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July 31st, 2018

7/31/2018

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Below we see the ENTERPRISE ZONE policies passed during REAGAN era creating the MASTER PLAN for our US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.  Clinton era upgraded these policies during his terms.  When our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE read these policies or only get our information from global banking 1% FAKE NEWS----we are told these Reagan-era ENTERPRISE ZONE policies are job creators in US city impoverished communities.

What that bill REALLY said as Clinton/Bush/Obama global neo-liberal 5% freemason/Greek players know is-----all that Federal revenue to build these ENTERPRISE ZONES were sent overseas to build US corporate campuses in Foreign Economic Zones in Asia et al.  So, below we see the 30 YEAR LIFE SPAN of Reagan era ENTERPRISE ZONE policies being UPDATED in 2012.

All that ENTERPRISE ZONE revenue having been directed for Chicago or Baltimore went to expand corporations overseas---creating jobs indeed for global labor pool 99% in FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES overseas. 


This is why BALTIMORE CITY is one great big GHETTO.

US Federal tax revenue and our Federal social benefit programs built global multi-national corporations. 

NO JOBS UNLESS US CITIZENS WENT OVERSEAS.


'On August 7, 2012, the Governor amended the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act by signing Senate Bill 3616 into law (Public Act 97-0905). Many of the oldest enterprise zones will expire in 2014 at the end of their 30-year life cycle. Since 1984, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has created a total of 97 enterprise zones'.

So, what our 99% US WE THE PEOPLE need to seek to understand today ---are the 5Ws ---who, what, where, when, why, and how of these ENTERPRISE ZONE EXTENSIONS being installed during OBAMA era.


REAL left social progressives saw back in 1980s-90s to where all of global banking 1% neo-liberals were sending trillions of dollars in ENTERPRISE ZONE revenue. We knew then as well what the MASTER PLAN for US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES would be MOVING FORWARD.



August 7, 2012



Enterprise Zone Extension and Reforms Signed into Law


On August 7, 2012, the Governor amended the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act by signing Senate Bill 3616 into law (Public Act 97-0905). Many of the oldest enterprise zones will expire in 2014 at the end of their 30-year life cycle. Since 1984, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has created a total of 97 enterprise zones.



This post serves as a follow up to an April Policy Update on Enterprise Zones bills under consideration by the General Assembly. SB3616 was just one of several proposed bills this session that sought to reform, extend, and expand the economic development incentive. The bills that did not move forward proposed a variety of changes to the Enterprise Zone Act, including extending the lifespan for a zone from 30 to 55 years and restricting the number of new zones that could be created. Language proposed in one failed bill requiring additional reporting on demographic or socio-economic evaluation criteria was incorporated in the approved bill.




SB3616 passed the General Assembly unanimously and includes provisions to extend the enterprise zone program. Those provisions, which have now been adopted as law, include:




  • Revised renewal guidelines. Public Act 97-0905 enables DCEO to grant Enterprise Zone extensions until 2016. Beginning with zones expiring in 2016, zones would need to reapply for Enterprise Zone designation under the bill's provisions.
  • Consolidation with other incentives. The act eliminates River Edge Redevelopment Zones (RERZ) upon their expiration, but allows them to apply to become Enterprise Zones. The RERZ program provided tax incentives to help redevelop environmentally-challenged properties next to rivers in four zones. In addition, under the new law, other areas will have the opportunity to apply for Enterprise Zone designation, and existing Enterprise Zones and RERZs would not receive preference when reapplying for status after their life cycle expires.
  • Opportunities for extensions. Zones designated under the enrolled bill would have a 15-year term, with a review by the new Enterprise Zone Board at 13 years to determine whether the zone designation should be extended for an additional 10 years.
  • Eligibility and rules on extensions. Areas applying for designation would have to meet more specific criteria regarding the socio-economic condition of the area. The law provides a point system that DCEO and a new Enterprise Zone Board would utilize to assist in making designations.
  • Administrative changes. Public Act 97-0905 includes several changes to the approval process and administration of Enterprise Zones. DCEO will utilize the new criteria provided to assign a score to Enterprise Zones applications. DCEO will submit applications and scores to the new five-member Enterprise Zone Board that is charged with approving or rejecting Enterprise Zone applications by majority vote.
  • Reporting requirements. The law also requires additional reporting requirements. Businesses in Enterprise Zones, as well as those designated as High-Impact Businesses (not located in Enterprise Zones but eligible to receive similar tax benefits), must report annually on the total tax benefits received by incentive category, job creation, job retention, and capital investment. DCEO would make this information available in the aggregate as part of their annual reports on the Enterprise Zone program, which already includes job and capital investment information.
  • Elimination of select tax incentives. The law also eliminates three of the tax incentives provided to businesses in Enterprise Zones: the income tax credit of $500 for each hire that is economically disadvantaged or a dislocated worker; the income tax exemption for dividends paid by corporations; and the deduction for interest income from loans secured by eligible investment credit property. Businesses in Enterprise Zones can still take advantage of the remaining five state tax incentives, as well as any local tax incentives offered. The fiscal implications of these changes are unclear because the legislation did not include a fiscal note to estimate the impact.
For more information on enterprise zones a forthcoming report by the Civic Federation will provide in-depth analysis on Illinois Enterprise Zones and how the program compares to similar initiatives in other select states.


Public Act 97-0905 will provide additional data for policymakers to evaluate economic development incentives like those provided to businesses through Enterprise Zones and RERZs. While there are provisions requiring that Enterprise Zones meet specific socioeconomic criteria and submit data on the value of tax incentives provided to businesses, these measures are just the first step toward making informed policy decisions on the effectiveness of current or proposed incentives. GO TO 2040 advocates for increased transparency around use of public funds and data-driven decision making for public policy. CMAP continues to urge the State and local governments to increase access to all available information on how taxpayer dollars are being spent in these efforts to spur local economic development.


________________________________________


Seems like our far-right wing global banking 5% pol tied to an NGO called COALITION FOR POLITICAL HONESTY' being that CONSUMER ADVOCATE under Chicago MAYOR WASHINGTON is MYTH-MAKING AND LYING about goals of his UPDATING OF ENTERPRISE ZONE policies in 2012.


'Patrick Joseph Quinn Jr. (born December 16, 1948) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st Governor of Illinois, from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as an activist by founding the Coalition for Political Honesty.[1] He is currently working on Take Charge Chicago, a petition for referendums to limit the Mayor of Chicago to two four-year terms and create an elected Consumer Advocate in the city.[2]


Born in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University School of Law'


Let's take a look at what MR HONESTY IN POLITICS AND CONSUMER ADVOCATE ILLINOIS GOVERNOR QUINN did in pushing and signing an UPDATED ENTERPRISE ZONE ACT.


'If signed by the Governor, the new law will change how the State grants and renews economic development areas and will require additional reporting to help determine the effectiveness of the tax benefits provided under the law'.

So, for 30 years the global labor pool 99% getting jobs from ENTERPRISE ZONE development OVERSEAS were enslaved in what were global factories----LUCKY THEM!

Above we see the UPDATED 2012 ENTERPRISE ZONE tied to expanding what was tied mostly to our US CITIES----and it MODIFIES just how the state grants revenue.  Now, for 20 years the STUDY OF EFFECTIVENESS has been ZERO TO HARMFUL every year but GOV QUINN wants our 99% of WE THE PEOPLE to feel there is accountability in MOVING FORWARD.  GOV QUINN a graduate from a global religious freemason university followed by a raging hyper-global neo-liberal university was NEVER a DEMOCRAT.


Those public policy terms---don't we love them TRIPLE JUMBO ENTERPRISE PROJECT.

We all know TRIPLE JUMBO ENTERPRISE PROJECTS reach out to our 99% US WE THE PEOPLE as business owners. What will the global banking 5% freemason/Greek players do this round when PAY-TO-PLAY is a no-go?  We have had 20 years of research and data saying these corporate tax breaks bring NO VALUE and harm our US communities-----but there they are in the new version of 2012 ENTERPRISE ZONE policies.

Enterprise Zones: Illinois and Other States
July 26, 2012


As discussed here previously the Illinois General Assembly recently passed a sweeping overhaul of its Enterprise Zone Act. If signed by the Governor, the new law will change how the State grants and renews economic development areas and will require additional reporting to help determine the effectiveness of the tax benefits provided under the law.



Enterprise zones are areas designated by governments as economically depressed and in need of tax benefits to promote growth and create or retain jobs. The concept underlying enterprise zones is that reducing government regulation and taxation in economically depressed areas will stimulate local business enterprise and investment that would otherwise not occur. Currently, 43 states have created enterprise zone programs and there are well over 3,000 enterprise zones in the U.S. The administration and type of tax benefits allowed for in these zones varies greatly from state-to-state and even within different localities of each state.



The following excerpts are from the Civic Federation’s forthcoming report, Illinois Enterprise Zones: An Issue Brief. This chapter compares the number of zones in Illinois to other key states and describes the different tax benefits provided around the country.


ENTERPRISE ZONES IN SELECTED STATES


This section of the report compares the operation of enterprise zones in a representative sample of states: Indiana, California, Connecticut, Florida and Texas. The number of enterprise zone and related areas located in each of these states and Illinois is shown below. The Illinois figure will be operative in 2013, reflecting recent passage of legislation increasing the number of zones.


The states offer a wide variety of state and local enterprise zone incentives to qualifying businesses and individuals. These are summarized in the table below. Illinois offers the greatest types of incentive and is the only state to offer utility tax incentives.


The stated purposes of enterprise zone programs in different states are shown below. All note that the intent of these programs is to remediate blight. However, they emphasize different ways to achieve that goal ranging from stimulating business development job creation to improving the quality of life.




Tax Incentives by State:

California
Enterprise zones: Individuals or businesses located in an enterprise zone may be eligible for the following program benefits:
  • Hiring Credits - Firms can earn $37,440 or more in state income tax credits for each qualified employee hired;
  • Up to 100% Net Operating Loss (NOL) carry-forward for state income tax liability. NOL may be carried forward for 15 years (it was suspended for tax years 2002 and 2003);
  • Up-front expensing of certain depreciable property. Lenders to Zone businesses may receive a net interest income deduction on state income taxes;
  • Corporations can claim a credit equal to the sales or use tax paid or incurred on the purchase of qualified property not to exceed $20 million. Individuals and partnerships can receive the credit for up to $1 million;
  • Unused tax credits can be applied to future tax years, stretching out the benefit of the initial investment; and
  • Enterprise Zone companies also can earn preference points on state contracts.
Local Agency Military Base Recovery Area (LAMBRAs):


Businesses located in a LAMBRA Zone are eligible for program benefits. The tax incentives provided include:
  • Up to 100% Net Operating Loss (NOL) carry-forward. The NOL may be carried forward 15 years. Firms can earn $31,544 or more in state tax credits for each qualified employee hired up to $2 million per year;
  • Corporations can earn sales tax credits on purchases of $20 million per year of qualified machinery and machinery parts;
  • Businesses are eligible for up-front expensing of certain depreciable property, up to $40,000 annually from state income taxes;
  • Unused tax credits can be applied to future tax years, stretching out the benefit of the initial investment; and
  • Communities also are eligible for local community incentives as a part of a business attraction package. The incentives may include the use of machinery, tools or office equipment left behind by the military.
Manufacturing Enhancement Areas (MEAs): Businesses in the MEAS are eligible for:


  • Streamlined local regulatory controls;
  • Reduced local permitting fees; and
  • Up to $29,234 or more in state income tax credits for each qualified employee hired.
Targeted Tax Areas (TTA): Businesses in a TTA may be eligible for:
  • Tax credits for sales and use taxes paid on certain machinery, machinery parts and equipment;
  • Income Tax credits for hiring qualified employees; and
  • A fifteen year net operating loss carry-forward.
Connecticut
Enterprise Zones: Qualified businesses in enterprise zones are eligible for several tax incentives:
  • A five-year, 80% abatement of local property taxes on all qualifying real and personal properties that are new to the municipal tax rolls as a direct result of a business relocation, expansion or renovation project.
  • A 10-year, 25% or 50% credit on that portion of the Connecticut Corporate Business Tax that is directly attributable to the business’s business relocation, expansion or renovation project as determined by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. Qualifying for the 50% credit requires that at least 30% of new employees are residents of the municipality and are eligible under the federal Workforce Investment Act.
  • Exemption from the real estate conveyance tax.
Newly formed corporations located in a zone qualify for a 100% corporate tax credit for their first three taxable years and a 50% tax credit for the next seven taxable years. The corporation must have: (1) at least 375 employees, of which at least 40% are either zone residents or are residents of the municipality and who qualify for the Workforce Investment Act, or (2) less than 375 employees, at least 150 of which are zone residents or are residents of the municipality and who qualify for the Workforce Investment Act.



Any businesses engaged in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or photonics research, development or production, with not more than three hundred employees, are eligible for Enterprise Zone benefits if they are located anywhere in a municipality with (1) a major research university with programs in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals or photonics and (2) an Enterprise Zone. Benefits are subject to the same conditions as those for businesses located in an Enterprise Zone.



Residential and commercial property owners are also eligible for fixed property assessments for improvements made during the time an area is designated as an enterprise zone. The fixed assessment is for a seven year period. The amount of deferral on increased assessments due to improvements is 100% in years one and two, 50% in year three, then declining 10% per year through year seven. These benefits are provided at the local level.


Urban Jobs Program: Benefits provided to participating businesses include:



  • A five-year, 80% property tax abatement.
  • A ten-year, 25% corporation business tax credit to qualified manufacturing businesses.
  • A five-year, 80% property tax abatement for real estate and/or equipment for qualifying service facilities, provided on a sliding scale basis. The minimum investment is $20 million to qualify for a five-year, forty percent tax abatement. This benefit increases to an eighty percent, five-year tax abatement for projects with an investment greater than $90 million. The equipment qualifies only if it is installed in a facility that has been newly constructed, substantially renovated or expanded.
  • A ten-year corporate business tax credit for or qualifying service facilities on a sliding scale basis based on new full-time jobs created. The minimum tax credit of 15% is allowed for service companies creating 300 or more but less than 599 new jobs. The benefit increases to 50% for such companies creating 2,000 or more new jobs at the eligible facility.

Florida
Jobs Tax Credit - Rural Enterprise Zones:

Allows a business located within a Rural Enterprise Zone to take a sales and use tax credit for 30 or 45 percent of wages paid to new employees who live within a Rural County. To be eligible, a business must create at least one new job. The Sales Tax Credit cannot be used in conjunction with the Corporate Tax Jobs Credit.




Jobs Tax Credit - Urban Enterprise Zones:Allows a business located within an Urban Enterprise Zone to take a sales and use tax credit for 20 or 30 percent of wages paid to new employees who reside within an enterprise zone. To be eligible, a business must create at least one new job. The Sales Tax Credit cannot be used in conjunction with the Corporate Tax Jobs Credit.


Business Equipment Sales Tax Refund - Rural and Urban Enterprise Zones:

A refund is available for sales taxes paid on the purchase of certain business property, which is used exclusively in an Enterprise Zone for at least 3 years.




Building Materials Sales Tax Refund - Rural and Urban Enterprise Zones:

A refund is available for sales taxes paid on the purchase of building materials used to rehabilitate real property located in an Enterprise Zone.



Sales Tax Exemption for Electrical Energy - Rural and Urban Enterprise Zones:

A 50% sales tax exemption is available to qualified businesses located within an Enterprise Zone on the purchase of electrical energy, if the municipality has reduced the municipal utility tax by at least 50%.




Property Tax Credit - Rural and Urban Enterprise Zones:

New or expanded businesses located within an enterprise zone are allowed a credit against Florida corporate income tax equal to 96% of ad valorem taxes paid on the new or improved property.




Community Contribution Tax Credit Program - Rural and Urban Enterprise Zones:


Allows businesses a 50% credit on Florida corporate income tax, insurance premium tax, or sales tax refund for donations made to local community development projects. Businesses are not required to be located in an enterprise zone to be eligible for this credit.




Property Tax Exemption for Childcare Facilities - Rural and Urban Enterprise Zones:


Provides an exemption from ad valorem property tax for licensed childcare facilities operating in areas designated as enterprise zones.




Indiana:

All of the following tax benefits are provided in Indiana as parts of enterprise zones.



Employment Expense Credit:

A state tax credit equal to 10% of the additional wages paid to qualified employees up to a maximum of $1,500. At least 90% of the employee’s services must be directly related to the enterprise zone business, and at least 50% of the employee’s time must be spent working at the enterprise zone business. Unused credits may be carried forward for up to 10 years or carried back for up to three years. The credit may be applied against individual or corporate adjusted gross income taxes, financial institutions tax or insurance premiums tax liabilities.



Investment Cost Credit: A state tax credit for equity investment in an enterprise zone business equal to a maximum of 30% of the price of the ownership interest purchased by the taxpayer. The credit is nonrefundable, but unused credits may be carried forward. Unused credits may not be carried back. This credit may be applied against individual or corporate adjusted gross income tax liability.


Loan Interest Credit: This is a state tax credit for interest income earned by a taxpayer from a loan that directly benefits an enterprise zone business, increases enterprise zone property values, or is used to rehabilitate, repair, or improve an enterprise zone residence. The credit is equal to 5% of the loan interest received during the year. The credit is nonrefundable, but unused credits may be carried forward. Unused credits may not be carried back. The credit may be applied against the individual or corporate adjusted gross income taxes, the financial institutions tax or the insurance premiums tax liabilities.



Employee Income Tax Deduction: Qualified employees in an enterprise zone may deduct half of the adjusted gross income tax liability earned during the year up to a maximum deduction of $7,500. This can result in a $255 reduction in state income tax liability for a qualified employee. A qualified employee is an individual who lives in an enterprise zone and is also employed within that zone. To qualify for the deduction at least 90% of the employee’s services must be directly related to the enterprise zone business and at least 50% of the employee’s time must be spent working at the enterprise zone business.



Property Tax Investment Deduction: This is a property tax deduction for the increased value of an enterprise zone business property due to real and personal property investment by the business. The added valuation may be deducted for up to 10 years. Qualified investment at an enterprise zone location includes the following: (1) purchase of a building, new manufacturing or production equipment; (2) costs associated with the repair, rehabilitation, or modernization of an existing building and related improvements; (3) onsite infrastructure improvements; (4) construction of a new building; and (5) costs associated with retooling existing machinery.
Texas

Approved enterprise projects are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax refunds on qualified expenditures. The level and amount of refund is related to the capital investment and jobs created at the site.



Each project is limited to a maximum refund of $250,000 per year for five years for a regular enterprise project designation, $500,000 per year for five years for a double jumbo enterprise project and $750,000 per year for five years for a triple jumbo enterprise project.

_________________________________________________




Illinois Gov QUINN champion of political honesty and consumer advocate supreme as his myth-making motto goes------he is that same person as CA Gov Brown and MD Gov O'MALLEY ---all far-right wing global banking PRETENDING to be helping 99% of citizens and new immigrants.

Our new to America global labor pool 99% of citizens need to know it was REAGAN/CLINTON era ENTERPRISE ZONE policies installed in US cities deemed SANCTUARY CITIES-----sending all our US Federal revenue to build the global sweat shop factories in Asian FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----you know, the ones Asian 99% of citizens are now refusing to work because they are so brutal.  This is QUINN as O'MALLEY as BROWN pretending Enterprise Zone policies and SANCTUARY CITY policies were about HELPING IMMIGRANTS TO FIND JOBS.



'Employment is not the same as protection

While globalisation has undoubtedly lifted millions of people out of poverty, it has also been associated with exploitation and marginalisation. Evidence from SEZs in Asia shows how labour rights have been compromised, resulting in extremely low wages, forced overtime and different forms of abuse. So much so that in India they have been dubbed “special exploitation zones”'.

Guess what?  The same thing is MOVING FORWARD with new updates in SANCTUARY CITY/STATE ----ENTERPRISE ZONES in 2012.  So, REAGAN/CLINTON used 1980s-90s ENTERPRISE ZONES to build SPECIAL EXPLOITATION ZONES overseas------now, these same global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players are working hard to build the same---this time taking our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown citizens with our 99% new immigrant citizens.

WHO IS THE CONSUMER FOR WHICH QUINN IS WORKING?  GLOBAL CORPORATIONS ARE CONSUMERS OF GLOBAL LABOR FORCE AS HUMAN CAPITAL.


THE UNITED NATIONS PROTEST IN SUPPORT OF SANCTUARY CITIES/STATES WAS SIMPLY CREATING REASONS TO BUILD DENSITY HERE IN US FOR THESE SAME EXPLOITATION IN US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.


This is the first thing our newly updated 2012 ENTERPRISE ZONE policies do----it assures that new immigrants brought to US will be exploited and brutalized here as was done overseas. Those not working get to participate in US FAILED STATE city gangland as freemasonry.


All of these few decades of continuous wars overseas to create REFUGEES that then are shipped to overseas FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES as slave labor----that is what 2012 updated ENTERPRISE ZONE policies bring to our US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES---EXTENDED.


Why jobs in special economic zones won’t solve the problems facing the world’s refugees


April 6, 2017 6.45am EDT

Author
  1. Heaven Crawley Research Professor, Coventry University
Disclosure statement


Heaven Crawley receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Syrian refugees on the Jordanian side of the border wait to enter a medical clinic in March 2017. Jamal Nasrallah/EPA


In a new book, two Oxford professors, Alexander Betts and Paul Collier, are calling on politicians to harness “the remarkable opportunities of globalisation” to reorient the refugee system away from humanitarian assistance and towards development. Focusing primarily on the arrival of large numbers of Syrian refugees in Europe during the course of 2015, they argue that the refugee system has failed to provide long-term solutions for refugees who are left festering in underfunded “humanitarian silos”.



One of the “big ideas” Betts and Collier present is that global capitalism can ride to the rescue of the refugee system through the creation of jobs for refugees within special economic zones (SEZs) in countries such as Jordan, currently host to around 650,000 Syrian refugees. SEZs are designated areas with special economic regulations intended to attract foreign direct investment.



The proposition is a simple one: provide companies with tax incentives and opportunities for trade in return for providing refugees with opportunities for work, autonomy and self-reliance. They argue this will create a “win-win” situation for both the developing countries which carry the burden of supporting the majority of the world’s refugees with limited resources, and the rich countries struggling politically to manage the consequences of increased irregular migration.




But as I argue in a review published in the journal Nature, neither the book’s diagnosis nor its vision take us closer to a solution because it engages only partially with the complex political and economic realities facing the world’s refugees.




New wine in old bottles


The idea of harnessing the skills and capabilities of refugees for development is far from new. In the 1960s, UNHCR – the UN’s Refugee Agency – tried to link its refugee assistance programmes with development aid. From the early 1980s, there was a strong emphasis on what came to be known as “refugee aid and development” programmes, with the aim of moving refugees towards self-sufficiency and a durable solution to their situation.



But the increased interest shown by the EU and international organisations such as the World Bank is certainly new and clearly reflects more recent political and economic developments – particularly in the EU and Jordan. The EU has been desperately try to find ways to limit the number of refugees arriving in Europe. Jordan’s economic woes, which are longstanding, have been exacerbated by the arrival of large numbers of Syrian refugees.



These political and economic interests came together in the Jordan Compact, which was signed in London in February 2016. The agreement provides a $2.1 billion aid package to Jordan on the condition that jobs are created for Syrian refugees who, for the past five years, have been barred from legally working in the kingdom.




At the same time, multilateral development banks said there was potential to offer as much as $1.9 billion in concessional financing, and the EU has agreed to waive taxes and quotas for products created using Syrian labour. Jordan will also allow legal employment for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians outside the zones, without putting them in direct competition with Jordanians. The aim is to create as many as 200,000 jobs for Syrian refugees over the next five years.

A Syrian boy sells slippers at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in 2016. Jamal Nasrallah/EPA


Employment is not the same as protection

While globalisation has undoubtedly lifted millions of people out of poverty, it has also been associated with exploitation and marginalisation. Evidence from SEZs in Asia shows how labour rights have been compromised, resulting in extremely low wages, forced overtime and different forms of abuse. So much so that in India they have been dubbed “special exploitation zones”.




But the problem with SEZs is bigger than this.


Around 5m people have been forced to leave Syria and are currently hosted by Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. But the majority of the world’s 21m refugees are living elsewhere, predominantly in countries in which there is ongoing conflict or with whom relations with the West are distinctly strained.


It is hard to imagine international organisations funding the employment of refugees in SEZs in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran is currently host to nearly a million refugees mainly from Afghanistan who face discrimination and exclusion from the labour market.
Or Chad, host to more than 360,000 refugees mainly from surrounding countries which are reeling from attacks by the militant group Boko Haram.



Or Sudan, with an estimated 356,000 refugees, whose president, Omar al-Bashir, is facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.


And in Ethiopia where the EU has signed a similar agreement to the one in Jordan. Here, my discussions with those working on the ground suggest there is growing resistance to the idea of new jobs being “ring-fenced” for refugees.



Crucially, the focus on creating employment does not address the problem at the heart of the refugee system: the failure of the international community to step up to its responsibilities under international law to provide protection for those who are fleeing conflict, persecution and human rights abuse.


It is also questionable whether employment in semi- or low-skilled jobs in neighbouring countries could prevent people from moving on to Europe or beyond. Recent research my team and I did interviewing 500 refugees and migrants who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe during 2015 found that many had moved not just because of a lack of work but because of a lack of protection, security, education and healthcare for their children.



Is it working?


In the period since Betts and Collier first suggested that SEZs would help mend the broken refugee system in late 2015, a number of governments and organisations have lined up behind the proposal. But even in Jordan doubts are starting to creep in.



More than a year since the Compact agreement was signed, Jordan has secured $923.6m in funding, but the hoped-for results haven’t yet materialised. Although Syrians in Jordan were able to get work visas from April 2016, the humanitarian news agency IRIN reported that according to Jordan’s Ministry of Labour, by February 2017, 38,516 permits had been issued. This means that the Jordan Compact has so far benefited a small proportion of refugees despite huge political and financial effort.



The reasons are complex but at heart they reflect a failure on the part of governments and international organisations to engage with the complex realities of the Jordanian labour market – which is already highly dependent on migrant labour – and the needs and aspirations of refugees themselves.



Within SEZs, the jobs on offer are typically low- or semi-skilled with long and repetitive hours. Those who have tried to hire Syrians in larger numbers, for example within the garment industry, have found that the take-up has been poor. Whereas other migrant workers are typically single, many Syrians struggle with childcare responsibilities and poor transport links from the places they are living to SEZs.



In practice, for many Syrians the gains of being legally employed are simply not worth the losses. Some refugees fear losing access to financial support or the opportunity to join family members who are have already moved to other countries. Others prefer to remain under the radar rather than risk registering with a government they don’t fully trust.



And although they are also allowed to apply for work permits outside of the SEZs, Syrian refugees are barred from applying for jobs as accountants, doctors, engineers, lawyers and teachers for which they have previously been trained but which are viewed as potentially taking opportunities from Jordanian workers.



It would be easy to dismiss all of these points as an unnecessary distraction from the central proposition put forward by Betts and Collier, namely the need to address the problems facing the refugee system by focusing on development rather than humanitarianism, empowerment rather than dependency. But details are important.



SEZs are a tool for creating livelihood opportunities for some refugees in some contexts. But addressing the profoundly political problems that underpin the drivers of forced migration and have come to mark the international community’s response to it will require far more creative thinking. And it will require the kind of alliances and allegiances that challenge and confront some of the profound inequalities with which global capitalism has come to be associated.
___________________________________________

'Newly formed corporations located in a zone qualify for a 100% corporate tax credit for their first three taxable years and a 50% tax credit for the next seven taxable years. The corporation must have: (1) at least 375 employees, of which at least 40% are either zone residents or are residents of the municipality and who qualify for the Workforce Investment Act'


As we see above-----corporations hiring at least 375 workers------are not local businesses.  What was US tax money being sent overseas is being handed to multi-national corporations coming back to US. 

THAT IS THE UPDATE. TAX BREAKS GIVEN TO US CORPORATIONS EXPANDING OVERSEAS NOW BEING GIVEN TO ANY FOREIGN NATIONAL CORPORATION LOCATING IN US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.

Below we see India with its FAR-RIGHT WING installing the same in 2000---



Cash cows - India's Special Economic Zones - The Economist

www.economist.com/asia/2006/10/12/cash-cows

Oct 12, 2006 ... India's Special Economic Zones

Cash cows ... Print edition | Asia ... will attract more than $5 billion in foreign direct investment by the end of ... that farmers are being forced to sell their land and lose their occupations


SEZ ASpIrAtIonS


The first official mention of SEZs in India was in 2000, when
the right wing National democratic Alliance (NdA) government


An overall evaluation of the SEZ endeavor is a complicated exercise involving the balancing of costs associated with problems such as land acquisition and displacement against the potential generation of wealth and employment. The extensive protest against SEZs in many parts of India further complicates the analysis.

JAIvIR SINGh announced a SEZ Policy which hoped to not only establish Special Economic Zones all over the country

What GOV QUINN in ILLINOIS is doing with this 2012 ENTERPRISE ZONE update is as explained below-----it is creating a network of Foreign Economic Zones across Illinois with clauses promoting the expansion of these zones eminent domain-----move over Illinois communities-----BY DEMAND.  BY DEMAND of whom?  The global corporate campus headquarters installed as a FOOTPRINT these few decades.




'The UIRVDA plan, in contrast, will acquire its geographic layout only as particular projects are approved by the agency’s board of directors. The zone will be created when the first development project is approved, and the connecting lines will be established as later projects are approved in other locations within the nine-county region.


“The way this enterprise zone is going to work is they will extend the zone by project,” Kroeschen explained. “It’s kind of a zone-by-demand, I guess, would be the best way to say it.”'



BY-DEMAND extension of FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES------is how a US state real estate is consolidated and handed by eminent domain----to any size global corporate campus. Nothing is tied to local businesses---no control over which corporations are installed.

Here in MD that means a Prince George's County Enterprise Zone can extend to reach our Baltimore City Enterprise Zone can extend to reach our Maryland Eastern Shore Enterprise Zones-----without any voice of 99% of citizens in all those MD----our IL communities.



Marshall County looking at ‘by-demand’ Enterprise Zone

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By Gary L. Smith
of the Journal Star

Posted Jan 8, 2017 at 5:09 PM
LACON --


The former Marshall County Enterprise Zone appears likely to be replaced by participation in a sprawling “zone-by-demand” that could stretch across nine counties.



That’s the latest configuration envisioned for the county’s possible participation in a zone expected to be created by the Ottawa-based Upper Illinois River Valley Development Authority.



UIRVDA, one of 10 state-created regional development agencies in Illinois, serves Bureau, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Marshall, McHenry and Putnam counties. The agency can issue bonds to help finance capital improvements, and it also has the authority to create an enterprise zone that can extend property and sales tax benefits to new businesses or expansion projects.



The enterprise zone power became of special interest to local officials after Marshall County failed twice to secure approval from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to extend the zone that was formed in 1993 but expired last year.

“We were not successful, so this (UIRVDA option) was like an out-of-the-blue thing for us,” County Board Chairman Gary Kroeschen said last week at a committee meeting.



But the regional zone will be very different from the setup that the county previously had in place. The county’s consisted of specifically defined areas in and around the participating municipalities of Henry, Lacon, Sparland, Toluca, and Wenona, all joined by a narrow strip of land running along the highways between the communities.



The UIRVDA plan, in contrast, will acquire its geographic layout only as particular projects are approved by the agency’s board of directors. The zone will be created when the first development project is approved, and the connecting lines will be established as later projects are approved in other locations within the nine-county region.



“The way this enterprise zone is going to work is they will extend the zone by project,” Kroeschen explained. “It’s kind of a zone-by-demand, I guess, would be the best way to say it.”



Three projects in other areas are expected to be considered soon by the UIRVDA board, said Bob Bakewell, who is a member of that panel as well as the county board. Marshall County currently has no pending or potential projects that might qualify, officials said at the meeting.




“You have to have a project to get benefits,” Bakewell noted.
But the original zone assisted in 55 to 60 projects over its 23-year life, according to information presented at earlier meetings. While some municipalities have tax-increment financing districts that can offer some similar benefits, the enterprise zone was the only development tool available in other parts of the county.
County Board Vice Chairman Travis McGlasson said he and another member expect to meet soon with a consulting agency to discuss the possibility of submitting a third application to roughly duplicate the original zone. But the expense of doing so and the difficulty in succeeding make the UIRVDA option seem the most viable at this point, he indicated.



“At least for the time being,” McGlasson said, “if we want to be in an enterprise zone, we’re exploring that.”

_____________________________________________
Here is that global corporate campus headquarters as we have shouted it will expand to take all of West Baltimore and the NEW UPDATED ENTERPRISE ZONE policies will say this global campus has eminent domain over any real estate over any communities in its way. Remember, this global UNDERARMOUR campus does not only build global factories tied to its own sports products---it can and will merge or be acquired by ANY multi-national corporation ----all the bragging about UNDERARMOUR being a HOMETOWN BALTIMORE CORPORATION is PRETENSE for installing this FOOTPRINT.
So, BY-DEMAND ENTERPRISE ZONE policies will allow this one global corporate campus ---today called UNDERARMOUR to extend in any direction-----of course the same would take place in Prince George's County ENTERPRISE ZONES to the point these two zones join into ONE SUPER-DUPER GIANT CHINESE-STYLE FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE---all eminent domain---no voice from 99% of MARYLAND WE THE PEOPLE----no voice from 99% WE THE ILLINOIS PEOPLE----no voice from 99% WE THE CALIFORNIA----WE THE TEXAS people.
UnderArmour is already staggering towards what will be that merger and acquisition----but that ENTERPRISE ZONE policy goes to whatever multi-national corporation buys it.
All these policies installed in 2012 during OBAMA era---by CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA. When they push your community out of existence don't blame the current MADMAN AS US PRESIDENT.

Port Covington land is space for Under Armour to grow
Natalie ShermanContact Reporter

The Baltimore Sun


Kevin Plank plans Under Armour campus at Port Covington

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank said Monday that he wants to create a new neighborhood on the waterfront acreage he has assembed in Port Covington, anchored by a relocated Under Armour headquarters and enlivened by shopping, restaurants, a distillery and horse stables.
The Port Covington land secures room for Under Armour to grow unencumbered by space limits and tensions with residents and neighboring businesess, said Plank, who founded the Baltimore-based sports apparel brand, which passed $3 billion in revenue last year.
"I do not want to limit how big of a company or how great of a company Under Armour can be because we're landlocked," he said. "It gives us an outlet from here and it allows us to do it from one central place."
Plank's first public comments on his ambitions for the South Baltimore peninsula came Monday as several smaller projects get underway.
His real estate firm, Sagamore Development, plans to break ground Wednesday on the Recreation Pier hotel in Fells Point, where it plans to open a 128-room inn around the end of 2016. It is scheduled to present plans Thursday for a rye distillery in Port Covington. The firm is also in the process of converting the former Port Covington Sam's Club into Under Armour offices, with employees moving in around the end of this year.

The 5.21-acre waterfront property off East Cromwell Street is zoned for mixed-use development and includes piers that could be used as a marina. An auction of the land is set for June 14. (Patrick Maynard / Tribune)
Plank said he wants to build a mixed-use community on the waterfront that combines an Under Armour campus with other elements that would draw people to the area. If approved, the Sagamore Spirits distillery would be open for tours and have a restaurant. Sagamore also is talking to the Police Department about building a stable for its horses next to the distillery, helping to evoke Plank's Sagamore Farm, where he breeds and trains thoroughbred racing horses in Baltimore County.
In addition to the distillery, the area would one day likely have a showcase Under Armour store, drawing visitors from Interstate 95.
"I think what makes a great campus is lots of different elements and not just simply a corporate campus where everyone disappears at 5 or 6 o'clock at night," he said. "Port Covington has never had any love. It's a beautiful place. … It just needs someone to give it a hug."
Plank has assembled more than 120 acres in Port Covington, a former industrial area once largely controlled by the CSX railroad and its predecessors. In the 1980s, the city targeted the area for redevelopment as The Baltimore Sun relocated its presses there, but little development followed until 2002 when Wal-Mart and Sam's Club opened stores there.
Sagamore's holdings include both stores, the former Baltimore Sun property, where the newspaper's printing press still operates, now-crumbling piers on the peninsula's east side, and the Schuster Concrete facility. Sagamore is also the owner of the Nick's Fish House property and the adjacent marina.
On land acquisition alone, Sagamore already has invested more than $90 million in the area. Plank declined to discuss specific parcels but said additional purchases are in the works. There's no firm timeline and a master plan still is being developed.
Sagamore is focused on developing the vacant land first, said Marc Weller, president of Sagamore Development. Negotiations with existing tenants on the site are continuing.
Plank said some, such as the Wal-Mart, may need to relocate to make way for the development.
The Baltimore Sun has a long-term lease on its printing plant, which Sagamore purchased for $46.5 million in December from Tribune Media Co., which retained Tribune Co.'s broadcast and real estate assets last year when it spun off its newspapers as Tribune Publishing Co..
Eventually, Under Armour could consolidate its Baltimore operations in Port Covington, but any final decision about that is years away, Plank said. Under Armour purchased its Tide Point campus in 2011 for $60.5 million.
"We want to create one of the world's greatest campuses that is filled with vibrancy and includes all the things you would see in a great mixed-use environment as well," said Weller, a Washington-area developer and friend of Plank's since their teenage years. "Under Armour is first priority."
About 2,000 people work at Under Armour's Tide Point headquarters and in other offices around the city, including Harbor East, Plank said. The firm, which employs about 10,700 people worldwide, also has offices in New York, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas.
Baltimore Development Corp. President Bill Cole said he has spoken to Sagamore about the early outlines of what a vision for the area might include. He said he believes Plank's investment in the area is "great for everybody involved."
"I don't think anybody who looks at Port Covington sees its highest and best use as it presently sits," he said. "The level of investment and interest in making it something a bit more dynamic is great."
Plank said he decided to go into real estate after being rebuffed by the board of the Baltimore Museum of Industry in 2012 when he proposed an expansion that would have included its Locust Point property. The museum has declined previously to comment on Under Armour's presentation, saying it has a policy of not discussing private meetings.
"I'm sitting there and I'm thinking to myself this is awful. … They're stifling our growth," he said. "How could anyone not want us to grow?"
The rejection came while he was in Dubai, a city that has experienced a massive building boom in the last decade.
"I thought to myself, we could do something like that," he said. "Number one, I've got the engine in Under Armour. Number two ... I can afford to make these decisions, so why am I waiting on [the Museum of Industry] board of directors?"
Today, Sagamore Development employs 13 people, Weller said. The firm operates as a unit of Plank Industries, the firm established to handle Plank's private investments, which is guided by the principle that investments should provide at least some tangential benefit to Under Armour.

Plank said improving the city through investments such as the Recreation Pier hotel will make it easier to attract the best talent to Under Armour, while ensuring a good impression for its visitors. It also allows Under Armour to focus on its core business, he said.


"Obviously, it's a very delicate line, but it's one in which our interests are completely aligned," he said of the balance between his private investments and the publicly traded company, of which he remains the largest shareholder. "The better I make my company, the better I make the city, the better we make this area, it makes it easier to attract people."


Cole said he expects Plank will have an easier time with his plans to grow in Port Covington than in a crowded residential and industrial area like Locust Point.
"The Port Covington site itself is a much more appealing area because it has far fewer complicating factors," said Cole, who represented Locust Point as a city councilman before taking the BDC job. "It's a blank slate for the most part."

_______________________________________________



When our public universities tie themselves completely to MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD for only the global 1% ----as we see below----Towson and University of Maryland are two corporate universities MOVING FORWARD what will become Chinese-style consolidation of all real estate in Baltimore/Greater Baltimore with global banking 1% using these corporate university campuses as eminent domain for the global corporations that engulf them. Global hedge fund IVY LEAGUE Johns Hopkins having been made ENTERPRISE ZONE is now doing just that. Again, if you think a local name will end up being the extending global corporate campus in a decade or two-----you haven't studied how these FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES overseas took entire massive regions.



