Say Yes to the Preparedness Movement (WW1)

The United States must prepare to join World War 1. If we do not step in the war could drag on much longer than needed thus killing many more innocent lives. The United States has the power to stop this war. With our military and naval power we can drastically cut the time needed to end the war. We need to be prepared to help out our allies if the need comes. The United States is a great and proud nation, and we need to provide help for all of those who need it. If we do not help out who else will? Many of our United States citizens have ancestral ties to the countries of Great Britain, France, and Italy, and some still have family and friends in those countries. We need to be ready to defend the land of our people’s ancestors, and the family, and friends of our people that are in Europe. France and Great Britainare fighting hard to protect all of their people and the people in their many colonies, should we not help them keep their people safe? The Central Powers are being attacking the magnificent culture of these lands. This war began because Gavrilo Princep, a Serbian man in the terrorist group the Black Hand, assassinated the Arch Duke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand. If they are willing to kill the Arch-Duke of Austria-Hungary, why would they stop there? They could take the lives of our allies, or our own people. The only way to stop this is to join the war,  we can put an end to the war and bring peace.

Prisoner rights violated

Many phone calls from prisoners are being recorded. Many of these phone calls are confidential calls between an attorney and the prisoner. These recordings should not have been recorded because of the legally protected client attorney confidentiality. This is known through the Securus leak/hack. Prisoners rarely get any sort of privacy; they at least deserve to have private conversations with their legal team and their families. This violates both the prisoners few privacy rights and the rights of anyone who happened to call a prisoner.  What makes this worse is the way they store the records. They had the recordings scattered across many tables. There is no security in the storing of this information. If they must record the phone calls they should at least have a safe and secure the information. The main problem with this is that it goes against the 6^th amendment a right to competent and effective legal counsel. Anyone citizen should have the rights to keep their amendments. 

Article link-Not So Securs

Frank Norris Muckraker.

Frank Norris

Frank Norris was an author who wrote many books including The Octopus. This book, although fictional, exposed that the railroads in California were monopolies. In the next few years the U.S. broke up the railroads in the Northwest.  The railroads needed to be broken because they could set or raise a price at any time without competition. Farmers near the railroads bought land for $2.50 an acre. The farmers fixed up the land not knowing that the railroad later retained the title for the land. The railroad company tried to sell the land for $25 to $35 dollars an acre. For those who resisted there was a forced eviction that 7 died in. Many of the farmers got their land back eventually. Frank Norris wrote the Octopus on this. William Jennings Bryans also wrote his speech “Cross of Gold” over the railroad monopoly crisis. The Octopus is often associated with Upton Sinclair’s famous muckraking book The Jungle.

Basic information on a few muckrakers. Muckrakers

Basic information about the railroads.California Railroads

A summary for The Octopus can be found at the fallowing link. The Octopus

Veterans Blog

What are your thoughts on murder charges during a war?

I think that the murder charges and rules of engagement (ROE) should not be constantly changing, and that our forces shouldn’t face that much scrutiny. I do agree that there needs to be rules and charges for some things, but the lawyer would not know the entire story. The officer could see something as hostile that others may not. You don’t know the intent the others have, and they lawyers weren’t there. With the case in the article I read you do not specifically know the specifics of the orders or how the bikers approached them.

Towards the end of the article there is a quote "Citizenship is a duty, not a privilege."  I would like you to read the article and respond to the quote above.

In response to the quote "Citizenship is a duty, not a privilege," I agree to a degree. There are things American people should do as a citizen, but it is the privilege that others have earned for us. I think you should not just sit around. If people can I think they should find a way to give back to the country. They should volunteer to help an organization, pick up some sort of litter, or stand up for what they believe in. if people believe that the veterans are not being treated fairly they should stand up for it. One person standing up alone can’t do much, but when many that believe in the same thing stand together things can change.

Links PTSD 

REO 

Bacha Bazi

After reading the article on bacha bazi, translated to boy play, I am appalled. This is disgusting. I know that in Afghanistan that it is an acceptable thing to do, but how can it be happening on our military bases. Can we not have our rules in place on our base? No matter where it is I think it is wrong, but why can’t our soldiers stick up for what they think is right. They have to live with people who are sexually abusing young boys. Our soldiers can hear the screams of young boys, but they have to turn their head and let it go. If they do anything about it they can be dishonorably discharged from the military.

This practice shows how little human rights exist there. A young boy can be raped, kidnaped, and used as servant and no one bats an eye at it besides some of our soldiers. Also if a woman tries to stick up for her son, or another young boy, they can be brutally beat. There is no punishment for any of this. And the only punishment for raping a young girl is one day in prison and the young girl must marry her rapist. There isn’t even a punishment for a man murdering his daughter for kissing a boy. Only full grown males have any rights as humans. It is sick and disgusting.

Click the link to see the site of the article. Bacha Bazi.