there is a subliminal catalyst. That doesn't mean the catalyst is intentionally implanted either, the whole nature of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one where the ground is still a bit un-navigated. Combine that with what Gafford calls;
     "A normal human being is an infinitely more complex receiving instrument than any electronic gadget, and adjusting a stimulus for such a variable receiver is difficult. In most of the laboratory studies on which the current theory of subliminal perception is based  there has been a long pretrial period requiring the subject's full cooperation to zero him in on the subliminal signal. " (Gafford, CIA)
Exactly what that subliminal signal is that the video game produces that triggers the homicidal reaction is the unknown, the qualitative component beyond the quantitative.

     A prime example is the advertising algorithm used on social media. A user surfs the web and information is gathered about the person through cookies. Soon, ads pop up all over the pages relating to the content that is being accessed, though not subtle, not subliminal, it acts in the same way, just transparent by nature. In the case of the video game, the player acts and reacts to a given set of stimuli, attempting to outwit the AI behind the scenes, lost in the circuitboard and hidden in the software. To what degree this "HAL" (2001: A Space Odyssey) tries to "program" the player is uncertain and the other unknown is just how much of that is going on below the surface of cognition and memory.

      Forgetting the real world studies of the subliminal phenomenon, the movies have always had a better take on it, as in the 1977 MGM release of "Telefon" directed by Don Siegel starring Lee Remick  and Charles Bronson. The plot revolves around a USSR Cold War brainwashing of a deck of cards of "sleeper agents" scattered across the USA whose missions are activated by madman Donald Pleasance out to start World War Three.

     The presumption that it is indeed possible to program a mindless stooge to kill indiscriminately has always been on the minds, deep within the minds for that matter, of everyone from the CIA to Hollywood, is but a stark reminder of the "operational potential" of such a concept, made more plausible by modern technology.

Works Cited
Gafford, R., https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol2no2/html/v02i2a07p_0001.htm
Wang, L., Popcorn, https://visme.co/blog/subliminal-messages/
Pajak, M., Mechanical, http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.baztech-f3cf2cff-2ba7-477b-8315-3376655f42a1/c/pajak_operational_4_2015.pdf
HAL, https://qz.com/quartzy/1243811/trivia-about-2001-a-space-odyssey-in-honor-of-its-50th-anniversary/
Telefon, https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/telefon-1977/

EOC400.3012--Video Game Campaign Contributions--ZENIMAX $20K TO DNC 2016

EOC400.2012
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

     (The Arcade)--Deflecting blame and responsibility is nearly as important to political survival in the Washington rank and file as directing it. Without specific details to back it up, the tactic of obfuscation allows the politician to gradually defuse the issue. Take for instance the twin mass shootings of El Paso-Dayton last week and the half-hearted resolve to "do something about it" with the usual "enough is enough"  hardline promises.
     Following the Parkland, FL massacre in 2018, the President held a summit of video game manufacturers to get a handle on the link between violent video games and the trigger man in mass slaughter, as reported by Mike Snider in USA Today;
     "This likely feels like déjà vu for the video game industry. Several attendees Thursday had also attended a January 2013 meeting convened by Vice President Joe Biden after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry trade group; Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board; and Robert Altman, CEO of ZeniMax Media, which owns Bethesda Softworks (Fallout) and id Software (Doom). Also attending: Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto). (Mike Snider, USA Today)
Aside from the rating board, ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman attended; that's Robert A. Altman, the powerful DC attorney. A check of his campaign contributions at Open Secrets turns up something rather interesting;

Money to Parties
ALTMAN, ROBERT A
ROCKVILLE, MD 20850
ZENIMAX MEDIA
10-10-2016
$20,000.00
Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)  (Open Secrets)


Money to Parties
ALTMAN, ROBERT A
ROCKVILLE, MD 20850
ZENIMAX MEDIA
07-31-2017
$20,000.00
Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)  (Open Secrets)

     While the gun control hawks among the Democrats are hollering for the head of the NRA on a platter, they are taking money from the publisher of the very violent video games that are causing the fringe elements to acquire  AK-47s and a dozen quick-change magazines.
     The overall contributions to the Entertainment Software Association read like a rogue's gallery of Washington, DC rank and file with ZeniMax leading the pack of hired guns and a $5000 pony up in 2018.
     Even more shameful in the call to put a muzzle flash on the violent video game industry is the hypocrisy that the President's own brother, as reported in Bloomberg by Sink and Palmeri,  is on the board of directors of ZeniMax;

     "His younger brother Robert Trump has been on the board of the Bethesda, Maryland-based producer of games like Doom, Rage and Fallout since at least 2007. The board also includes Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, CBS Chairman Les Moonves and former baseball great Cal Ripken Jr., according to its website." (Justin Sink, Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg)
Moonves? Wasn't he in the news recently?


Works Cited
Snider, M., https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/03/08/trump-talk-video-game-makers-critics-thursday-white-house-meeting/406374002/
Altman, https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=robert+a+altman&type=donors
Ent Software Assn, https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00439216
ZeniMax board, Sink, J., Palmeri, C., https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-08/game-maker-joining-gun-violence-discussion-has-a-trump-on-board
Bob Trump photo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Donald_Trump

EOC400.3011-- Rationalizing Mass Homicide--THE "TELEFON" SYNDROME & QUEEN RIHANNA

EOC400.3011
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

     (The Target Range)-- Brainwashed Cold War stooges acting out assassination and sabotage across America  transformed into millennials with AK-47s, stoned on video games and out to kill at mass gatherings. At least that's what the politicians would have us think to explain random acts of domestic terror lately that seem to follow no pattern other than the casualty rate keeps climbing. There is no end to the absurd explanations given by the rank and file to account for the killings;