So, it is our US public universities which should be leading fight against ENTERPRISE ZONE AND ITS UPDATED POLICIES----but a state governor as O'MALLEY now HOGAN appoints these public university leaders ----so, where is the 99% WE THE PEOPLE student activism against all these policies ending their futures? They are MARCHING for SANCTUARY CITIES/STATES under the guise of helping new immigrants.

This ENTERPRISE ZONE tied to TOWSON UNIVERSITY has nothing to do with local development. It will be used for eminent domain by whatever global corporation enfolds Towson into its campus.


About this article
Towson University reaches ‘milestone’ pursuing enterprise zone
Towson University and its surrounding area are one step closer to being granted a special designation by Maryland providing certain businesses tax breaks. The…

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It is very easy to segue from discussing MILITARY JUNTA public policy ---expansion of SCHOOL OF AMERICA to global franchise being made US city corporate charter schools as well as controlling public school ROTC-----to identifying all this as the reason for US CITIES as FAILED STATES-----and be assured all this was deliberate political strategy by global banking 1% since we have watched these same structures unfold all last century in overseas FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.

We often discuss how the designation of FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE has been since Clinton era a reason to allow all US RULE OF LAW not be enforced------this opened the door for these few decades of massive and systemic frauds and corruption against our US government.  Although US cities like CHICAGO and BALTIMORE did not educate in fact they LIED AND HID just what that designation meant-----below we see the beginning of these policies directed at US cities ----during REAGAN ERA by what was the beginning of expansion of global banking 5% freemason/Greek players across both US Democratic and Republican Parties.

Here we see CHICAGO MAYOR WASHINGTON pretending the goal was equal opportunity and access----pretending to stand up for new immigrants when we see just a few decades later---after CHICAGO as BALTIMORE was sacked and looted by global 1%-----the city devolved into a third world FAILED STATE taking those 99% NEW IMMIGRANTS and our US 99% of citizens with that FAILURE of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA public policy.




March 7, 1985

'Mayor encourages 'equal access by all persons' to city services, licenses

Mayor Harold Washington signs an executive order ending the city's practice of asking job and license applicants about their U.S. citizenship and halting cooperation by city agencies with federal immigration authorities'.

We are sure there were a 5% global banking freemason/Greek new immigrant player allowed to have a patronage business for a decade or two-----just as here in Baltimore.  
We would not go to BUSINESSINSIDER to find what went wrong in Chicago---we simply understand that Mayor Washington doing whatever global banking 1% told him during Reagan era stripped all US Rule of Law from Chicago to allow sacking and looting.


How Chicago Became The Deadliest City In America

Abby Rogers
Nov. 23, 2012, 11:00 AM


joncoreleone/YouTube


Things are pretty grim in Chicago following its deadliest summer in recent memory.


By Oct. 21, Chicago had recorded 435 murders, ahead of 339 in New York and 241 in Los Angeles. The Windy City has the highest murder rate of all Alpha world cities , according to NBC Chicago.


And while things are finally starting to slow down, the mood in the city definitely isn't great.
As an Illinois ex-pat living in New York and looking on at one of my favorite cities from afar, I have to wonder, how did we get here?



In the Hyde Park-South Kenwood community for instance, crime dropped 39 percent from 2002 to 2011, according to the University of Chicago.

BALTIMORE PUBLISHED THESE SAME FALLING CRIME STATS THESE SAME FEW DECADES AND WATCHDOG GROUPS IDENTIFIED FAKE POLICE DATA.


And in 2002, the total number of homicides in Chicago dropped below the total in LA with 20 fewer murders that year than in 2001.
As of 2010, Chicago had more cops per 100,000 residents than any other big city, according to the Chicago Justice Project.



The Chicago Justice Project

So how did things get so bad? It started with massive cuts to the Chicago Police Department.


A CHICAGO JUSTICE PROJECT IDENTIFIES POLICE CUTS AS THE PROBLEM--NOT COMPLETE IGNORING OF US RULE OF LAW BY CORPORATIONS AND BANKS.


Courtesy of CBS Mayor Rahm Emanuel drew the ire of Chicago's police union last year when he proposed slashing the police department's budget by $190 million, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.


There was also speculation that Emanuel would cut about 1,400 police vacancies, which would save the city $93 million.


"How does 'eliminating vacancies' save $93 million when zero dollars were being spent on the vacant spots in the first place?" Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields told the Sun-Times. "That's some real Enron-style accounting."


Emanuel's office cited the city's $635 million budget gap as the reason for the cuts.
Meanwhile gang activity was on the rise.

Cabrini Green was one of the worst housing projects in Chicago until it was torn down in March 2011.
Wikipedia Chicago has 59 gangs divided into 625 factions , boasting up to 125,000 members, according to The Wall Street Journal.


The rise of gangs can be attributed to Chicago's public housing policies , according to a January article in Chicago Magazine:

NOT US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES DESIGNATION ELIMINATING ALL US RULE OF LAW, JUSTICE STRUCTURES, UNLEASHING MASSIVE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION AND FAILED CITIES---THAT WASN'T IT.


"New York's most successful public housing developments are economically integrated. Chicago's, in contrast, only house poor and nonworking families. While Chicago's public housing tenants have extraordinarily high rates of welfare recipiency (92 percent in Robert Taylor receive either public assistance or a benefit such as disability or Social Security), few of New York's tenants are on welfare."

Chicago has demolished many of its public housing projects in the face of criticism. But a recent study suggested their removal helped make crime even worse in neighborhoods where public-housing residents relocated.

WELL, BECAUSE PUBLIC HOUSING WAS NEVER THE PROBLEM.


Things really started getting bad on Memorial Day weekend, when 43 were shot and 11 killed.
http://globalgrind.com/news/40-shot-10-dead-injured-over-memorial-day-weekend-chicago-2012-details The Memorial Day weekend bloodbath that left a 7-year-old girl shot and a 33-year-old man shot in the South Shore neighborhood was a terrifying wake-up call for the city.
The weekend forced Emanuel and the police department to confront the city's escalating gang problem.

"We are going to get the job done by intercepting the firearms , intervening in the gangs and taking down the narcotics markets and holding onto them," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said at the time, according to ABC News.
Another bloody weekend left 8 dead and more than 40 wounded.


Joseph Briggs, 16, was the youngest to die during the weekend of June 11, 2012.
In what police believe was a gang-related incident, Briggs was shot on his front porch in Marquette Park, an area that saw an influx of shootings this summer, according to NBC News.


But in a reversal from their stance Memorial Day weekend, city officials took a more passive approach to the weekend crime spree, saying there weren't any immediate fixes and crime reduction would have to happen "over the long-term," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters.
Another bloody weekend left 7 dead and 35 wounded.
Violence continued on the following weekend in June.
Shakaki Asphy, 16, was just sitting on the porch of a vacant home when a shooter in a grey hoodie opened fire, according to ABC Chicago .


Following the latest bloody weekend, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president Michael Shields called on the city to hire more police: "Chicago police officers can't be everywhere. Because they're racing from one 911 call to the next, and with manpower as it is right now, it's very difficult to deter crime."


Another bloody weekend left 9 dead and 28 injured.
AP Things became so dire by the weekend of Aug. 24, the often tough-spoken Emanuel was begging city residents for help.


"I'd like to remind everybody that it also requires a community to step up," Emanuel said according to NBC News. "You're not a snitch, you have a role in community policing."


By Aug. 27, police had arrested at least 300 people , most of whom were gang members, CBS Chicago reported at the time.
One gang is responsible for most of the violence.

A group calling itself the Gangster Disciples was responsible for more than a quarter of the 400 murders that were reported in the city through Sept. 25, according to The Chicago Tribune.


"Police records, using preliminary assessments from investigators, show 100 of the 392 homicide victims through late September were connected to the Gangster Disciples.


No other gang was close, with the next highest being the 22 victims linked to the Black P Stones, the police statistics show. Even given the Gangster Disciples' greater size, the disparity is notable," the Tribune reported in October.


The violence got worse this summer as the gangs split up into rival factions and began fighting each other.

The Gangster Disciples have long controlled the South Side but this summer the gang splintered into smaller factions such as the Killa Ward and The Hit Squad, with both groups fighting to retain the Disciples' territory, The Chicago Tribune reported in October.


"They're splintering off into smaller gang factions, and that's getting more difficult for us to track and predict what's going to happen next," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.


As the gangs grow, the warring factions are spreading across the entire city, including wealthier neighborhoods.



 "Wilding," when teenagers from Chicago's tougher neighborhoods invade the wealthier ones and do everything from rob convenience stores to assault passersby, gave way to bloodier crimes as Chicago's gang culture splintered in on itself, The Daily Beast reported in August.


Just take a look at some of the people killed on the streets of Chicago:
  • 7-year-old Heaven Sutton was selling candy in her front yard in June when she got caught in the crossfire between rival gang members, according to The Daily Beast.
  • A 20-year-old man was shot to death on the street on the West Side on Aug. 6, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
  • An unidentified man was killed on S. Michigan Ave in September.

When all is said and done we get this: the city has essentially become a mass of gang territory. This map from WBEZ 91.5 shows how much territory they're gaining and where the various gangs sit across the Windy City.



The mayor was so concerned about gang violence in the city that he had certain liquor stores and gang-heavy communities closed, he told CBS News in July.
Emanuel also had abandoned buildings boarded up or torn down in areas "where gang bangers have taken them over," he told the TV station.




Illinois designates 6 sites as statewide enterprise zones


Associated Press


State officials have designated six sites around Illinois as enterprise zones to encourage business development.


The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced the sites Wednesday.


Officials said the Enterprise Zone Board evaluated applications and awarded designations to sites in Chicago; Douglas County; Effingham and Effingham County; an intermodal operation shared by Jersey and Greene counties; Massac County; and Whiteside County.


Enterprise zones are meant to encourage investment in depressed areas. Companies and other organizations in a zone might qualify for tax incentives. They include sales tax exemptions on qualifying building materials, investment tax credits, utility tax exemptions and possible local enticements.


Applications for becoming one of three enterprise zones scheduled to be designated in 2018 are available.


__________________________________________


While Chicago MAYOR WASHINGTON installed 'SANCTUARY CITY' policies pretending it helped our 99% new immigrant citizens with opportunity and access---just a few decades later these same population groups feel the racism ---the brutality ---the targeted attack on income and employment from far-right wing global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS.  Never any intention at SANCTUARY----as all those ALT RIGHT 5% FAKE labor and justice leaders KNEW.

Rather than keep installing global banking 1% economic policy designed to FAIL-----and wait for a few decades for ever-increasing impoverishment, brutality, and violence across all 99% population groups just so those same global banking 5% players can come out AFTER ALL THE DAMAGE to be really mad---------our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE and our 99% new immigrant citizens MUST STOP MOVING FORWARD-----so, we do NOT EXPAND FAILED ECONOMIC POLICIES-----no matter what rebranding name global banking 1% place on that policy.  

SANCTUARY CITY/STATE as SPECIAL ENTERPRISE ZONE as FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE all have goals of eliminating all sovereign Rule of Law ---all sovereign CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ---all sovereign courts and legal structures having 300 years of US court precedence and several centuries of COMMON LAW.  THAT IS THE ONLY GOAL MOVING FORWARD SANCTUARY CITY HAS----AND IT KILLS OUR GLOBAL LABOR POOL 99% AS MUCH AS OUR US CITIZENS BLACK, WHITE, AND BROWN CITIZENS.


As Chicago's MAYOR WASHINGTON installed SANCTUARY CITY policies just so NO CIVIL RIGHTS laws in US were to be enforced-----he and other CLINTON/OBAMA far-right wing neo-liberals decry all this RED-LINING.  If you are not enforcing US Federal civil rights and maintaining CITY SOVEREIGNTY----you DON'T CARE about common good or 99% civil rights.

'were connected to the Gangster Disciples' are of course simply a entry-level freemasonry/Greek training ground using the same FAKE RELIGIOUS propaganda.



In Deeply Divided Chicago, Most Agree: City Is Off Course

By Monica Davey and Giovanni Russonello
  • May 6, 2016

CHICAGO — The people of Chicago are deeply riven by race, class and neighborhood, distrustful of the police, fearful of the growing rate of violent crime and united chiefly in their disapproval of the mayor’s performance and their conviction that the city is headed down the wrong track.



These are among findings of a new survey by The New York Times and the Kaiser Family Foundation, which polled residents of a city that has been upended in recent months by revelations of questionable actions by the police, threats of a teachers’ strike, a school funding crisis and an uptick in violence.



The poll finds broad discontent with the police and those charged with overseeing them, particularly among African-Americans. Residents expressed concerns about racial bias in shootings by officers and many show ambivalence about whether calling the police will ease situations or not make a difference.



Residents of Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, appear to have lost faith in many of its essential institutions, including the police, courts and the public schools.

The sharpest levels of discontent appear among black residents on the South and West Sides. When it comes to hopes for young people, satisfaction with city services and — especially — expectations about interactions with the police, the divide between black and white Chicago is striking.


“It seems like the police can do anything and get away with it,” Enix Daniels, who is 50 and black and lives on the West Side, said in a follow-up interview. “There are no repercussions. If we do something, we have to pay a bond before we get out. If they do something, they get to sit at their desk.”



The survey was conducted as Chicago confronts a daunting array of problems. Six months ago, protesters took to the streets after the release of video showing a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager named Laquan McDonald 16 times. The Justice Department began an investigation into the Police Department, the police superintendent was fired and a task force last month issued a scathing report denouncing systemic racism at the department.



These problems and divides are not unique to Chicago. Cleveland, Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., have all been convulsed after black people died in encounters with police officers, and neighborhood segregation and budget and school problems are common in the nation’s major cities. Here, though, the challenges reached a fever pitch all at once. And the survey shows how difficult it will be to win the trust of a divided city as it confronts some of the most fraught issues facing urban America today.



In the survey, 62 percent of residents said they disapproved of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s job performance, and only a quarter approved. Among blacks, his disapproval rating is 70 percent.



Most Chicagoans say they doubt that the mayor cares much about the needs of people like themselves. Among black residents, the feelings are stronger: Only 8 percent believe that Mr. Emanuel cares a lot about people like them, and nearly two-thirds think he cares not much or not at all.


Responding to the survey’s findings, a spokesman for the mayor spoke of work already underway.


“The mayor’s focus is on building on the progress we have made with generations-old issues in Chicago, from jobs to education to public safety,” Adam Collins, the spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “We are striving to grow our already record high school graduation rate, to build out our first-in-the-nation free community college program, and extend our record performance of adding 41 corporate headquarters and nearly 100,000 jobs here over the past five years. And we will continue to invest in everything from technology to training as we work to reduce crime and build trust in the Police Department.”



The telephone poll was conducted April 21 to May 3 using landlines and cellphones with 1,123 adults throughout the City of Chicago. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points for all adults.



Nearly equal numbers of blacks, whites and Hispanics live in Chicago, a city of about 2.7 million, but they often live on separate sides of town, and, the survey shows, find themselves leading vastly different lives.


By consistent double-digit margins, African Americans and Latinos on the South and West Sides are more likely than North Side whites to be dissatisfied with aspects of their neighborhoods, like the condition of public recreation facilities, services like trash removal, and the availability of public transportation.

“I’ve been living in this neighborhood about 30 years and I really like it — it’s gotten nicer over the years,” said Tammy Snider, 60, who is white and lives on the North Side. “I sometimes take the bus to an aerobics class in an area that’s not that safe, but it’s during the day.”



The split between neighborhoods can feel like a gulf. Only on the North Side do a majority of residents say it is very likely for a typical young person to graduate from high school. On the West Side, just three in 10 think so.

“In the North and Northwest Side it’s clean, you can walk up and down the street without getting stuck up,” said Carl Hill, 62, who is black and lives on the South Side. “Our area is neglected.”



Latinos in Chicago attest to experiencing slightly less discrimination and generally live in less segregated neighborhoods. But they share some of the frustrations felt by African-Americans citywide. Fewer than 20 percent feel very safe in the area where they live.


Few issues define Chicago’s divide more than schools. Most Chicagoans say their neighborhood lacks quality public schools, but the misery is lopsided: On the South Side, 71 percent of African-Americans say so. In 2013, Mr. Emanuel’s administration oversaw the closing of nearly 50 schools, many in black and Latino communities, a move that contributed to a tense re-election fight for the mayor last year.


The blowback has invigorated public support for the Chicago Teachers Union, which says it may strike if a contract deal cannot be reached. Fifty-nine percent of residents citywide support the decision to strike, and that soars to almost three-quarters among African-American parents living with children.
______________________________________________

None of this was our 99% new immigrant citizens' fault----they were simply drawn under a FALSE FLAG of propaganda to US cities under the guise of freedom walking into what was a complete DISINTEGRATION of developed nation governing structures and deliberate stagnation of US city economies with the sending of US corporations overseas to be enfolded into the hands of GLOBAL 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS.


SANCTUARY CITY/STATE uses a 'religious' connotation for what is LYING, CHEATING, STEALING, NO MORALS AND ETHICS, NO RULE OF LAW, NO GOD'S NATURAL LAWS-----1000BC laissez faire economics.  My global banking 5% WHITE citizens were at the higher levels forcing these policies down from Congressional political machines to our local machines.  It is our US 5% freemason/Greek WHITE players who are the worst of LIVING FOR TODAY DOING ANYTHING THEY ARE TOLD.  White people are going to be winners they think-----OH, REALLY??????

The same national news media back during REAGAN era CHICAGO/BALTIMORE becoming SANCTUARY CITIES FAKE NEWS is now exploding on mainstream US FAKE media because now MOVING FORWARD expands these FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE policies from US cities to include entire STATES.  Same bad policies for US 99% WE THE PEOPLE---same bad policies for 99% NEW IMMIGRANT CITIZENS.


The difference today is the faces of new SOCIOPATHS------CHICAGO EMANUEL MEETS BALTIMORE O'MALLEY--killing now the 99% of white city citizens.   These ONE WORLD FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE policies are indeed EQUAL OPPORTUNITY in killing each population group.

WE HAVE TO WATCH THE MORALLY BANKRUPT AND CRIMINALLY INCLINED CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA POINTING TO A TRUMP AS THE MADMAN DOING ALL THAT IS BAD.


EMANUEL working for global banking 1% says WE simply sacked and looted-----and installed all the SCHOOL OF AMERICA civil unrest structures ------any bad stuff in future is TRUMP'S fault.


Mayor Rahm Emanuel: 'Chicago Always Will Be A Sanctuary City'
November 14, 20167:57 PM ET
Richard Gonzales


Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel added his voice to the chorus of big-city mayors who say theirs will remain "sanctuary cities" in response to President-elect Donald Trump's hard-line positions on illegal immigration.



Surrounded by immigration activists, business leaders and state and federal lawmakers, Emanuel sought to reduce the fear of immigrants living in this country without authorization.


"To all those who are, after Tuesday's election, very nervous and filled with anxiety ... you are safe in Chicago, you are secure in Chicago and you are supported in Chicago," said Emanuel at a news conference called to publicize the expansion of mental health services for people anxious over the election results.


"Chicago has in the past been a sanctuary city. ... It always will be a sanctuary city," the mayor said.


His comments come on the heels of Trump's appearance Sunday on CBS's 60 Minutes, in which the president-elect promised to deport all immigrants with criminal records.


"What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate," said Trump.


Trump did not mention sanctuary cities — jurisdictions that have policies of not cooperating with federal immigration authorities. But his "First 100 Days" plan includes cutting off all federal funding to sanctuary cities.


Emanuel joins the mayors of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia and others who all have said their sanctuary city policies will remain in place despite the threat of losing federal assistance. About 300 cities and counties across the country have such a policy. The loss of federal funding could be staggering. In the case of San Francisco, for example, city officials say they receive about $1 billion from Washington.


City leaders and local police in many jurisdictions say that immigrants are more likely to cooperate with police when they don't feel the threat of deportation if they report a crime.


_______________________________________


At the same time global banking 1% sent their ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT 5% freemason/Greek players pretending to be civil rights groups out to protest for SANCTUARY CITIES pretending it was about helping new immigrants whether Muslim or not------CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA was expanding that designation of FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE or SANCTUARY CITY across each state.  This means there is now no STATE CONSTITUTION----no STATE ASSEMBLY laws ---no STATE court or legal bodies having any power.  What happens to our 99% of new immigrants in regions not having a functioning sovereign government system as in Chicago and Baltimore?  They have all their wages stolen----they have no worker protections in workplace----they keep being shifted around every few years to new locations.  Who created these conditions? Clinton/Bush/Obama because they are FAR-RIGHT WING GLOBAL BANKING 1% ----not helping any 99% no matter the population group.

Now, for these few decades our RIGHT WING REPUBLICANS have pretended the ignoring of all Federal governing structures was strengthening STATE RIGHTS.  Keep in mind, the MASTER PLAN during REAGAN era was exactly what is MOVING FORWARD today.  There never was any intention of making STATE'S RIGHTS dominant as MOVING FORWARD today expanding designation of FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE kills STATE RIGHTS/STATE CONTROL.

Instead of a global banking 5% freemason/Greek player being made the PAY-TO-PLAY winner these few decades of ROBBER BARON frauds and corruption----now global 1% are MOVING IN the global 1% and their 2% to be the GANGSTERS in 1000BC sacking and looting and making US a permanent GLOBAL MILITARY JUNTA.  5% global banking players under the bus in only a few decades killing the future for their families.

DESIGNATING STATE ENTERPRISE ZONES WHETHER CALLING THEM SANCTUARY STATES OR NOT-----IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, IGNORES 300 YEARS OF US, STATE, AND LOCAL COURT PRECEDENCE AND CAN BE SIMPLY VOIDED.


The ASSOCIATED PRESS tells us nothing about broad public policy ---it simply repeats whatever TALKING POINT global banking 1% send down as too all US mainstream media.



Illinois Designates 6 Sites as Statewide Enterprise Zones



State officials have designated six sites around Illinois as enterprise zones to encourage business development.


Oct. 19, 2017, at 5:42 a.m.



Illinois Designates 6 Sites as Statewide Enterprise Zones


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — State officials have designated six sites around Illinois as enterprise zones to encourage business development.


The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced the sites Wednesday.

Officials said the Enterprise Zone Board evaluated applications and awarded designations to sites in Chicago; Douglas County; Effingham and Effingham County; an intermodal operation shared by Jersey and Greene counties; Massac County; and Whiteside County.


Enterprise zones are meant to encourage investment in depressed areas. Companies and other organizations in a zone might qualify for tax incentives. They include sales tax exemptions on qualifying building materials, investment tax credits, utility tax exemptions and possible local enticements.

Applications for becoming one of three enterprise zones scheduled to be designated in 2018 are available.
___________________________________________

We have discussed in detail the setting aside huge parcels of real estate under what was a FAKE GREEN SUSTAINABILITY----when the MASTER PLAN from REAGAN era was to bring back overseas multi-national corporate factories once US sovereign corporations.  Here is AMAZON----we showed how workers at AMAZON are already on the protest lines in Western Europe as here in US------the only 'BUSINESS' development that will happen in these special economic zones---STATE ENTERPRISE ZONES is global corporate campuses/factories and infrastructure to be used by ONLY THOSE GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUSES.

When our global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players pass laws at city and state level declaring a STATEWIDE SANCTUARY STATE------STATEWIDE ENTERPRISE ZONE----they are telling the 99% of sovereign citizens in that state----ILLINOIS, CALIFORNIA, MARYLAND ---that they no longer have a state Constitution----a state assembly able to pass laws which will be enforced-----in addition to not having any US FEDERAL enforcement of all that makes our 99% WE THE PEOPLE-----CITIZENS WITH A BILL OF RIGHTS black, white, or brown US or MD/CA, IL citizens.  This is why US cities like SAN ANTONIO, TX are laying down and flying rainbow flags-----THAT IS ONE WORLD ONE NATION FLAG----it has nothing to do with GBLT RIGHTS.



Opinion

To lure Amazon and more, California needs a statewide enterprise zone

In this Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017, photo, large spheres take shape in front of an existing Amazon building and in view of the Space Needle in Seattle.

By Kerry Jackson | Orange County Register




PUBLISHED: October 25, 2017 at 10:11 pm | UPDATED: October 26, 2017 at 11:13 am



Everyone wants a piece of Amazon. A city in Georgia has even offered to rename itself “Amazon” if only the web sales giant would locate its second headquarters there. Jerry Brown is making a pitch, too. The governor, according to the Mercury News, “is offering tax breaks and other incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars should Amazon choose the Golden State as the site of its second home.”



We welcome our Democratic governor’s effort. But he’s only part of the way there. Tax cuts and regulatory relief should not be limited to only Amazon.



Governments have been using targeted tax breaks and other financial favors to attract businesses for decades. That’s how South Carolina landed a sprawling BMW factory, and Alabama snagged a Mercedes-Benz plant — which the state owns and leases to the automaker for $100. The German car companies were given hundreds of millions in tax incentives to open the facilities.



Targeting Amazon or any other company for special treatment is tempting. But policymakers should not be choosing winners and losers in a competitive economy. All businesses in this state, as well as those that might want to expand or relocate here, should get the same treatment Brown is offering. The entire state should be an enterprise zone.


Enterprise zones, introduced to California in the 1980s, dangle favorable tax policy, and sometimes regulatory relief, in front of businesses to draw them into areas that are suffering economically. The goal is to boost employment and stimulate local economic development. At one time, California had 42 enterprise zones.



But forget zones. Go statewide. Become “The Enterprise State” before another state grabs the name.


Companies naturally want to locate, relocate and expand their businesses here. Under the right conditions, there is no better place. But those conditions don’t exist at the moment.


For those conditions to exist, the business tax burden has to be eased, and any effort to do so should be a part of an entire state tax overhaul. As it is now, this state’s tax regime is an anchor holding back what could be a booming expansion.


The state’s regulatory web must be cut, as well.

A 2015 study from the Pacific Research Institute’s Wayne Winegarden found that California has the highest regulation burden in the country. According to the 50-State Small Business Regulation Index, California businesses are handicapped with workers’ compensation rules, family-leave regulations, land-use regulations, payrolls needlessly swelled by forced union membership, energy regulations, start-up and filing costs, high minimum-wage requirements and the steep expenses of a civil legal system in need of reform.




A few months after that PRI report was released, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council published a study with similar findings. It confirmed that California has the “least-friendly policy environment for small business and entrepreneurship.” It’s the cumulative effect of the “ever-mounting burdens placed on entrepreneurs and small businesses by government” that negatively impact economic opportunity.


About a week after Brown made his pitch to Amazon, the Tax Foundation ranked California 48th in its 2018 State Business Climate Index. And not for the first time is the state ranked so low. It’s been 48th on that list since 2014, and has become a regular at the bottom of other business climate rankings.



The Democratic majority that runs this state says it believes in equality. Brown himself has called inequality one of California’s biggest challenges. If that’s truly an article of their faith, then the governor and his party have an obligation. They have to treat every business in the state with the same arrangement being offered to Amazon.

_____________________________________________



Of course for a few decades while MOVING FORWARD plasters the entire state of MD----as IL----as CA with global corporate campus factories operating as they do in third world FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----those global banking 5% freemason/Greek players having been installed in our state governments as ROBBER BARON FRAUD AND CORRUPTION are PRETENDING to be made WINNERS.


Below we see RUPPERBURGER------top global banking 1% Congressional pol here in MD on land that will be taken very shortly to become global corporate infrastructure. Nothing GREEN happening with these temporary RANCHES or farms especially tied to GMO ANIMALS.

The designation of MD as a STATEWIDE SANCTUARY STATE then allows this cattle ranch to ignore all US RULE OF LAW, all MD RULE OF LAW and it assures real estate in zones already marked for global corporate campuses remain undeveloped until global banking 1% are ready to build.


Roseda Farm is breeding a 'supercow' in a quest to become the Berger Cookies of the beef industry

Nestled in Baltimore County’s rolling hills, Roseda Farm has been slowly perfecting its Black Angus herd to create beef prime for plating. It's one of the largest local Angus beef suppliers. (Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun video)

Sarah MeehanContact Reporter
The Baltimore Sun


Dean Bryant gazes out at a hulking black bull alone in a hilltop paddock at Roseda Farm. The 4-year-old Angus known as “B010” ranks among the top four of 200,000 bulls in his breed for weaned calf value, a measure of the quality of his offspring.



It’s the type of “supercow” Roseda is seeking to breed.
“We’re pretty proud of him,” Bryant, manager of the Monkton farm, said. “We’ve been doing this for 20, 21 years now, and that’s one of the highlights.”



Nestled in Baltimore County’s rolling hills, Roseda Farm has been slowly perfecting its Black Angus herd to create beef prime for plating. Through genetic testing, dry-aging and a closed system that allows the ranch to see its cattle from conception to butchering, Roseda has built one of the largest beef operations in the Mid-Atlantic, according to the Maryland Cattlemen's Association. The brand has become ubiquitous on Baltimore-area restaurant menus, most recently at Gordon Ramsay Steak, and the farm wants to become synonymous with Baltimore — the Berger Cookies of the beef industry.

Owner Ed Burchell Sr. didn’t know one end of a cow from the other when he bought the 350-acre farm in Monkton in 1986, he said. It wasn’t long before he took an interest in cattle breeding and recruited Bryant, who was then at the University of Maryland’s Wye Institute on the Eastern Shore researching one of the oldest Angus herds in the region.



“What he was trying to demonstrate was if you consistently breed cattle for beef quality, not size, you can dramatically change the quality of beef,” Burchell Sr. said.


The industry has historically been rewarded for producing heavier-muscled cattle — the faster cows can put on weight, the more revenue farmers can procure. Roseda takes the opposite approach, breeding cattle for traits that improve the texture of their meat and make for better steak. Black Angus cattle are known for their marbling (fat within muscle that adds to the meat’s juiciness).



For every animal killed, Roseda tracks about 50 data points, including information on its weight, the size of its rib-eye and back fat. That data is sent to the American Angus Association, the group that ranked B010 among the best bulls for weaned calf value, and used in breeding decisions.


“We’re not interested in the highest-muscling bull in the breed,” Burchell Sr. said. “We’re looking for somebody that’s got a certain amount of back fat, very high in marbling, and also we test for a tenderness gene.”



Bryant handles all of the breeding and genetic testing at the farm, which is done by artificial insemination. The pure-bred herd at Roseda Farm — the genetic base of the entire operation — is about 130 cows. At age 1, the farm takes an ultrasound between each animal’s 11th and 12th ribs to get a sense of the quality of the rib-eye.


”That’s when you get your first inkling of how promising that particular animal is,” Burchell Sr. said. “Most of our cows are really good cows, but we’re looking for that supercow, which just doesn’t come along all that often.”


The animals are naturally raised, meaning they are not treated with antibiotics or hormones.

GMO ANIMALS HAVE HISTORICALLY CAUSED AS MANY HUMAN HEALTH ISSUES AS ANTIBIOTICS AND HORMONES.


“I’ve never seen cattle that are so consistent, and that gets down to genetics,” said Bill Ruppersberger, president of Old Line Custom Meat Co., which processes the beef.



Old Line was formed in 2011, when Roseda merged with George G. Ruppersberger & Sons, a Baltimore butchery established in 1866. The meat company has a slaughterhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue— which made the news in recent years when a steer escaped into the city — and a processing plant on South Monroe Street that also processes lamb from the Shenandoah Valley and commodity beef. Inside the South Baltimore plant, beef quarters and whole lambs glide on hooks from a storage refrigerator to a line of meat cutters, who work to break them down into smaller cuts.

Old Line specializes in kosher beef, and 50 to 55 percent of the animals that pass through its slaughterhouse are deemed kosher, about twice the proportion at most slaughterhouses.



Whole beef carcasses are dry-aged for at least two weeks before they are separated into cuts sold in grocery stores, at restaurants, online and at the Monkton farm. As the meat dry-ages, enzymes in the muscle break down proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the tissue, and evaporation shrinks the meat, concentrating its flavor.


“It’s one of our biggest competitive advantages, if not the biggest,” said Eddie Burchell Jr., Ed’s son and a partner in the business, noting that’s especially true for Roseda’s ground beef, a type of meat that is not typically dry-aged. “We’re a steak burger.”



The 17,000-square-foot plant in South Baltimore processes about 120 cattle and 200 lambs per week, Ruppersberger said. Smaller beef packing plants on the East Coast have all but disappeared due to the financial burdens of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations, and large meat packers make it tough to compete, Ruppersberger said.



“That’s why we had to find the niche that we’re in,” Ruppersberger said.
Dry-aging is expensive for beef producers because it ties up inventory and requires large refrigerated storage spaces. But it pays dividends. Roseda was too small to be profitable without selling its dry-aged ground beef at a premium.



“If we couldn’t sell that at a huge premium, we were too small to be able to make the economics work,” Burchell Sr. said. “Our program probably wouldn’t work [in the West and Midwest] because people wouldn’t go to the grocery store and pay $5.99 for a burger; they’d think you lost your mind.”


The challenge locally has been convincing buyers to spend more and chefs to raise menu prices to support buying a premium product. Roseda’s ground beef, for instance, is about 50 to 60 cents more per pound than standard ground beef.



“The East Coast has been both a torment to us because we’re not in the middle of cattle country, but … because you’ve got a third of the population of the country living on the East Coast, it has really served our meat business well,” Burchell Sr. said.
Wayne Gioioso Jr., a Ruxton resident and real estate executive, said the price difference is negligible.


“I’m willing to pay a premium because if you’re going to eat, you might as well eat well,” Gioioso said. “I‘d much rather support a local business and eat well than buy the whatever run-of-the-mill beef, and who knows who’s making the profit.”


He didn’t eat beef often before Burchell Jr. suggested trying Roseda’s, so he bought some New York strip steaks from Graul’s, threw them onto the grill and never looked back. Now, Roseda beef is a staple for his family, and he said he won’t eat beef at restaurants unless it’s from Roseda.


“I was hooked,” he said. “We eat it all the time. We have it in our freezer.”


Brigitte Bledsoe, corporate executive chef for Miss Shirley’s Cafe, has been sourcing beef from Roseda since the restaurant group added burgers to their menus eight or nine years ago. She also incorporates Roseda’s ground beef in dishes like the Mainland Loco Moco Skillet, an 8-ounce burger and grits with diced bacon, sauteed mushrooms, brown gravy and green onion, topped with an egg.


“The quality of beef supply is the best around, it’s always consistently good, so it’s no-brainer for me,” Bledsoe said.
She said dry-aging makes a big difference in the meat’s taste and texture. “It‘s like apples and oranges,” she said.




Miss Shirley’s lists Roseda Farm in menu descriptions because the restaurant group likes to show guests it supports local farms, and customers are increasingly interested in where ingredients are sourced, according to a spokeswoman for Miss Shirley’s. Roseda also asks restaurants (and distributors who sell its beef to restaurants) to list the farm’s name on menus, Burchell Jr. said.

Building brand recognition begins with restaurants. The farm recently partnered with Flying Dog Tap House at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and its beef also appears on menus at such restaurants as Abbey Burger Bistro in Baltimore and Ocean City.



Getting as many customers as possible to taste Roseda’s beef is the crux of the company’s growth strategy, Burchell Jr. said. “The best way that we can get people to understand our product is to taste our product.”



The leadership team is also working to drive more online sales by improving its website for online ordering and boosting its social media presence. Though Roseda’s beef is primarily sold in the Mid-Atlantic region, it has garnered interest from buyers as far away as China, Burchell Jr. said.



As Roseda grows, the owners hope their beef becomes one of the top food brands Baltimoreans associate with their hometown.


“When I ask people if they’ve heard of Roseda, maybe one in four, one in five will say yes,” Ruppersberger said. He wants to see that number grow. “We want to be like Berger Cookies.”
___________________________________________


Using the term SANCTUARY CITY in Chicago as Baltimore in REAGAN era is what led to both cities being surrounded by nothing but GHETTOS-----while only a slim city core still had a crony dysfunctional patronage economy.

While we have read these few decades ENTERPRISE ZONE policies have no helped in city development----for obvious reasons like THAT IS THE GOAL-----now they are expanding these structures selling the idea its about BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT to large real estate tracts across each state.  What happens when our rural counties are designated FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES and their local county governments are captured to global banking 5% freemason/Greeks making sure that county real estate is set aside waiting for a super-duper global corporate campus to fall on it?

Well, we will first protest the installation of INTERSTATE OFF-RAMPS through our beautiful rural communities.  Then we will protest the building of global factory infrastructure like GIANT INCINERATORS in rural communities----then we will protest the eminent domain for gas and oil pipelines running through our rural communities-----then fracking, industrial meat killing our groundwater will need to be protested----

OR, GLOBAL BANKING 5% CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA WILL SIMPLY TELL OUR 99% OF MD, CA, IL CITIZENS TO JUST MOVE IF YOU DO NOT LIKE ALL THIS MOVING FORWARD.





Enterprise Zone Program

For more information contact JoAnn Worthy at 312.744.4389.
     The City of Chicago has six Enterprise Zones. The primary purpose of an Enterprise Zone Program is to "stimulate economic growth and neighborhood revitalization" by offering state and local tax incentives to companies expanding or relocating within depressed areas.
Incentives:
        1. Sales Tax Exemption for building materials - Contact: JoAnn Worthy, Enterprise Zone Administrator, Department of Planning and Development, 312.744.4389 or Joann.Worthy@cityofchicago.org
          To apply, complete the EZ Sales Tax Exemption Certification Application. PLEASE NOTE, for all projects that qualify for the Enterprise Zone Sales Tax Exemption on building materials, it is now required that owners, business owners, or lessees must have a certificate in order for General and/or Subcontractors to apply.
        2. Real Estate Transfer Tax Exemption - Visit the Chicago Department of Finance, Tax Collection and Enforcement at http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/fin/provdrs/tax_division/svcs/ez_dec.html.
        3. Machinery & Equipment Sales Tax Exemption - Contact: Christofer Albert, Enterprise Zone Manager, Illinois Business Development Office, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at 217.524.0615 or Christofer.Albert@illinois.gov
        4. Utility Tax Exemption - Contact: Christofer Albert, Enterprise Zone Manager, Illinois Business Development Office, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at 217.524.0615 or Christofer.Albert@illinois.gov
        5. Enterprise Zone Investment Tax Credit - Contact: Illinois Department of Revenue at 1.800.732.8866 or 217.782.3336 or Rev.EZreporting@illinois.gov
        6. Contribution Deduction - Contact: Illinois Department of Revenue at 1.800.732.8866 or 217.782.3336 or Rev.EZreporting@illinois.gov.
A full description of the Enterprise Zone Program Incentives may be found at: http://www.illinois.gov/dceo/ExpandRelocate/Incentives/taxassistance/Pages/EnterpriseZone.aspx
Enterprise Zone maps:
    • Zone 1
    • Zone 2
    • Zone 3
    • Zone 4
    • Zone 5
    • Zone 6

_______________________________________________

Leading to our sitting in front of US national news telling us global corporations are not paying any taxes----AND IT IS ALL TRUMP'S FAULT.

So, while OBAMA was simply far-right wing global banking as REAGAN/BUSH with what was the biggest tax break for rich in US history-----these policies of STATE SANCTUARY or STATE ENTERPRISE ZONE is what makes paying corporate taxes disappear.  Trump does not have to do anything---all these STATEWIDE sanctuary laws were installed during OBAMA era.

TRUMP does not have to do anything to raise the national debt to $21 trillion from OBAMA era $20 trillion---it is all interest rate and global banking bond servicing charges.  TRUMP simply needs to sit and act like a MADMAN----pretending collusions with RUSSIA while all policies installed during OBAMA are installed.


Are 80% of Americans really getting a TAX CUT when global corporate campuses are paying NO TAXES? OF COURSE NOT. It simply becomes to expensive to live inside US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.



  • Front Page
  • World
The biggest tax cut in U.S. history? Not quite.

By Sam Petulla and Tal Yellin, CNN
Updated 10:32 AM PHT Wed, January 31, 2018



(CNN) — President Donald Trump has bragged -- and did so again during his State of the Union address Tuesday -- that the tax cuts Congress passed would be the biggest in history.


