Terrorism in the U.S. 

Terrorism can be defined as the unlawful use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially against civilians for political purposes.

Terrorism in the U.S. can be traced  back to 1782 when a Pennsylvania militia rounded up and executed 96 unarmed, pacifist Christian Delaware (Lenape) Indians.  

Since then there have been many incidents of terrorism in the U.S.  In some cases no one was killed.  In other cases only one or two people were killed.  In yet other cases many were killed.

 The 1865 assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was considered an act of terrorism.  In Chicago the next year 12 were killed when a bomb was thrown during a labor rally at Haymarket Square.  

Fast forward to 1910 when 21 were killed at a bombing of labor activists in Los Angeles.  In Michigan in 1927 46 were killed in the explosion of a bomb placed in a school followed by a suicide bombing.   In Colorado in 1955 44 were killed in a plane explosion and crash as part of an insurance plot.   In 1960 34 died in another flight bombed as part of an insurance plot. 

In 1967 26 died in Newark, New Jersey and 43 in Detroit, Michigan due to black riots in Los Angeles.   In 1992 in black riots following the not guilty verdict in the trial of 4 policemen for beating a  black offender resulted in 58 deaths.  In 1995 a truck bombing of a federal building causi9ng a partial collapse took 169 lives in Oklahoma.   In 1999 the intentional crash of an airliner off Nantucket Island by the plane's co-pilot   killed 297.   These incidents are a sampling of the acts of terrorism with the largest loss of life.

The September 11, 2001 crashes of two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in New York killed 2759 citizens, the largest number of loses in a single event.  That same morning another hijacked airliner crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia killing 189.   Also that day as passengers tried to regain control of yet another hijacked airliner,  45 lost their lives as the plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

In 2012 in Connecticut a shooter killed his mother, then 20 elementary school children and 6 adults, then himself.
In 2013 two pressure cooker bombs at the Boston Marathon killed 3, including 1 child and injured 183, including 8 children.
In 2016 a shooting attack at an Orlando, Florida nightclub killed 50.

Over the years there have been several types of terrorism:

• Organized KKK violence
• Left-wing extremism and anti-government
• White supremacy
• Antisemitism
• Puerto Rican nationalism
• Palestinian militancy
• Black radicalism
• Right-wing extremism and anti-government
• Anti-abortion violence 
• Islamic extremism

 In current times the concentration of anti-terrorist activities is focused in Islamic extremism.  Organizations such as ISIS and al qaeda are the sworn enemies of the west and have considerate resources to train and direct those who would visit terror on the western world.

In response The U.S. and other western governments have put in place considerable resources to deter, identify, prevent, and respond to these acts of terrorism.  We are learning that suspects of terrorist acts are very often known to authorities. These "Known Wolf" terrorists have been investigated by authorities and let go to later commit terrorist acts.

Here are some examples:

2009

• Carlos Leon Bledsoe - attacked an Arkansas recruiting center killing 2 soldiers.  The FBI interviewed him 4 months before his attack
• Major Nidal Hassan - killed 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.  The FBI was aware of Hassan's email correspondence with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
• Umar Farouk Abdulmulallel - attempted to down Norathwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in hasd underwear.  Abdulmulallal father reached out to U.S. officials telling them he was concerned about his son's extremism

2014

• Tamerlan Tsarnev and his brother Dzhokhar, were the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings. Russian Intelligence tipped off the FBI twice about Tamerlan.
• Ali Muhammed Brown killed 4 on a cross country spree.  He as on the FBI watch list at the time of the murders.
• Elton Simpson - was killed in a shoot out with police.  He was known to the FBI for involvement with another cell several years earlier. 

2016

• Mohamed Barry - attacked customers in an Israeli-owned restaurant in Ohio.  He was investigated 4 years prior for making radical comments.
• Omar Mateen - killed 49 in a night club shooting spree in Orlando, Florida.  He was interviewed by the FBI on a number of occasions 3 years prior, but after a 10 month investigation the FBI closed the case. 

Here's what I think:

It would seem to me that it is incumbent upon our anti-terrorism authorities and in particular the FBI to do a more thorough job of monitoring those who come to their attention as possible terrorists.  There are watch lists, and reports of activities that are suspect already in place..  We  need the very best of communications between the various government agencies that deal with possible terrorism.  They need to share their information with other agencies.  

As citizens we need to be vigilant.  We need to watch what is going on around us.  We need to report  any information we have about possible terrorist activity.

Election 2016

Election 2016:

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election was of special interest to me.  I followed it closely.  I came up with a few conclusions, which I will share. 

First, the facts: 

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election was the 58th quadrennial American presidential election.  The Republican ticket was comprised of businessman Donald J. Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence.  They defeated the Democratic  ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator Tim Kaine.  Trump is scheduled to take office as the 45th President, and Pence as the 48th Vice President on January 20, 2017. 

Donald Trump's campaign drew on his personal image.  His primary campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again".  He insisted that Washington is broken and can only be fixed by an outsider.  He opposed many free trade deals and military interventionist policies.  He opposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security.  He promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. 

Up until the election most media forecasts projected a Trump victory as unlikely.  While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes, Trump won a decisive victory in the Electoral College winning 30 states with 306 pledged electors out of 538.   In the electoral college 7 electors voted against their pledged candidate, two against Trump and 5 against Clinton.  Trump received 304 electoral  votes while Clinton received 227.  Trump was the 5th person in U.S. history to become president despite losing the popular vote.   He will be the first president without prior experience in public service.

Here's what I think:

The press and the so called insider experts on both sides of the aisle got it wrong.  They thought that Trump could never win.  Yet he did.  They might do well to realize that just wanting it cannot make it so.   

I believe that the media and political insiders do not like Trump because he is not one of them.  He will not follow their rules.  He does not buy into their agenda.  He is not bound by "political correctness".  

I believe the business of the media is to sell newspapers and garner market share on television.  They publish what will do that.  Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental.

During the campaign Donald Trump was asked if he would accept the outcome of the election.  He stated he did not know for sure , but he would accept if he won.  It was the Democrats who would not accept the results.  They complained about the Electoral College system.  They talked about electors not voting for their pledged candidates.  All that is past now.  Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated.

So, the bottom line take away for me is simply, I do not believe or trust the media and I do not believe or trust politicians.

What do you think?