     " 'The idea that these video games that dehumanize individuals to have a game of shooting individuals,' continued McCarthy, 'I've always felt that it's a problem for future generations and others. We've watched studies show what it does to individuals...' " (Nicholas Wu, USA Today)
    That's Kevin McCarthy of California, a normally sane Republican who could be deflecting away from the SOP criticism of lack of gun control and the NRA as responsible. The Governor of Texas agrees with him, even if the jury is still out on whether violent video games have anything at all to do with mass homicide. (CA Anderson, APA)
     Certainly the opportunity to politicize every act of "multiple people" killed by some homicidal maniac is never lost on the Democrats either, as with 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke;
     "Again, there are still details that we are waiting on, but I'm just following the lead that I've heard from the El Paso police department where they say there are strong indications that this shooter wrote that manifesto." (Dartunorro Clark, NBC )
Pure rubbish , O'Rourke feeds on hysteria of the moment by citing the local cops without giving any specific details as to who told him that. Just another politician adding self-serving confusion to the tragedy. Using the El Paso episode as a forum for promoting his status, the candidate even goes so far as calling the President a "white nationalist." Has Beto also been a victim of the dehumanization that Kev the Repub sees as result of staring at the video game screen too long?

     Not to be left out of the outrage, Hollywood "celebs" also have no kind words for the President:
     "Needless to say, many were not happy with Trump and McConnell’s words. (Queen) Rihanna took to Instagram and directed a comment to Trump: 'Your country had 2 terrorist attacks back to back hours apart leaving almost 30 innocent people dead. ' " (Dino-Ray, Deadline)
It's quite easy for someone who has reaped all the benefits from the United States including fame and fortune, such as the bland female singer, to condemn in denial that it's not "her" country, telling the President it's his country. The best she could do is use her bland messaging network full of mindless followers to emphasize her harsh words.

Sources
Wu, N., https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/04/el-paso-dayton-mass-shootings-kevin-mccarthy-says-video-games-partly-blame/1915061001/
Anderson, CA, https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson
Clark, D., https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/beto-o-rourke-says-trump-blame-el-paso-shooting-because-n1039071
"Telefon" photo, https://rarecultcinema.com/post/173173523103/charles-bronson-and-lee-remick-in-telefon-1977
Ramos, DR, https://deadline.com/2019/08/el-paso-dayton-mass-shooting-terrorism-hollywood-reactions-donald-trump-mitch-mcconell-gun-control-rihanna-andy-richter-julianne-moore-adam-scott-1202661011/
"Telefon" (1977) the movie, https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25rpa6

EOC400.3010--California a "Disgrace"--(THE PARADISE FIRE & GDP THE EXCEPTIONS)

EOC400.3010
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

(KB, Lake Tahoe)-- Gavin Newsom, the new California governor, just signed legislation that requires candidates for US president to release tax forms, which the current President has steadfastly refused to do;
     “ 'As one of the largest economies in the world and home to one in nine Americans eligible to vote, California has a special responsibility to require this information of presidential and gubernatorial candidates,' Newsom said." (The Guardian)
In retaliation, the President followed a predictable pattern of reprisal by hurling insults, this time not at a "squad" of newcomer congresswomen, not at an eastern seaboard city, but at an entire state, California;
     “Look at Los Angeles with the tents, and the horrible, horrible disgusting conditions. Look at San Francisco, look at some of your other cities.” (SJ Mercury)

  Other cities the President must be referring to are ones like Paradise, that went up in a fireball late last summer, forcing thousands to live in tents at nearby Wal Marts, having lost everything, many including their pets. (USA Today) As he calls it, a "disgrace."



Just a few weeks ago, the President offered aid in the aftershock of a series of earthquakes that struck the central eastern part of the state;
     "LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on earthquakes in Southern California (all times local):
8:15 p.m.   President Donald Trump has declared an emergency for California after two major earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks.
Monday’s declaration paves the way for federal aid to help those hard-hit by the quakes.
The declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts in Kern and San Bernardino counties. " (KUSI/SD)
Policy seems to shift with the sands out on the desert at Ridgecrest but one thing remains for certain, the economic contribution to the Gross Domestic Product by the state of California.

     The official Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report for 2019 ranks the Golden State as the number one contributor to the economy;
     "SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California’s economy has surpassed that of the United Kingdom to become the world’s fifth largest, according to new federal data made public Friday.
California’s gross domestic product rose by $127 billion from 2016 to 2017, surpassing $2.7 trillion, the data said. Meanwhile, the UK’s economic output slightly shrunk over that time when measured in U.S. dollars, due in part to exchange rate fluctuations." (Jonathan Cooper, AP/USA Today)
Political capital might mean a great deal to the President when he badmouths the Left Coast at a Cincinnati rally, but economic capital is what runs the federal budget although it doesn't seem to matter much if he has the opportunity to trash yet another American icon, whether it be a congressional rep, a city, or now, a state.


Works Cited
Taxes, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/30/california-governor-signs-law-that-would-require-trump-to-release-tax-returns
Diamond, J., CNN via SJ Merc, Tents, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/02/trump-california-a-disgrace-to-our-country/
Fireball, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/11/paradise-california-population-camp-fire-california-wildfire-fund/1710525001/
Tent city photo, Sacramento Bee.
Quake, https://www.kusi.com/president-trump-declares-emergency-for-ca-after-recent-earthquakes/
Cooper, J., Economy, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/05/05/california-now-worlds-5th-largest-economy-beating-out-uk/583508002/
GDP, https://apps.bea.gov/itable/drilldown.cfm?reqid=70&stepnum=40&Major_Area=3&State=06000&Area=XX&TableId=526&Statistic=2&Year=2019:Q1&YearBegin=-1&Year_End=-1&Unit_Of_Measure=Levels&Rank=1&Drill=1&nRange=5