There's no doubt the tax legislation slashed corporate tax rates and will give 80% of individual filers a tax cut, according to some estimates.

But arguably, President Barack Obama passed a larger tax cut by making most of President George W. Bush's cuts permanent. President Ronald Reagan definitely did. And Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson probably did, too.


"It will be the biggest tax decrease, or tax cut, in the history of our country," Trump said at the White House last month.


Tax analysts have been unequivocal that Trump's claim is not true.
"While it is not the largest tax cut ever, it is the most poorly timed giant tax cut in history," said Leonard Burman, institute fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. "The economy is near full employment and the national debt is at a postwar record and rising fast."
An analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that Trump's cut is the eighth largest since 1918.



Even the Treasury Department has weighed in on the debate. Though that would be Bush's and Obama's Treasury departments, not Trump's. The Treasury Department released several iterations of a paper between 2006 and 2013 that measured the size of past tax cuts.


The Treasury reports found that, since 1968, three other tax cut bills have been bigger: Reagan's 1981 cuts, and two bills passed by Obama to extend the Bush tax cuts. Between 1940 and 1967, when the data is less reliable, three tax cuts were larger, two of them after the war, when rates were lowered again.


The Treasury measured the sizes of tax cuts by looking at the revenue effects of the bills as a percentage of gross domestic product -- in other words, how much federal revenue the bill cuts away as a portion of the economy. Reagan's 1981 cut was 2.9% of GDP. Obama's tax cut extensions in 2010 and 2012 were 1.3% and 1.8%, respectively.



Trump's tax cut, by contrast, is estimated to be about 1.1% of GDP per year. Even excluding Obama's cuts -- which were really extensions of previous cuts first enacted by Bush -- Trump's tax reform bill will have nowhere near the effect on revenue that Reagan's did. Trump's cuts for individuals are temporary. So, like Bush, he's potentially setting himself up for another president to get to take credit for his tax legislation in 2025.


When multiple tax cuts and increases by the same President are grouped, Trump's cut shrinks further. Bush's cuts come in at 1.4% of GDP. Even accounting for Reagan's rollbacks after 1981, his first-term cuts exceed Trump's bill.


The calculation for Trump's tax bill's revenue effect is made by taking the Joint Committee on Taxation's estimated budgetary effects for the tax bill from 2019 through 2022 and dividing by the Congressional Budget Office's cumulative GDP projections through the same period, while factoring in the joint committee's estimated growth effects. A four-year window average is used because it is the same baseline the Treasury report uses, and it is also the period where the bill costs the most.



All calculations, including those in the Treasury report, start with the static estimates of the bills.


Part of the reason the current proposals have less of a cut than previous bills is because of how the legislation was passed. Republicans used "budget reconciliation" to get it passed without Democratic votes. That allowed the GOP to bypass a filibuster, but it also reduced how deep any cuts can be. "Particularly for a bill like this, large timing gimmicks, like the sunset, become really important," said Greg Leiserson, a former senior Treasury tax economist who's the director of tax policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.



Reagan, the saint of "trickle-down economics," cut rates to corporations and to individuals across the board in 1981, giving the largest cuts to high earners. Reagan's 1986 tax reform made substantial changes to the tax code's structure to try to simplify it. Whether Reagan's cuts helped or hurt the rich and whether they are the reason for the growth the economy experienced during the 1980s is still a matter of debate.


Regardless, the Bush tax reductions borrowed heavily from the supply-side ideology that underpinned Reagan's cuts. Bush cut taxes across the board, lowered rates on dividends and capital gains, and changed the estate tax to benefit high earners. His cuts are generally credited with helping middle-class families and, even more, the wealthy. Bush is faulted, however, for driving increased inequality between low and high earners. When Obama extended most of the Bush cuts, several provisions that benefited high earners were allowed to expire.



Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin defended Trump's claim to CNN's Jake Tapper in November and made specific arguments about the sizes of specific elements of the plan, but did not have a compelling argument backing up the President's more general claim.


An open question, not answered by the Treasury report, is whether this is the largest tax cut in history for corporations. Tax experts say it could be. The bill rolls back cuts on the individual side at the end of 2025 but keeps the corporate cuts in place.

_____________________________________________

Our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown citizens may not have educated on FOREIGN POLICY these several decades as CLINTON era started sending US corporations overseas to ASIAN/CHINESE FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.  We followed every international trade policy, watched how global banking 1% built these overseas FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.  We understand the entire premise of FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES is opening sovereign nations to foreign multi-national corporations to operate independent from any sovereign nation's laws, constitutions as here in China.

Our US national media is selling FAKE NEWS as hard as they can making it appear CHINA has seen the AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT light and is installing all kinds of FAKE SOCIAL BENEFIT policies just as here in US MOVING FORWARD during Clinton/Bush/Obama.

There is nothing GREEN happening in China----there is nothing HUMAN RIGHTS happening in CHINA ---there is nothing LEFT MARXIST happening in China.  What has been China's FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE policy these several decades is simply becoming US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE MOVING FORWARD policies here in US----being called SANCTUARY CITY/STATE.


The only thing happening today in US is the collectivization of all US real estate into hands of global 1% needed to build these massive concrete jungles.

Meanwhile, our global banking 5% freemason/Greek players pretending to be populist labor and justice leaders shouting for affordable housing and jobs---say NOTHING about these goals of MOVING FORWARD knowing it will kill affordable housing, jobs, and all quality of life.




China's New Special Economic Zone Evokes Memories Of Shenzhen


Frank Holmes Contributor Great Speculations i


Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.


Apr 21, 2017, 02:52pm 6,283 views #Economy


Forty years ago, Shenzhen, China, was a sleepy fishing village of 30,000. But in 1980, then-Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping designated the southern town as one of four special economic zones (SEZs), thereby giving it special tax benefits and preferential treatment to foreign investment. In the years that followed, Shenzhen expanded at an alarming pace. Its GDP per capita grew a jaw-dropping 24,569 percent between 1978 and 2014, and by 2016 its population stood at nearly 12 million.



Today Shenzhen is universally held up as one of capitalism’s great success stories. Because of Deng’s willingness to liberate its economy and open Shenzhen up to foreign investment, the once-poor, now-thriving megacity is known as a world-class tech hub, home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and one of the busiest financial centers in the world.

Now it looks as if China aims to catch lightning in a bottle once again by designating a brand new region as a SEZ. On April 1, President Xi Jinping announced plans to transform a little-known farmland called Xiongan into a glittering technology and innovation hub, complete with new businesses, universities and state-of-the-art transportation.


IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A SMART CITY---YOU WOULD BE CORRECT-----



The Xiongan New Area, which will eventually cover 2,000 square kilometers—more than twice the size of New York City—is intended to relieve congestion in the capital of Beijing and nearby Tianjin. Among other potential consequences include spreading the country’s economy northwest, away from the bustling coastal cities, and boosting gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which has been trending down for the past several quarters. In the first quarter of 2017, China beat market expectations by expanding 6.9 percent year-over-year—a far cry from the double digit growth in years past, but impressive nonetheless.


Potential Investment Opportunities Expected


Like Shenzhen before it, Xiongan is expected to offer phenomenal investment opportunities. Remember, we’re talking about a brand new megacity literally built from the ground up. According to UBS estimates, the project will require as much as $580 billion over the next 20 years. As you might imagine, massive amounts of raw materials and resources will be needed, including steel, glass, cement and more. Steel demand alone should increase imports of the metal between 12 and 14 million metric tons per year if mass construction begins in the next 10 years, according to Citi Research analysts.


YET GLOBAL BANKING 1% UNITED NATIONS CALLS THIS 'CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY' LABELING IT 'GREEN'.




Shares of several Chinese construction, infrastructure, utilities and transportation companies immediately spiked following the announcement. China Railway Group has gained close to 5 percent since the announcement. China Shipbuilding Industry Corp., which recently said it will move its headquarters to Xiongan, has risen nearly 3.5 percent. Huge moves have also been made by Tianjin Port Development Holdings and China National Building Material Co. Perhaps the biggest gainer was building materials supplier BBMG, which soared more than 34 percent April 3, then an additional 10.5 percent the following day.



Cement prices in China are already having one of their best starts in years and are positioned to exceed 2013 levels, which would benefit materials companies such as China National Building Material Co. and BBMG.


Chinese Real Estate on Fire


Even before the Xiongan announcement, Chinese real estate and home valuations were soaring, with home prices in 70 major cities rising 11.3 percent year-over-year in March. Nine out of the 10 best performers this year in the Bloomberg World Real Estate Index are Chinese firms. Since the start of the month, land developer China Resources Land is up 3.6 percent. Developers Evergrande, Sunac and Country Garden—all of which have exposure to Xiongan New Area and the surrounding regions—are up close to 80 percent so far this year.


Real estate speculators have reportedly descended on the new economic zone, gobbling up property at such a dizzying rate that the local government has had to step in and temporarily restrict transactions. It’s possible a real estate bubble could be forming, but with memories of Shenzhen’s grandeur swimming in investors’ minds, expectations are understandably sky high.
___________________________________________
This week we will highlight a raging global banking 1% freemason LITERARY STAR novel-----THE RED AND BLACK. We have tried 3 times over a lifetime to read this absolutely atrocious piece of writing never able to force ourselves to finish it. The pretension and mind-numbing concentration on the etiquette of how a 99% of WE THE PEOPLE wanting to become a 5% player needs to approach this ladder-climbing in what is OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS MEDIEVAL economics-----is complete MYTH-MAKING and a release of a new edition recently addresses the MOVING FORWARD to US being a DARK AGES MEDIEVAL extreme wealth extreme poverty OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS economy.

'He studied at the Ecole Centrale de Grenoble and was extremely proficient in mathematics, drawing and literature. In 1799, he left Grenoble to take a competitive exam in Paris, but failed to give it. He was instead, appointed in the Ministry of War'.


Stendhal is NOT a writer. He creates a story designed simply to INFER societal FADS for people wanting to be a 5% freemason/Greek player. One of the key behaviors for our 99% ladder climbers back in early 1800s while France was still having revolutions-----was not to think or have any independent goals outside of advancing wealth and power of that royal family. The blending of revolutionary fever by the main character being that FRENCH ROYAL DAUGHTER tied to a supposed NAPOLEONIC revolutionary fever by what was called THE HERO----was written to be a blueprint for PLAYERS. If you can get through reading this book you will see what behavior our global banking 5% freemason/Greek players have been trained to adopt at corporate private or freemason schools.
THERE IS NOTHING REVOLUTIONARY OR POPULIST IN WANTING TO BE A LADDER CLIMBER IN MEDIEVAL MEDICI EMPIRE EUROPE.


A handbook for all those global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS 5% players NOT CARING they are killing the strongest democratic republic with governing structures protecting 99% WE THE PEOPLE in world history----they simply want that APPOINTMENT TO MONEY STREAM.



Stendhal: The Red and The Black
Marie-Henri Beyle (23 January 1783 -- 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French…
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July 27th, 2018

7/27/2018

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RUNCIE says of Florida school shooting ----WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS SYSTEM SMARTER as he claims PROMISE is successful not even knowing CRUZ never attended PROMISE.  RUNCIE is correct----these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA filled our US government and agencies with global banking 5% pols and players whose only talent is LYING, CHEATING, AND STEALING.  Before Clinton our US public agencies were filled with people capable of performing a job having a career and quality of life.  RUNCIE working for EMPIRE ALICE says WE DON'T CARE-----the PROMISE is the pledge to do ANYTHING 5% freemason/Greek players are told----and that is to eliminate strong public education in US to replace it with 1000BC vocational tracking know only your job.

We will end this week's discussion on the ASSAULT and dismantlement of our US public education system by looking at the two sides of PROMISE PROGRAM goals.  We showed yesterday the goal of ROTC and PROMISE are tops in creating the breakdown of civil society leading to civil unrest civil wars using the same deliberate tactics as in Latin America driven by SCHOOL OF AMERICA.  But PROMISE has another goal-----

ENDING AND DISMANTLING ALL OF 'AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT' ---ALL OF FEDERAL EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND ACCESS TO QUALITY K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITY---

CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA PROMISED GLOBAL 1% they would not leave any REAL left social progressive policies from last century standing and Americans with Disabilities ----that includes our children with social behavior problems -----is what PROMISE PROGRAM attacks.

OBAMA era literally wiped out all civil rights and liberty gains for our US citizens with disabilities.  PROMISE PROGRAM was aimed at our US public schools requiring opportunity and access for our children with disabilities in receiving a quality education.  OBAMA and Clinton neo-liberals for his 8 years attacked every agency tied to DISABILITY RIGHTS---from VETERANS to SENIORS---to CHILDREN---to CHRONIC DISEASE VECTORS.


'Over the course of the 1960s and 70s, several pieces of legislation created new regulations for schools, public and commercial buildings and transportation. These regulations required public-serving institutions to make “reasonable accommodations” allowing equal access to people with disabilities. Disabled Americans were guaranteed the right to attend desegregated schools and the freedom to enjoy simple pleasures such as taking a train downtown or shopping in a supermarket'.



An Overview of the Americans With Disabilities Act



\
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.


The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.




Title I - Employment
  • Helps people with disabilities access the same employment opportunities and benefits available to people without disabilities.



  • Applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
  • Requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants or employees. A “reasonable accommodation” is a change that accommodates employees with disabilities so they can do the job without causing the employer “undue hardship” (too much difficulty or expense).
 
  • Defines disability, establishes guidelines for the reasonable accommodation process, and addresses medical examinations and inquiries.
  • Regulated and enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm (link is external)

Title II - Public Services: State and Local Government
  • Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by “public entities” such as state and local government agencies. .
  • Requires public entities to make their programs, services and activities accessible to individuals with disabilities.
  • Outlines requirements for self-evaluation and planning; making reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures where necessary to avoid discrimination; identifying architectural barriers; and communicating effectively with people with hearing, vision and speech disabilities.
  • Regulated and enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.ada.gov (link is external)


Title III - Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities



  • Prohibits places of public accommodation from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. Public accommodations include privately owned, leased or operated facilities like hotels, restaurants, retail merchants, doctor’s offices, golf courses, private schools, day care centers, health clubs, sports stadiums, movie theaters, and so on.
  • Sets the minimum standards for accessibility for alterations and new construction of commercial facilities and privately owned public accommodations. It also requires public accommodations to remove barriers in existing buildings where it is easy to do so without much difficulty or expense.
  • Directs businesses to make "reasonable modifications" to their usual ways of doing things when serving people with disabilities.
  • Requires that businesses take steps necessary to communicate effectively with customers with vision, hearing, and speech disabilities.
  • Regulated and enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.ada.gov (link is external)


Title IV - Telecommunications
  • Requires telephone and Internet companies to provide a nationwide system of interstate and intrastate telecommunications relay services that allows individuals with hearing or speech disabilities to communicate over the telephone.
  • Requires closed captioning of federally funded public service announcements.
  • Regulated by the Federal Communication Commission. http://www.fcc.gov (link is external)


Title V - Miscellaneous Provisions
  • Contains a variety of provisions relating to the ADA as a whole, including its relationship to other laws, state immunity, its impact on insurance providers and benefits, prohibition against retaliation and coercion, illegal use of drugs, and attorney’s fees.
  • Provides a list of certain conditions that are not considered disabilities.
Transportation
  • Public Transportation offered by a state or local government is covered by Title II of the ADA. Publicly funded transportation includes, but is not limited to, bus and passenger train (rail) service. Rail service includes subways (rapid rail), light rail, commuter rail, and Amtrak.
  • If transportation is offered by a private company, it is covered by Title III. Privately funded transportation includes, but is not limited to, taxicabs, airport shuttles, intercity bus companies, such as Greyhound, and hotel-provided transportation.
  • The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration releases information, guidance and regulations on transportation and the ADA. http://www.fta.dot.gov/ada (link is external)

____________________________________________

We have discussed in detail the goals of WRAP-AROUND-SERVICE policies in PRETENDING all that strong social benefit inside each public school----from counselors, school nurse, to public safety officer, to special needs classrooms with teachers having specialized training in teaching those special needs children------DISAPPEARED.  They were replaced by outsourced, criminal and corrupt global banking 5% freemason/Greek player small business non-profits channeling all those Federal and state public education funds that once provided children like CRUZ having violent behavioral problems a stable classroom in a public school designed for those special needs.  Today, WRAP-AROUND -SERVICES filled with PAY-TO-PLAY the same ROBBER BARON systemic fraud and corruption taking all treasury revenue-----fills our national media and provides FAKE DATA telling us all these outsourced programs are working and putting CHILDREN FIRST.

We have looked at each outsourced social service to show the corruption---the FAKE DATA----the fact that these outsourced programs are only TEMPORARY to segue OUT real public school disability opportunity and access in ENDING ALL US DISABILITY RIGHTS.

This PROPAGANDA comes from MASSACHUSETTS---HARVARD-----who send global banking 5% players like RUNCIE----ARNE DUNCAN-----SCHOOL BOARD CEOs to LIE AND HIDE goals of killing our strong US public schools.

PROMISE PROGRAM is simply another worthless program within WRAP AROUND SERVICES having NO evidence of success.  We are to believe that sending children with violent behavior problems like CRUZ----can be solved with a few days of counseling then back into mainstream classrooms with teachers having a few hours of special needs training overwhelmed trying to teach 30-40 students in a classroom.


Below we see RAGING global banking 5% freemason/Greek players none of whom could care less for CHILDREN. Economic Policy Institute is global banking 1% Clinton neo-liberal.


'How to fix our schools
Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City public school system, and Michelle Rhee,

1 Rothstein, Richard. "How to Fix Our Schools." Economic Policy Institute (2010). http://www.epi.org/publication/ib286/'


These public school policies were WRAPPED AROUND ----RACE TO THE TOP.



Uplifting the Whole Child:



Using Wraparound Services to Overcome Social Barriers to Learning



By Colin A. Jones, August 11, 2014

For all endnotes, please see the PDF version of this paper.


INTRODUCTION



As the birthplace of public education, Massachusetts has long believed in the promise of schools to advance opportunity and civic engagement for all. However, there is reason to question the level to which education today is delivering on this promise for all children across the state.




Students facing family, health, and economic challenges enter schools with complex barriers to success. These barriers include frequent movement between schools, housing insecurity, hunger, and family stressors such as interaction with the child welfare or criminal justice systems. All of these challenges are linked with poverty and disproportionately affect communities of color.1 Policy discussions often overlook these barriers, yet they constrain the effectiveness of many educational strategies.




Educators have struggled with the question of whether school structure or external factors, such as poverty, better explain achievement gaps. Rather than taking a narrow approach, a set of promising models has taken both external and school factors into account, intentionally confronting non-academic barriers while also providing strong academics.  There are numerous terms for these efforts, including community schools, full-service schools, integrated student supports, and wraparound services. The term wraparound services is how we refer to them throughout this paper.




WHAT ARE WRAPAROUND SERVICES?


Wraparound services are student and family supports integrated with and often delivered directly within schools.2   Wraparound services help schools address social and non-academic barriers to student learning.

Examples of wraparound services are broad and include:


  • Health, dental, and vision care
  • Mental health services
  • Behavioral health, nutrition, and wellness
  • Parent and family targeted services including:
    • Adult education, such as classes on child development, GED, English as a second language, and basic vocational skills
    • Service referrals and assistance
    • Social work and family crisis response


Wraparound services have the potential to help children, families, and teachers alike. The theory behind wraparound services suggests that students whose health and wellness needs are attended to will be healthier, more focused, and better able to learn. Similarly, families engaged with schools and supportive services will have increased capacity to support child learning and health. Finally, for schools, having additional systems for confronting social challenges that impede learning, will allow teachers and administrators to focus on instruction.




Well-designed wraparound programs provide some services directly within schools while providing others through careful coordination with external agencies. This is an important balance to strike. Providing comprehensive services inside schools may be logistically challenging or duplicative of existing programs. However, merely referring students and families to outside providers may not meet immediate or ongoing needs as effectively as offering services in the schools that see kids and families on a daily basis.




The following discussion excludes some services that are also important to child development. For instance, we do not analyze teaching and learning occurring throughout the school day, afterschool, extended learning time, pre-kindergarten, or social services not integrated with schools.




For more information on providing pre-kindergarten to all three- and four-year-olds across the Commonwealth, see MassBudget's Building a Foundation for Success.  A future paper in the Roadmap to Expanding Opportunity series will examine options for increasing learning time.




BACKGROUND


Wraparound services have been around for over 30 years. One of the first efforts to provide them was under the umbrella of "community schools." Beginning in the 1980s, groups such as Schools of the 21st Century in New Haven, Connecticut, the Children's Aid Society in New York City, and the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps implemented school-based social services.3   These schools hosted community centers, provided health services, built family supports, and leveraged partnerships with business and non-profit groups.




Wraparound services gained recent attention with the success of the Harlem Children's Zone. This organization operates in a 97 block area of New York City, providing an integrated set of school and community services for children and families. Services range from pre-natal care and parenting classes, to high-performing K-12 schools and college coaching.4   Influence of the Harlem Children's Zone is reflected in the United States Department of Education Promise Neighborhood Grants, spanning 20 states, including Massachusetts. These grants support neighborhood based collaborations to deliver "cradle-to-career solutions" centered on high performing schools and family supports.5  



It is challenging to isolate the effects of wraparound services from the effects of schools themselves. A frequently cited 2011 study of the Harlem Children's Zone, done by Will Dobbie and Roland Fryer, pointed to high performing schools, not wraparound services, as the driver of impressive educational gains. However, Harlem Children's Zone schools feature wraparound services as defined here, including wellness and nutrition programs, mental health, medical, and dental care.6   It is unclear whether the impressive results of these schools, including closing racial achievement gaps within several years, would be possible without wraparound services.



Current estimates indicate that wraparound services reach 1.5 million students in close to 3,000 schools nationally. Nearly all the service providers target low-income youth, with African American and Hispanic youth comprising 75 percent of the total student population.7  




NATIONAL CASE STUDIES


With a wide variety of services in operation, it is useful to look at specific initiatives that have achieved strong results. These organizations can inform the development of wraparound services in Massachusetts.



Overall, the research on wraparound services is mixed. The organization Child Trends identified 11 formal evaluations of wraparound services to date and found that only a subset of programs have achieved positive results.8   Positive effects found among these studies include increased attendance, grade point average, and academic achievement.9




The following section explores specific details about three high-performing models, operating from local to state scale, and discusses their outcomes. These case studies span wraparound services provided through a non-profit agency, school district, and a statewide initiative, displaying the diversity of the field.  




1. Children's Aid Society of New York City (CAS) – Non-Profit Model  


The non-profit Children's Aid Society (CAS) of New York City brought a wide range of services together under an umbrella of supports coordinated with an independent non-profit as the lead agency. CAS has implemented high-quality wraparound services in a community school program since 1992. The project began with two pilot public schools in neighborhoods identified by CAS and city leaders as lacking key social supports and quality education.10   The initiative has grown to 16 in schools in 2014.11  




The expansive range of supports includes a wraparound director, family resource center, adult education, job training, medical and dental care, preventative health education, social workers, and mental health counselors.12   CAS also includes an extended day schedule and early education services through Head Start.



Evaluation results for Children's Aid Society, particularly the original sites, have been encouraging.  A Fordham University study indicated that CAS elementary students achieved proficiency growth ranging from 143 to 250 percent in math and reading scores between 1993 and 1996.13   This study also documented other positive effects including increased attendance, higher parent involvement, and improved access to health services.




Later evaluations of Children's Aid Society confirmed strong academic performance versus comparison schools. However, there were reported difficulties maintaining the high level of academic growth, measuring all the relevant data, and coordinating the relationship between wraparound services and classroom instruction.14




A cost-benefit analysis of Children's Aid Society also showed a strong return on investment. A 2013 study by the research firm The Finance Project showed a 10-to-1 return on each dollar invested in the first CAS elementary school and a 15-to-1 return for the first middle school site.15   The benefits arose from academic performance, health and wellness improvement, teacher retention, and parent involvement. This analysis included the entirety of Children's Aid Society services including early child care, thus the value of the wraparound services as defined here is likely somewhat lower.




2. Tulsa Area Community School Initiative (TACSI) – District Model


The Tulsa Area Community School Initiative (TACSI) has also demonstrated success with wraparound services. In this case, the lead agency is within a public school district.  TACSI has shown the potential to help lower income students perform on par with higher income peers in math, while drastically reducing gaps in reading. However, it has achieved these results only in its developed sites, covering one-third of sites overall.




TACSI began in 2007, reaching over 9,000 students and their families in 18 community schools across the Tulsa and Union public school districts in Oklahoma.16   As of 2012, TACSI had expanded to 23 schools.17



  TACSI founders convened an array of youth service and child welfare agencies involved with the public schools, aiming to replace fragmentation and limited impact with holistic strategies to enhance academic, family, and health outcomes.




TACSI shares similarities with other wraparound services. Site coordinators work in tandem with a management team including families, community partners, and school staff. The site team collaborates to assess needs and priorities, giving each school site a unique mix of offerings.



Although specific services vary, they include youth development, family support and engagement, and health and wellness supports. TACSI also provides medical services open to students and families in the district. TACSI collaborates with a local Department of Health to provide health classes, prevention programs, and additional social workers.18   Other partners provide specialized services such as home visiting, job training, adult education, and counseling services for youth with incarcerated parents.19   TACSI partners supplement the work of existing school social workers and counselors, significantly reducing caseloads for district staff.



An Oklahoma Center for Education Policy study showed that in developed sites, which are a third of all locations, TACSI dramatically increased the performance of low-income students.  The study shows developed sites outperformed all other schools, including those with more affluent populations.20   The chart below shows that TACSI fully closed the achievement gap in standardized math scores between low-income students and higher income peers, while reducing the gap in reading by 76 percent.21   Low-income students in developed sites actually outperformed higher income peers by 3 points in math (shown below as a negative gap) while achieving scores only 6 points lower in reading.


The promising results from TACSI come with some limitations. TACSI developed sites were only a subset.  In addition, TACSI faces challenges with obtaining consistent and sustainable funding, as it depends on funds from private foundation grants, Title I, and non-profit partners stretched by the ongoing effects of the Great Recession.  Resource shortages have reduced available services. For example, only half of sites have a full-time coordinator and most lack unified family resource centers.22   There were also significant challenges with principal and teacher turnover, suggesting a need for consistency in building a shared vision for partnerships and services.




3. California Healthy Start – State Model

The previous two cases provide strong evidence for wraparound services delivered at the local or regional level by non-profits or school districts. The California Healthy Start grant provides a useful example of a state level approach with diverse operating structures.



Starting in 1991, Healthy Start provided $88,000 planning grants and $700,000 operating grants to local consortiums creating wraparound services tailored to specific high-poverty communities.23   Services provided by Healthy Start sites include school based health clinics, mental health services, case management, adult education, and supports for basic needs such as food and clothing.24  




California's approach provides guidance on how to facilitate cost sharing and develop operational partnerships. Local partnerships consisted of school districts, non-profits, state and local agencies, and private foundations required to raise 25 percent of the state grants. In addition, recipients were limited to 3 years of funding before they were expected to continue independently.25    



California Healthy Start achieved much larger scale than the other case studies. Between 1991 and 2007, 651 operational grants reached 1,388 schools with over 1 million students.26   These figures reflect the students served throughout the grant period, sites that continued operating beyond three years likely served additional students. A report from UCLA found that 82 percent of Healthy Start grantees continued to offer services after three years.27



Evaluations of Healthy Start demonstrated benefits across many grantees and identified a subset with particularly strong results.  An evaluation in 1996 showed that families experienced increased access to food, shelter, transportation, employment, child care, and medical care.28   Family emotional health increased for recipients in concert with a decrease in the mobility rate, the percentage students leaving schools, suggesting enhanced family stability. The study also showed increases in student grade point averages, standardized test scores, and positive behavior in school.29   While overall school wide increases in academic performance across Healthy Start were three percentiles on state tests, there was higher growth in the lowest performing elementary schools, which achieved proficiency increases of 25 percent in reading and 50 percent in math.30  



 

Healthy Start studies showed that grantees were able to leverage each dollar invested towards additional resources.  A profile of six Healthy Start sites found that the grantees were able to leverage between 3 and 17 dollars of additional resources for each state dollar invested. The funding came from private partners, state agencies, and federal grants, suggesting that wraparound service centers can leverage additional resources.31  


MASSACHUSETTS LANDSCAPE



If we were to adopt wraparound services statewide, we could build on existing work already in place across the state. While wraparound services are active in Massachusetts, existing programs have yet to reach the scale or the range of services provided by the evidence-based national case studies.



The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Wraparound Zone (WAZ) grant is one of these existing programs. Starting in 2011-2012, this grant helped districts address non-academic challenges. The goals are to enhance positive school climate, identify student needs, integrate service resources, and create district level feedback and improvement.32   The WAZ initiative provided $16,000 grants to 18 schools in Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Springfield, and Worcester in the first year, and operated with up to two years of additional support.33   Lynn and Wareham were added in the 2012-2013 year. These districts were expected to supplement state funding with $99,000 from various other sources including Race to the Top, school turnaround, and local funds.



The Massachusetts WAZ initiative has limitations. It excludes provision of actual services and was limited in how many staff positions could be funded. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) specifically prohibited grant funds from being used for direct services. The total grant of $99,000 plus $16,000 per-school typically provided support for coordinators at the school and district levels, however there were also cases of staff adding wraparound activities on top of other duties.34   The staffing covered by the grant is sparse compared to the multiple administrators and direct service providers available under models like the Children's Aid Society. The funding, assuming the average of four schools per district, is 30 percent less than the funding provided to grantees in California Healthy Start. With the expectation that localities will assemble 86 percent of the funding, the expiration of Race to the Top, and the conclusion of the WAZ grant in 2013-2014, continuation of the initiative for the handful of districts is in question.




Overall, there were mixed results with implementation in WAZ schools and the districts that built services in line with case studies in the field used funding and staffing beyond the grant amount. Schools in the WAZ initiative reported successes in improving school culture, discipline, and family involvement.  In some areas, the initiative has led to district-wide changes in practice and has received a level of local support that will allow it to be sustained over the long-term. However, frontline staff have expressed concerns about sustainability of the services and local partnerships after the grant funding ends.




In Holyoke, wraparound service practices have taken hold, despite some initial challenges. While one school built on existing strong partnerships with the WAZ grant, another was rated chronically underperforming by DESE and was the subject of a takeover plan.35   This reflected variation in take-up in Holyoke Public Schools and a leadership transition. The current district leadership has prioritized wraparound services and, with a full-time district administrator, has expanded to three full-service community schools while introducing some wraparound elements district-wide.36   The full service schools feature a site coordinator, two school based health clinics, family liaisons, and a wide range of partnerships with community, government, and university agencies. This expansion was done with district funding, as WAZ grants only cover a part of the costs. The initiative has created infrastructure that can be sustained and even expanded based on Holyoke's decision to make further investments in wraparound services. Funding and staffing limitations remain an impediment to providing the full range of services district-wide.




Fall River Public Schools leveraged the WAZ initiative to shift practice and priorities across the district. Fall River used partnerships more than direct services to drive the change. Fall River has focused wraparound efforts on creating positive school climates and behavior management systems, under the guidance of a supportive superintendent and a district coordinator who possesses deep experience with local agencies.37   The district is now increasing its focus on family engagement. It has placed social-emotional learning on par with district academic goals. Each school assigns administrators, school counselors, and partners to wraparound services and sends a representative to meetings of a district taskforce. This helps ensure that practices are consistent and influence district policy. The coordinator from Fall River suggested that with a district administrator, willing partners, leadership buy-in, and structures to train staff, it is possible to create district wide wraparound approaches, after which these systems can become institutionalized.38



The WAZ initiative is only one example of active programs in the state. Wraparound service partnerships have broadened to include cross sector collaborations between non-profits, universities, and public agencies. In some cases, medical institutions have partnered with school districts to provide wraparound services. In Boston, the Children's Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships (CHNP) has partnered with Boston Public Schools to provide social workers and psychologists within under-served schools. In 2013, CHNP reached 11 schools and 1,930 students providing comprehensive mental health and wellness services. These include clinical interventions, supports for students displaying warning signs, and health promotion activities aligned with creating safe and supportive schools.39   CHNP combines delivery of these services with capacity building, including providing consultation and professional development for school staff on mental health awareness and response.  




CHNP has achieved positive results both on access and outcomes according to Boston Children's Hospital internal data. CHNP reports indicate that it provides mental health crisis intervention services 30 times faster than alternatives, conducts three times as many therapy sessions with students, and achieves a mental health improvement rate for children of 85 percent.40   This performance reflects the advantages of school-based services, compared to community health centers or district response teams, which by necessity serve larger populations.



BUILDING A STATEWIDE WRAPAROUND SERVICES MODEL



Based on the successful case studies profiled above, a review of the relevant literature, and discussion with Massachusetts experts and practitioners, the following section describes key features of a high-quality wraparound services model that could be implemented across Massachusetts. For each of these elements, we also estimate what it would cost to provide them. While each of the preceding case studies is different, a number of key features of successful programs emerge. Each of the elements discussed below reflects the most consistent practices from the case studies and the field at large. The five key elements of a strong wraparound services model are:


  • Wraparound services coordinators
  • Comprehensive health service clinics
  • Mental and behavioral health, wellness, & prevention programs
  • Family resource centers
  • District administration


Wraparound Service Coordinators


The strongest wraparound service models all include a clear point-person tasked with identifying, coordinating, and overseeing services. This ensures that services are sustained and that the social-emotional support responsibilities do not fall unduly on teachers and principals.  Site coordinators can develop keen awareness of community needs and specific family challenges, while interfacing with administrators, teachers, and providers. Coordinators must also work closely with external partners to ensure seamless integration.




A full-time coordinator, with a graduate degree costs roughly $526 per-student.  This assumes the coordinator would be a public health or social work professional, operating with a caseload near 200 families, and includes funds for salary, professional development, clerical support, and overhead.41  




Comprehensive Health Service Clinics


Numerous wraparound service models include direct service medical clinics within schools.  All high performing models profiled here feature some form of medical, dental, or vision care. Children's Aid Society of New York City specifically provides all of these within a comprehensive health center.



Richard Rothstein and colleagues placed these costs at roughly $549 per student in 2014 dollars.  This captures the cost of providing a pediatrician, dentist, optometrist, aides to the medical professionals, administrative support, and clinic startup costs.42   This figure includes an inflation adjustment and excludes mental health services, which are covered in the following section.



It is preferable to consider the costs of school based clinics within the context of existing health systems, not as new standalone costs. However, there are notable systemic challenges with integrating school-based health services with other coverage in Massachusetts. Structural barriers impede school-based clinics from receiving traditional health insurance reimbursements if they are outside of a child's health care network. Regulatory changes along with cooperation between school districts, medical providers, and managed care organizations would assist the expansion of school-based care.



A strong example of such partnerships taking hold is in Lynn, where a local community health center operates school-based clinics in nearly one-third of district schools, covering over half of the city's middle and high schools.43   The school based clinics are able to receive insurance reimbursements for services in cases where the Lynn Community Health Center is the primary care provider for a student, or where they have received a referral from a primary provider. However, there is a financial disincentive for outside providers to give referrals to school-based care regardless of the strong medical case for the services.
Mental and Behavioral Health, Wellness, & Prevention Programs




Mental and behavioral health programs support healthy outcomes and behavior for youth while contributing to positive school climates. Such services enhance school capacity for responding to all types of mental health challenges that impede learning. Services include mental health crisis intervention, clinical treatment and therapy, outreach to students at risk of developing mental health concerns, and school-wide trainings on mental health awareness.  



Wellness and prevention services also contribute to a school climate of positive culture and behavior. Topics covered include healthy lifestyle choices, nutrition, stress management, anti-bullying, healthy relationships, conflict resolution, and diversity.  Similar to mental health services, these may be directed at an entire school, classrooms, small groups, or individual students with distinct needs. Numerous evidence based curricula exist in the field, such as those implemented by the Boston Children's Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships.




These services are well suited to help address school bullying and are aligned with the State's Safe and Supportive School legislation of 2008. This law initiated the creation of a framework for addressing behavioral health, assessed school capacity, and made recommendations for improving related systems statewide.44




The Boston Children's Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships reported costs of $111 per student in the 2012-2013 school year. This figure includes a clinical team composed of 14 licensed social workers and psychologists serving 11 school sites with a total population of 6,800 students.45  



Family Resource Centers



Resource centers designed to support parents and families are a key element of strong wraparound services. Resource centers can offer skill building for parents on topics such as child development, employment, GED, and English. Centers can also provide guardians with assistance in connecting to outside social service agencies. Together these services better equip caregivers with the skills and resources necessary to effectively support their children.  



To accomplish these goals, some states have implemented family resource centers, bringing evidence-based practices to statewide scale.  Kentucky has operated family resource centers within its Department of Health and Family Services since the 1990s, with the explicit aim of addressing non-academic barriers to student success.46   These school-based resource centers offer a mix of services and referrals, including child care and afterschool programs, adult education, health services, employment assistance, and family crisis intervention. Parent focused staff with rigorous professional training oversee the services.47   Centers are located within schools with a low-income population of 20 percent or more and are accessible to all families.48




  John Kalafat and colleagues (2007) found that the Kentucky centers are associated with higher student achievement on proficiency exams, as well as positive behavior and higher academic ratings from teachers.49

Adjusting the Kentucky Family Resource Center model to Massachusetts would cost $97 per student annually. This reflects inflation and regional adjustments from Kentucky appropriations in 2011.50




Existing work on family resource centers across Massachusetts could be involved in expanding these services. Seven school liaisons work under the Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet, a collaboration led by the Massachusetts Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. These liaisons act as intermediaries between state agencies, school systems, and families accessing services.51   Liaisons are based in seven state family resource centers in Boston, Brockton, Holyoke, Lawrence, Springfield, and Worcester. This effort is acting on objectives of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) aimed at coordinating and improving services across all state agencies that serve youth.52



District Administration


For wraparound services to be effective, they have to engage with existing social services and the related state agencies, and measure performance on delivering results for kids. It is critical that program measures are attuned to improving areas of weakness and identifying what works. Towards these ends, district administration is included in this wraparound model.  Such administrators would interface with state and local agencies and staff involved in the delivery and coordination of services, such as the interagency school liaisons under EOHHS.



District wraparound administrators manage, support, and evaluate school wraparound coordinators. The role includes setting strategy and performance goals as well as providing school level coordinators with professional development opportunities and support.


Since district wraparound administrators work within an overall district mission of academic success, this model assumes these administrators would serve as assistant superintendents. The cost of regional and district administration is $29 annually per-student. This figure is equal to the average state spending level for assistant superintendents according to a DESE report from 2013.53  


STATEWIDE COST PROJECTION


The total per-student cost of a wraparound services model containing the five elements discussed above is $1,312 annually. Wraparound services of this scope are not equally necessary for all school districts in the Commonwealth. All the case studies profiled here operate in under-resourced areas where many students were not otherwise receiving these important non-academic supports.



For this reason, eligibility criteria should be carefully designed. One approach could be to provide wraparound supports to schools eligible for school-wide services through Title I Elementary and Secondary Education Act grants. In order to qualify for school-wide Title I support, a school must have a low-income population of at least 40 percent.54   For estimating state-wide costs, we assume that the unit of implementation is the district, since a key element of high-quality services is district support and coordination.




Applying this cutoff point to traditional districts across the state creates a target population in Massachusetts of 65 districts serving 356,000 students. These districts are representative of all regions of the state, including vocational-technical schools, and regional schools, and are of diverse population size and composition. The average number of students in these districts is 5,500, with a maximum of 54,000 students in Boston. There is no exact science to selecting a cutoff point. For example there are several Gateway Cities with populations of between 34 percent and just under 40 percent low-income students (Attleboro, Barnstable, Peabody, and Westfield).


Under these assumptions, the full cost of statewide wraparound services is roughly $468 million. Utilizing the average student population of 5,500, the average cost of implementation is $7 million per-district. These estimates do not consider existing services that could be coordinated or current partnerships in schools; therefore they do not necessarily represent new spending in these areas. A key example of this is school-based health care. In this case, shifting existing healthcare spending on kids to school-based clinics could greatly reduce any net additional cost.


Massachusetts could share the costs between the state and localities to ensure the feasibility of the five element wraparound services model and to facilitate the creation of local partnerships. The matching formula could reflect the Commonwealth's Chapter 70 education formula that takes into account diverse need and ability to pay at the local level. This would create diversity in the amount that cities and towns would contribute. Alternatively, Massachusetts could adopt a system similar to California's Healthy Start grant by requiring that municipalities gather a set percentage of the resources locally. This approach has the downside of not taking into account localities' differing ability to pay.



Either form of matching should include local district or municipal spending, state and federal grant funds, and private sources of funding or in-kind services from partners. All resources dedicated to services under the wraparound umbrella should be eligible towards matching.



Regardless of whether a matching system is used, existing partnerships and services should be included in building comprehensive wraparound supports. Identifying existing services should be included as a condition of eligibility for additional funding. Identification of related services would help ensure that state funds are used to initiate supports that do not currently exist at the local level while integrating what is already working.



CONCLUSION & POLICY CONSIDERATIONS



Confronting students' non-academic or social barriers through wraparound services has been shown to be effective across the country. This approach holds potential for Massachusetts. Wraparound services covering the five elements described above would greatly broaden the range of school-integrated services available to thousands of children and families across the Commonwealth.  



While wraparound services assist in creating the conditions for learning, the necessary complement to these supports is highly effective schools with engaging and rigorous academics. When combined, these building blocks can create a foundation for academic and social progress, particularly in under-resourced areas, helping students from all backgrounds receive a quality education.



Sufficient time and planning are necessary to build wraparound services at district or statewide scale. Among the national case studies, numerous examples were created and refined based on experience over multiple decades. Each community has unique strengths and challenges. Community partnerships designed to build on strengths and address challenges must reflect the input of all local stakeholders and incorporate the feedback of diverse community members and professionals, who may be working together in unprecedented ways. All of these tasks require ongoing collaboration, feedback, and improvement. The 3-year timeframe of both the California Healthy Start and the DESE Wraparound Zone grants is a reasonable estimate of adequate time.




Evaluation of results throughout the process will help ensure that progress towards positive outcomes for youth and families – as well as potential impediments to success - are identified.  These services have the potential to improve a broad set of family and youth indicators, in addition to improving traditional academic measures such as standardized test scores. Many of the initial effects are on mental health, physical health, family stability, and access to services. Growth in these areas can in turn promote academic success. The means by which this positive cycle can best be initiated are as unique as each community and family.



 

It is important to consider the interaction of wraparound services with existing state efforts to support youth and families. Particularly, the interaction between school-based medical services and existing health coverage is a critical point of alignment. Services directed at mental health, safe and supportive schools, existing school counseling and nursing, family access centers, and other initiatives should be incorporated into a unified, intentional, and holistic system of support for youth and families.


1 Rothstein, Richard. "How to Fix Our Schools."  Economic Policy Institute (2010). http://www.epi.org/publication/ib286/


________________________________________________

We saw in Florida with CRUZ as a school shooter not only a child tied to military training while struggling with personal violent/depressive behavior issues----we saw in CRUZ a child who QUIT SCHOOL because he could not be successful in mainstreamed classrooms----he could not receive the professional special needs hands on teachers he needed to be successful----and because CRUZ KNEW attending a few days of outsourced counseling would do nothing but send Federal funding to an outsourced non-profit which received that funding whether CRUZ attended PROMISE classes or not.

Looking at FAKE DATA from across the US where all these PROMISE PROGRAMS were installed-----all we see is the MARCH TO REHABILITATION CAMP FREE LABOR/CHILD LABOR exactly as exists in CHINA.

We KNOW all this talk of FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE is the ending of our US PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS moving to apprenticeship tracking ----and that is the goal of PROMISE PROGRAM.   It will be found that children like CRUZ cannot be successfully mainstreamed into classrooms and instead they will be tracked to pre-K to career vocational training only apprenticeship CHILD LABOR.

CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA and their global banking 5% freemason/Greek players----PROMISE THAT IS THE GOAL.


The DATA shows this is all a success---except when it is NOT A SUCCESS.

Replicating the Tennessee Promise



As Tennessee’s Promise program expands to include adult students, other community college scholarship programs are figuring out how to replicate its success.


ByAshley A. Smith
March 2, 2017

 

While many states and cities are still working through the details and funding behind their attempts to create a free community college program, Tennessee has been busy expanding its scholarship.


The state was the first to create a free community college program. Now in its second year, the Tennessee Promise has led to student retention gains even as the number of participating students increases.


That success was highlighted recently by the state’s move to expand the Promise to include all adult residents through Tennessee Reconnect -- which already allowed adult residents to earn a certificate for free at any Tennessee college of applied technology. (The expanded program requires adults to not already have an associate or bachelor's degree, be a state resident for at least a year, apply for federal student aid, participate in an advising program and attend college at least part time.)



“One of the things we always heard was, ‘What are we doing with adults?’” said Mike Krause, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. “And now we’ve been able to answer that question. We built a seamless message that is about everyone going to college.”
More than 33,000 students have received the Promise scholarship and enrolled in college since the program began in 2015, with nearly 23,300 enrolled in 2016.


But, as some states and cities are learning, replicating an initiative like the Tennessee Promise isn’t an exact science. And there are a few common barriers many programs have faced, including finances and politics.



“Money is the logical explanation,” said Laura Perna, director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania, who has examined more than 150 Promise programs to assemble a database of characteristics. “Many states have a number of programs spending a lot of money on different types of financial aid already. So it’s important for a state to consider the resources they have available.”



For instance, Oregon, which is using money from the state budget to fund its Promise initiative, allocated $10 million to the program last year. However, officials are estimating the cost will rise to $13.5 million as the state deals with a budget shortfall. Oregon has also seen some of its universities object to the Promise money, with some arguing for more funding for a state scholarship that benefits low-income students who attend public, four-year institutions.



Yet in Tennessee, the program's expansion is less controversial because it won’t directly cost taxpayers. The state is expecting the expansion to cost about $10 million a year, but those funds will come from lottery dollars. The main Promise program also is primarily funded from the state’s lottery reserves, which were placed in an endowment.



This year the total cost for the scholarship is $25.3 million.
“If you’re going to establish a program, you want it to be politically and financially sustainable,” Perna said. “Certainly we know from research that money matters, but it’s not the only thing that matters if you want to improve college attainment for underserved students.”



Where Oregon is facing a backlash from its four-year institutions, Tennessee allows public and private universities that offer an associate degree program to participate in the Promise program.


Four percent of Tennessee Promise students are enrolled at private institutions this year, with a 2 percent annual gain, according to the state higher education office.



“The compromise we made with the governor put us in a position where we would not oppose [the Promise],” said Claude Pressnell Jr., president of the Tennessee Independent Colleges & Universities Association. “We found, due to transfers and adult learners, our enrollment has gone up slightly over the past few years.”



While enrollment has increased at all the state's private institutions, Pressnell said three in particular have seen enrollment gains and the largest share of Tennessee Promise students: Cumberland University, Martin Methodist College and Carson-Newman University.



All three of those private institutions have recruited Promise students, either by agreeing to match the scholarship with institutional aid or by hosting Promise orientation sessions on their campuses, he said.


“I don’t think the other states know we do it,” Pressnell said. “It’s billed as a community college program, and they don’t realize that it’s portable to a four-year institution with an associate degree. Even in this state, it’s the least publicized piece of the program.”



Among the state’s four-year public universities, however, some institutions have taken an enrollment hit in recent years. At the University of Tennessee Martin, for instance, undergraduate enrollment is down 2.4 percent since last year, according to state data. The campus doesn’t offer associate degree programs.



However, UT Martin officials are more likely to praise the Promise program than blame it for low enrollment. After all, the university has seen a 14 percent decrease in enrollment over five years -- a trend that predates the Promise.



“We think the Tennessee Promise program is a good thing,” said Keith Carver, chancellor for UT Martin. “When you talk about a state trying to get 55 percent of its population to a postsecondary degree, whether it’s a technical certificate, an associate’s degree at one of the state’s community colleges or a four-year degree from one of our four-year colleges or universities, that’s a really good thing.”


Carver said it is reasonable to suspect that the Promise program has had some influence on the decrease in Martin’s undergraduate enrollment. But because the population was already in a decline, the reason for the change has been difficult to quantify.



UT Martin faces other issues that impact enrollment more -- an overall declining population in rural western Tennessee and high unemployment when compared to the rest of the state.


Instead, UT Martin is focusing its efforts on transfer students.
The campus is up 4.3 percent in Promise students who have transferred in, Carver said.
“As tough as our jobs are, in terms of dwindling pool of students, we’re having to work much more strategically,” he said.


Beyond the Money

Chris Baldwin, a senior director at Jobs for the Future, said as other states examine Tennessee and look at creating Promise programs, it’s important to note that the changes the state made weren’t decided overnight.



“What Tennessee has been able to do and the success they’ve had is broader than free community college,” he said. “For one, it fits the performance funding they’ve had for a long time. There’s a robust set of things they’ve done around developmental education and streamlining through guided pathways … I’d hesitate to say the success is purely about free tuition, so if you’re replicating it, it would mean you have to replicate a lot.”



Baldwin points to the Detroit Promise scholarship, which, while generating a lot of interest in community college, doesn’t solve the underlying problems students have, such as academic challenges and not having financial stability in their lives to sustain enrollment and be successful.



As New York pursues a free college program and other, similar Promise programs emerge across the country, the question will be what they are doing beyond free tuition, he said.


In Tennessee, officials feel their biggest impact hasn’t been financial but messaging. Perhaps that’s why Krause said he isn’t surprised other states haven’t exactly replicated the Tennessee model.


“It’s amazing to see more states haven’t realized by changing the messaging and leveraging financial aid … it takes time,” he said. “A lot of people are watching to see how it goes through a full cohort.”


____________________________________________



For those not knowing JOHNSON AND JOHNSON is about the worst of global multi-national corporations measured at ever social level -----and yes, here is that raging global neo-liberal LAISSEZ FAIRE player now giving all kinds of PROMISES. Oh, this is so PROGRESSIVELY PROMISING say global banking 1%.

Johnson and Johnson has morphed from a US corporation providing household products to being THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH======ABRAHAM and his global black market corporation selling BABY POWDER to hide what was his most profitable GLOBAL DRUG CARTEL.



'Robert Wood Johnson

I - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wood_Johnson_I




Robert Wood Johnson I (February 20, 1845 – February 7, 1910) was an American industrialist.He was also one of the three brothers who founded Johnson & Johnson'




We saw with the Florida school shooting as all school shootings across the US------happening by young white male children---in predominately white schools -----while the same is happening in our black communities the difference being these young black children are shooting in their communities. Below we see MR ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON PROMISING a targeted 99% of black children. All these RACE TO TOP GLOBAL ONLINE COMMONER CORE----PRE-K TO CAREER APPRENTICESHIP CHILD LABOR attacks all US population groups. So, we are simply watching our strongest in world history US public school system being PIECE-MEALED away with outsourcing and myth-making. As usual, it is those global banking 1% FAKE RELIGIOUS freemason schools promoting these policies replacing US PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Global banking 1% far-right wing ECONOMIC PROGRESSIVE neo-liberalism is the OPPOSITE of our REAL left social progressive AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT ---I AM MAN----300 YEARS OF US PUBLIC EDUCATION.


'create "healthy villages"---ah, there is HILLARY'S ---IT TAKES A VILLAGE. Those global banking 1% care so much for our US and new immigrant 99% of citizens black, white, and brown citizens.


'Forward Promise


Empowering boys and young men of color to heal, grow and thrive.
Forward Promise aims to improve health and enable success in school, work, and life.




Boys and young men of color (BYMOC) are critically important members of their communities and contributors to society. Unfortunately, however, challenges with neighborhoods, housing, schools, jobs, and economic security often lead to limited positive options—and long-term challenges for health.
Forward Promise is an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which is working to strengthen the supportive networks and relationships that surround BYMOC and their families.



In communities around the nation, and in collaboration with numerous other foundations and organizations, the program is working to advance solutions and create "healthy villages" that enable BYMOC to grow up healthy and reach their fullest potential.

______________________________________________

Here is the global banking RIGHT WING media playing this game of OBAMA-----when all these US public education policies are written by global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS---taking our US public schools back to 1000BC 99% of people don't need to know.

When the US ROTC representative in Chicago was asked why ARMY JUNIOR ROTC always ends up in low-income public schools his reply----the school's administration ASKED FOR this ROTC.   No, these school principals today have absolutely no voice or control in how our local public schools operate---our classroom teachers have absolutely no voice or choice of what is taught in US public school classrooms----and if any local public school employee or parent/child QUESTIONS these RACE TO TOP dismantling of our US public schools and strong 99% EDUCATION they are immediately threatened of job and/or ability to send their children to the fewer and fewer and fewer community schools left open.

THAT IS HOW BALTIMORE WORKS-----driven by global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players tied to BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL---MAYOR PUGH----BALTIMORE SCHOOL BOARD AND ITS CEO----MARYLAND ASSEMBLY POLS FROM BALTIMORE----all doing whatever global hedge fund IVY LEAGUE JOHNS HOPKINS ----which controls all Baltimore public policy TELLS THEM------these global banking 5% players PROMISED to do anything they are told.

So, now our 99% of WE THE PEOPLE are being forced to fight against each other because our classrooms are filling with children having different learning needs while teachers are pushed through lower quality professional teaching programs while children are being made more and more BORED with ONLINE ONLY LESSONS.   Oh, it is OBAMA'S fault----as too CLINTON/BUSH.


IT'S THE BAD GUYS WITH GUNS SAYS ARNE DUNCAN---NOT MOVING FORWARD CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL OF AMERICAS BRUTAL MILITARIZED GOALS COURTESY GLOBAL 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA---TRIBE OF JUDAH.



'Obama Education Chief Arne Duncan Urges Boycott of Public Schools Until Gun Control PassedObama-era education secretary Arne Duncan urged a gathering of Parkland parents in Broward County to keep their children home from school until Congress passes national gun control laws.

20 Jul 2018, 9:27 AM PDT'



Broward County Likely ‘Inspiration’ for Obama School Discipline Policy to Report Fewer Arrests, Suspensions



26 Feb 2018  BREITBART NEWS.   Dr. Susan Berry


The Broward County school district’s adoption of a school discipline policy that was praised by the Obama administration for seeking to reduce the reported number of school suspensions, expulsions, and arrests may have played a role in the fact that Nikolas Cruz remained under the radar until his shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida, on February 14.“The facts pattern that has emerged strongly suggests it played a role,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Max Eden tells Breitbart News. “It’s not actually accurate to say that what Broward County did was the result of the Obama policy. It might be more accurate to say that what Broward County did was in some way the inspiration for Obama’s policy.”



The Obama-era Departments of Education and Justice – under education secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder –issued school guidelines in 2014 that claimed students of color are “disproportionately impacted” by suspensions and expulsions, a situation they said leads to a “school-to-prison pipeline” that discriminates against minority and low-income students.




“Broward County was the first to have the goal of lowering suspensions, lowering expulsions, lowering arrests,” explains Eden. “And, so, they decided to reduce police involvement by not bringing in cops to arrest kids for a whole range of serious offenses, and then, as you would expect, the arrests go down when you stop arresting. That was taken to be a sign of success, based on that metric alone.”




According to the Obama administration’s 2014 “Dear Colleague” guidance, any school district whose disciplinary measures showed “disparate impact” – meaning a disproportionately greater number of minority students are affected – is open to investigation by the Departments of Justice and Education, regardless of whether the behavior leading to the discipline is unacceptable.




Eden explained at National Review in November how the Obama-era school discipline policy “extended Black Lives Matter’s ideology down into America’s classrooms”:



Social-justice activists assumed that just as racial disparities in the criminal-justice system must be evidence that cops are (at least implicitly) racist, so too racial disparities in school suspensions must be evidence that teachers are (at least implicitly) racist. Therefore, teachers — like cops — have to be restrained.



Several years before the Obama school discipline policy appeared, however, the Broward County school board hired as superintendent Robert Runcie – who had worked for Duncan in Chicago – and also joined with the NAACP, law enforcement, and government agencies to adopt the district’s Collaborative Agreement on School Discipline, dubbed PROMISE (Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Support, and Education).


As M. Catharine Evans reports at American Thinker, in academic year 2011-2012, just prior to the school board’s decision to hire Runcie, the Broward County public school district had 1,062 school-related arrests – the highest number in Florida.



Evans continues:
The Obama administration’s Department of Education was also involved in implementing PROMISE. Obama, who routinely dangled carrots in the form of matching federal grants to local districts for their participation in Common Core and Race to the Top, doled out millions to Broward.




With the promise of federal monies, it’s no surprise that Superintendent Runcie (annual salary: $335,000) was happy to oblige his friends in D.C. Within a year of Runcie’s arrival, student arrest rates were down 66 percent, and Broward County Schools were about to hit the federal jackpot.




One of the premises of the PROMISE program cited in the agreement and supported by data from the Obama Department of Education Office for Civil Rights reads:
WHEREAS, across the country, students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students are disproportionately impacted by school-based arrests for the same behavior as their peers.




“In 2015, the Obama administration brought them to a White House Summit on rethinking school discipline and to highlight their success and tell school districts throughout the country, ‘Look at what Broward is doing as an example,’” Eden says.




Broward County Sheriff Union president Jeff Bell told Laura Ingraham on Fox News that he places some blame for the horrific shooting on the school board and the adoption of its PROMISE program:




For years they know that the schools have been soft targets, and they claim that they want to have better police presence inside the schools, and they want tougher security, but, yet, they do not want to cough up the money to pay for that better security and fortify their schools and have better designs. They don’t want that. And, then when they are fortunate to have a school resource officer deputy on scene, and armed police presence, a lot of the liberal-thinking principals on campus there, they don’t want the police officers making arrests on campus, and they don’t want the drugs to be found on campus, and they don’t want the warrants to be served on campus because it looks like there’s bad stats at the school.




So, I place a lot of blame on the school board with that and some of the programs that they’ve initiated with the state attorney and the sheriff’s office in years past. For example, the PROMISE program … the problem is when that program started, we took all discretion away from the law enforcement officers to effect an arrest if we choose to.




During an interview Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel first defended the PROMISE program as one that is “helping many, many people,” but then later admitted that if a report is not made about an aggressive student’s behavior to law enforcement, “there’s no malfeasance or misfeasance if you don’t know about something”:




TAPPER: I think there are a lot of people, sir, who think that there are a lot of mistakes, other than that one deputy.
But let me ask you something else. A lot of people in the community have noted that the Broward County School Board entered into an agreement when you were sheriff in 2013 to pursue the — quote — “least punitive means of discipline” against students.
This new policy encouraged warnings, consultations with parents and programs on conflict resolution, instead of arresting students for crimes.



Were there not incidents committed by the shooter as a student had this new policy not been in place that otherwise he would have been arrested for and not able to legally buy a gun?
ISRAEL: What you’re referring to is the PROMISE Program.
And it’s giving the school — the school has the ability under certain circumstances not to call the police, not to get the police involved on misdemeanor offenses and take care of it within the school. It’s an excellent program.



It’s helping many, many people. What this program does is not put a person at 14, 15, 16 years old into the criminal justice system.
TAPPER: What if he should be in the criminal justice system? What if he does something violent to a student? What if he takes bullets to school? What if he takes knives to schools? What if he threatens the lives of fellow students?
ISRAEL: Then he goes to jail. That’s not applicable in the PROMISE Program.
TAPPER: That’s not what happened. But that’s not what happened with the shooter.
ISRAEL: If – Jake, you’re telling me that the shooter took knives to school or bullets to school, and police knew about it?



TAPPER: I don’t know if police knew about it.
ISRAEL: No. Well, police …
TAPPER: I know that the agreement that you entered into with the school allowed the school to give this kid excuse after excuse after excuse, while, obviously …
ISRAEL: Not for bullets, not for bullets, not for guns, not for knives, not for felonies, not for anything like that. These are infractions within the school, small amounts of marijuana, some misdemeanors.



You’re absolutely exacerbating it. That’s not …
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: There are at teachers at the school had been told, if you see Cruz come on campus with a backpack, let me know.
Does that not indicate that there is something seriously awry with the PROMISE Program if these teachers are being told, watch out for this kid, and you don’t know about it?
ISRAEL: We don’t know that that has anything to do with the PROMISE Program. I didn’t hear about this until after the fact. I have heard about this information about a week ago. I do know about it. I don’t know who the teacher was. It hasn’t been corroborated, but that has nothing to do with the PROMISE Program.


I can’t, nor can any other Broward sheriff’s deputy, handle anything or act upon something you don’t know about it. There’s no malfeasance or misfeasance if you don’t know about something.
“So much of the question that we should be asking is how did Cruz go under the radar and what role these policies played in that, because we have evidence that, at a lower level, these dynamics are playing out in school districts across the country,” Eden asserts.
He observes that in Washington, DC, principals of nearly every high school “systematically took suspensions off the books.”




“They told teachers not to let those students back into school, but they never told Central Office about it,” he explains. “So how much troubling student behavior was never able to be processed because of the way administrators reacted to a shift that says we expect you to post lower numbers on disciplinary problems?”
Evans notes that in October 2016, Broward County’s school board and its partners renewed the PROMISE agreement:



After the 2016 signing, it was announced a couple of weeks later on October 18, BCPS was the only large urban district in the country to receive a Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education totaling $53,808, 909. One of the TIF’s grant priorities is listed as “improved life for students in poverty/students of color.”



Nevertheless, as the Washington Post reported, the Florida Department of Children and Families report regarding the investigation into Cruz states that, in 2016, school resource officer Scot Peterson had been approached by investigators, but “refused to share any information … regarding [an] incident that took place with” Cruz.



The Post continues:
That same year, the sheriff’s office revealed Thursday, it was told about “third hand information” from a “neighbor’s son” suggesting that Cruz “planned to shoot up the school,” although the specific school was not listed. The sheriff’s office said a deputy contacted the caller, determined that Cruz had knives and a BB gun and sent the information to the school resource officer — presumably Peterson. It is unclear whether he investigated.



“If we’re trying to answer the question, ‘How did Nikolas Cruz remain under the radar?’ it certainly seems as though part of that answer is the fact that the radar was shifted and that students like him were supposed to be put under the radar in the first place,” Eden suggests. “The point of the PROMISE program was to not let them know about it.”

__________________________________________________
We will discuss ENTERPRISE ZONE public policy next week to remind our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE and our 99% of new immigrant citizens from where all these global banking 1% TALKING POINTS surrounding WRAP AROUND SERVICES began----you know a few decades ago at the start of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA ROBBER BARON fleecing of our US Federal agencies-----WRAP AROUND was tied to ENTERPRISE ZONES used to PRETEND any of the US city development these few decades had to do with PUBLIC BENEFIT----while privatizing every public agency then filling it with fraud and corruption. PROMISE PROGRAM is simply the latest in a long history of what EVERYONE KNOWS was always BAD PUBLIC POLICY.

All this is FAR-RIGHT WING GLOBAL BANKING 1%------nothing left happening.

'As secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the George H.W. Bush administration, Kemp continued to push hard for enterprise zones, which he liked to call empowerment zones'


Enterprise Zones: A Bipartisan Failure
REUTERS/Larry Downing
By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times
Follow

January 10, 2014
On Wednesday, President Obama endorsed the idea of “promise zones,” a variation of the old Republican idea of enterprise zones. These new zones—located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky and the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma—will receive intensive federal support, together with state and local initiatives, to raise growth and employment.
The idea of targeting tax and other incentives to specific areas dates back at least to the 1968 presidential campaign, when both Richard Nixon and Bobby Kennedy endorsed the idea. In the 1970s, the idea was picked up in England, where more than two dozen enterprise zones were established.
 
In the 1980s, New York Reps. Jack Kemp and Robert Garcia, the former a Republican and the latter a Democrat, cosponsored legislation to create enterprise zones in the U.S. But they failed to get Congressional approval, although some state-level enterprise zones were created.


As secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the George H.W. Bush administration, Kemp continued to push hard for enterprise zones, which he liked to call empowerment zones. Legislation was finally enacted in 1993 and expanded in 1997 and by subsequent legislation. In 2000, Congress enacted the New Markets Tax Credit as an additional enterprise zone incentive. Thus we now have considerable experience with the enterprise zone idea in operation.
Unfortunately, the evidence shows that enterprise zones are at best a very weak generator of jobs. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has done several studies and concluded that there was no significant difference in economic growth or job creation inside the enterprise zones from the surrounding area.
Academic research confirms this conclusion. A 2006 article in the Journal of Urban Affairs found only a few instances in which economic activity in the zone was better than that in comparable areas outside the zone. An article in the Economic Development Quarterly in 2009 found “no evidence that these enterprise zones affected the employment of zone residents.” An article in the Journal of Urban Economics in 2010 found, “The evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase employment.”
The evidence is equally weak regarding the New Markets Tax Credit. A 2009 article in the Public Finance Review found no change in investment in low-income communities. A report on the tax credit for the Treasury Department by the Urban Institute in 2013 found that job creation was small and carried a high cost, averaging $53,162 in tax credits for each job created.
There are a variety of reasons for why enterprise zones have failed. One is that businesses simply gamed the system and figured out ways to get the tax cuts without doing much of anything in return, something economists call “rent-seeking.” Often, the “job creation” in the zones resulted simply from the relocation of business just outside the zone into the zone. Another problem is that high taxes are not a significant reason why businesses don’t invest in the inner cities now. It’s more because they lack an educated labor force, transportation, a local population with purchasing power and other factors that the enterprise zone concept didn’t address.
Supporters refuse to acknowledge that enterprise zones were a good idea that was worth trying and just didn’t work. Instead, they keep beating this dead horse as if it is still an untried idea from which we have no experience of failure. On Dec. 18, Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, both of Kentucky, proposed new enterprise zone legislation as if they just came up with the idea for the first time.
It is tempting to members of both parties to come up with a place-oriented policy that targets the problems of poverty and unemployment in high-profile locations where they are especially bad. In theory, a relatively small amount of money can be leveraged to jump-start growth in areas where there may be positive spillover effects.
This approach is attractive in an era when government resources are severely limited. Democrats are unable to repeat Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty,” which was launched 50 years ago this month, while the sorts of big tax cuts implemented by Ronald Reagan 33 years ago are also off the table due to the budget deficit.
Perhaps the new Obama administration initiative will add something new to the tried-and-failed enterprise zone strategy of the last 20 years. But I am extremely doubtful. To me, this looks like the equivalent of establishing a government commission to investigate a problem; that is, a way to appear to be doing something about it without really doing anything at all.


________________________________________________


We see in the US global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players working for CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA and foreign sovereignty of MALTA ---KNIGHTS OF MALTA----as we saw in last post with ARNE DUNCAN pretending to care about these children and families victim of school shootings-----GUN CONTROL GUN CONTROL GUN CONTROL while installing SCHOOL OF AMERICA K-university corporate charter schools knowing the global gun and drug cartels feeding our US cities and counties work for global banking 1%.

What did global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS Latin American leaders do as they geared up for continuous civil unrest civil wars in Chile, Argentina, Central America ----they passed GUN CONTROL LAWS.  SCHOOL OF AMERICAS/CIA/SPECIAL FORCES dumping military weapon caches to any military junta while 99% of LATINO citizens were told they should not OWN GUNS.

REAL left social progressive academics back in 1970s-80s when we could actually get REAL COMMUNICATION from those 99% of LATINO citizens were shouting back then-----THEY TOOK OUR GUNS AND WE ARE FACING CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR with militarized junta having all the BULLETS AND AK - 47S they need.  Of course those 99% of LATINO men, women, and children were killed, brutalized with no means of protection.

When REAL left social progressives who always fought for gun control laws stand with our US 99% of citizens FIGHTING FOR 2ND AMENDMENT GUN RIGHTS-----we do this not only because 50% of Americans like owning guns----we do this because we KNOW HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF---MOVING FORWARD US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE-----CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR courtesy global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA----TRIBE OF JUDAH part of goals of WW 3.


Let's just STOP MOVING FORWARD US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----to stop all the goals of widespread civil violence being installed by global banking 5% CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA freemason/Greek pols and players. Remember, it is not the 99% of US black, white, and brown citizens---it is not the 99% of REAL Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, Seik citizens ----hold those global banking 5% freemason/Greek CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA players ACCOUNTABLE.



Gun Control Laws Have Failed Latin America




by José Niño




It’s no secret that Latin America is rife with violence. A recent ranking from the Citizen’s Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice(CCSPJP) further illustrates this point with the top 10 most violent cities in the world being exclusively located in Latin America. Additionally, Latin America has the dishonor of having 43 of the 50 most violent urban centers located in the region.





These shocking levels of violence can be attributed to several factors — corruption, failed drug war policies, and the lack of rule of law in the region.
Source.




But there is one elephant in the room that is largely ignored in the discussion of crime in Latin America: the stringent gun-control laws present in these countries.




While the previously mentioned factors cannot simply be discounted, the lack of coverage on Latin American gun control policy is rather alarming.



Countries like Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela feature some of the most draconian gun control policies in the region. With crime rates at already high levels, gun control simply makes matters worse for law-abiding citizens fearful of criminals.



A more detailed look at the countries’ gun laws is necessary to understand the degree of gun control that is prevalent in these countries.


Brazil


Brazil has some of the most violent cities on the planet, with 19 of them in the CCSPJP’s top 50 rankings. Brazil’s notoriously high crime rates have spurred the Brazilian political class to enact all sorts of heavy-handed attempts to curb crime. Since the 1990s, Brazil has passed over a dozen pieces of gun control laws and regulations.



To own a firearm, Brazilians must be 25 years of age, hold a gun license, pay registration fees, and go through extensive background checks. Prior to 2004, only 3.5% of the Brazilian population legally owned firearms, all thanks to the country’s onerous registration system. Despite Brazil’s gun control status quo, crime rates have continued to rise without end.



Colombia­­


Colombia is no stranger to violence. Violent encounters with the brutal guerilla forces of the FARC and drug cartels have been the norm in Colombia over the past few decades. While former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s security measures did play a considerable role in curtailing organized crime and guerilla warfare in the first decade of the 21st century, Colombia remains among the most violent countries in the region. Colombia features four cities in the CCSPJP’s top 50 most violent cities rankings.




Although the Colombian Constitution of 1991 does allow for civilians to possess and carry firearms, they still must go through considerable amounts of red tape to exercise their right to self-defense.



Civilians 18 and older are limited to the purchase and carry of small caliber handguns and shotguns with a license. However, higher caliber handguns and semi-automatic guns are prohibited, and can only be possessed under “exceptional circumstances.” Additionally, all guns must be registered with the military, which has a monopoly on the sale of weapons and issues all gun permits.
Source. 





A 2014 study revealed that there are more than 500,000 legal guns in the hands of over 400,000 owners, with private security making up more than half of the ownership. This comes as no surprise when factoring in the aforementioned regulations.



Mexico



One needn’t look any further than across the border in Mexico to comprehend the failures of gun control in curbing crime. Like Brazil and Colombia, Mexico has some of the most stringent gun control policies in the region.



With only one official gun store in the country, located in the capital of Mexico City, law-abiding citizens have very little options for attaining weapons. Potential buyers must not only submit references and demonstrate that their income was legally earned, they also must be photographed and fingerprinted. And once they’ve successfully jumped these hoops, they can only purchase one firearm.



Despite all the red tape in acquiring a firearm, Mexico is awash with guns in criminal hands.
This has not served the Mexican people well, as they are frequently at the mercy of powerful drug cartels.


Venezuela



While extreme, the Venezuelan case can shed light on the effects of gun control. The late Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro’s socialist policies have not only impoverished millions of Venezuelans, but they have also completely ripped the social fabric of Venezuelan society apart.



As a result, Venezuela has 10 of the most violent cities in all Latin America according to the CCSPJP’s ranking, with Caracas at the top of the list.


In response to the rampant levels of crime, the Venezuela government started by banning the private ownership of firearms in 2012. Studies show that while Venezuelan crime rates were already high before the ban, Venezuela’s gun control measures did not seem to make a dent on crime


With the Venezuelan government’s recent call to mobilize armed militia members, it makes sense for Venezuelans to be allowed to carry weapons for self-defense not only to protect themselves from common criminals, but from a government that has a proven track record of tyrannical behavior.



A Modest Proposal


What can be done in the short term to ameliorate the rampant degree of violence in Latin America?


For starters, it would behoove Latin American policymakers to consider tackling these problems from a self-defense angle. A good first step would be to allow law-abiding citizens to freely own and carry firearms for self-defense.


These policies would come in handy in a region where the integrity of law enforcement and military forces is frequently called into question. The harsh reality is that in many Latin American countries the lines between the political and criminal classes are blurry at best. Thus, counting on public entities to deliver security services in these countries is simply a fool’s errand.



Eighteenth-century Americans understood the importance of private gun ownership as a bulwark against potential tyranny. But gun ownership has also served as a practical means of self-defense for numerous citizens, especially when considering the inefficiency of police agencies in providing security.
All in all, Latin America would benefit from policies that allow law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to self-defense. While this may not be a cure-all for the region’s rampant violence, it at least gives the citizenry a fighting chance in the face of organized crime and authoritarian regimes.

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July 26th, 2018

7/26/2018

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Coming to the end of a week's discussion on US public education policy forced to be militarized education------we want to look more closely at PROMISE as a global banking 1% term never intended to be common good.  We cannot have a DREAM ACT----we cannot have PROMISE in our US city communities when we allow global banking 5% freemason/Greek players to control both US major political parties.  MOVING FORWARD will continue to use PROPAGANDA AND MYTH-MAKING when discussing public policy.

The first thing we notice with the FLORIDA school shooting were lots of people shown in media having NO BACKGROUND IN EDUCATION.  Just as here in Baltimore and Maryland-----school superintendents are no longer tied to QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION----they are tied to global education corporations like DEVOS/PRINCE.  OBAMA from Chicago---ground zero for SCHOOL OF AMERICA MILITARY TRAINING-----created policy called PROMISE because Clinton/Obama were defunding all public schools and funding handing all Federal education spending to global corporations.  Same as Clinton/Bush. 

When we read these articles written about the FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING we see the shooter CRUZ as child with a long documented history of troubled behavior being mainstreamed in a Florida public school under the guise of PROMISE----because OBAMA and Congress were defunding and closing our US public schools in grand fashion. 

PROMISE WAS NEVER A POLICY TO HELP TROUBLED STUDENTS----IT WAS A POLICY USED AS AN EXCUSE TO STOP FUNDING SCHOOLS DESIGNED FOR SPECIAL NEEDS.




'The Broward County School District now says that gunman Nikolas Cruz was once referred to a program that provides alternatives to arrests, contradicting earlier statements made by Superintendent Robert Runcie'.

So, RUNCIE as a Florida school superintendent could care less about a CRUZ-----just as a ARNIE DUNCAN from Chicago could care less about a CRUZ-----just as an OBAMA could care less about a CRUZ.  None of these global banking 5% players know anything about EDUCATION. 


'Broward School Violence: Cruz's Massacre Is Far From Whole Story


By Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations
April 15, 2018'



All three spokespeople for education on the scene were graduates of HARVARD never mentioning the REAL PROBLEMS for this school or CRUZ.  Just as a BLOOMBERG attending a JOHNS HOPKINS barely able to pass ordinary high school classes------so too, our US cities are being PLAGUED BY GLOBAL BANKING PLAYERS.

WE NEED MORE MILITARIZATION OF OUR PUBLIC K-12 SCHOOLS----NOW LET'S SEND IN MILITARY POLICE WITH OUR JUNIOR ROTC AND ADD CHILDREN TRAINED AS MILITARY MEDICS.



'Before jumping into the education world, Superintendent Runcie was founder of a management consulting and technology company. Upon leaving the business world, Superintendent Runcie joined Chicago Public Schools where he served in various strategic roles including Chief Information Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Area Officer Chief of Staff to the Board of Education'.


Early years and education

Duncan was raised in Hyde Park, a Chicago neighborhood encompassing the University of Chicago. He is the son of Susan Goodrich (née Morton) and Starkey Davis Duncan, Jr. His father was a psychology professor at the university and his mother runs the Sue Duncan Children's Center, an after-school program primarily serving African-American youth in the nearby Kenwood neighborhood.

Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools[7] and later Harvard College

A small city in Florida saturated by Harvard/Chicago global banking 5% players caring nothing for education all tied to installing ONE WORLD ONE COMMONER CORE ONLINE SCHOOLS. Runcie was simply a technology person made a local superintendent.



Black Florida School Official Emerges As The Calming Voice Following The Parkland Shooting

Robert Runcie, the school superintendent, vows to have resources and counseling in place when students return, as well as enhanced security.


Written By Nigel Roberts
Posted February 18, 2018

Just as Lt. Gen. Russel Honore marched into New Orleans amid the chaos after Hurricane Katrina, another Black man is the voice of calm and order following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday—one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.



It has been widely noted that the shooting was preventable. However, various departments inside and outside the school system saw red flags about the suspect, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, but failed to share their information. Robert Runcie, the Broward County Public Schools superintendent, appeared Sunday on NBC’s Meet The Press and explained what needs to be done.



“We need a smarter system… where various agencies, departments, school systems, are working in an integrated, collaborative fashion to ensure we can share data, share information to enhance our level of effectiveness,” he told the host Chuck Todd. “Folks are working as hard as we can. But we’re working in silos.”



Cruz confessed to the police that he went on a shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He hid loaded gun magazines in a black duffel bag and backpack for his semiautomatic AR-15 rifle and entered the school, where he killed 17 people.



Runcie, a Jamaica native who grew up in New York, oversees the nation’s sixth largest school district, which educates more then 270,000 students in 337 schools. A Harvard graduate, Runcie was the first member of his family to attend college.



In a previous interview, Runcie raised concerns about the failure to address mental health, as reports emerged that Cruz exhibited violent outbursts and self-destructive behavior. The growing problem of mental illness “is something that is certainly going to need to be addressed within our school systems, as well as in the broader society — to ensure that these kind of tragedies do not continue,” he stated, according to the Miami Herald.



Runcie vowed to have an “enhanced law enforcement presence” at Douglas High School, as well as counseling and other resources available for students, staff and faculty. Teachers are expected to return by the end of the week, and students are tentatively scheduled to return on Feb. 26.

______________________________________________

Just as here in Baltimore where these same 'EDUCATION POLICIES PROMISE' were installed-----parents and communities shouting against this integration of children with behavioral problems into public schools trying to create quality education for 99% of children in these communities---so too were Stoneman Douglas parents shouting against these PROMISES.

REAL left social progressives do not want these troubled behavior students like CRUZ in jail-----we have always created pathways for troubled youth in public schools not tied to incarceration.  We build public schools with school employees trained for these special needs.  STONEMAN DOUGLAS as Baltimore public schools are integrating these troubled students under the guise of training our ordinary classroom teachers how to manage troubled behavior while trying to teach 30-40 students. 

IT IS PURE BOGUS POLICY THAT DELIBERATELY EXPOSES OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO VIOLENT BEHAVIOR.


All of what are now termed WRAP-AROUND-SERVICES attached to our public schools are simply global NGO non-profits funded by PAY-TO-PLAY existing only temporarily until these public schools are merged into being simply

GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUS ONE WORLD ONLINE PRE-K-CAREER VOCATIONAL TRACKING APPRENTICESHIP FREE CHILD LABOR SCHOOLS.

That is why our US local city schools are being filled with GLOBAL HEDGE FUND IVY LEAGUE 5% FREEMASON/GREEK PLAYERS.


There is NOTHING left social progressive with these far-right wing global banking 'education' policies.  Of course global banking 1% sent in 5% NAACP PLAYERS to pretend PROMISE was tied to CIVIL RIGHTS.



Stoneman Douglas Shooter Was Assigned To Controversial Broward Discipline Program, Officials Now Say

By Jessica Bakeman • May 6, 2018



Nikolas Cruz, the confessed gunman in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, was assigned to PROMISE for vandalism in 2013, despite district officials' claims that he was never connected to the controversial disciplinary program.


Miami Herald
Broward school district officials admitted Sunday that the confessed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gunman was assigned to a controversial disciplinary program, after the superintendent repeatedly claimed Nikolas Cruz had "no connection" to the alternative punishment designed to limit on-campus arrests.



Two sources with knowledge of Cruz’s discipline records told WLRN he was referred to the so-called PROMISE Program for a three-day stint after committing vandalism at Westglades Middle School in 2013.



When asked for a response, a spokeswoman for Superintendent Robert Runcie stated on Friday that district administrators were aggressively analyzing Cruz's records. Then Tracy Clark said on Sunday afternoon the district had "confirmed" Cruz's referral to PROMISE after he vandalized a bathroom at the middle school on Nov. 25, 2013.



However, it's unclear if Cruz ever attended the program.

Clark said he appeared at Pine Ridge Education Center in Fort Lauderdale — an alternative school facility where PROMISE is housed — for an intake interview the day after the vandalism incident.



But, she said, "It does not appear that Cruz completed the recommended three-day assignment/placement." She said she did not want to "speculate" as to why.
The Broward Sheriff's Office has also said Cruz didn't attend PROMISE.



“The school board reports that there was no PROMISE program participation,” BSO representative Jack Dale said during a recent meeting of a new state commission tasked with investigating the shooting.
The PROMISE program allows students who commit certain misdemeanors — there's an official list of 13 — at school to avoid getting involved with the criminal justice system. Instead, they attend the alternative school, where they receive counseling and other support.



PROMISE has come under scrutiny after 17 people died in the Feb. 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas, in part because one of the injured survivors is planning a lawsuit that will argue the program led school leaders to demonstrate a lax attitude toward discipline.

Runcie and school board members remain steadfastly committed to PROMISE, which was designed to limit the “school-to-prison pipeline” at a time when more kids were getting arrested in Broward schools than any other district in the state. The administrators have worked to combat what they argue is a politically motivated attack based on “misinformation” and “fake news.” 



In his defense of the program, Runcie has touted its high success rate in preventing recidivism: Nearly nine  out of 10 kids who go to PROMISE don’t commit another offense at school that would send them back there.

OH, REALLY??????  WE HAVE YET TO SEE REAL DATA TIED TO NEO-LIBERAL EDUCATION POLICY SUCCESS.

He has maintained there’s no link between PROMISE and the shooting, calling it “reprehensible” that people have tried to use the tragedy to target the program.


“Let me reiterate this point,” Runcie started off during an interview in his office last month. “Nikolas Cruz, the shooter that was involved in this horrific accident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, had no connection to the PROMISE program.”



During the same conversation, Runcie said: “I’m not going to allow a shift from what our focus needs to be to a fictitious narrative that’s being made up about a successful program that we have in Broward County that has no connection to the shooter or the situation at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.”



Clark, the spokeswoman for Runcie, said the superintendent has "correctly stated" Cruz wasn’t in PROMISE when he was in high school at Stoneman Douglas. (However, Runcie hasn't always referred specifically to Cruz's time in high school.)
Cruz’s high school discipline records, obtained by WLRN, show he got in trouble for fighting and verbal assault while at Stoneman Douglas — but those infractions didn’t meet the eligibility requirements for PROMISE. In both cases, he was suspended.



During the interview last month, Runcie said he couldn’t discuss details of Cruz’s school records because of a federal law that shields student privacy.
And he stressed that school discipline procedures are more complicated when it comes to students with disabilities. Administrators are required by federal law to consider whether a student’s misbehavior is related to his or her disability, and if it is determined that it is, they are required to provide support for the disability rather than punish the behavior.



Cruz was diagnosed with a developmental delay as a small child.
“Because there’s been so much speculation about what [Cruz] may or may not have done, or what the district should have or should not have done, we’ve asked for an independent review by experts in the field to review his entire academic record and his experience within Broward County,” Runcie said.

He added: “That report will be available to the public in June.”



The district is holding an informational forum on PROMISE at 5:30 p.m. tonight at Piper High School in Sunrise.


WHAT IS PROMISE?


In the 2011-12 school year, more students were arrested at school, on the bus or at school-sponsored events in Broward County than any other district in Florida, according to a report from the state Department of Juvenile Justice. That year, there were 1,062 school-related arrests in Broward, nearly twice the number of arrests in larger Miami-Dade, which reported 552.



Nearly 70 percent of the arrests were for misdemeanor crimes, and there were instances of kids getting handcuffed for throwing spitballs, according to a Sun Sentinel report at the time. The district found that “zero tolerance” discipline policies were disproportionately affecting children who were black or disabled. Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students were also more likely to be arrested than their peers


.

In part at the urging of civil rights groups, Runcie led an effort to reform the district’s discipline policies. Administrators partnered with a variety of entities involved with juvenile justice — including law enforcement, the state attorney’s office, Broward Circuit Court Judge Elijah Williams, the NAACP and a county-based government agency that focuses on children’s affairs. The group consulted with another judge who had seen some success dealing with similar problems in Georgia.


The committee met for a year with the stated purpose of eliminating the “school-to-prison pipeline.” The result was PROMISE — an acronym that stands for Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports and Education. It launched in 2013.


“The intention behind it was very clearly to find a way to impose consequences for bad behavior that wasn't too serious and didn't pose a threat to school safety,” said Maria Schneider, assistant state attorney in charge of the Juvenile Division in Broward and a member of the committee that developed PROMISE.


She said the panel aimed to mitigate the damage that a possible criminal record could do to a young person later in life when applying for college or jobs.


“Who wants to explain what they did when they were 13 years old, you know?” she said. “We wanted to find a way to minimize the harm.”


Under the program, students who commit one of 13 eligible misdemeanors at school are eligible to spend from three to 10 days in the PROMISE program at Pine Ridge Education Center.



Some of those infractions are petty theft under $300, trespassing, vandalism, possession or sale of alcohol or marijuana, bullying, harassment, fighting or assault that doesn’t result in an injury.



Runcie has said about 1,600 to 2,000 students participate in PROMISE each year.


For the most part, school administrators try to handle the behavior concerns without involving law enforcement. But police are consulted under some circumstances; for example, when a student is caught with marijuana, cops are called to confiscate it.

“We provide intervention services,” Runcie said. “We try to get at the root cause of what’s going on.”


Those services include therapy and instruction in conflict resolution and anger management. Students who get in trouble with alcohol or drugs can get substance abuse treatment. If teachers determine participants need long-term help they coordinate mental health care with counselors from Nova Southeastern University.


The number of students committing the eligible misdemeanors has decreased steadily since the program was put in place, according to data from 2016, which was the most recent information the district would provide.


In 2013, the first year, 6,555 students committed infractions that would make them eligible for PROMISE. That’s about 3 percent of the district’s enrollment (excluding pre-kindergarten and charter schools). In 2016, that number dropped to 2,883, about 1.3 percent.


Also in 2016, the district found that 87.7 percent of students who went to PROMISE did not commit another infraction upon returning to their regular schools. About 2.5 percent of students commit three or more infractions.



“We know it’s successful,” Runcie said.

YET CRUZ NEVER ATTENDED AND NO ONE FOLLOWED UP---GUESS HE WAS A SUCCESS STORY.


Laura Kolo is a longtime Broward teacher who has worked at PROMISE since its second year and now coordinates special education services for students with disabilities there. She said most students are assigned to the program because of fighting or drug possession.
“We see a lot of kids that come to our program that are angry and they don’t know how to deal with it,” Kolo said.



Teachers there meet with the students one-and-one and also hold group sessions to try to get to the root cause of the misbehavior.
“They just want to talk,” she said. “They want to be heard.”



PUSHBACK AGAINST PROMISE


Anthony Borges, a 15-year-old Stoneman Douglas freshman, was the last survivor of the shooting to be released from the hospital. He was shot trying to shield others from bullets and is credited with saving up to 20 people.


“Anthony took five bullets from an AR-15 — two in his left leg, one in his right leg and two in his torso," said Alex Arreaza, a lawyer who is representing Borges and his family.



"At the time, he was probably weighing about 130 pounds. So it's incredible that he even survived, that he's even alive to talk about it," he said.
During a press conference on April 6, two days after Borges got home from the hospital, he and his family announced their intentions to sue several individuals and government agencies they argue were negligent in preventing the shooting — the Broward school district among them.



Arreaza read a statement on Borges’ behalf, the student’s words directed at Runcie.
“You failed us students, teachers and parents alike on so many levels,” he said. “I want to ask you today to please end your policy and agreement that you will not arrest people committing crimes in our schools.”
Borges was referring to PROMISE.



Arreaza said later that Borges doesn’t have a problem with PROMISE itself if it’s implemented as intended. But he argued that district administrators sent a message with PROMISE that students shouldn’t be arrested at all, even if they commit more serious crimes.
He didn’t cite specific examples but said he is gathering evidence to present in a lawsuit.



“If you have that atmosphere — how could you think nothing’s going to happen?” he said. “Eventually a Nikolas Cruz is going to come around.”
Runcie has said people are conflating PROMISE with the district’s full range of discipline policies, assuming administrators assign the relatively lenient punishment to students who commit felonies. He said that’s not the case, stressing students who commit serious crimes are arrested and either suspended or expelled from traditional schools.



“The narrative out there that we have lawlessness going on in our schools … is absolutely not true,” Runcie said.


"The narrative out there that we have lawlessness going on in our schools ... is absolutely not true" - Broward Schools Superintendent Robert RuncieBorges isn’t the only one who has made this argument. It has come up a lot during a series of public meetings held since the shooting, with teachers, students and parents arguing PROMISE is an example that the district isn't doing enough to punish criminal behavior.



And the program has high-profile critics on the right, some of whom have claimed there are connections between PROMISE and the Obama administration.



President Obama was supportive of Broward’s PROMISE program and encouraged other school districts to adopt similar policies in federal guidance in 2014. But the program pre-dated Obama’s focus on reforming school discipline.



Some have claimed the program was funded with federal dollars through Obama’s signature Race To The Top competitive grant program. Broward officials said the program is funded completely with the district’s own funds, not including any federal funding, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the program’s budget or its overall annual cost upon request.



Runcie previously worked in Chicago’s public schools under Arne Duncan, who later served as Obama’s secretary of education — a relationship some have highlighted when claiming the former president was behind the PROMISE program’s creation.
Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has targeted the program.



“The more we learn, the more it appears the problem is not the program or the [Department of Education] guidance itself, but the way it is being applied,” the Republican tweeted. “It may have created a culture discourages referral to law enforcement even in egregious cases like the #Parkland shooter.”



Rubio's office declined a request for an interview.
Conservative pundits have also cast a negative spotlight on PROMISE. FOX news host Laura Ingraham called PROMISE a “perverse incentive to hide student criminality,” created in part by “Obama bureaucrats.”
On her show, “The Angle,” Ingraham said: “By turning Broward schools and those across the nation into these social justice petri dishes, [Runcie, the Broward sheriff and the Obama administration] may have facilitated a lunatic.”



Recently, Ingraham lost half of her show's advertisers after mocking Stoneman Douglas senior and gun control activist David Hogg on Twitter.
Runcie has said he won’t let politics affect the effort to reform discipline policies.


Schneider, from the state attorney’s office, said she thinks people have assailed PROMISE in the aftermath of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas because they are frustrated and want answers.


“I think that all of us want to know why. Could this have been stopped? Could it have been prevented if something had been done differently? Would we not have ended up with 17 beautiful lives lost?” she said.
PROMISE “stands out there as an easy target,” she said. “Whether it's a fair target — I haven't seen any reason to believe that it is.”



‘NO INTENT TO GET RID OF' PROMISE

While there’s been plenty of harsh words about PROMISE at public meetings since the shooting, there’s also evidence of community support.

At a school safety forum hosted by the district last month, a junior at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs told the crowd that he went to PROMISE for six days after getting caught at school with a quarter ounce of marijuana.



“I attended the counseling with therapy, and every day, someone is talking to me about life choices,” the student said. “It just made me open my eyes and see the world in a whole different way. And I just want to thank the PROMISE program for giving me a second chance.”



The crowd cheered and applauded.
Another student who completed the program said it is the reason she’s now considering a career in the military or studying medicine in college.
Her name is Ashley. She didn’t want her last name to be included in this article because she doesn’t want the trouble she got into when she was younger to follow her after high school.



Ashley, now a senior at a Broward County high school, said she went to PROMISE for 10 days when she was a freshman. She didn’t want to get into too much detail about what happened.
“My freshman year, I was hanging out with the wrong group of kids. There was peer pressure involved,” she said.


“You know, you do things you don't really mean, and simple mistakes, and it just … you're lucky if you get the chance to redeem yourself and try again,” she said.

Ashley’s mom said it was scary to face the possibility that her child could have been charged criminally for “a big lapse in judgment.” She didn’t want her name included either, for fear it would reveal her daughter’s identity.


She said PROMISE helps kids realize they still have a future.
“This is not the end of whatever plans that they have,” she said. “It may just be the beginning.”
Runcie and school board members have vowed to protect PROMISE.


“There is no intent to get rid of the PROMISE program,” School Board Member Rosalind Osgood said at a meeting last month.

Board Chair Nora Rupert agreed, echoing her: “Nope.”


__________________________________________________



The second issue after the Florida school shooting was EASILY identified.  CRUZ as a documented troubled behavior integrated into mainstream public schools ----wearing his ROTC t-shirt--------CRUZ was clearly identified as being troubled yet he was installed as a member of junior ROTC.  A student below says CRUZ seemed normal-----all STONEMAN DOUGLAS administration KNEW CRUZ was a PROMISE student.


'Jonathan Guimaraes, 17, said he and Cruz were in JROTC together: “He was normal. He didn’t have any issues.”'

No one has to be a rocket scientist to understand troubled, violent behavior children should not be exposed to MILITARY ROTC.  The point is this:  CRUZ is not the exception---CRUZ is the norm.  Across the US these global corporate mercenary military ROTC open to students with a complete disregard of history of these students. 

We KNOW these policies of mainstreaming our special needs students many non-violent along with those special needs students identified with violent behavior problems is simply A COST REDUCTION ISSUE IN DEFUNDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS.  No matter how much propaganda global banking wraps around dismantling all our broad support for 99% of WE THE PEOPLE and their needs for public education-----PROMISE was never about helping CRUZ as a troubled child.


What We Know About The Suspect In Florida’s Parkland High School Shooting

By
Stephen Hobbs, Paula McMahon, Anne Geggis and Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel

on February 15, 2018

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Adopted at birth by a loving older couple, Nikolas Cruz seemed to struggle in recent years. His dad died when he was much younger and the 19-year-old’s mom died just 3 ½ months ago, neighbors, friends and family members said.




The portrait that emerged of the suspected gunman in the mass shooting was of a troubled former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who was expelled for disciplinary problems.



Cruz was arrested without any serious incident at a nearby house very shortly after the shootings, which left 17 people dead and several more injured, Sheriff Scott Israel said.



The AR-15 used in the mass shooting was legally bought by Cruz, attorney Jim Lewis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Cruz already owned the gun when he moved in with his friend’s family in northwest Broward around Thanksgiving, Lewis said.


“It was his gun,” Lewis said. “The family made him keep it in a locked gun cabinet in the house but he had a key.”

The family did not see him shooting the AR-15 but did see him shooting pellet guns, Lewis said.



Cruz’s mother, Lynda Cruz, died Nov. 1. She was 68.
Family member Barbara Kumbatovich, of Long Island, N.Y., said she heard media reports about the mass shooting in Florida but had no idea the suspect was the son of her recently deceased sister-in-law, Lynda.
“Oh my God,” Kumbatovich said.


Lynda and her husband, Roger, who died many years ago, adopted Nikolas and his biological brother, Zachary, after the couple moved from Long Island to Broward County.

Kumbatovich said she met the boys only once, when they were very young and attended a family funeral in New York. Lynda was a stay-at-home mom and her late husband, who died when the boys were younger, had worked in advertising.



Lynda had always wanted to have children and the couple adopted later in life, Kumbatovich said: “I think it was just something she really wanted to do.”
The boys were left in the care of a family friend after their adoptive mom died Nov. 1, she said.



“I know she had been having some issues with them, especially the older one. He was being a problem. I know he did have some issues and he may have been taking medication. [He] did have some kind of emotional or difficulties,” Kumbatovich said. “[Lynda] kept a really close handle on both boys. They were not major issues, as far as I know, just things teenagers do like not coming home on time, maybe being disrespectful.”


Another relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity over the sensitive matter, said Nikolas had been diagnosed with autism.
Lynda, who died of pneumonia, adopted Nikolas the day he was born.
Nikolas’ father died from a heart attack, the relative said, and Lynda had sought counseling for Nikolas at a young age: “She did her best getting him any help he needed.”



After their mom died, Cruz and his brother lived with a family friend in Palm Beach County but Cruz wasn’t happy. He asked a friend, who he knew from his time at Stoneman Douglas, if he could move in with the friend’s family in northwest Broward, said Jim Lewis, an attorney speaking on behalf of that family. The lawyer would not identify the family.


The family let Cruz move in around Thanksgiving, gave him his own room and urged him to attend adult education classes, Lewis said. Cruz also got a job at a local dollar store, he said.



“The family is devastated, they didn’t see this coming. They took him in and it’s a classic case of no good deed goes unpunished,” Lewis said. “He was a little quirky and he was depressed about his mom’s death, but who wouldn’t be?”



The family were fully cooperating with investigators, he said. Detectives were getting a search warrant to look for evidence in Cruz’s room late Wednesday, Lewis said.


Another home, in the Lantana area, was also being searched late Wednesday.
Janine Kartiganer, who lives two doors down from Cruz’s former home, said Cruz looked “very troubled.”
“He wore a hoodie and always had his head down,” she said. “He looked depressed.”



Emily Sucher, 16, a junior who lives in Parkland, was in her TV Production class when an administrator announced over the intercom to evacuate the building.
She had seen the suspect, Cruz, around school last year and remembers him as an “off kid” who would “smile weirdly, make weird comments.”



Sen. Bill Nelson said on MSNBC that Cruz wore a gas mask and had smoke grenades. “He set off the fire alarm so the kids would come out into the hallways and thus he had the opportunity with a crowded hallway to start picking off people.”


Trevor Hart, 16, who knew Cruz in Spanish class at Marjory Stoneman, said they ate together once in a while in the cafeteria.



“It seemed like he didn’t really like school,” Hart said.
Cruz participated in Army ROTC at the high school. Cruz had “a bunch of weapons” and talked about shooting lizards, squirrels and frogs, Hart said.

Cruz seemed “a little off,” Hart said.
Shelby and Richie Speno moved on to the street where the Cruz family lived in 2005.



Shelby Speno said she’d been warned that Nikolas had caused trouble, such as biting a child and stealing neighbors’ mail. One time, he threw eggs at Richie’s car while he was driving.
“Lynda the mom was always apologetic. She had her hands full,” Shelby said.
“They were very much on their own. The kids seem to roam around and come and go as they pleased,” Richie Speno said.



Police were called out numerous times, and Shelby said Cruz was seen shooting at a neighbor’s chickens.
“I told my husband I was so glad they moved. I’m afraid he was the kind of kid who would do something crazy,” Shelby said. “The older he gets, the worse kind of trouble he got into.”


Jonathan Guimaraes, 17, said he and Cruz were in JROTC together: “He was normal. He didn’t have any issues.”


Cruz liked to go hunting a lot but Guimaraes said he thought Cruz only used non-lethal airsoft rifles.
Cruz was wearing a wine-colored ROTC polo shirt, black pants and black boots, when he was taken into custody. He was placed on a gurney and taken away in an ambulance. At 4:47 p.m., he was wheeled in to Broward Health North hospital in Deerfield Beach.



A short time later, he was brought to Broward Sheriff’s Office headquarters in a marked agency car that was part of a short convoy.
Handcuffed and wearing what looked like a light blue hospital gown, he was led into the building by deputies.



Math teacher James Gard said Cruz, a junior at the time, was in his class last year.
“He was a pretty quiet kid,” Gard said. “He was a very well-behaved kid in my class. He was never a behavioral problem in my class.”
Malcolm and Christine Roxburgh were neighbors of the Cruz family for many years.
“It was a wonderful idea. Two older people to have two little boys to look after. They were just kind people.”
Christine said Lynda asked her daughter, who lives up north, to take the kids when her husband died, but she refused.



He used to get into trouble and harass neighbors, the Roxburghs said. The police came to Cruz’s house many times, they said
A neighbor across the street kept little pigs as pets.
“He didn’t like the pigs and didn’t like the neighbors so he sent over his dog over there to try to attack them,” Malcolm said.


Christine said one time she saw Nikolas peeking in her window.
“I said what are you doing here? He said he was looking for golf balls. I said ‘this isn’t the golf course,’” Christine said.


One time he stole a neighbor spotted Nikolas trying to steal a bike from the garage when the door was open.
Christine said when the boy didn’t want to go to school, he would bang his head against a cement wall.
When their daughter was driving to work, Nikolas “slammed his book bag into the side of her car. She got out and said don’t you ever do that again.”
“He could have killed any of us,” Christine said.

____________________________________________

All three government agency people on the scene or accountable were tracked through HARVARD----on to CHICAGO where CHICAGO has a full-blown SCHOOL OF AMERICAS installed these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA. 

Our US public military academies WEST POINT NAVAL ACADEMY et al for centuries accepted our US students who were serious about intentions of serving in one military branch or the other.   University ROTC is sold as a low-income scholarship to students many of which never intend to join military-----our Junior ROTC in high schools have an even lower rate of members taking a military track. 




'One representative from Chicago’s six military academies and the approximately 40 junior ROTC programs'

How does CHICAGO have 6 military academies -----40 ROTC while closing a majority of its PUBLIC K-12 SCHOOLS?

So, the Florida school shooting falls to a CIA AGENT to investigate and no one makes a connection between PROMISE-----the ROTC-----national media simply says it is our US society becoming more and more mentally depressed and violent. 

AMERICA DID NOT HAVE THESE INCIDENCES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS BECAUSE WE HAD A STRONG, FUNCTIONING PUBLIC K-12 SCHOOL SYSTEM WITH EDUCATIONAL PROFESSIONALS.


'A retired Secret Service agent has been hired to review what role school administrators and security staff played in the mass killing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School'


The problem parents are told is the need for more and more and more and more SECURITY FEATURES inside our US PUBLIC SCHOOLS.


'Retired Secret Service agent to review administrative actions at Stoneman Douglas

Scott Travis and Megan O'Matz
Contact Reporters

South Florida Sun Sentinel'
  JULY 24, 2018




A retired Secret Service agent has been hired to review what role school administrators and security staff played in the mass killing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.



Steve Wexler will review the actions of school employees, including Principal Ty Thompson, the school’s assistant principals and security staff, during the Feb. 14 massacre that killed 17 people, school district officials say.



But the review will go further to include which procedures and circumstances may have affected the tragedy, Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said.


“It’s trying to look at everything as comprehensively as possible,” Runcie said. “It’s not targeting any specific individual. We’re looking at the entire school so we can get some lessons learned and look at what we need to change at that school and any other school.”


It’s Wexler’s second time doing a school review.

In December 2017, Wexler warned administrators the school could be vulnerable to a gunman.




Gates were unlocked, students didn’t wear identification badges, active shooting drills were inadequate and a fire alarm could send students streaming into the halls and make them easy targets, Wexler said.



Wexler had conducted a security review of the school at the request of administrators and presented his findings to four staff members, but he never heard back from anyone at the school, he said.



The Sun Sentinel reported on June 8 that Wexler had given a highly critical assessment of lax school security at Stoneman Douglas. Several days after the story was published, Stoneman Douglas Assistant Principal Winfred Porter wrote a memo for district leaders summarizing Wexler’s visit to the school.


A copy, obtained by the Sun Sentinel under Florida’s public records law, is heavily redacted. The district cited legal protections governing school security in blacking out the information.



Porter wrote that he met with Wexler on Dec. 15, 2017, to solicit feedback on campus security, “utilizing his wealth of knowledge.”



Also attending the meeting were Security Specialist Kevin Greenleaf, Assistant Principal Denise Reed and a teacher.



Wexler had staged a mock scenario of an irate parent storming campus and successfully shooting people, exposing vulnerabilities to the administrative team.
The memo states that Wexler and the school officials discussed training early and often for an attack and notes that teachers and students were taught evacuation procedures on Jan. 11 — a month before the murders.



They also discussed “real, decoy and false” fire alarms. Gunsmoke set off the fire alarm in the massacre, drawing children into the hallways. The memo lists which of Wexler’s recommendations were implemented but the information is redacted.



The school district also blacked out Porter’s explanation of which recommendations were not implemented and why.
Philip Schentrup, whose daughter Carmen was killed in the massacre, said he thinks Thompson and Greenleaf should be removed from the school while the new review takes place. Runcie said neither was a specific target of the review and said they would remain in place while the review is done.

Schentrup attended a School Board meeting Tuesday and blamed the two for flaws at the school that he said contributed to the massacre.



"Why is the school board trusting the safety and security of our students to the same people who allowed this tragedy to happen in the first place? That's the definition of insanity,” Schentrup said.


He blamed administrators for failing to act on Wexler’s recommendations. He said gates at the school were frequently left open, and he accused administrators of writing in discipline charts that killer Nikolas Cruz committed “minor behavior incidents” when he brought knives and bullets to school.


On the day of the shooting, administrators called for an evacuation, sending students outside of their classrooms, while Cruz was in the hallway firing, Schentrup said.


“Had they bothered looking at security cameras … they would have seen the massacre occurring,” Schentrup said. “Did anyone even know how to use the cameras?”


He accused Greenleaf of standing outside the building where the shooting happened and failing to call for an emergency lockdown. Thompson was not on campus at the time of the shooting.
Thompson, who has been principal since 2013, couldn’t be reached for comment despite an email and phone call.




When the shooting occurred Feb. 14, Thompson was on a plane that was still on the ground, headed on a vacation. Upon hearing the news, he immediately got off the plane and made his way to campus by about 5 p.m., a district spokeswoman said.



“As soon as he could get there, he got there,” said Lisa Maxwell, executive director of an association of Broward principals.


“Principals do everything in their power to keep their kids safe,” she said. “That is all they care about and want to do, in addition to educating them. Nobody purposefully ignores safety and security practices.”


Maxwell said they take the best advice they can from experts, such as Wexler, but have to consider other factors — such as fire codes, building codes and building maintenance — in implementing security measures.



This is the latest in a number of reviews and investigations. A state Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission is also evaluating what went wrong on Feb. 14 and the days leading up to it.


Runcie said his original plan was to use those findings to understand what role school staff played, but as that investigation is expected to take about a year, he said he wanted to get answers more quickly.


There’s no specific deadline for Wexler, but Runcie said he wants the review finished “as fast as possible.”


So far two Stoneman Douglas security monitors, Andrew Medina and David Taylor, have lost their jobs since the shooting. Runcie chose not to renew either of them for the new school year.



Both were criticized for their perceived inaction during the shooting. Medina was the first to spot Cruz on campus, but he didn’t approach him or call for a lockdown, he told investigators. He said he instead radioed Taylor, who hid in a closet.
______________________________________________

As CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA target low-income US communities for these PROMISE meets ROTC SCHOOL OF AMERICAS format replacing our US public schools------we have watched these few decades as not only our 99% of children black, white, and brown really needing special needs troubled behavior schools with teachers professionally trained to handle this education-----we see the other side of the coin-----where these targeted public schools with ROTC are from where selective tracking into military starts.

Here we see a CHICAGO citizen asking what has been asked for these few decades----

WHY ARE WE NOT GETTING PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING TO PROVIDE REAL EDUCATION TO OUR K-12 STUDENTS?

So, Chicago tracking thousands of low-income students having all kinds of life challenges through ROTC those not joining a military branch often end on the streets tied to gang membership having those military ATTITUDES.




“People who hope to demilitarize schools should learn why [the program] has been working and why it’s so seductive,” she said, highlighting the program’s leadership opportunities and its emphasis on community service.

Military programs should not be the only way to learn about civic engagement, she added.
“Where are those [nonmilitary] programs?” she said. “Where is that money?”


LATIN AMERICA SCHOOL OF AMERICAS channeled these same 99% of Latino children through these same military programs leading to DOCUMENTED AND WIDELY ACCLAIMED brutal structures for several decades.  This did not happen BY ACCIDENT-----global banking 1% KNOW they are creating platforms for future violence in communities they want destabilized.

This article found under CHILD AND FAMILY -------global banking 5% freemason/Greek players say WHO CARES.
Our Baltimore 99% of citizens black, white, and brown have been shouting against these same issues----BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL---BALTIMORE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT SCHOOL BOARD----says WHO CARES.


“We need more options for peace,” he said, citing Chicago’s homicide rate. “How are we teaching kids to be peaceful when we are teaching them the history of war, teaching them to fight?”



Child and Family



In Chicago schools’ Junior ROTC programs, some see a troubling trend



By Matthew Kovac | January 7, 2014[Photo by zimand/Shutterstock]



Beate Medina was returning home from walking her dogs one evening in May 2004 when she saw two Army officers standing at her door. The sight did not immediately register. Uniformed officers are a common sight at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii, where her husband’s division was based, and their street was being renumbered. She thought they had the wrong house.



It was not the wrong house. Staff Sgt. Oscar Vargas-Medina, a 32-year-old construction equipment repairman with the 84th Engineer Battalion, had been killed along with another soldier when their convoy was attacked in Al Amarah, Iraq.


In the days that followed, Medina could not sleep; time as a concept ceased to exist. “It was like I was in a fog,” she said.


Born in Cali, Colombia, Vargas-Medina grew up in Chicago and attended Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School, where he was a member of the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. When he went on to join the Army in 1992, Medina said he was likely thinking about how to provide for his first wife and their young son.


“He really was passionate about the Army, about his job,” she said. “I think for him it was a way to get out of the situation in Chicago.”

Chicago Public Schools is home to the largest junior reserve program in the country, with more than 9,000 cadets enrolled in programs at 45 of the district’s 104 high schools. For these CPS cadets, the chances of joining the ranks of Vargas-Medina and becoming a war casualty are disproportionately high, The Chicago Reporter has found. That’s because the Army, the military branch with the highest number of casualties, runs 80 percent of junior reserve programs in Chicago, according to CPS figures. Overall, the Army operates about half of the U.S. Defense Department’s junior reserve programs.



In the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Army soldiers made up 70 percent of all U.S. military dead and wounded, according to the defense department. But they make up only about 40 percent of the department’s military personnel.

Jesus Palafox, steering committee member for the Chicago-based National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, said he is troubled by CPS’ prominent involvement with the junior reserve program, especially given that it ends up exposing African-American and Latino students to the branch with the highest casualties.



Ninety-three percent of Chicago junior reserve cadets are African American or Hispanic, according to March figures from the CPS’ Department of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. And more than 70 percent of junior reserve programs are offered in high schools located in majority-black or majority-Latino ZIP codes, a Reporter analysis of 2010 Census data shows.



Palafox’s organization opposes war and school militarization generally, but he said that it is especially objectionable that the dangers of combat fall most heavily on those with the fewest opportunities.


“Historically, it is the poor who fight the wars,” Palafox said. “There are certain groups that are targeted the most. That’s what makes it so unjust.”
*    *    *
The junior reserve program was established in 1916 to prepare high school students for military service, but its stated mission gradually shifted to focus on leadership development, rather than military recruitment. During the ’90s, the program underwent a dramatic expansion, and it continued in Chicago, where officials announced plans for a new military-run middle school in October.



Schools seeking a junior reserve program apply to the service branch of their choice, said retired Army Maj. Steven Green, CPS deputy director of military instruction for the Department of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. “It’s up to the school to determine,” he said. “Why they choose the Army, I have no idea.”


A CPS spokesman said that the junior reserve program provides schools with needed resources. “The majority of our programs are Army, yes, and also located in low-income neighborhoods because that is where students need access to adult mentorship, leadership development, and academic curriculum,” the spokesman wrote in an e-mail.



Green said the junior reserve program doesn’t recruit students, but the military offers incentives for cadets to sign up, like increased starting rank and pay for those who complete four years with the program.
Green said his department does not keep tabs on how many cadets end up in the military. But the CPS spokesman wrote that, “Only 9.4 [percent] of our students go into the military,” and among cadets who enter the military, there is not a strong correlation between the branch of their junior reserve program and the branch they enter, the spokesman wrote.



In February 2000, however, then-Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki–now Secretary of Veterans Affairs–testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing that about 30 percent of Army junior reserve cadets go on to join the Army.
Palafox said he doesn’t buy that the program isn’t a recruitment tool for the military. “If you look at their own data, [some] budgets for [junior reserves] programs comes out of the [defense department] recruitment budget,” he said.



Financial benefits are not the junior reserve program’s only draw. It also allows working-class and minority youth an opportunity to dispel negative stereotypes and avoid profiling by associating themselves with one of the country’s most venerated institutions, said Gina Pérez, an associate professor of comparative American studies at Oberlin College.



“They recognize it’s one way of not being immediately suspect,” said Pérez, who studied Latino participation in Chicago’s junior reserve program during the 1990s and early 2000s. “In Chicago, it’s so pervasive. To wear a uniform really takes you out of that mechanism of surveillance.”


Far from being profiled, junior reserve cadets receive a positive response from the public, Pérez said. Some are even mistaken for military personnel and thanked for their service. For teens who are often viewed with suspicion and hostility, this ability to “command a certain amount of respect” acts as a powerful incentive to join the junior reserve program.



“Contrary to what people might want to say about people being duped, or false consciousness, they are actually pretty savvy,” Pérez said, noting that cadets enjoy the extracurricular activities and travel opportunities that the program affords them.


Palafox, for his part, contrasted the junior reserve program’s stated mission of teaching civics with the destruction wrought by the War on Terror, citing an estimate of more than 1 million civilian deaths.


“We need more options for peace,” he said, citing Chicago’s homicide rate. “How are we teaching kids to be peaceful when we are teaching them the history of war, teaching them to fight?”

The key to advancing these nonmilitary alternatives, Pérez said, is to “take things that make [the junior reserve programs] so successful and demilitarize them.”



“People who hope to demilitarize schools should learn why [the program] has been working and why it’s so seductive,” she said, highlighting the program’s leadership opportunities and its emphasis on community service.

Military programs should not be the only way to learn about civic engagement, she added.


“Where are those [nonmilitary] programs?” she said. “Where is that money?”
*    *    *
Nine years after her husband’s death, Medina is a licensed professional counselor, and family and marriage therapist at Fort Hood, Texas. Before she started talking to returning troops, she said, she felt like nobody could understand her pain.



“When you go through it, you’re waiting for it to be over,” she said. “And you have the feeling that people expect it to be over, although that’s not the case.”
When it comes to the anniversary of Vargas-Medina’s death, some years are harder than others.
“The first of May for me is always a date where I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.


Otherwise, things have been getting better, Medina said. She sees a connection to Vargas-Medina in her work counseling troops and their families.
“You want to keep his memory alive,” she said.

______________________________________________


Below we see one of the locations of school shooting here in MD-------GREAT MILLS HIGH with a strong ROTC.

'Great Mills High NJROTC finishes the year strong

Jun 17, 2016'


As we look at this map provided by CNN-----who touts national news over and over about the need for gun control never mentioning the hyper-militarization throughout our US communities especially tied to our public K-UNIVERSITIES.


The second school shooting in MD------OXON HILL HIGH SCHOOL-------we shared an article from Chicago by a citizen shouting against this militarization pointing to selective locations for ROTC ----low-income getting ARMY ROTC vs below what is a higher income school having an AIR FORCE ROTC-----

NOW, we do not want EITHER ----this is not an issue of income ladder being WINNERS because global mercenary military private military corporations want our children----the issue is SEPARATION OF US PUBLIC CIVIL SCHOOLS AND THE MILITARY.



'Oxon Hill High School M D - 11 A F J R O T C
@OxonHillHighSchoolMD11AFJROTC

· October 1, 2016

Oxon Hill High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
MD-11 AFJROTC'



There has been, on average, 1 school shooting every week this year


By Saeed Ahmed and Christina Walker, CNN
Updated 11:05 AM ET, Fri May 25, 2018

We're 21 weeks into 2018, and there have already been 23 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed. That averages out to more than 1 shooting a week.

The parameters CNN followed in this count are:
  • A shooting that involved at least one person being shot (not including the shooter)
  • A shooting that occurred on school grounds
  • We included grades K through college/university level
  • We included gang violence, fights and domestic violence
  • We included accidental discharge of a firearm as long as the first two parameters are met
May 25: Noblesville, Indiana
Two people were injured when a gunman opened fire at Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Indiana.May 18: Santa Fe, Texas
Ten people were killed in a shooting at Santa Fe High School.May 11: Palmdale, California
A 14-year-old boy went to Highland High, his former school, and began shooting a semiautomatic rifle shortly before classes were scheduled to begin, officials said. A 15-year-old boy was struck in the shoulder.April 20: Ocala, Florida
A 17-year-old student at Forest High School was shot in the ankle shortly before students were to walk out as part of a national protest against gun violence.. The suspect was a 19-year-old former student.April 12: Raytown, Missouri
A man was shot in the stomach in the parking lot of Raytown South Middle School during a track meet.April 9: Gloversville, New YorkA student shot another student with a BB gun in Gloversville Middle School.March 20: Lexington Park, Maryland
An armed student shot two others at Great Mills High School before a school resource officer fired a round at the shooter. The shooter was killed. One of the students, 16-year-old girl Jaelynn Willey, was taken off life support two days later.March 13: Seaside, California
A teacher accidentally discharged a gun during a public safety class at Seaside High School, injuring a student.March 8: Mobile, Alabama
One person was hospitalized after a shooting at an apartment building on the campus of the University of South Alabama.March 7: Birmingham, Alabama
One student was killed and another critically wounded after an accidental shooting during dismissal time at Huffman High School. Police wouldn't elaborate further.March 7: Jackson, Mississippi
A student was shot inside a dormitory at Jackson State University. His injuries were not life-threatening.March 2: Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Two people were shot to death at a dormitory on the campus of Central Michigan University. The victims were not students and police think the incident stemmed from a domestic situation.February 27: Norfolk, VirginiaA student at Norfolk State University was shot from an adjacent dorm room while he was doing homework. He was not seriously injured.February 27: Itta Bena, Mississippi
A person was shot in a rec center at Mississippi Valley State University. Police said the person was not a student and the injury was not life-threatening.February 24: Savannah, Georgia
A person was shot on the campus of Savannah State University and taken to a nearby hospital where he later died. Neither the victim nor the shooter were university students, the college said.February 14: Parkland, Florida
A 19-year-old man gunned down students and staff with a rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, slaughtering at least 17 unsuspecting students and adults. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, had been expelled from the high school over disciplinary problems, officials said.February 9: Nashville
A high school student was shot five times in the parking lot of Pearl-Cohn High School.February 5: Oxon Hill, Maryland
A high school student was shot in the parking lot of Oxon Hill High. The victim was treated and later released. Police arrested two teens and said they are acquaintances of the victim.February 1: Los Angeles
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the head and a 15-year-old girl shot in the wrist at Sal Castro Middle School in Los Angeles, officials said. Two other students were grazed by bullets. A 12-year-old girl was booked for negligent discharge of a firearm in that shooting, which was considered "unintentional," Los Angeles police said. January 31: PhiladelphiaA fight led to a shooting in the parking lot of Lincoln High School, fatally wounding a 32-year-old man.January 23: Benton, Kentucky
A 15-year-old student shot 16 people -- killing two other 15-year-olds -- at Marshall County High School, authorities said. The student faces two charges of murder and 12 counts of first degree assault.January 22: Italy, Texas
A 15-year-old student was wounded in a shooting at a high school in Italy, Texas, authorities said. The suspect, also 15, was quickly apprehended.January 20: Winston Salem, North Carolina
A Winston-Salem State University football player, Najee Ali Baker, was shot to death at a party on the campus of Wake Forest University.

_______________________________________________


We KNOW many of the worst of brutal military Latin America junta were tracked through SCHOOL OF AMERICA ---AND we KNOW those brutal military junta were the main source of drug and military weapon cache cartels-----we KNOW those drug and gun cartels were often tied to CIA/KNIGHTS OF MALTA.


When our US national FAKE NEWS media centers on our 99% WE THE PEOPLE becoming more mentally unstable------more violent-----all those BAD GUYS WITH GUNS----and we see our school shooters fresh from ROTC----having somehow attained AK-47s or another kind of assault rifle from their own communities-----this is from where these school shooters with military training go----LET'S BAN ALL GUN OWNERSHIP has nothing to do with gun violence or school shooting violence in US.


'The sentencing of the Salvadoran military officer in November for his role in trafficking weapons was a step forward. But for every prosecution, there are dozens more who get away with a crime. Without tighter controls, expect the carnage to continue'.



While mainstream US and international media PRETEND SCHOOL OF AMERICA is closing------they are silent about SCHOOL OF AMERICA simply being made a global private mercenary military chain school ---from K-university being installed in US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES---as well as those FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES overseas------


SCHOOL OF AMERICA BROUGHT TO US BY GLOBAL 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH----IS NOT CLOSING----IT IS GOING TO GLOBAL CORPORATE FRANCHISE KEEPING ALL THAT PAST HISTORY ALIVE.


Isn't it strange that SCHOOL OF AMERICA owned and operated by FOREIGN SOVEREIGNTY OF MALTA KNIGHTS OF MALTA has lots of Catholic religious critics------yet we hear NOTHING today inside US cities against ROTC FRANCHISES in our public K-university schools.


Our 99% US WE THE PEOPLE can identify those global banking 5% FAKE religious leaders silent about MOVING FORWARD US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES as global MILITARY JUNTA.

The Latin American gun leak


By Robert Muggah and Steven Dudley
Jan 16, 2015


In September, a U.S. official from The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimated that half the weapons available on El Salvador's black market were made in the United States. (Wes Bausmith / Los Angeles Times)




During the 1980s, El Salvador was the single largest recipient of U.S. military hardware and weaponry in the Western Hemisphere. Although the Central American country's civil war ended in 1992, the guns, grenades and bullets linger, as do their murderous effects. In September, a U.S. official from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimated that half the weapons available on El Salvador's vibrant black market were made in the United States.



Although some arms and ammunition were undoubtedly illegally trafficked from the United States, and Latin American authorities routinely blame shadowy foreign arms dealers for running guns to Central and South America, the real source is probably much closer to home: local military and police arsenals. A good example of this can be found in the case of a Salvadoran officer who was sentenced in November for selling about 50 weapons on the black market, including four AR-15s, the commercial version of the U.S.-made M16 assault rifle. All of them were siphoned from Salvadoran army stores.



For decades, many Central and South American countries were devoted consumers of U.S. military- and civilian-issue hardware, while a handful of leftist governments were supplied Russian assault rifles and munitions. These U.S. and Russian exports continue, but now dozens of countries, led by Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain and Turkey export weapons to Latin America. Regional imports of all arms and ammunition skyrocketed by almost 400% between 1992 and 2012, with Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela among the leading purchasers.


Not surprisingly, these same countries — Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela — also register some of the highest homicide rates in the world. Notwithstanding variations in lethal violence between and within countries, the regional homicide rate is 28.5 per 100,000. The global average hovers around 7 per 100,000.



Latin American statistics on gun violence are breathtaking. Its residents account for just 8.5% of the world's population, but 27% of its homicides. According to one recent survey, 34 of 50 of the most violent cities in the world are in the Americas.



Firearms play an important role in shaping the lethality of everyday violence. Roughly 75% of all homicides in the region are a result of gunshot injuries. The global average is around 50%. In Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras, the rate exceeds 90%.



As the world's largest arms exporter and importer, the United States still plays an important role in facilitating the continued supply of guns to the rest of the Americas. The closer one's border is to the United States, the greater the likely inflow of arms. Mexico, for example, has an estimated influx of more than 212,000 illegal firearms from the U.S. each year owing to straw purchases.




And there are also legacy effects of guns covertly shipped from the United States to Central America and parts of the Caribbean. During the civil wars between the 1960s and 1990s, U.S. intelligence clandestinely supplied governments and rebel factions in Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Peru and Nicaragua. There is still a sizable array of military- and police-issue weapons kicking around Central America's Northern Triangle and the so-called tri-border area in South America, some of it in the hands of drug cartels and gangs.




Much less often discussed are military- and police-issue arms and ammunition leaked from existing Latin American government stockpiles. Weapons are also routinely pilfered from the current stocks of the armed forces and police. The leakage is considerable and probably one of the key sources of weaponry sustaining criminal organizations, drug trafficking gangs, private security firms, militia and others in the region.




Complicating matters, there is only sporadic regional cooperation to control and monitor arms transfers, trafficking and leakage in Latin America. Some countries are busily expanding their market share in the defense sector. Certain Latin American governments also are pursuing self-sufficiency in arms production. Brazil is already the second-largest exporter of firearms and ammunition in the Western Hemisphere. With Russian support, Venezuela expanded its third-generation AK-47 manufacturing capabilities. Mexico is an important producer of ammunition.




Arms transfer agreements are only weakly adhered to and applied. For example, Latin American countries seldom report to the U.N. Register of Conventional Arms, a system initially conceived to build confidence and transparency in the arms trade. Meanwhile, the legally binding firearms convention of the Organization of American States only has six countries reporting.




The freshly minted Arms Trade Treaty promises a more comprehensive approach to managing weapons transfers. Although signed by most countries in the region, only 10 ratified it. More fundamentally, the treaty offers a 100% solution for just 10% of the problem. It is designed to prevent interstate transfers and diversion of weapons to governments with a poor human rights record. But by far the biggest problem is illicit trafficking and domestic diversion and leakage.




Although the region's leaders have legitimate concerns about international arms trafficking, Latin America's governments will need to confront the enemy within. At a minimum, more transparency is required in relation to the domestic manufacture and local retail of firearms and ammunition, especially revolvers and pistols, which are used in most of the killing. Greater oversight and management are needed over exports, imports and surplus stocks. This means investing in ongoing record-keeping, marking and tracing of weapons and ammunition, as advocated by the OAS.



And they can also revise domestic legislation related to firearms retail and ownership to close loopholes. They can also immediately start destroying old military and police surplus. Most of all, Latin American governments need to double down on accountability and transparency. The sentencing of the Salvadoran military officer in November for his role in trafficking weapons was a step forward. But for every prosecution, there are dozens more who get away with a crime. Without tighter controls, expect the carnage to continue.
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July 25th, 2018

7/25/2018

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HARRY TRUMAN gave the US both the CIA---and SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS-----which REAL left social progressives for several decades have identified as the source of systemic military juntas in LATIN AMERICA staging continuous wars---civil unrest----black market economies just as all SCHOOLS FOR DICTATORS have as a goal.

'From the SOA to WHINSEC


Established in 1946 in Panama, the SOA was responsible for training over 64,000 South American soldiers, many of whom later became notorious torturers and murderers in death squads. According to former Panamanian President Jorge Illueca, the SOA was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.”'

Our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown citizens need to think how all these decades of civil unrest, civil war unraveled in these third world nations now made FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----to see the same structures unfolding in US these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA----now Trump MOVING FORWARD goals of same civil unrest/civil wars inside US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----with WANNA BE DICTATORS.


'School for Dictators?
Critics have labeled the School of the Americas a "school for dictators."'

Nothing new in these revelations---we have known throughout the history of CIA----with BUSH SR tied to CIA for several decades that the absolute chaos of South and Central America---Clinton doing the same to Mexico----was deliberate and mirrors the same civil unrest civil wars in southeast Asia.  Global banking 1% installed PERON in Argentina----to be that far-right authoritarian dictator partnered with SOA to create ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT 5% freemason/Greek civil unrest civil war PLAYERS. 

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF---WHAT GOES AROUND ALWAYS COMES AROUND---THAT IS GOD'S LAW OF PHYSICS.


It was all that teaching of military ETHICS and human rights at SOA that allowed global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS kill all civil societies in Latin America.

The School Of The Americas Is Still Exporting Death Squads


South American militaries have been sending soldiers to the U.S. for “ethics” and “human rights” training for years, but history shows that many of these alumni go on to become notorious torturers and murderers, not defenders of peace.


by Ramona Wadi
April 22nd, 2015


Students from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly School of the Americas) and students from the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School conduct a joint assault on a simulated narcotics camp during a field training exercise. (Photo: U.S. Navy)




RABAT, Malta — In 2009, just a year before Sebastián Piñera became president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet approved the training of 211 Chilean recruits at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA).


Between 1999 and 2010, Chilean governments sent a total of 1,205 recruits to the school, with Bachelet remaining at the helm of cooperation with the U.S.-based institute that has graduated scores of alumni involved in human rights violations under Chile’s dictatorship era from 1973 to 1990.



Despite the macabre reality inflicted upon Chileans during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, the Concertación governments of the center-left, allegedly embarking upon a democratic future for Chile, retained ties with the school that produced torturers such as Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, who, according to torture survivors, never concealed his identity while subjecting his victims to brutality.


Center left being far-right wing global banking 1% Clinton  neo-liberals which indeed were team KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBES OF JUDAH.




Bachelet’s father, Gen. Alberto Bachelet, who was loyal to socialist president Salvador Allende, was tortured to death by the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (the National Intelligence Directorate, also known as DINA). Bachelet herself was detained and tortured by DINA, later fleeing into exile and returning back to Chile in 1979.


Under Bachelet’s first presidency (2006-2010), Chilean cooperation with the U.S. expanded, especially following her one-year stay at Fort Lesley J. McNair, in Washington, D.C., which provided the prelude to Bachelet’s military and surveillance investment. Socialism quickly eroded into opportunism, with the country’s first female president emphasizing Pinochet’s legacy of oblivion as she extended diplomatic maneuvers to former DINA torturers, even praising generals allegedly involved in the torture that contributed to her father’s death.


Piñera also sent recruits to train at WHINSEC and furthered U.S. military collaboration in 2012 by opening a military training center at Fort Aguayo in Concón, Chile.


From the SOA to WHINSEC

Established in 1946 in Panama, the SOA was responsible for training over 64,000 South American soldiers, many of whom later became notorious torturers and murderers in death squads. According to former Panamanian President Jorge Illueca, the SOA was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.”



Expelled from Panama in 1984, the SOA relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia, and was renamed WHINSEC in 2001, allowing for an apparent termination of the previous program through dissociation. In reality, however, WHINSEC retained its SOA foundations and the U.S. Department of Defense has shielded the institute from criticism and outcry with regard to the school’s historical link to human rights violations.



In its mission statement, WHINSEC claims to have been founded upon the Charter of the Organization of American States and pledges to “foster mutual knowledge, transparency, confidence, and cooperation among the participating nations and promote democratic values, respect for human rights, and knowledge and understanding of U.S. customs and traditions.”



These values, according to WHINSEC’s website, are imparted through a three-lesson Ethics Program, as well as the Democracy and Human Rights Program — the latter dealing with “the universal prohibitions against torture, extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances.”


A far cry from protecting human rights

CIA and U.S. Army manuals detailing torture techniques
translated into Spanish and utilized by the SOA are a far cry from anything containing human rights protections. Indeed, as SOA Watch explains, “These manuals advocated torture, extortion, blackmail and the targeting of civilian populations.”




The manuals, written in the 1950s and 1960s, “were distributed for use in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru, and at the School of the Americas between 1987 and 1991.” Indeed, in-depth research and testimony from torture survivors relay more than just a depiction of torture practiced by SOA graduates in South America during dictatorship eras, such as Chile under Pinochet. Sadistic torture practiced upon detainees at Abu Ghraib is also reflective of the CIA torture manuals and torture previously carried out on detainees in South America.
Since 2000 and the renaming of the SOA, other crimes linked to SOA graduates have come to light.



Col. Byron Lima Estrada was convicted in June 2001 of murdering Guatemalan Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi following the publication of a report insisting the Guatemalan army was responsible for the murder of almost 200,000 people in the civil war that took place from 1960 to 1996.



Two SOA graduates, Venezuelan Army Commander in Chief Efrain Vasquez and Gen. Ramirez Poveda, were involved in the failed 2002 coup against President Hugo Chávez. According to SOA Watch, Otto Reich, then-assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, was “appointed as a WHINSEC board of visitor member to ‘oversee’ democracy and human rights curriculum, as well as operations at the school.” Reich was also deeply involved in the planning of the coup against Chávez.



In 1999, Bolivian Captain Filiman Rodriguez had been found responsible for the kidnapping and torture of Waldo Albarracin, director of the Bolivian Popular Assembly of Human Rights. In 2002, Rodriguez was accepted for a 49-week officer training course at WHINSEC.



In May 2014, a detailed report by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Colombia-Europe-U.S. Human Rights Observatory highlighted U.S. military assistance to Colombia between 2000 and 2010. According to the report, which studies extrajudicial killings committed by the Colombian Army Brigades, U.S. intelligence assistance to Colombia “supported units that had adopted a strategy conducive to extrajudicial killings.”
Colombia requires its officers to undergo training at WHINSEC. The 2014 report states that out of 25 Colombian graduates from 2001 to 2003, 12 had either been charged with “a serious crime or commanded units whose members had reportedly committed multiple extrajudicial killings.”


It should be remembered that Plan Colombia, signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton, was translated into “moral and political support” by Colombian Gen. Mario Montoya. Between 2000 and 2010, U.S. assistance was considered a factor which influenced the staggering total of 5,673 extrajudicial killings — all of which occurred with impunity, lack of judicial mechanisms, rewards for the murders and the role of national leaders such as Montoya providing a safety net for those complicit in the atrocities.


As regards WHINSEC in Colombia, an academic on the Board of Visitors is quoted in the report as stating, “So if a student of mine leaves an ethics class and engages in criminal activity does that make me or my university liable for her activity?”


This attitude summarizes the lack of accountability surrounding WHINSEC. The dissociation from the school’s history under its original name — the SOA — is merely a premise for distancing the institution from the atrocities committed by its students and graduates.


History, however, tells a different story. While WHINSEC continues to emphasize what it describes as a commitment to human rights by citing a mere eight hours of instruction in the subject, research, such as the report on Colombia’s extrajudicial killings, reveals a reality that goes beyond the cosmetic reforms employed by the institution.

________________________________________


Below we see how LATIN AMERICA was brutally colonized by global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS----and what were 5% freemason/Greek players over several decades.  NOTHING AMERICAN happening with these PIGS given LIPSTICK by our US national FAKE NEWS.

This is why early American 99% of WE THE PEOPLE worked hard to keep freemasonry ----Greeks----out of our US government.  As we see the presence of 33 degree freemason/KNIGHTS OF MALTA soared after US FED was installed in early 1900s and there is FDR.
  Make no mistake----these secret societies have only one goal----to keep all money to global 1% and to create societal chaos to unravel all social gains.

Many of our local rank and file freemason/Greeks often don't think what that PLEDGE means---doing anything global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS tell them.  The US and our local county and city economies can build strong real free market thriving economies

WITHOUT global banking or those dastardly OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH.


What we hear most often is------what can we do when our national leaders all work for a foreign sovereignty?



Here is a short partial compiled list of secret societies members listed, many of whom have played key roles throughout this article, they include 33° Scottish Rite Freemasons, Freemasons, Knights of Malta and Skull and Bones members.


These are the global banking 5% players passing laws allowing anyone with a pulse to create their own military contracting corporation----giving grants to pay for bullets and AK-47s---and made sure some PRETENDED to be RIGHT WING and other PRETENDED to be 'left' MARXISTS.


US Presidents (since 1900)

Theodore Roosevelt - 33° Freemason
William Howard Taft - Freemason - Skull and Bones
Warren G. Harding - Freemason
Franklin D. Roosevelt - 33° Freemason
Harry S. Truman - 33° Freemason
Dwight D. Eisenhower - Knight of Malta
Lyndon B. Johnson -33° Freemason
Gerald Ford - 33° Freemason - member of JFK Warren Commission
Jimmy Carter - 33° Freemason
Ronald Reagan - 33° Freemason - Knight of Malta
George H. W. Bush - Freemason - Knight of Malta - Skull and Bones
Bill Clinton - 33° Freemason - Knight of Malta
George W. Bush - Skull and Bones - Knight of Malta


World Leaders (since 1900)

Tony Blair - 33° Freemason - Knight of Malta - Prime Minister of England
Sir Winston Churchill - 33° Freemason - Prime Minister of England
Josef Stalin - 33° Freemason - Leader of the Soviet Union

Juan Perón - 33° Freemason - President of Argentina
Giscard d’Estaing - Knight of Malta - President of France
Nelson Mandela - Knight of Malta - President South Africa
Juan Carlos - Knight of Malta - King of Spain
Augusto Pinochet - Knight of Malta - President of Chile
Saddam Hussein - 33° Freemason - President of Iraq
John G. Diefenbaker - Freemason - Prime Minister of Canada 1957-1963
Otto von Hapsburg - Knight of Malta - Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary
Bob Hawke - Freemason - Prime Minister of Australia
King Hussein- 33° Freemason - King of Jordan


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THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS based in Georgia-----branches in LATIN AMERICA is now becoming obsolete. MOVING FORWARD goals of killing US national sovereignty ends the need for any US national PUBLIC MILITARY base------as now each global multi-national corporation has within its business operations its own SCHOOL OF AMERICAS. As global corporate campuses are allowed to be built in US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES now statewide with the label of SANCTUARY STATES------each global corporate campus will fund and promote the activities of local military contract corporations just as in LATIN AMERICA----just as in AFRICA----just as in ARABIA----just as in Southeast Asia.......and there will always be a global banking 1% RIGHT WING FASCISTS VS FAKE LEFT MARXIST REBELS.
This is MOVING FORWARD CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA inside US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES-----this development promoted by global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players black, white, and brown here in US just as overseas who are also those who come on US national media REALLY MAD at all this brutality.

How are Baltimore City Hall and Maryland Assembly pols and players any different today then those installed 'DICTATORS' in Latin America several decades ago?  No different-----simply next generation player.



The Empire Files: The U.S. School That Trains Dictators & Death Squads 
TeleSUR English
Published on Dec 5, 2015


On November 22, thousands gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, GA at the 25th annual protest of the School of the Americas to memorialize the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives at the hands of the U.S. Empire’s brutally repressive juntas it used to rule Latin America by force. The dictators and death squad leaders, who committed acts of genocide, were trained within the gates of Fort Benning, at the School of the Americas – otherwise known as the “School Of Assassins.” Abby Martin investigates this notorious school that is largely hidden from the American public; it’s crimes around the world, it’s star graduates, why it exists and the movement to shut it down. Featuring interviews with School Of the Americas Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois and other SOAW leaders. [Follow @SOAWatch and visit SOAW.org for more info on the movement]



THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS based in Georgia-----branches in LATIN AMERICA is now becoming obsolete. MOVING FORWARD goals of killing US national sovereignty ends the need for any US national PUBLIC MILITARY base------as now each global multi-national corporation has within its business operations its own SCHOOL OF AMERICAS. As global corporate campuses are allowed to be built in US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES now statewide with the label of SANCTUARY STATES------each global corporate campus will fund and promote the activities of local military contract corporations just as in LATIN AMERICA----just as in AFRICA----just as in ARABIA----just as in Southeast Asia.......and there will always be a global banking 1% RIGHT WING FASCISTS VS FAKE LEFT MARXIST REBELS.
This is MOVING FORWARD CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA inside US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES-----this development promoted by global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players black, white, and brown here in US just as overseas who are also those who come on US national media REALLY MAD at all this brutality.
How are Baltimore City Hall and Maryland Assembly pols and players any different today then those installed 'DICTATORS' in Latin America several decades ago? No different-----simply next generation player. Our US global banking 5% freemason/Greeks need to WAKE UP and smell the 3000BC DNA.


The Empire Files: The U.S. School That Trains Dictators & Death Squads
On November 22, thousands gathered at the gates of Fort…
youtube.com

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We have discussed in detail how MOVING FORWARD RACE TO THE TOP privatization of all that is US PUBLIC K-12 is including pre-K to career vocational tracking of our children to CIA/FBI/ INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF AMERICAS------so, what once recruited our US high school grads and selected those capable of covert military activities overseas to create civil unrest civil war building military contract corporations in overseas third world nations so FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES could be built----are now recruiting our US 99% of children as well as our 99% new immigrant children ----OBAMA fought hard to assure these new immigrant children could attend TEXAS' INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF AMERICA----GLOBAL CORPORATE CHARTER SCHOOLS.

THE BUSH FAMILY REALLY DID LEAVE A MESS IN TEXAS.


International School of the Americas

  1. North East Independent School District
  2. 9-12
  3. Public, Magnet


International School of the Americas is a top rated, public, magnet school located in San Antonio, TX. It has 483 students in grades 9-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 20 to 1. According to state test scores, 85% of students are at least proficient in math and 96% in reading.

So, these global private charter schools are expanding across the US and will be those that survive since GREAT SCHOOLS global banking WALL STREET rating corporation is selling stocks on these corporate charters today.  What pre-K -career corporate charter school will be found on all global corporate campuses in US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES?


Surely, global banking 1% will make INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF AMERICA a #1 ranking for Wall Street traded corporate K-CAREER schools and of course DeVos/Prince of Blackwater/Ze will be major stock holders.

WE MUST HAVE THIS NATIONAL CHARTER CHAIN IN BALTIMORE SAYS GREATER BALTIMORE----BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT----JOHNS HOPKINS-----URBAN LEAGUE ---URBAN INSTITUTE ----NAACP -----CASA DE MARYLAND!



It's always good to disguise global banking 1% military junta training as 'PUBLIC MAGNET SCHOOLS'......they are indeed EQUAL OPPORTUNITY black, white, and brown US citizen AND our new immigrant children.  It is a NICHE SCHOOL after all.

International School Of America

GREAT SCHOOLS GLOBAL WALL STREET CHARTER SCHOOL RATING CORPORATION.
 
1400 Jackson Keller Road, San Antonio, TX 78213
North East Independent School District

This school is rated above average in school quality compared to other schools in the state. Students here perform above average on state tests, have above average college readiness measures, are making above average year-over-year academic improvement, take more advanced courses per student than the state average, and this school has above average results in how well it’s serving disadvantaged students.


_______________________________________________


Baby boomers in US northern and western states being REAL left social progressive fought against and kept military organizations like ROTC out of our public high schools -----AND off our US public university campuses BECAUSE the US is a CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT and Federal funds to US public schools went to civilian academic education.  The separation of CHURCH AND STATE is partnered with SEPARATION OF civilian and military education.  We understand some regions of US never separated these institutions and blended military with public education as we see here in FLORIDA---MARYLAND as well.

When REAGAN/CLINTON global banking 1% neo-liberalism hit----our once strong US PUBLIC SCHOOLS started to be taken to corporate schools.  So, when in the US we now have corporate K-career military training schools-----followed by corporate JUNIOR ROTC------at what point does a child be educated to be a CIVILIAN US CITIZEN?

We KNOW these school shootings over a few decades is tied to growing military contracting corporations recruiting earlier and earlier------we know tracking our US children through INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF AMERICA modeled on that brutal LATIN AMERICA military school-----will indeed MOVE FORWARD global banking 1% CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR graduating lots of military junta leaders representing all population groups inside US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.


Think this may have been behind the last Florida school shooting US national media made viral?


Florida School’s R.O.T.C. Lost 3 Cadets; Suspect Was a Member


Peter Wang, whose funeral was Tuesday, received a ceremonial letter of acceptance from the United States Military Academy at West Point.


By Neil Reisner and Dave Philipps
  • Feb. 20, 2018
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Cadet Peter Wang dreamed of attending the United States Military Academy at West Point one day, but he never got the chance. The 15-year-old was shot down last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as he held open a door so others could escape.



As he was laid to rest on Tuesday, West Point issued his family a ceremonial letter of acceptance. “One of U.S.M.A.’s priorities is to develop leaders of character who are committed to the values of duty, honor and country,” the academy wrote on Twitter. “Peter Wang’s actions on February 14 are an example of those principles, and the academy honors his dream of being a West Point cadet.”



The 17 people killed in the shooting rampage included three members of the school’s popular Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps: Mr. Wang, Martin Duque and Alaina Petty. Fellow students say the cadets acted valiantly, helping to usher others to safety. All three have been posthumously awarded the Medal of Heroism by the Army.



The accused gunman, Nikolas Cruz, 19, had also been a Junior R.O.T.C. cadet.


The corps is one of the high school’s largest clubs, with nearly 300 students who take courses in subjects like military drill, leadership and shooting. Their maroon polo shirts were a familiar sight around the school campus. Mr. Cruz may have counted on that. The police say he was wearing his maroon polo shirt when he was arrested, after having slipped away unnoticed after the rampage.


“We all have those shirts,” Angelyse Perez, an 18-year-old senior in the corps, told The Washington Post. “We’re never wearing them again. We’re going to destroy them all.”



Other cadets credited their corps training with helping to minimize the carnage at the school. But Mr. Cruz’s ties to the corps — The Associated Press reported that he had honed his shooting skills on its marksmanship team — raised troubling questions.

The Pentagon spends $370 million a year on Junior R.O.T.C. programs at about 3,400 high schools across the country, hoping to foster the next generation of military leaders. Some communities welcome Junior R.O.T.C., but in others, it meets resistance from parents and advocacy groups who say it promotes militarism among impressionable youths.

Junior R.O.T.C. has been criticized for focusing on poorer schools with larger minority populations, and for using scarce resources to steer students toward the military, rather than giving them skills for other careers. The program does not require students to commit to enlisting in the military, and its leaders say it instills discipline and integrity that can help students in any career.



Mr. Wang’s funeral on Tuesday was attended by hundreds of people. He lay in an open coffin in the small chapel at Kraeer Funeral Home, dressed in a Junior R.O.T.C. uniform like the one he wore the day he was killed, with the Medal for Heroism pinned to the chest. A line of mourners, many of them in uniform, stretched out of the chapel.


Gov. Rick Scott ordered the Florida National Guard to honor the three cadets. Veterans from all over the country began a campaign to mail military patches to Mr. Wang’s family. And those who knew him spoke in tribute.


“He was always looking to do things for others before himself,” said a classmate, Logan De Lima, 13.

Ms. Petty, 14, whose funeral was Monday, saw the Junior R.O.T.C. program as a way to give back to the community, according to a statement from her family, who carried in her coffin covered by an American flag. “She loved to serve,” the statement said.


Cadets were also among the wounded in the attack at the school. Samantha Fuentes, an 18-year-old senior, was shot in both legs and was left with a piece of shrapnel lodged behind her right eye.


Ms. Fuentes said in an interview that she had known Mr. Cruz from the corps. She and other students were sheltering in a classroom, she said, when gunfire burst through the narrow pane of glass next to the room’s locked door. Two in the classroom were killed. Mr. Cruz then looked in to see what he had wrought, she said, and she saw his face.


When the attack began, she said, the class had been discussing hate groups and the history of the Holocaust.

____________________________________________



Below we see BUSH era expansion of JUNIOR ROTC into public K-12 and US public universities having long histories of wanting to keep a division between MILITARY AND CIVILIAN education.

It was only a few decades ago in US where Congressional and US Presidents mandated the merging of civilian public schools with ROTC military training----ergo, the decline of our PUBLIC MILITARY ACADEMIES like WEST POINT and NAVAL ACADEMIES.  These PUBLIC MILITARY ACADEMIES were created just for this pathway for students WANTING military careers.  The US had all the educational structures needed for any student wanting a CIVILIAN EDUCATION vs a MILITARY EDUCATION.




Education

U.S. Government Punishes Schools That Ban Military Recruiting


June 1, 200512:00 AM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

Claudio Sanchez


The U.S. Defense Department has denied federal funding to two law schools because they do not allow military recruiters on campus. Now the U.S. House of Representatives is putting forward a new law would require the Secretary of Defense to compile a list of colleges and universities that don't allow the military to recruit on campus.

What US cities have the most gang violence---the most drug and gun cartels ----the most ghetto communities where citizens cannot live safely?  Those having installed all the K-career military structures tied with promoting anyone with a pulse small business military contracting with lots of global corporate campuses funding private military junta.

Just as TRUMAN'S SCHOOL OF AMERICAS in LATIN AMERICA training brutal dictators to install continuous civil unrest civil wars -----the HUMAN RIGHTS of SOA ----was training more and more war medics---isn't that humanitarian of those global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBES OF JUDAH-------


'One representative from Chicago’s six military academies and the approximately 40 junior ROTC programs'

The graduates of SCHOOL OF AMERICAS always started off as paid military contractors then declared TERRORISTS.

So, now the US will not need public K-12 schools---we will not need medical doctors----we will not need civilian government----it is MOVING FORWARD to global MILITARY TRIBUNAL. What jobs will SUZY Q and JOHNNIE COME LATELY be able to secure MOVING FORWARD? YOU ALL ARE IN THE MILITARY NOW----that is far-right, authoritarian, militaristic, extreme wealth extreme poverty LIBERTARIAN MARXISM.



Wonder why our K-12 students tired of school shootings are not targeting expanding militarism to ever-younger children?

Chicago Public Schools’ ROTC Students to Receive Medical Training at Rush

October 26, 2012



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(CHICAGO) — Forty-six high school students representing each of the Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) military academies and junior ROTC programs will receive introductory first aid medical training at Rush University Medical Center on Oct. 27 from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m.




One representative from Chicago’s six military academies and the approximately 40 junior ROTC programs, a training program sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces in high schools across the country, will receive medical training from physicians and nurses at Rush and will take part in a discussion about careers in health care at Rush’s Armour Academic Center (600 S. Paulina St.). The cadets will receive a certification card issued by the American Heart Association (AHA) and will return to their respective CPS programs to fill a leadership position as their program’s “surgeon general.”




Instruction will be given by emergency medicine physicians at Rush: Drs. Sobia Ansari, Louis Hondros and Yanina Purim-Shem-Tov.


“We are committed to training a new generation of emergency care providers with the basic knowledge to assess and stabilize patients with serious emergency medical issues,” said Dr. Dino Rumoro, chairperson, Department of Emergency Medicine at Rush.



The course is taught primarily by physicians from the emergency department at Rush, which includes the McCormick Foundation Center for Advanced Emergency Response, the first center of its kind in the nation designed to provides an unprecedented level of readiness for large-scale health emergencies, such as a mass outbreak or a terrorist attack.



“This training opportunity is designed to provide young leaders with basic knowledge to assess and stabilize patients with serious emergency resuscitation issues,” said retired Col. Dave Leckrone, a military liaison for Rush. “The certificate from the American Heart Association is a valuable asset for cadets who might seek positions as life guards or other employment requiring first aid skills, as well as an opportunity to give the cadets exposure to the needs and demands of the 21st century health care workforce.”



Cadets will take part in the AHA-certified Heartsaver Course, which includes instruction on how to respond in the first few minutes of medical emergencies. Training includes CPR for responding to conscious or unconscious choking and drowning victims; first aid for injuries such as bleeding, sprains, broken bones and shock; and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED), a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in patients.



After the medical training and an introduction to medical careers by Rush physicians and nurses, the training day will end with a graduation ceremony when the cadets will receive recognition for completing the training and will be awarded the “Surgeon General Ribbon.”



“Chicago Public Schools’ junior ROTC programs offer unique learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom that can potentially lead to lifelong career paths,” said Todd Connor, executive director of service leadership programs at CPS. “We commend this group of dedicated students who have taken the initiative to complete this rigorous training to become the Surgeon Generals of their respective junior ROTC units.”



Rush’s emergency department also provides advanced trauma training for military health care personnel before they are shipped overseas for military operations. Rush providestraining to the National Guard to train soldiers in advanced trauma medicine. Three weeklong sessions are held each year to train approximately 140 soldiers ready to be deployed for military action. Rush has trained and certified nearly 850 Army medics, Air Force aerospace medical technicians, Navy corpsmen, flight surgeons, Army physician assistants and military nurses.


______________________________________________

We want our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE especially our millennial young adults who did not live during these baby boomer periods to remember------this SCHOOL OF AMERICAS were created as a pathway for young students across Central America to be trained at the earliest age to be militarized. We understand most of our US citizens wanting a military pathway are not sociopaths or brutal killers. What we understand from LATIN AMERICA is this----when global banking 1% drive a sovereign nations' economy into the ground ---as the coming US economic crash and economic collapse staged to come soon------ordinary citizens made desperate to survive-----are forced to join these military contracting businesses and are forced to SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL just as these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA ROBBER BARON FRAUDS. When societies upgrade private military corporate structures at the same time they are planning an economic collapse and stagnation wanting NO JOBS to be found----



YOU HAVE THE MASTER PLAN IN MOVING FORWARD DRAWN DURING REAGAN/CLINTON-------FOR US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.



Let's just STOP MOVING FORWARD by standing up against the designation of US CITIES as FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES ---- against the building of global corporate campuses------and against RACE TO TOP global corporatization of our US public K-universities.

All of these articles coming out NOW in national corporate captured media saying its time to close several decades of organized military occupation----is simply happening because SCHOOL OF AMERICAS is getting ready to become UNITED NATIONS ARMY AND PEACEKEEPING.


The school of Latin America's dictators


Grace Livingstone


Since so many alumni are notorious human rights abusers, the US military should close its deadly School of Americas

President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile after his residence was stormed by soldiers under the command of General Vasquez, a graduate of the US Army's Western Hemisphere Institute for Cooperation (WHINSEC).

Photograph: Bebeto Matthews/AP




When the elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was dragged from his bed and flown out of the country in his pyjamas last year, it was no surprise to find that this classic coup was led by a graduate of the School of Americas, the notorious army training school in Fort Benning, Georgia. But General Vasquez was simply following a well-trodden path for autocrats in Honduras – after all, two of the country's most hated past dictators, Juan Melgar Castro and Policarpo Paz Garcia, had also attended the school.



More than 60,000 Latin American soldiers have been trained at the School of the Americas – among them, the some of the region's most notorious human rights abusers, such as Salvadoran death-squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson. In all, 11 dictators have attended its courses: men such as Argentine junta leader, Leopoldo Galtieri, infamously responsible for the "disappeared" and Guatemala's Efraín Ríos Montt, whose scorched earth campaign against indigenous villages, was classified as "genocide" by a UN-sponsored commission.




Founded in the Panama Canal Zone in 1948, it was originally named the Army Caribbean School. It was renamed the School of Americas in 1963, and a new curriculum was introduced, offering courses in counter-insurgency, military intelligence and psychological warfare. The school was moved to Fort Benning in 1984 and, in 2001, in an attempt to improve its image, its name was changed again to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Cooperation (WHINSEC).

Training manuals (pdf) used at the School of the Americas were declassified in 1996. They advocated the use of "fear, payment of bounties for enemy dead, beatings, false, imprisonment, executions and use of truth serum", according to a Pentagon memorandum (pdf). The manuals also included detailed interrogation techniques and used the term "neutralisation", which the department of defence admits is a euphemism for illegal execution.



Those manuals have now been withdrawn from use and the anodynely-named WHINSEC offers courses in human rights, ethics, democracy and peace-keeping. But there is very little take up of these "soft" courses, according to institution's own statistics released to Congress in 2000, and by far the most popular courses remain: commando tactics, military intelligence, psychological operations and combat training.




Despite its revamped image and promise of transparency, WHINSEC has been remarkably secretive. It refused to publish the names of its military trainees and has turned down numerous freedom of information requests by campaigners. Only after a congressional vote last year, did it begin to release names and country origins of graduates.




This weekend (19-21 November), thousands of people will congregate at the gates of Fort Benning to call for the school's closure. The protest is called by School of Americas Watch, a group founded by Father Roy Bourgeois, which has catalogued the abuses of School of Americas graduates for 20 years. Protests will also take place in 14 Latin American countries, including Chile, Honduras and Guatemala.



A vigil will take place in Colombia, which has sent more officers to US training schools than any other Latin American country and, today, has the worst human rights record in the region. In the last two years, the country has been rocked by the news that the army has been killing innocent civilians, then dressing the victims in guerrilla uniforms. Prosecutors are investigating more than 1,700 alleged extrajudicial killings by the security forces. Who is responsible for the grisly "false positive" murders? Well, one of the first generals sacked for involvement was Paulino Coronado Gámez, a graduate of the School of Americas.



The term "neutralisation" may have been taken out of the school's manuals, but its students still appears to be carrying out what they learned on the ground. Reason enough to close down this school for good.

________________________________________________


We didn't see all the US national media surrounding this school shooting that spawned BUSH 5% players GONZALEZ AND HOGG as gun control actorvists------but we never heard any articles reference that STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL had a very strong JUNIOR ROTC or that shootings at this school had occurred before.
Have we heard global banking 5% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT school shooting HOGG AND GONZALEZ protesting JUNIOR ROTC as the source of school violence?
NO




Parkland School Shooting

17 killed in shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

17 others taken to area hospitals, not including suspected gunman


By Peter Burke - Local10.com



Managing Editor, Amanda Batchelor - Senior Digital Editor, Carlos Suarez - Anchor/Reporter, Neki Mohan - Anchor/Reporter, Michael Seiden - Reporter



Posted: 2:43 PM, February 14, 2018


PARKLAND, Fla. - Seventeen people were killed and more than a dozen others were taken to area hospitals after a shooting Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said.
The lone shooter was taken into custody off campus without incident.

Israel told reporters that Nikolas Cruz, 19, was previously expelled from the high school.
Israel said Cruz used an AR-15 rifle in the shooting and was equipped with multiple magazines. The sheriff said 12 people were found dead inside the school, two just outside the building and one on Pine Island Road. Israel said two other victims died at the hospital. 



Dr. Evan Boyar, medical director of Broward Health North's Department of Emergency Medicine, said 17 patients were taken to area hospitals, including nine to Broward Health North, seven to Broward Health Medical Center and one to Broward Health Coral Springs. 

He said the suspect was among those treated at Broward Health North before he was released back to police. 
Authorities and school officials did not immediately say why Cruz had been expelled from the school, but a student who had a class with him last year told Local 10 News that he got into trouble after bringing a weapon on campus.


"I heard that he wasn't allowed to bring a backpack to school because they found a weapon in there, so ever since that day, he would bring a plastic bag," she said. 
The teen said she told her parents last year that she was afraid of Cruz and that he would tell his peers that he wanted to join the military so he could shoot people.


Cruz was seen walking into the BSO's headquarters in a hospital gown hours after the shooting, where he would be questioned by detectives before being taken to jail. 



Two law enforcement officials and a witness said Cruz was able to leave the school after the shooting by blending in with other students who were trying to escape. 



Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said deputies were initially called to an active shooter at the school shortly before 3 p.m.


A view from Sky 10 showed the SWAT team converging on the school with their guns drawn.

At least two people were seen on stretchers. One of them was placed into the back of the ambulance.
Rescuers appeared to have a triage unit set up under a tent outside the school.

Students could be seen being guided off campus. Some of them had their hands in the air and others were walking out with their hands on each other's shoulders in a human chain.
It appeared that students were dropping their backpacks in the middle of the street as they were being guided to safety. A crowd of students could be seen sitting on the grass next to the road.

"I was in the building right in front of the shooter -- right where he pulled the firearm," ninth-grade student Dominic Timpone said. "Me and my friends were going downstairs because we thought it was a firearm, and he was loading up the gun and we ran upstairs and said, 'Everyone get into the classroom.'



"We hear bullets coming closer and closer to us, and then we just hear kids screaming. This teacher was apparently trying to help a student and got shot." 



A parent of a ninth-grade student told Local 10 that she was speaking to her daughter via text message.
"She's telling me that she is OK," the woman said. "The teacher has them in the back of the classroom. He locked the door. They know what to do. They're doing the proper procedure, but she's terrified."



The woman said her daughter heard at least one gunshot.
"I'll be relieved when she comes out and I can give her a hug," she said.

Parents who spoke to Local 10 News expressed various feelings about the shooting, ranging from sadness to anger.


"I'm so angry," a woman who was waiting to find her son said. "How many times does this have to happen?"
A junior at the school told Local 10 he heard the shots and took off running.

"This is a terrible day for Parkland, Broward County, the state of Florida and the United States," Israel said. "My very own triplets went to that school and graduated from Stoneman Douglas. They played football and lacrosse at that school, so it's just catastrophic. There really are no words."



Israel said the shooter "was outside and inside at varying times."


Deputies and Coral Springs police on Twitter were asking parents to pick up their students at the Marriott on Heron Bay Boulevard.



Parents of children who attend nearby Westglades Middle School were able to pick up their children shortly before 6 p.m. at the school. Pine Island Road remained blocked, but parents could enter from Coral Ridge Drive via Holmberg Road. 




Authorities cleared out the high school hours after the shooting.
"It's one of the biggest schools in Broward County. It's huge. It's a huge campus, so we have multiple SWAT teams clearing every building to make sure that there are no other shooters," Israel said before the scene was cleared. 



Gov. Rick Scott and Israel addressed reporters at news conference just after 9 p.m.

“How could this happen in this state? This a state that is focused on keeping all of our children safe. You come to the conclusion that this is absolutely poor evil,” Scott said. "My prayers are with everybody impacted."



Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said the state would pay for funeral expenses. The school system said it will offer counseling services for the students, teachers and parents. 



Israel said he also spoke to President Donald Trump, who "offered the full power of the United States of America to help us get through this."
The shooting was the 19th at a U.S. school so far in 2018.


Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will remain closed through Friday. All school activities are also canceled for the week. School officials said Westglades Middle School will be open for the rest of the week, but grief counselors will be at the school for students and staff as needed. 

_____________________________________________




One does not have to be a rocket scientist to follow the CLUES as to why our US schools especially these tied to US CITIES have these few decades become so violent as too the communities surrounding them. Gangs are freemasons just as our local politicians-----not all high school students attending JUNIOR ROTC go on to being MILITARY here in US as was true in LATIN AMERICA SCHOOL OF AMERICA.


'Meanwhile, murders, armed robberies and other violent felonies committed by children outside of schools have hit record levels, and some see a connection with what’s happening on school grounds. Since the relaxing of discipline, Broward youths have not only brazenly punched out their teachers, but terrorized Broward neighborhoods with drive-by shootings, gang rapes, home invasions and carjackings.


Broward County now has the highest percentage of “the most serious, violent [and] chronic” juvenile offenders in Florida, according to the county’s chief juvenile probation officer'.


Our US military leaders should be ASHAMED of promoting these militarized structures in our US public school systems.

What percentage of high school grads join military? Maybe Broward County needs a CHICAGO-STYLE ROTC MEDIC training of high school students to treat growing school shooting victims-------that is what they did in SCHOOL OF AMERICAS LATIN AMERICA

'JROTC going strong, growing in local high schools

John Boyle, jboyle@citizen-times.com Published 1:31 p.m. ET March 13, 2015 | Updated 3:39 p.m. ET March 13, 2015'




Broward School Violence: Cruz's Massacre Is Far From Whole Story


By Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations
April 15, 2018




Broward County, Fla., school officials portray as a great success their Obama administration-inspired program offering counseling to students who break the law, instead of having them arrested or expelled. They insist that it played no role in February’s school massacre by Nikolas Cruz. They also claim that in fact juvenile recidivism rates are down and school safety is up, thanks to the program.




The evidence tells a far different story.



Broward County juvenile justice division records, federal studies of Broward school district safety and the district's own internal reporting show that years of “intensive" counseling didn’t just fail to reform repeat offender Cruz, who allegedly went on to shoot and kill 17 people at his high school. Records show such policies have failed to curtail other campus violence and its effects now on the rise in district schools — including fighting, weapons use, bullying and related suicides.



Meanwhile, murders, armed robberies and other violent felonies committed by children outside of schools have hit record levels, and some see a connection with what’s happening on school grounds. Since the relaxing of discipline, Broward youths have not only brazenly punched out their teachers, but terrorized Broward neighborhoods with drive-by shootings, gang rapes, home invasions and carjackings.



Broward County now has the highest percentage of “the most serious, violent [and] chronic” juvenile offenders in Florida, according to the county’s chief juvenile probation officer.




Before the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the program’s most supportive community partner – the county sheriff’s office – privately worried that school-based deputies were overlooking increasingly dangerous threats. It warned that violent felons on probation were getting “several chances to reoffend” under the school program and those who put their victims in the hospital after attacking them on school grounds escaped arrest through the program.


Records also show that Cruz was not the only active-shooter threat in the Broward school system. Since 2015, at least three other pupils have brought loaded firearms into schools and threatened to go on shooting sprees.


Nevertheless, Broward schools Chief Public Information Officer Tracy Clark denied the district’s reforms have weakened safety. "In fact,” she said, “our district’s overall disciplinary incidents have dropped since we adopted the new policy and wraparound supports to students with behavior issues."



District officials, however, declined to provide evidence when presented with contrary reporting by RealClearInvestigations.
The administration has kept a lid on such bad news by suppressing school safety data, including canceling annual surveys of student behavior.


“Their program is a lie, and it doesn’t work,” said Lowell Levine, a father with grown children whose Stop Bullying Now Foundation in Lake Worth, Fla., has received several dozen complaints during the past few years from parents whose children were repeatedly beaten and bullied by fellow Broward students, who suffered few or no consequences.



As a result, some parents have sued the school district for failing to protect their children from violent attacks. At least one survivor of the Feb. 14 shooting is filing a lawsuit citing the district’s lax discipline policies.



Levine said he alerted Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie’s office about the flood of complaints regarding school violence in 2015, two years after its leniency program, called PROMISE, was put into effect. (PROMISE stands for Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports & Education.)



“But he refused to meet with me,” said Levine, who has been consulting with survivors of the Parkland shooting. “I was told they had it under control and that they didn’t need any outside advice.”



Runcie’s office did not respond to requests for comment regarding Levine’s claims.



Runcie and the Broward school board have agreed to hold a community forum Wednesday to address growing concerns from parents and students about the role the PROMISE program played in the shooting and overall school safety.


“The PROMISE program has failed us, and discipline hasn’t been allocated the way it should have been,” parent Donald Eckler told the board during a public meeting this month. “We’ve shut off communication between the school board and the police agencies that impact these students.”



That new discipline policy took effect in 2013. It was at the vanguard of the Obama administration’s efforts to address the “school to prison” pipeline. Beginning in 2009, it opened hundreds of investigations or sued to force districts to adopt lenient discipline guidelines. This push was formalized in a 2014 “Dear Colleague” letter to the nation’s public school superintendents and board members that not only discourages student arrests, but holds districts liable for the actions of school resource officers.



After meeting with Obama officials in the White House, Runcie persuaded the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Lauderdale Police Department to agree to stop arresting students who committed misdemeanor crimes the district deemed “nonviolent” – including assault, theft, vandalism, drugs and public fighting. This included multiple offenders such as Cruz. Law enforcement agreed for the most part to let school officials handle such delinquents through two counseling programs: PROMISE and the Behavior Intervention Program.



Runcie argued that diverting minor offenders from jail to “restorative justice” counseling and other positive behavioral interventions would help close the academic "achievement gap” by disrupting the flow of black students into the so-called “schoolhouse to jailhouse pipeline.” Though African-Americans made up about 40 percent of the Broward student body, they accounted for more than 70 percent of juvenile arrests in the county.



In a related program, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel also agreed to back off arrests of students who commit such crimes outside of schools, offering them civil citations and the same “restorative justice" counseling instead of incarceration, even for repeat offenders. Restorative justice is a controversial alternative punishment in which delinquents gather in “healing circles” with counselors – and sometimes even the victims of their crime – and discuss their feelings and the "root causes" of their anger and actions.




Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie.
Amy Beth Bennett /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP




Within two years of adopting the discipline reforms, Broward's juvenile recidivism rate surged higher than the Florida state average.



The negative trends continued through last year, the most recent juvenile crime data show.


Prosecutors and probation officers complain that while overall juvenile arrests are down, serious violent crimes involving school-aged Broward youths – including armed robbery, kidnapping and even murder – have spiked, even as such violent crimes across the state have dropped.



Juvenile arrests for murder and manslaughter increased 150 percent between 2013 and 2016. They increased by another 50 percent in 2017. County juveniles were responsible for a total of 16 murders or manslaughters in the past two years alone, according to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

NOWHERE DOES THIS ARTICLE MENTION STONEMAN DOUGLAS AS A STRONG ROTC HIGH SCHOOL OR THAT CRUZ BEING IDENTIFIED AS THIS TROUBLED WAS ALLOWED TO JOIN ROTC.

Last year, the number of Broward juveniles collared for armed robbery totaled 92, up 46 percent from 2013, department data show. Arrests for auto thefts jumped 170 percent between 2013 and 2017 – from 105 to 284. Juveniles charged with kidnapping, moreover, surged 157 percent in 2016 and another 43 percent last year.



Broward Juvenile Delinquency Division Judge Elijah Williams, who has given full-throated support to the PROMISE program, acknowledged “a growing problem in the community where gangs of children are stealing cars,” according to minutes of a 2017 Juvenile Justice Circuit Advisory Board meeting.



Max Eden, an education policy expert and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said the no-arrest policies for students of all races has demonstrably  “emboldened” criminality among Broward youth, including Cruz, whose infractions became steadily more violent. Recent studies show juveniles often commit more serious crimes when petty crimes are not  punished.



Thousands of arrested Broward students have had their records deleted in the system as part of a program to end “disproportionate minority contact” with law enforcement, blindfolding both street cops and school resource officers to the criminal history of potential juvenile threats.



In addition, “the actual police reports are being destroyed,” stated Broward juvenile prosecutor Maria Schneider at a recent Juvenile Justice Circuit Advisory Board meeting. She added that her office has added a full-time attorney to handle expunctions.



Meanwhile, “scared straight” field trips to the juvenile jail are now a thing of the past. And juvenile probation officers are discouraged from visiting schools.



After Broward schools began emphasizing rehabilitation over incarceration, fights broke out virtually every day in classrooms, hallways, cafeterias and campuses across the district. Last year, more than 3,000 fights erupted in the district’s 300-plus schools, including the altercations involving Cruz. No brawlers were arrested, even after their third fight, and even if they sent other children to the hospital.



Federal data show almost half of Broward middle school students have been involved in fights, with many suffering injuries requiring medical treatment. The lion’s share of the campus violence is taking place at middle schools and high schools in Miramar, Coconut Creek, Fort Lauderdale and Plantation.



New Renaissance Middle School in Miramar.


Broward County Public Schools


At South Plantation High School, for instance, all-out brawls involving dozens of students have been reported regularly in hallways and the cafeteria.



One frustrated parent, Santiago Ortega, said his 14-year-old son was so afraid of being jumped by upperclassmen that he routinely hid in a bathroom stall during school. Ortega said he both called and emailed the superintendent's office – and even tried to personally reach out to Runcie – to complain. But, he said, nothing was done. Frustrated, he recently transferred his son to a different school.



“They need more security,” the father complained. “And they need to actually address the issue.”
Because the students involved in the fights are considered “mutual combatants,” administrators tell parents they cannot be referred to police under the new discipline code.


Parents are reportedly so worried their kids will be attacked unawares that they have advised them to remove their cellphone music earbuds while walking the hallways to better hear assailants approaching from behind.


In a December 2016 fight caught on video at Plantation High School, several girls beat and dragged another girl to the ground and took turns kicking her. Campus police did not break up the fight and the girls who jumped her were not arrested. The attacked girl’s mother said the school failed to stop bullying before it escalated into violence, and then swept the incident under the rug. Three other fights reportedly broke out the same day at the school.


A Plantation teacher recently told a local TV station that school fighting, which she says has grown more fierce and frequent, often is not reported to police or administrators “because of politics.”



Earlier in the year, another girl was jumped by several girls as she walked down a flight of stairs at New Renaissance Middle School. Jayla Cofer ended up in the emergency room with deep lacerations and bruises to her face. Though a school resource officer broke up the fight, no arrests were made. Instead, the girls were sent to the PROMISE program for a few days of counseling sessions, which are held at Pine Ridge Education Center in Fort Lauderdale.




Jayla Cofer’s mother, Santrail Cofer, reported the incident to Miramar police and filed a lawsuit against the school district for failing to send the assailants to jail or remove them from school.
Rosalind Osgood, a Broward County school board member whose district includes Plantation High, acknowledged at the time the district has a fighting and overall violence problem. But she argued arrests and other harsh punishments are not the answer because they do not address underlying emotional issues that lead to aggression.




“I don’t want schools to be a place where we’ve got gobs and gobs of officers walking around,” said Osgood, who chaired the board in 2013 and was one of the original signers of the no-arrest mandate. “I’m trying to keep kids out of jail, so I don’t want to create a jail environment.”



In October 2016, a potential school shooting was thwarted at Coral Springs High School thanks to a student who alerted a school resource officer after spotting a gun in the waistband of a former student who had entered the cafeteria. The 17-year-old former student, Ryan Trollinger, allegedly planned to give the loaded 9 mm handgun to an enrolled friend who authorities said planned to use the weapon for a “massive school shooting.”




Dexter M. Williams, Miramar police chief.
Miramar Police Department


The other student, a juvenile who was not identified, reportedly wrote in a journal: “I want to be the worst school shooter in America. Worst [sic] than Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Saney [sic] Hook.” Trollinger got 15 days detention, counseling and community service, while the would-be shooter was sent for psychiatric evaluation and was not charged with a crime.



The scare at Coral Springs High followed the discovery a year earlier of a .357 Smith & Wesson handgun, ammunition, mask and knife in the backpack of a Sunrise Middle School boy in that school’s cafeteria.



Around the same time, another Sunrise Middle School boy punched his 62-year-old science teacher in the face – bloodying her nose, injuring her eye and causing a concussion – because she told him he couldn’t bounce his basketball in the classroom.



It was the second physical attack on the teacher, Ruthanne Stadnik, in two weeks at the Fort Lauderdale school.
“They feel there are no consequences,” she said.



“Unfortunately, it’s not an unusual event,” Broward juvenile prosecutor Schneider said at the time, adding that district children have also struck "school board employees.”



Although the local prosecutor originally signed on to the PROMISE agreement, she cautioned that backing off the arrest and prosecution of too many delinquent students could end up “making the schools a more dangerous place.” Just a few months after the agreement was finalized in November 2013, Schneider warned school officials who were worried about criminal records “stigmatizing" minority youth: “There has to be accountability for bad behavior.”



Local police have become frustrated with crime spilling over from schools, and have pushed back against the PROMISE program, which, some officers suspect, “students are utilizing as a pass-through to run drugs through the schools,” according to minutes of a recent meeting of Broward's Juvenile Justice Circuit Advisory Board.



Critics say school officials knew the student safety picture was darkening and tried to gloss over it.




In 2014, the year after discipline reforms took effect and school safety data started trending badly, Broward stopped asking students key safety questions in an annual survey, including whether they “feel safe” in the classroom, restroom or cafeteria, or whether they have “seen students with weapons at school." The next year, the district stopped publishing its yearly school-climate surveys entirely.



"In 2014, they removed the six questions directly asking students whether they felt safe,” Eden said. "After 2015, they discontinued the annual survey they had been conducting for 21 years.”


The district did not respond to requests seeking explanation for the discontinued school safety surveys.
The federal government, however, conducts its own annual survey of the climate at major districts across the country. The data for Broward show a deterioration in safety indicators after the discipline reforms were adopted.



Between 2013 and 2015 (the latest data available), weapons possession, fighting, bullying and attempted suicide all rose for Broward high schools, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. More than 17 percent of students avoided going to school at least once because they felt unsafe. There were more than 70,000 students enrolled in Broward high schools in 2015.



Meanwhile, the CDC’s survey of Broward middle schools showed 33.5 percent of the 1,503 students surveyed in 2015 had been bullied on school property. Almost half – 47.4 percent – had gotten into fights, with more than 4 percent resulting in injuries treated by a doctor. Nearly 20 percent carried a gun, knife or club to school, up from almost 18 percent in 2013, while one in five also seriously thought about killing themselves.


The most recent state data, moreover, show that the Broward school system now has the highest rate of weapons-related incidents in South Florida.

Dr. Rosalind Osgood, school board member.



Linkedin



In 2017 alone, there were at least 10 reported cases of students taking their own lives, along with “a tremendous increase in the calls on suicides," records show, prompting the district to implement "special response teams" to prevent more suicides. Even elementary school children are attempting suicide.




“Bullying has become deadly,” Levine said. On his recommendation, several families have pulled their victimized children out of the Broward school system.


He warned that Broward's lenient discipline policies, which fail to mete out harsh consequences to bullies, have fostered an environment that could cause a victim to snap in other ways. “Cruz was badly bullied in middle school and high school,” Levine pointed out.




In addition to PROMISE, the Broward school district has created another counseling program for students with severe behavior problems and violent tendencies, and has found limited success with it as well.



RealClearInvestigations has learned that Cruz was assigned to the more “intensive” counseling – administered through the Behavior Intervention Program – after several violent incidents and before the Valentine’s Day shooting.



In lieu of arrest for a string of serious infractions, Cruz was diverted to the Cross Creek School, which is part of the Behavior Intervention Program. The counseling at Cross Creek lasts months (versus days at PROMISE’s Pine Ridge facility), but critics say it is part of the same misguided social program to divert law-breaking students from jail.



Despite several months of counseling, Cruz’s behavior did not change. His Cross Creek counselors noted he continued to exhibit several disturbing behavior patterns, including an obsession with guns and violence.



Yet in January 2016, he was transferred back to Stoneman Douglas High. After he brought bullets to school in a backpack, school authorities barred him from wearing a backpack but did not refer him to law enforcement, even though it was a Class B weapons violation and an arrestable offense, according to the school’s disciplinary code. Records show he also was involved in multiple incidents of fighting and a serious assault there that triggered a “threat assessment.” At the same time, he posted threatening messages against the school on social media.



The district declined to provide information detailing the counseling and other interventions that Cruz received while in the district-wide Behavior Intervention Program (formerly Behavior Change Program/Discipline Centers).



"Our office is unable to provide any information on your inquiry, as this falls under the rules protecting student information and records,” Broward spokeswoman Cathleen Brennan said.


The renamed Behavior Intervention Program was expanded in 2013, the same year Runcie signed the “collaborative agreement” with the county sheriff, police chiefs, prosecutors and juvenile court judges to keep lawbreaking students in school.



Broward Deputy Sheriff Jeff Bell, who also serves as president of the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association, said that deputies working as school resource officers (SROs) in the Broward County school system were trained to counsel and mentor disruptive and lawbreaking students rather than take them into custody.



“They were basically paying us not to make arrests,” he said.
Robert Martinez, a Broward deputy who worked as a school resource officer for nearly two decades, agreed. He said the school district wanted to keep arrest numbers down at all costs, and actively discouraged school resource officers from taking lawbreaking students into custody. He said removing a dangerous teen like Cruz from a school can take up to two years due to all the red tape that was added to the process by Runcie's new discipline policies and programs.



Martinez, who retired last year after 18 years stationed at various Broward schools, added that the number of sheriff's deputies assigned to area schools has in recent years been cut in half, to about 30, as they've come under increasing political pressure to look the other way when students break the law.



Maria M. Schneider, assistant state attorney in charge of the Juvenile Division for the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida.


Children's Services Council of Broward County
“I started in 1997, and we had approximately 60 SROs,” he said, adding that the shortage has hurt school safety.
Records show their bosses were also uneasy about the new policy.



Less than two months after the signing of the no-arrest agreement, the executive staff of the Broward Sheriff’s Office expressed concerns that deputies were unable to ascertain whether gang members, repeat offenders or violent kids on probation were committing crimes inside schools due to the constraints of the PROMISE program, minutes of a 2014 meeting with school officials and other members of the Juvenile Justice Circuit Advisory Board reveal.



“According to the [new discipline] matrix, that kid may get several chances to reoffend,” said David Scharf, executive director of community programs for Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Friction also came from the state attorney’s office. Around the same time, juvenile prosecutor Schneider complained that students committing aggravated battery – a violent felony – were being classified as "non-violent" misdemeanor offenders and referred to PROMISE counseling instead of jail.



“If this is the definition that is now being utilized, there is a problem,” she said, "because that is not the definition that the state attorney, [police] chiefs, or the sheriff signed onto.”
Added Schneider: “There are incidents that qualify for PROMISE where a child needs to go to the hospital, and that should not be happening."



Last year, then-Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley informed school officials in another meeting of the juvenile justice board that his “officers expressed concerns their discretion [was] being taken away.” Miramar Police Chief Dexter Williams, moreover, relayed that his “officers do not like not having the discretion” to arrest lawbreaking students.



In addition, district records show aides used juvenile arrest data to target the strictest schools for investigation, along with the school resource officers assigned to the schools who made the arrests, and then made changes in interagency contracts that dramatically diminished the role and overall profile of law enforcement on the campuses.



In 2014, Broward joined with the Department of Juvenile Justice to tally the number of students classified as “school-related arrested.” Then it developed a data-matching process to “drill down to the specific school where the arrest occurred to create systemic change,” according to a Broward County schools document.



The school district "transformed not only district policies and practices, but the policies and practices of local law enforcement and the juvenile justice system,” it boasted in another document.



In the year after the policy was implemented, school-related arrests for felonies fell alongside those for misdemeanor crimes, as the district and its law enforcement partners lowered arrests simply by not making them – across the board. And after signing the agreement, Sheriff Israel instructed deputies to issue lawbreaking juveniles tickets in lieu of arrests. In fact, Israel made the issuance of civil citations mandatory for deputies and school resource officers even for second- and third-time misdemeanor offenders.



In October 2016, during the re-signing ceremony with the district, Israel boasted, “We have drastically cut down on juvenile arrests” in order to “blow up” the school-to-prison pipeline. He said his office is giving law-breaking youth “second, third chances.”
“Sheriff Israel can boast that arrests are down in Broward County [but] that tends to happen when you stop arresting,” Eden said. “That does not mean that schools are safer.”




Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.



Wikimedia Commons
Also, as RealClearInvestigations recently reported, the Broward district quietly funneled thousands of violent felons back into the classroom rather than allowing incarcerated juveniles to continue to study in jail, where teachers are also assigned to instruct them. Under its so-called “re-engagement” program, when convicted felons committed further felonies while in the Behavior Intervention Program, they were not arrested but rather given a time-out — and then reassigned back to regular schools.



The PROMISE and Behavior Intervention Programs have not accomplished the core objectives they were created to achieve in 2013 – closing the racial disparity in suspensions, expulsions and arrests between black students and white students. That gap is now wider than ever, in spite of a “very aggressive” Broward system goal of decreasing the black arrest rate by 5 percent each year and 33 percent overall.




Last year, blacks were suspended at 3.4 times the rate of whites, according to internal school district reports, up from 2.3 times before the race-based discipline reforms.





Instead of rethinking the program, the district is doubling down on it.
To get numbers for suspensions and arrests for black students down further, it is putting teachers and administrators through training to examine their “whiteness” and to purify themselves of “implicit biases” that could prejudice their reaction to minority misbehavior, while encouraging empathy for factors that contribute to their misbehavior, such as “adverse childhood experiences.”




In other words, instead of blaming these students for committing a higher rate of infractions, Runcie and his team are putting teachers and principals on the spot for harboring deep-seated prejudices that lead them to “subconsciously" mete out harsher punishments for them.



Internal documents reveal that the district has already put teachers through a highly controversial two-day anti-racism training program taught by the San Francisco based Pacific Educational Group. Its training cautions white teachers against looking at black misbehavior through the lens of “whiteness” without understanding the black culture, which it claims is “loud” and “emotional."



PEG also instructs BCPS educators to self-examine, through “courageous conversations” the "privilege of being white or the right to be white,” before referring unruly students of color for punishment.




Broward officials declined to talk about the PEG training program or reveal details, including the cost of its contract with PEG. Other districts have paid PEG hundreds of thousands of dollars for the training.

At the same time, the Broward school district is attempting to put local police officers through similar anti-bias training. But it is meeting stiff resistance from at least one large agency.

School official David Watkins, who heads the district’s Office of Equity and Academic Attainment, complained that the Fort Lauderdale Police Department recently “backed out” of a controversial survey the district ordered to measure “implicit bias” that police and educators may harbor toward black juveniles.


A Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokeswoman confirmed that “our department is not participating” in the project, which does not guarantee the confidentiality of survey respondents and intends to share the results with civil-rights activists and the media.



Runcie has called criticism of his discipline reforms “politics,” and says it's led by conservatives who would rather talk about his ties to the Obama administration than gun control, which he says is the real issue behind the school shooting. “It’s a diversion from issues like ‘common-sense’ gun reform,” he insisted.

STILL NO MENTION OF JUNIOR ROTC ON STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS AND CRUZ HAVING BEEN ROTC.  OBAMA EXPANDED FUNDING FOR MORE AND MORE ROTC IN K-12 CORPORATE SCHOOLS----JUST LIKE LATIN AMERICA SCHOOL OF AMERICA.


Runcie landed the top district job on the recommendation of Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, who served as Runcie’s boss in the Chicago school system and who later hired his brother, James Runcie, in Washington.

THERE IS THE CONNECTION TO CHICAGO WHICH HAS MORE MILITARY AND ROTC HIGH SCHOOLS THEN ANY US STATE....ALSO MOST GANGS, GANG VIOLENCE, SHOOTING DEATHS.

Robert Runcie said he has no plans to make changes in the program other than to “enhance” police presence on campuses to respond faster to potential school shootings.

“We’re not going to dismantle a program that’s been successful in the district because of false information that’s been out there,” said Runcie.






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July 24th, 2018

7/24/2018

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If our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown citizens lived several decades ago in LATIN AMERICA---SOUTHEAST ASIA----AFRICA---ARABIA we would see all those government leaders installed by global banking as with CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA who allowed just these kinds of military junta businesses to start acting as if they were ordinary community businesses.  Back then a 5% global banking freemason/Greek would have filled out these forms-----they would have received everything from bullets to AKA 47s to operate their military junta, and global UNDERARMOUR---GLOBAL STANDARD OIL/EXXON would be that global corporate campus with an ROTC EDUCATION TRAINING for those military contractors.

That is what this COMPLETE GUIDE has as a goal here in US today courtesy CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA and their global banking 5% freemason/Greek ROBBER BARON players now morphing into EDUCATIONAL ROTC TRAINING CAMPS for our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE children/students.

Starting a Private Military Company – A Complete Guide

Are you interested in starting a private military contractor company?


It's always good to corrupt our youngest of children to global banking 1% civil unrest civil war death and destruction so to advise a perspective 5% freemason/Greek player to utilize our BOY SCOUTS AND GIRL SCOUTS as sources of distributing advertisement acts as well as a recruitment of these children to team ROTC MILITARY JUNTA.


'While your flyers are being printed, you should be lining up your delivery people -local Brownie or Cub Scout Troops. No big problem here. Either look up their local headquarters office in your phone book or call a friend or two with children about the right age for the name and phone number of troop leaders. Arrange to pay these scout troops $10 for each thousand circulars they hand out door-to-door'.

Our US baby boomers as children often joined CAMP FIRE GIRLS, GIRL SCOUTS, as BOY SCOUTS----we NEVER were approached as children to work for criminal global cartels made to feel OBEYING THE LAW OF THE PACK was to join a FREEMASON/GREEK MAFIA. 
During CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA that is exactly where our US children were recruited to PLEDGE TO OBEY what was that global criminal cartel------global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA---TRIBE OF JUDAH.


'To obey the Law of the Pack'.


Today, in US cities this corruption of our once pathway to good citizenship is running rampant.
  BUT IT'S THE MADMAN TRUMP MOVING FORWARD CRIMINAL militarization of our US 99% WE THE CHILDREN----

NO-----that was CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA.



Boy Scout Oath, Law, Motto, Slogan, Outdoor Code, & Cub Scout Promise



Boy Scout Law, Moto, Slogan, Oath, Outdoor Code, & Cub Scout Promise




STUDY
PLAY
Only $1/month



Boy Scout
Law




A Scout Is:



Trustworthy, Loyal,
Helpful, Friendly,
Courteous, Kind,
Obedient, Cheerful,
Thrifty, Brave,
Clean, and Reverent.

(Remember, there are 12 points.)






Boy Scout
Outdoor Code

As an American, I will do my best to:

Be clean in my outdoor manners.

Be careful with fire.

Be considerate in the outdoors.

Be conservation minded.

Boy Scout
Oath

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.




Boy Scout
Motto

Be Prepared
Boy Scout
Slogan

Do A Good Turn Daily
Boy Scout
Sign

The Scout sign shows you are a Scout. Give it each time you recite the Scout Oath and Law. When a Scout or Scouter raises the Scout sign, all Scouts should make the sign, too, and come to silent attention.


Boy Scout
Salute

The Scout salute shows respect. Use it to salute the flag of the United States of America. You may also salute a Scout leader or another Scout.

Give the Scout salute by forming the Scout sign with your right hand and then bringing that hand upward until your forefinger touches the brim of your hat or the arch of your right eyebrow. The palm of your hand should not show.



Boy Scout
Handshake

The Scout handshake is made with the hand nearest the heart and is offered as a token of friendship. Extend your left hand to another Scout and firmly grasp his left hand.

Only use this handshake when both people are in uniform.




Cub Scout Promise
I, (say your name), promise
To do my best
To do my duty to God
And my country,
To help other people, and
To obey the Law of the Pack.

______________________________________


One such global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEEN'S KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH structure to recruit children as military junta we see below.  The Somalian war lords we see driving around in jeeps all having AK 47s answered that same advertisement----filed a grant, became that outsourced military contractor-----just as we shared yesterday happening in US today.  The first thing global banking 1% trains these ROTC global banking 5% civil unrest civil war players is ------CONTROL THE CHILDREN-----go after the BOY AND GIRL SCOUTS.



Al-Shabaab or Al-Shabab (الشباب ash-Shabāb) is an Arabic phrase meaning "the Youth". It may refer to:
  • Al-Shabaab (militant group), a Somalia-based militant Islamist group aligned with Al-Qaeda

Al-Shabab as ISIS is a global banking military contractor corporation paid to create civil unrest between population groups to open the door to civil wars.  This is ARABIA/AFRICA-----these same global banking 1% structures existed in LATIN AMERICA--SOUTHEAST ASIA using the same MODEL.

We are seeing today this same global banking 5% freemason/Greek player morphing from ROBBER BARON mafia into recruiting children to being those ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR juntas.

REMEMBER---THOSE GLOBAL BANKING 5% CIVIL UNREST PLAYERS WORK FOR OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS----TELLING OUR US 99% OF WE THE CHILDREN THEY ARE HELPING THEIR COMMUNITIES AND FAMILIES.


This is global corporate campus ROTC in ARABIA AFRICA MOVING FORWARD to US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----like Baltimore.


Al-Shabab kidnaps Somali children to fill its ranks. Parents pull kids from school or flee to protect them.

GlobalPost
June 19, 2018 · 4:45 PM EDT
By Tonny Onyulo




Members of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab surrender to authorities in the north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, Sept. 24, 2012.

Credit: Omar Faruk/Reuters



You can hear the anguish in Maalim Mohamud’s voice when he talks about his son Ismael.


Ismael disappeared on his way home from school in the town of Baidoa in southern Somalia two years ago. He would be 13 years old today.


“I still feel the pain as a parent. I can’t believe that I will never see him again,” said Mohamud, 45, a father of five who now lives in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. “He was the hope of this family and we loved him. We miss him so much.”


Mohamud says he suspects that al-Shabab militants kidnapped Ismael with three other students from Baidoa primary school. The al-Qaeda-linked terror group regularly enters villages and demands that families give up their children. If parents resist, the militants often capture the children and force them to join their ranks.


“We suspect that they were kidnapped by al-Shabab soldiers because they have been ordering us to hand over our children as young as 7 years to help them fight,” he said.



Al-Shabab has conscripted children throughout its decade-long insurgency in Somalia, but it escalated its campaign of forcibly recruiting child soldiers in mid-2017, according to Human Rights Watch.


In January, Somali soldiers, with support from US forces, conducted a raid on an al-Shabab camp in the Middle Shabelle region in southern Somalia and freed at least 32 child soldiers.


After the raid, Somali Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman told Reuters that al-Shabab’s reliance on child soldiers proved Somali troops and their allies were making headway against the group.


“It is unfortunate that terrorists are recruiting children to their twisted ideology,” said Osman. “It showed how desperate the terrorists are, as they are losing the war and people are rejecting terror."


That assessment hasn’t comforted Somali parents in vulnerable communities. Some families are keeping their children out of schools. Others have left villages in remote areas and moved to major cities like Kismayo and Mogadishu.



Related: The death of a Navy SEAL reveals US mission creep in Somalia


Bashir Abdalla, 16, who now works as a waiter in Mogadishu, was forced to leave his home in the town of Berdale in southern Somalia when militants threatened to kill everyone in his family if he wasn't willing to train and defend his country as a jihadi.


Abdalla was in 10th grade at the time
. He said friends who had escaped from an al-Shabab military training camp told him that children like him join fighting units in their mid-teens after three months of training.



“I was very scared for my life and I had to run to Mogadishu and look for a job,” said Abdalla who is now living with his aunt. “I had to drop out of school because I knew they will kill me and my family. I was very worried.”


Human Rights Watch said more children are likely to drop out of school and flee their rural homes if more isn't done to protect children.


“Al-Shabab’s ruthless recruitment campaign is taking rural children from their parents so they can serve this militant armed group,” said Laetitia Bader, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “To escape that cruel fate, many children have fled school or their homes.”



In the south, elders — community leaders with significant authority — are deeply worried over the situation, saying the future of their communities is in jeopardy.


“We’ll have no male children in the region if the trend continues,” warned Ahmed Aden, 65, an elder from Bay who now lives in Mogadishu. “We are losing our sons every day because they are being killed by the hundreds. Our children are not going to school and their future is uncertain.”


Al-Shabab has been battling the UN-backed government in Somalia for years. The group has carried out a string of attacks in neighboring Kenya, including the Garissa University attack that left 148 students dead in April 2015. The group has been pushed out of most of the large cities it once controlled, like the port city of Kismayo, but it remains a potent threat.



This month, al-Shabab killed an American special operations soldier in an attack on Somali troops and US forces near Jamaame. In October last year, more than 300 people were killed in Mogadishu after twin car explosions, making it the deadliest attack in the country's recent history. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for both attacks.


But as African Union Mission to Somalia is expected to withdraw its 22,000 troops by 2020, residents in the East African country are worried about the future.

“Foreign soldiers should not leave Somalia. They should in fact increase the number so that they can defeat al-Shaab," said Mohamud. "I cannot wish anyone to go through the anguish I have been through.”


__________________________________________

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH is UNITED NATIONS----as too global banking 1% global corporate campus ROTC targeting those sovereign children with military contractor employment-------these UN global banking 1% neo-liberal players are WORLD BANK/IMF pretending to need to come in to rescue those children captured by global banking WORLD BANK/IMF civil unrest civil war players.


United Nations | Human Rights Watch

www.hrw.org/topic/united-nations Human Rights Watch leverages our research on countries and issues addressed at the United Nations to inform UN officials and member states of key findings, influence policy on a wide range of discussions and push for urgent action on human rights crises.



'Human Rights Watch said more children are likely to drop out of school and flee their rural homes if more isn't done to protect children'.

Here in Baltimore and US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES across the US----these same GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUS ROTC 'education' are being installed.  Baltimore is MOVING FORWARD with all theses structures today.


We posted yesterday those US schools being made more and more exclusive-----selective and without coincidence they are the same US schools having the strongest ROTC STUDENT 'education' ------and of course they are tied to being global multi-national 'education' institutions.


These are those dastardly UNITED NATIONS NGOs being allowed to replace our US local government-----and indeed they are the ones tasked with creating the societal conditions inside US cities and our rural counties for widespread civil unrest civil war. Just as PRE-WEIMAR HITLER. Who has built these structures? CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA global banking 5% freemason/Greeks.



Best ROTC Schools in the Country?

Interested in Joining the U.S. Military?

ROTC schools are the best Option!


ROTC acronym for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is a program designed to prepare college students for future service in the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force. Students interested in gaining exposure to the rigors of military training can do so through junior ROTC or JROTC programs offered at the high school level. Once students reach college level, they can enroll in ROTC schools specific to their interests whether Army, Air Force or Navy.

BEST FRIENDLY MILITARY COLLEGE DEGREES

For qualified students, ROTC programs cover the cost of their education in exchange that students will pursue active duty services in their chosen area of the military. There are more than 1000 colleges and universities in the United States that offer ROTC programs, and listed below are some of the top ranked institutions to choose from.

Best Army ROTC Schools:

1. California Institute of Technology – Caltech offers Air Force and Army ROTC programs through a partnership with the University of Southern California. More information on Caltech ROTC programs can be requested from the Dean of Students office.

2. Claremont McKenna College – regarded as the best ROTC programs in the country, the college offers an ROTC program that provides interested individual tools, training and experiences to become officers in the U.S. Army. The experience you gain through the ROTC program is like none other where you even receive help with your college tuition.

FREE MILITARY CAREER GUIDE! KNOW YOUR MILITARY OPTIONS!

Best NAVY ROTC Schools

1. Columbia University – Known to produce some of the best thinkers and leaders in the country, ROTC programs at Columbia University provide students with financial aid and scholarships, and some the best leadership training the country has to offer.

2. Cornell University – with a history of producing more army officers that any other ROTC program in the United States, Cornell University offers excellent training to become an officer in the U.S. Army, while simultaneously studying at one of the most esteemed education institutions in New York. If you’re looking for the best Army ROTC program, the Cornell University is definitely worth exploring.

3. Duke University – designed to provide leadership skills to full time students, the ROTC program at the Duke University provides all the essential skills to be great leaders in military as well as civilian environments. After successfully completing the ROTC Army curriculum at the Duke University, students receive a designation of an officer in the army with an obligation to serve in the Army National Guard, Active Army or Army Reserve.

Best U.S. Air Force ROTC Schools

1. Harvard University – a military partner since 1916, the Harvard University is one of the most acclaimed Naval ROTC curriculums in the United States, and has provided the military some of the finest leaders in the country. Established in 1916, the Harvard is home to both Army and Navy ROTC and offers all three service programs – Army ROTC, Navy ROTC and Air Force ROTC.

2. Columbia University – the university offers Air Force ROTC as well as other ROTC programs and needs no introduction with regards to its reputation. Students interested in the ROTC program at Columbia University can expect to receive the best leadership training in the country.


_________________________________________



Those calling for the end of BOY SCOUTING were likely parents seeing this corruption of our once strong youth organization from being good US citizens----to being ROBERT GATES' as global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHT OF MALTA-----youth working for global corporate campus military junta.

Gates is of course BUSH-ERA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE when generals as global development corporations emptied our US treasuries with massive frauds and fueled all this government corruption.  CIA working under EISENHOWER ACT for foreign sovereignty of MALTA---KNIGHTS OF MALTA has been this civil unrest civil war tool for several decades overseas in installing FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----and is indeed behind corrupting all that is our US public military academies and our civic-minded youth groups.



'Robert Gates

CIA director, U.S. Secretary of Defense, and university president'



Military Service and the Boy Scouts of America
Posted on January 26, 2010 by Ian Graham


For nearly 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has created a strong foundation of leadership, service, and community for millions of America’s youth. It is no surprise, then, that many Scouting alumni go on to serve their nation in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The link between the military and Scouting traditions is strong. The BSA counts Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Gen. David Petraeus, Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and countless others among its distinguished alumni. In addition to the top brass, there are tens of thousands of in the ranks.

In 2010, the BSA turns 100. It is an exciting time for the organization. But rather than focus on an incredibly rich heritage, the BSA has sights set on the next century. We would like to invite the military community to get involved:

Through BSA Alumni Connection, we are inviting Scouting alumni (including friends and supporters) to reconnect and become active and involved with Scouting programs once again.

Scouting alumni are eligible to do something they haven’t done since they were Scouts … earn a merit award. Through A Year of Celebration, A Century of Making a Difference, individuals can earn up to five award ribbons that hang from our centennial patch. An article on 100th Anniversary activities could call special attention to this program, and encourage military men and women to earn the awards.

Please help us spread the word. Let us know what you are able to do.

Best,

Bill Steele
Director of Alumni Relations
Boy Scouts of America
Bill.Steele@scouting.org

____________________________________________

'The President of Stanford University should invite the U.S. military to re-establish an on-campus ROTC program consistent with the recommendations of this Committee'.


Those calling for the end of BOY SCOUTING were likely parents seeing this corruption of our once strong youth organization from being good US citizens----to being ROBERT GATES' as global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHT OF MALTA-----youth working for global corporate campus military junta.

Gates is of course BUSH-ERA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE when generals as global development corporations emptied our US treasuries with massive frauds and fueled all this government corruption. CIA working under EISENHOWER ACT for foreign sovereignty of MALTA---KNIGHTS OF MALTA has been this civil unrest civil war tool for several decades overseas in installing FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----and is indeed behind corrupting all that is our US public military academies and our civic-minded youth groups.



'Robert Gates

CIA director, U.S. Secretary of Defense, and university president'

Those not knowing---STANFORD, JOHNS HOPKINS, YALE are the far-right wing global banking 1% KNIGHTS OF MALTA-----while HARVARD, PRINCETON, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, BERKELEY are the global banking 1% TRIBE OF JUDAH----BANKING LOVES MILITARY.


Below we see not an ACADEMIC 'education structure---but a global corporate campus ROTC military junta training for people who will work in FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES as global military mercenary security, surveillance, SWAT TEAMS and all-around civil unrest civil war 5% freemason/Greek players.


Towards an on-campus ROTC program at
Stanford University




A Report and Recommendation
by The Ad Hoc Committee


(Appointed by the Faculty Senate
“to investigate Stanford’s role in preparing
students for leadership in the military, including potential relations with ROT”)




Ewart Thomas, Professor of Psychology (Chair)

Greg Boardman, Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Eamonn Callan, Pigott Family School of Education Professor and Associate

Dean for Student Affairs in the School of Education
Ingrid Deiwiks, Administrative Services Administrator, Freeman Spogli


Institute for International Studies (staff)

Imani Franklin, International Relations, ’13 Hester Gelber,

Professor of Religious Studies
Akhil R. Iyer, International Relations, ’11


Sharon Long, William C. Steere, Jr. - Pfizer Inc.

Professor in Biological Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Biochemistry Orrin “Rob Robinson, Professor of German Studies and, by courtesy, of Linguistics Scott Sagan, Caroline S. G. Munro Memorial Professor in Political Science
and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies



April 2011

Introduction

Section 1: A brief history of military studies on U.S. college campuses

Section 2: A brief history of ROTC at Stanford University

Section 3: Rationale
for a restructured ROTC program

Section 4: Key characteristics of a restructured ROTC program


Section 5: Objections to the Committee’s recommendation

5.1. The antidiscrimination argument


5.2. The civilian-military divide

.
Concluding comment

References


Appendix 1: A
sample of arguments that were not extensively
discussed in the Ad Hoc Committee’s Report

Appendix 2:


ROTC programs at other universities
24
SenD#6491

Recommendation


The Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on ROTC has considered carefully a variety of evidence, arguments, and likely consequences pertaining to a possible renewal
at Stanford University of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program within the U.S. military.

The Committee concludes that an on-campus ROTC
program can be designed that conforms closely to standard academic practice at Stanford.


Further, the Committee concludes that such a purposefully designed restructuring of ROTC would, on balance, further
the educational interests of Stanford students, keep faith with
the broadly civic values in Stanford’s founding grant,
and contribute in a small but significant way to reducing the
perceived gap between the military and civil society in the US




A.
The Committee
did not try to specify the exact terms of an appropriate ROTC program at Stanford, because we expect that such details will arise out of future discussions with the military. Instead, we have tried to describe a well-designed process that,
we believe, would lead to an appropriate on-campus ROTC program.


Accordingly, the Committee unanimously recommends
the following:



1.
The President of Stanford University should invite the U.S. military to re-establish an on-campus ROTC program consistent with the recommendations of this Committee.


2.
The Faculty Senate should appoint immediately a Stanford ROTC Committee as a standing subcommittee of the Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policy.


This committee would be available to advise the President during any exchanges between the university and the military that might ensue from the invitation.


The committee also would work with ROTC representatives on the design and scope of the Stanford-ROTC program.


3.
The Stanford ROTC Committee and designated ROTC representatives will review the instructors and instruction of ROTC courses on campus. This committee, through CUSP,
will recommend, on a case-by-case basis, whether an
instructor be given a lecturer or visiting professor status
, and will be responsible for maintaining coordination between the university and the national ROTC programs.


After the first ROTC instructors have been appointed, the Stanford ROTC Committee may be expanded to include some of these instructors.


4.
ROTC courses should be open to all Stanford students whether or not the students are in ROTC. Exceptions
need to be approved by the Stanford ROTC Committee.



5.
The courses in the Stanford-ROTC program
may be eligible for either academic or
activity course credit, following existing Stanford curriculum review and approval processes.


6.
The Stanford ROTC committee should encourage opportunities for Stanford faculty and ROTC instructors to design jointly taught courses that could meet both academic credit standards and ROTC training requirements.
SenD#6491

The Committee looks forward to discussing its recommendation for an on-campus ROTC program with the Faculty Senate on April 28, 2011.


____________________________________________



STANFORD, YALE, JOHNS HOPKINS are the BUSH/WOLFOWITZ global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH MILITARY JUNTA who will not stop continuous wars even if they are successful in MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE ----because they are super-duper sociopaths.

So, MOVING FORWARD kills all our US public militia----including our public military schools---ROTC training ---and enfolds them into multi-national corporate campuses simply PRODUCT MILLS using our US students as FREE LABOR----but also will be the source of recruiting, training, supplying military contractors sold as global corporate security.

Below we see the MORPHING of US politics from far-right wing Bush neo-conservatives pretending to be REPUBLICANS ----and far-right wing Clinton neo-liberals pretending to be DEMOCRATS-----CREATING the civil unrest civil war structures blamed on

ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT MARXISM-----VS ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT RIGHT WING CORPORATE FASCISM.




Army Splits with West Point Tweeter of 'Communism Will Win'


In this May 2016 photo provided by Spenser Rapone, Rapone raises his left fist while displaying a sign inside his hat that reads "Communism will win," after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (Courtesy of Spenser Rapone via AP)
The Associated Press 19 Jun 2018 By Mary Esch
 

BUSH WOLFOWITZ could not have installed the generals as global development criminal cartel moving tens of trillions of dollars from our US treasuries in massive and systemic frauds without those global banking.




Wolfowitz Doctrine


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Paul Wolfowitz, co-author of the doctrine.
Wolfowitz Doctrine is an unofficial name given to the initial version of the Defense Planning Guidance for the 1994–99 fiscal years (dated February 18, 1992) authored by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz and his deputy Scooter Libby. Not intended for public release, it was leaked to the New York Times on March 7, 1992,[1] and sparked a public controversy about U.S. foreign and defense policy. The document was widely criticized as imperialist as the document outlined a policy of unilateralism and pre-emptive military action to suppress potential threats from other nations and prevent any other nation from rising to superpower status.



Such was the outcry that the document was hastily re-written under the close supervision of U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell before being officially released on April 16, 1992. Many of its tenets re-emerged in the Bush Doctrine,[2] which was described by Senator Edward M. Kennedy as "a call for 21st century American imperialism that no other nation can or should accept."


'It isn’t just my Catholicism that leads me to oppose American militarism or the idea that Americans ought to have the ability to project military power anywhere in the world, it is my conviction that war was abolished on the cross. I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God, first. That trumps America every time'.

SPENCER RAPONE above tells us his new-found 'communism' stems from his connection to STAN GOFF----who has been Bush era special forces in all those civil unrest civil war overseas regions below proclaiming the need for COMMUNISM----MARXISM to bring back REAL religion.  Goff is from San Diego---home of far-right wing military dominance----and of course MARXISM is far-right wing, authoritarian, militaristic, extreme wealth extreme poverty LIBERTARIAN MARXISM---global corporate campus SOCIALISM.

GOFF is simply that global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS JESUIT KNIGHTS OF MALTA meets JACOBIN TRIBES OF JUDAH pretending to be that MARXIST REBEL. GOFF and SPENCER simply represent that global banking MARXIST REBEL creating military contracting businesses to stir civil unrest against a TRUMP/PENCE global corporate fascism.


House Blog

Jan05


Full Spectrum Christian: An Interview with Stan Goff


Posted By Mark Gordon


Stan Goff’s military resume reads like a chickenhawk’s wet dream: retired Army Master Sergeant, airborne infantry, Ranger, Jungle School cadre, Green Beret, Delta Force operator, instructor in military science at West Point, service in Vietnam, Grenada, Haiti, Columbia, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mogadishu, and most likely other places he can’t talk about.



But by the conclusion of Goff’s 26-year career the dream had turned into a nightmare, not least because he had abandoned the body of lies that many American soldiers cling to as a way of justifying the unjustifiable. No more lying self-talk for Stan Goff. He’d seen and learned too much.


About a month into my son’s 2007 combat deployment to Baghdad with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, he called me and announced, “this whole thing is bullshit, dad.” I should have sent him Goff’s 2003 book “Full Spectrum Disorder,” but I didn’t know about it back then. I had no idea how expertly Goff had autopsied the corpse of the American empire, laying out all its diseased organs for inspection on the cold steel table of his own experience and withering analysis. Come to think of it, even if I had known I wouldn’t have sent the book to my son after all. He might have gone AWOL on the spot and hitched a ride all the way to Fort Leavenworth.



For a long time after crossing the event horizon of military retirement, Goff self-identified as a Marxist, and much of his early published writing rests on more or less standard anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist themes. But embedded in that body of work were two intellectual currents that mark Goff as a superb synthesizer: systems thinking and feminism. “Full Spectrum Disorder” includes two chapters that critically examine US military strategy in light of chaos and entropy, two key concepts in systems thinking And in 2006, Goff published “Sex and War,” an exploration of the psychology of war that draws on the feminist criticism of writers like Patricia Williams and bell hooks.



Adaptability is the critical element in the resilience and sustainability of systems. Goff’s commitment to intellectual adaptability flowered in the mid-2000’s when he began to read Stanley Hauerwas, John Howard Yoder, Ivan Illich, and other Christian radicals and pacifists. By 2008, Goff had embraced Christianity and was baptized as a Methodist. In 2011, he crossed the Tiber and reconciled with the Catholic Church.


Today, Stan Goff lives in Michigan, works on peace, permaculture and community sustainability, blogs at Chasin’ Jesus, and will soon release a new book titled “Borderline – Reflections on War, Sex, and Church.” Goff’s nom de Facebook is “Pistis Christou.” I interviewed him via email.



MARK GORDON: Stan, when did your view of American foreign policy begin to change? Was there one “breakthrough” moment or was it an accumulation of experiences?


STAN GOFF: I didn’t suddenly go blind on the road to Damascus, if that ‘s what you’re asking. It would make a better story, I suppose, but it was more of a cumulative epiphany that played out over decades.



In Vietnam, I found out how easy it was to become a racist, for example. On the ground, that was a race war. Grunts learned to hate all Vietnamese, because those are the people we simultaneously had to control and fear. That happens during every invasion. Koreans or Vietnamese become gooks. Arabs become hajjis, ragheads, et cetera. I saw that, and I became very sensitive to racism, at least personal race hatred, but I wanted to preserve what I could of my former outlook.
Then, when I was in Special Operations, I did some missions through the State Department, and alongside CIA folks. In Latin America, in particular, during the Reagan years, drunken agents would tell me how we actually did work with death squads, and the Ambassador’s most frequent contact was with the host nation Chamber of Commerce. So a new light went on, like, okay, this is about money, and we will help rich people overseas to kill poor people they don’t like. At that point, I had to give more credence to what people on the left were saying, because I’d discovered that most of what they were saying about Latin America and US foreign policy was quite true.



I still wanted this to be an aberration, though, because I still needed to believe that there was something essentially good about my country that was merely being corrupted around the edges. I was wearing the uniform, carrying a gun for my country, and I wanted to believe it was for more than defending rich, powerful people’s interests.


The real break with that commitment finally came in Haiti, during the 1994 occupation, when I watched my own government subvert the democratically elected President there even as they were ostensibly re-installing him. Of course, the US rather unapologetically removed him again in a coup d’etat in 2004. At some point during the occupation of Haiti, I finally had to admit that my country’s foreign policy was consistent, and that it was in many respects just an ongoing war against poor people. I also came to terms with racism as a structural phenomenon, characterized by power and a kind of internal colonization, and not just “prejudice,” as we liked to call it once.



By the time I retired, I had become completely disillusioned about our foreign policy, as well as our domestic policies, and I became involved fairly quickly with various politics of resistance to these policies.
MG: Your intellectual journey included a brief period as a Marxist, but in 2008 you became a Christian and was baptized in the Methodist faith. Then in 2011 you entered the Catholic Church. What compelled you to seek reconciliation with the Church, and how has being a Catholic informed your views on the US military and its role as the projection of American power?



SG: I had broken with Marxism before I converted to Christianity. It would be easier for me to trace this evolution through philosophy than politics, even though I was deeply involved with politics for a few years after I retired from the Army in February 1996. To do that, I have to go back again to that transitional period when I was on active duty.



By 1973, I had already been exposed to feminism, and as a kind of principled libertarian, I was very committed to the notion of legal equality between men and women. That made me a minority in the Army, especially among the uber-conservatives in Special Operations. And my sister was very involved in feminist politics in the 80s, which also influenced me that way, even after I had abandoned the libertarian point of view as simplistic and utopian. My wife has also been a powerful influence, because she held my feet to the fire when I was talking a good game, but only talking. So that bias I had toward feminism acted as a kind of strange attractor, if I can steal a concept from chaos theory, throughout my subsequent philosophical development.



During my first break in service, I had studied literature, and I was very interested in existentialist writers, because many of them had experience of war and they articulated the kind of alienation that I’d felt ever since Vietnam. So I already had a passing familiarity with Sartre and Camus, of course, but also with Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and others. When I got out of the Army for good, I picked up that interest in big ideas again, and that is when I discovered not just Marx, but several of the thinkers who have been influenced by Marx. Gramsci, Luxemburg, and some more contemporary thinkers, like geographer David Harvey, historian Robin D.G. Kelley, and anthropologist Alf Hornborg, as well as post-Marxist feminists like Catharine MacKinnon and Nancy Hartsock, and black feminists like Patricia Williams and bell hooks.


But again, my break – if you can call it that – with Marxism as a political movement in the US, happened over this gender issue again. Most Marxists talk a good game about sexual equality, but it is like a formal position that doesn’t often translate into practice. Men still predominate in their organizations, even when they put women in as the titular heads . . . they can be very tokenistic . . . and if you visit their websites and chat rooms, they are boys’ clubs where there is often open hostility to feminism, which is dismissed as identity politics, and that same kind of macho bullying attitude that makes virtual spaces feel unsafe and unwelcome to women all over the internet.



That wasn’t the sole source of my break with Marxist activism, though. My engagement with feminism had increased after 2001, when the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was being wrangled into an excuse for a full scale invasion of Iraq and a long term occupation of Afghanistan. I was working with a lot of antiwar veterans and making speeches and writing articles, and I was railing against militarism. And one thing that my familiarity with feminism had taught me was that militarism has a powerful gender component that reaches right down into the pre-critical psychic lives of men.


At the same time, I’d discovered a number of feminists who had powerful critiques not just of male domination, but of liberalism, even modernity itself. These women, like Carolyn Merchant, Maria Mies, Carole Pateman, and Vandana Shiva, also placed great emphasis on how industrialism, not just capitalism, is disorganizing the entire biosphere in very dangerous and unpredictable ways. Both capitalist apologists and Marxists shared, with a few exceptions, the kind of radical technological optimism that has led to this very frightening environmental impasse we face now. Both are committed to large-scale, highly centralized, highly specialized economies. Both regard nature, I would call it Creation now, as somehow inert, a “resource,” something to be controlled and exploited. And this is an idea held in common, because it is historically a male idea that can be traced to Bacon and his period. Historically speaking, both liberalism and Marxism were male philosophical orientations originating in explicitly male dominant post-Enlightenment discourses, discourses that emphasized the domination of an essentially female “nature.”


Maria Mies fleshed this out, saying that modern men in the powerful nations associate masculinity with three kinds of conquest, each of which serves a metaphor for the other: conquest of women, conquest of nature, and the conquest of colonies. These are the three major spheres where men can “prove” masculinity constructed as domination.



The other thing these eco-feminists, for lack of a better term, convinced me of is that we have to question the idea that science functions as an ultimate and totalizing truth claim. Not that science doesn’t yield practical knowledge. It does that so powerfully that it can be dangerous. But it can only answer the question, What can we do? It can never answer the question, Should we do it?


It was when I was sitting with these questions that I had to take notice of something else. A lot of the most courageous and principled people I knew about were Christians. That applies to contemporary figures like Kathy Kelley and the Berrigans and Cornell West and Rachel Corrie, but also to Martin Luther King, Jr., Archbishop Romero, Mother Teresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Dorothy Day, and so on. And so I took an interest in Christianity and began to learn more about it.


The rest is difficult to explain in text, but once you begin looking into the waters of the Jordan hard enough, you’re apt to fall in. I was baptized as a Methodist, at the age of 56, on Easter 2008. In 2011, I was confirmed as a Roman Catholic in St. Mary of Good Counsel parish in Adrian, Michigan.




Just as I narrate my conversion to Christ through feminism; I can narrate my conversion to Catholicism through a prominent Protestant theologian, Stanley Hauerwas. It was he, and through him, Catholic philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, who introduced me to both virtue ethics and to the mystery, the beauty, and the philosophical depth and diversity of the Catholic sacramental tradition. It turns out I am a smells and bells kind of person.



No Christian confession is perfect, far from it, and the Roman Catholic Church is no different in that respect. But my own philosophical evolution, which is now also a theological evolution, has led me away from liberalism – which Catholic social critic Ivan Illich calls not post-Christian, but a perversion of the Gospels driven by the urge to criminalize sin, that is, by the seductions of power. Reason and revelation can work hand in hand, I believe. I’m not presumptuous enough to call myself a Thomist, given how superficial my knowledge of St. Thomas is, but the relation, not opposition, of revelation to reason, is a firmer anchor for me than anything I have known for answering that question, Should we do this or that? Should I do this or that?



If I were to summarize my own Christian convictions, I would say I believe Jesus is God, incarnated. He is the Word made flesh. You can recount the creed, and between “born of the Virgin Mary” and “He will come again,” I believe some other things. Jesus’ teachings and example were meant for real people, for us, and they were not meant to be foreclosed by pragmatism. Jesus’ ethic of self-giving, neighbor-love, enemy-love, and sacrificial service are not anachronisms that apply only to first century Palestine. Nothing in Jesus’ teachings or example suggests that Christians must take up the “responsibilities” of political power, compromise self-giving, turn neighbor-love into clientelism, set aside enemy-love in defense of nation, or eschew sacrificial service in the name of political pragmatism. Jesus’ teachings and example do have actual social significance, for us, now, and cannot be launched into an extraterrestrial orbit and deferred until we are all conveniently dead. The Gospels provide us with a way of being that transcends time and place understood as “the way of the cross.” Works and faith are inseparable. The world is redeemed in Christ, and not by progress, technology, democracy, political revolution, money, education, or any other idol. That’s a summary of my faith.


The church is participating in the Christian story, and as a church full of people, we are a sinful church. We’ve been tempted by all these idols, and church members in the United States have been tempted by the idol of American patriotism. We are a story-formed community, as Hauerwas and MacIntyre would say, and that story is the story of Christ.


But what happens in a world like ours, when the Christian story is drowned out in this cacophony of propaganda, public relations, advertizing, hucksterism, and a multitude of electronic hallucinations, is that we are bombarded with other stories, especially the story of the American nation-state, with its triumphalism and exceptionalism, and that story competes for dominance against the Christian story. It competes so well that we get what Catholic theologian William Cavanaugh has called the “migration of the holy” from Christ to the state.

We have sacralized the state. In fact, many Roman Catholics went to war in Iraq at the behest of the state, even when the leadership of the church said this was an illegal and immoral war. It isn’t just my Catholicism that leads me to oppose American militarism or the idea that Americans ought to have the ability to project military power anywhere in the world, it is my conviction that war was abolished on the cross. I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God, first. That trumps America every time.

And then again, as a truth-teller, which we are also called to be, I have to be honest about that projection of power, of which I was once an instrument, and tell people something that should make sense whether you are a Christian or not. This militarism and this world dominance is not driven by any higher good except maintaining power for those who are in power. Anyone can get that.



For Christians, however, this ought to have special significance, because the first temptations of Jesus were the temptations of power. This was also the temptation that clouded the vision of his disciples, and led them to expect a new David who would open a big can of whoop-ass on the Romans and their collaborators. But in the end, it was the faith of Christ, the pistis Christou, that pointed the way, the nonviolent way, and that way led to the cross. This was the scandal of death on the cross; and the male disciples ran for the hills. It was too hard for them to understand, this vulnerability to death. Only the women understood it at first.


MG: One can be a practitioner of nonviolence without being a dogmatic pacifist. Both Gandhi and King fit that description, for instance. Is that your point of view, or have you embraced a principled pacifism? What do you see as the difference between nonviolence and pacifism?


SG: I’m not sure I see the difference between the two terms, unless I have some sort of context. Gandhi and King both rejected violence as a means to their ends.   You can call that nonviolence or pacifism or a rubber ducky. It is what it is. The problem with either term in this case, speaking as a Christian to other Christians, is that this still divides us into different camps. I am not a Christian because I am a pacifist – meaning here that I will not use violence or support the use of violence to make things “come out right.” I am a pacifist, because I am a Christian. I’d like to see the time when this doesn’t have to be a compound sentence. When to be a Christian is assumed to be nonviolent. It’s part of the package. You cannot love the neighbor, or the enemy, and kill him or her at the same time. I’d like to see us practice what we preach.


Our job is not to save the world or make history resolve itself in a certain way. That road – sometimes called Progress – is littered with the dead, and now with a devastated ecology. To be a Christian, as I understand it, is to be very political, but not in the way people think when they give in to the temptation to power. It is to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. We live our lives as a demonstration of our confidence that God will take care of the big picture, if we just embody God’s love with one another. We have that pistis Christou, the faith of Jesus, that radical trust in God that allows us to lose rather than injure and kill. We embody the Kingdom of God for others to see. This is the real evangelization. Right now, not just Roman Catholics, but most Christian confessions, are falling way short on that; and the reason is our attraction to power. This applies to liberal churches every bit as much as it applies to conservative ones. We can’t seem to resist the world’s politics. We lack the radical trust in God to leave it alone, then we rationalize with something called “responsibility,” another idea that has a hell of a damage path.



A Christian is not the same kind of pacifist as some non-Christians, who will argue that violence never works, or that without violence everything would just be okay. We recognize that we live in a fallen world. We even recognize that violence is effective . . . though I would warn anyone who latches onto that statement, violence is also highly unpredictable and self-perpetuating. If we want to know who created ISIS, it was us and the invasion and occupation of Iraq.



We know the world will continue to be violent. We know the world will continue to have wars. We know the temptation to power is itself very powerful, and many will answer its call. But as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are living into a different story, even as we are inevitably residents of this world. That’s what it means to be a witness.


MG: As a young soldier, you no doubt had military heroes and models. As an older man and a Catholic, who are your heroes and models now?


SG: People we seldom notice. People who fix sandwiches and drop them off at homeless camps, and who know the people’s names and talk with them. People who are trying to grow food on abandoned city lots. People who help organize funerals. A guy I heard about on the radio, who bought a meal for a kid who tried to mug him with a knife, then asked for and received the knife afterward. People who care for really difficult old folks. People who raise severely disabled kids and know they are gifts. People who don’t get their backs up as easily as I do . . . that soldier is still in me trying to get out all the time. People with real patience.


MG: You’ve written eloquently (including in a letter to your pastor) about the encroachment of America’s civic religion on Catholic faith and practice. How does this syncretistic creed – which we might call “Americanist Catholicism” – distort both the Gospel and authentic patriotism?



SG: You won’t get me to endorse patriotism of any kind. My nationality is an accident of history and birth. Patriotism is a warlike phenomenon. It is engendered in war. It is sustained by the idea of war, of armed boundaries, of us versus them. Fromm called it incest and idolatry. I can’t disagree. And that is precisely how it runs counter to the Gospels. What Hauerwas said is true: we are Americans first, then Christians. We see no problem in dying, or killing, for the nation-state. But people who would die for their faith are considered insane now.



The Gospels foreclose killing as an option for us, for Christians. But the church’s cooptation by various polities as led us to try and lawyer our way out of this demanding nonviolence. We joined with the empire and went to war. We killed heretics, then went to war. We hunted “witches,” then went to war. We combined with the new nation-states, and Christians went to war against other Christians. By the time of the American Civil War, we had Catholics killing other Catholics in war, and churches joined to both Northern and Southern governments, flying opposing national flags in the sanctuaries.



Again, in modernity, as Cavanaugh said, we have seen the holy migrate from the church – which has been downgraded to a vague hedge against death or a weekly therapeutic pause – to the state, the nation, the idea of America the providential polity. We worship at malls more intensely than we do at church. And we’ve found all sorts of loopholes for “love your neighbor,” “love the enemy,” “turn the other cheek,” and “take up a cross.”


MG: Much of your recent work focuses on the role of gender in the psychology of war, particularly our culturally conditioned associations of masculinity and femininity with domination and submission, respectively. Tell us more about that and how does it factor into your new book?
_________________________________________


Johns Hopkins was always far-right conservative-----capturing Baltimore's politics to a corrupted 'DEMOCRATIC' committee running FAR-RIGHT WING candidates.

Hopkins like Stanford always the corporate universities were FINANCIALIZED during REAGAN-CLINTON era-----meaning what used to be a local MR FROG became that global corporate black market MR ABRAHAM. Without coincidence Hopkins is that ROTC university.

All these 'DONATIONS' these few decades are simply SHAREHOLDER ACCOUNTS-----for what is indeed a raging muliti-national corporation as STANFORD----which intends to create the same civil unrest civil war failed city death and destruction as occurred overseas to install FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.

This is to where an ANNAPOLIS NAVAL ACADEMY----a WEST POINT ARMY ACADEMY is moving having nothing but CONTEMPT for anything that is AMERICA.


This is why today coming from JOHNS HOPKINS we have FARMLAND AND CITY REIT setting the stage for consolidated land and militarized mass starvation-----we have WHISPERING ROOM TELEMEDICINE as POD PEOPLE and HUMANS AS BEAR HIBERNATION LSD VIRTUAL REALITY THERAPY------and it is why we have super-duper SMART CITY as deep, deep, really deep state here in Baltimore.

United Arab Emirates,
List Of Investment Banks In United Arab Emirates - Magazine

www.globalbankingandfinance.com/list-of... List Of Investment Banks In United Arab Emirates ... For the fifth consecutive year, Global Banking & Finance Review has awarded Arab African International.

We would suggest that BLOOMBERG is not worried about having UAE tied to Hopkins because this sheik is no more MUSLIM ----then BLOOMBERG Jewish-----then Hopkins tied to KNIGHTS OF MALTA being Catholic.  They are all working for global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS----taking America to colonial status.


N.Y. / Region


$1.1 Billion in Thanks From Bloomberg to Johns Hopkins


By MICHAEL BARBAROJAN. 26, 2013

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, on the Johns Hopkins campus this month, is the most generous living donor to any education institution in the United States, according to university officials and philanthropic tallies. Credit Luke Sharrett for The New York Times BALTIMORE -- He arrived on campus a middling high school student from Medford, Mass., who had settled for C’s and had confined his ambitions to the math club.



But by the time Michael R. Bloomberg left Johns Hopkins University, with a smattering of A’s and a lust for leadership, he was a social and political star — the president of his fraternity, his senior class and the council overseeing Greek life. “An all-around big man on campus,” as he puts it.
His gratitude toward the university, starting with a $5 donation the year after he graduated, has since taken on a supersize, Bloombergian scale.



On Sunday, as he makes a $350 million gift to his alma mater — by far the largest in its history — the New York City mayor, along with the president of the university, will disclose the staggering sum of his donations to Johns Hopkins over the past four decades: $1.1 billion.


That figure, kept quiet even as it transformed every corner of the university, makes Mr. Bloomberg the most generous living donor to any education institution in the United States, according to university officials and philanthropic tallies.



The timing of his latest donation, as the mayor’s third term draws to a close, offers a glimpse of the sky-is-the-limit philanthropy that he and his aides say is likely to dominate his life after City Hall. The mayor, who is 70, has pledged to give away all of his $25 billion fortune before he dies, and he has built up a foundation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to carry out the task.
At the same time, the donations highlight the unusually close relationship between Mr. Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins, which, interviews show, has played an unseen role in several of his biggest undertakings as mayor.



In an interview here, Mr. Bloomberg said he was making his donations public to encourage greater charitable giving toward education. He lamented, “In our society, we are defunding education.”
The mayor, a member of the class of 1964, explained his fidelity to the university in deeply personal terms. Johns Hopkins, he said, was where he escaped the crushing boredom of Medford High and discovered an urban campus of stately Georgian buildings brimming with new people and ideas.



Mr. Bloomberg graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1964. Credit Johns Hopkins University
“I just thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” he said.
“If I had been the son of academics,” he added, “maybe I would have been on campuses and would never have been as impressed as I was when I was here, because it’s the first time I really was walking among people who were world leaders, who were creating, inventing.”



Johns Hopkins as it exists today is inconceivable without Mr. Bloomberg, whose giving has fueled major improvements in the university’s reputation and rankings, its competitiveness for faculty and students, and the appearance of its campus.



His wealth — not to mention a small army of his favored architects, art consultants and landscape designers — has bankrolled and molded the handsome brick-and-marble walkways, lamps and benches that dot the campus; has constructed a physics building, a school of public health, a children’s hospital, a stem-cell research institute, a malaria institute and a library wing; has commissioned giant art installations by Kendall Buster, Mark Dion and Robert Israel; and has financed 20 percent of all need-based financial aid grants to undergraduates over the past few years. (Even his ex-wife and in-laws make a campus cameo, on the dedication plaque for a science building he financed.)



“The modern story of Hopkins is inextricably linked to him,” said Ronald J. Daniels, the university’s president, as he walked around the campus recently. “When you look at these great investments that have transformed American higher education, it’s Rockefeller, it’s Carnegie, it’s Mellon, it’s Stanford — and it’s Bloomberg.”



Hopkins, in return, has become something of a brain trust for Mr. Bloomberg, shaping his approach to issues like cigarette smoking, gun violence and obesity.

It was faculty members at Hopkins who introduced Mr. Bloomberg, as a donor and as a trustee, to a growing body of science linking behavior and disease.
“That is when he discovered public health,” said Alfred Sommer, the dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from 1990 until 2005.



At times, Mr. Bloomberg, then a high-flying entrepreneur, was resistant to paying for such research, arguing that some of the most intractable health problems were best left to government. “That’s policy; that’s politics,” Mr. Sommer recalled him saying.
But the underlying ideas stuck, and, as mayor, Mr. Bloomberg pressed the City Council to ban smoking in city parks, and the Board of Health to require fast-food chains to post calorie counts and restaurants to stop selling oversize sodas.



“He was in a position to act on things he had once told us we really shouldn’t be bothered with,” Mr. Sommer said. “He has been the public health mayor ever since.”

Years before he would banish cars from parts of Times Square, Mr. Bloomberg removed them from the quads of Johns Hopkins as chairman of the board of trustees, arguing they were unsightly and impeded socializing. (To hide them, he paid for an underground parking garage.)


The relationship between Mr. Bloomberg and Hopkins is, much like the college admissions process, the product of happenstance.
In high school, Mr. Bloomberg worked at an electronics company whose owner happened to have a doctorate from the university. She urged him to apply, despite his mediocre transcript.
“Let’s be serious — they took a chance on me,” Mr. Bloomberg said.



At Hopkins, the boyish-looking Mr. Bloomberg, whose high school classmates branded him “argumentative” in a class book, blossomed into a charismatic figure, eager to organize those around him. An engineering major, he persuaded his fraternity brothers to pay for a chef to replace a chaotic dinnertime routine, and he doled out assignments to lab mates. “He was like the project manager, at 19 years old,” Jim Kelly, a classmate, said.


On campus, Mr. Bloomberg discovered the addictive power of the limelight. When a local judge, tired of hearing cases involving misbehaving Hopkins fraternity brothers, called for an end to Greek life at the college, Mr. Bloomberg challenged him to an hourlong public debate. A healthy crowd showed up for the occasion.

“Mike not only held his own,” Mr. Kelly recalled, “he beat him.”
Mr. Bloomberg still relishes his star turn in campus governance. “It’s the first time that I ever headed something,” he said. “The first time I got a chance to pull people together.”
These days, his status as the university’s top donor has given him mayorlike sway at Hopkins: deans routinely travel to New York to pitch him new programs and research.


His latest passion: genetically engineering mosquitoes to prevent the transmission of malaria. “He always asks about the mosquitoes,” said Dr. Peter Agre, a Nobel Prize-winning professor at the university, where Mr. Bloomberg has paid for a temperature-controlled center to cultivate the bugs. The mayor of New York City now speaks of “building a better mosquito.”



Mr. Bloomberg tends to finance ideas that appeal to his contrarian style and corporate ethos. For years he has rotated top executives around his media company to encourage collaboration. In the hope of replicating that experience, most of his latest donation, about $250 million, will be used to hire 50 new faculty members who will hold appointments in two departments as they pursue research in areas like the global water supply and the future of American cities. (The remaining $100 million will be devoted to financial aid.)



His approach to philanthropy at the university is remarkably hands-on. A trusted mayoral architectural adviser, Allen Kolkowitz, and an art guru, Nancy Rosen, guided the construction of the new Charlotte R. Bloomberg children’s hospital, named for the mayor’s mother. The building’s colorful exterior is a whimsical take on Monet’s paintings at Giverny. “He got very involved in the design,” said Dr. Edward D. Miller, the former chief executive of Hopkins Medicine.



Of course, certain courtesies are extended to a donor at Mr. Bloomberg’s level. When Dr. Miller realized that the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center would be connected to a new tower named for Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, the former president of the United Arab Emirates, he nervously called the mayor.


“Will you have a problem with this?” he asked Mr. Bloomberg.



The mayor thanked him for the call, but made clear he had no objection. “A Jew on one side, an Arab on the other,” he told Dr. Miller. “That’s what we should do in this world.”
________________________________________________

There is nothing NEW in our 300 year US history of the rich by-passing military service and our US public militia being largely recruited from our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE especially the poorest of families.

When we listen to US national media telling us these former US IVY LEAGUE universities used as ROBBER BARON fleecing of AMERICA are now opening their doors with FREE TUITION to our lower-income families----we KNOW these will be tied to ROTC TRAINING EDUCATION----pathways.

STANFORD as a multi-national corporation as JOHNS HOPKINS ----are creating vocational pathways leading to military junta working for global corporate campuses in overseas FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----as UNDERARMOUR MALAYSIA----but also as MOVING FORWARD civil unrest civil war 5% freemason/Greek military contractors as junta.



Stanford University and ROTC
web.stanford.edu/group/antiwar/rotc.html


Basically, it's one of the ways that the U.S. military recruits and trains university students to be officers. ROTC (sometimes pronounced "rotsee") candidates usually apply at the end of high school (but may also apply during their first two years of college), and are offered scholarships of varying amounts (or at least a stipend during their ...

What did OBAMA and Clinton neo-liberals do these 8 years in office?  This dismantled all FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN AND GRANT pathways for our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE to attend college and now global corporations handing out SCHOLARSHIPS like this will be the only pathway to vocational PRE-K to career.


Education


Stanford’s Tuition Giveaway Is Not Good News



The university's decision to offer free rides to students whose annual household incomes are less than $125,000 says a lot about the financial barriers to higher education in the U.S.

James S. Murphy
Apr 10, 2015



Late last month, Stanford University announced that, starting next school year, it will expect zero tuition money from the parents of students whose annual household incomes fall under $125,000.



This is not good news.


Okay, fine. It’s good news for the students who will (or would want to) receive the benefit. However, Stanford’s tuition waiver—as well as those at other highly selective colleges--should be cause for concern for anyone who believes that it’s important for both disadvantaged students to gain access to top schools and well-off students to interact with people from other backgrounds. A key problem with this approach to correcting income inequality is that the scale of its impact outside and, most notably, inside the universities is fairly small. Tuition waivers alone cannot level a educational playing field so heavily pitched to the advantage of the wealthy, which is why relatively few people whose families make less than six figures annually attend Stanford.


The collapse of the economy in 2008 and the rise of the Occupy movement in 2011 made "economic diversity," as it's being called, an increasingly important part of many colleges’ missions. All of the Ivy Leagues now offer waivers for students whose families make less than $75,000 annually, as do a number of wealthy, elite private schools like Stanford and Duke. Even some state schools, including UC Berkeley and the University of Virginia, have made it easier for low-income and middle-class people to attend without amassing huge sums of debt.  

Until this year, Stanford’s tuition-assistance program waived tuition contributions from parents making less than $100,000 a year. A waiver for both tuition and room and board went to families making less than $60,000 (the threshold has since been expanded to $65,000). As Karen Cooper, the associate dean and director of financial aid at Stanford, put it, "this expansion of the financial aid program is a demonstration of Stanford's commitment to access for outstanding students from all backgrounds."  




The movement to increase economic diversity at colleges has gained so much momentum in recent years that it now even comes with a prize. This week, Vassar College won the inaugural Jack Cooke Kent Prize for Economic Equity for its success in significantly increasing the number of students it admits who receive Pell Grants, which are typically granted to students whose household incomes are under $30,000. The New York Times' David Leonhardt reported that a recent The Times analysis of "The Most Economically Diverse Top Colleges" influenced the contest’s selection of Vassar, which topped the newspaper’s list, too.  




Stanford came in at No. 18 on the list. If this is 18, however, what would No. 50 or No. 100 look like? To put it simply, Stanford does not look like the rest of America—not when it comes to income. Like other elite schools on the The Times' list, it is more economically diverse than it was a decade ago, but it is hardly as diverse as it could or should be. According to Lisa Lapin, a spokeswoman at Stanford, approximately 30 percent of its undergraduates in recent years have benefitted from the under-$100,000 policy, and within that 30 percent are the roughly 18 percent of students who have received additional waivers for room-and-board fees.  



While Stanford is understandably proud of these numbers, I cannot help but notice the cloud attached to their silver lining: the flip side of that 30 percent. In other words, 70 percent of Stanford undergraduates come from families whose incomes are over $100,000, even though only a little more than 20 percent of Americans made that much in 2010, according to census data. Worse yet, less than 18 percent of the students have family incomes under $60,000, even though more than half of Americans did in 2013. According to Lapin, between 20 percent and 25 percent of Stanford families pay full tuition, room, and board—fees that this year add up to $58,388 at sticker price. That means that there are more students who pay full freight at Stanford than there are students from households earning less than roughly that same amount.



What accounts for the discrepancy between the number of rich and poor students at Stanford and other elite schools? One reason, well reported by Leonhardt, is that elite schools have struggled to identify and recruit low-income students; indeed, a study he cites shows that selective schools do a poor job enrolling students from the bottom economic quartile. But it isn’t only the bottom that is being underrepresented: Lapin’s numbers suggest that Stanford’s undergraduates are overwhelmingly drawn from the top quartile.  




There’s no reason to think that Stanford is basing its admissions decisions on incomes; on the contrary, Stanford employs a need-blind policy that theoretically preempts that sort of cherry-picking. The truth, I suspect, is worse.



One reason for this unequal representation might in fact be precisely that admissions are blind and are consequently more likely to identify wealthy students as more qualified. After all, these students tend to enjoy tremendous benefits growing up—among them opportunities to live in neighborhoods alongside like-minded families that have the resources to emphasize and invest in education, go to the best schools, hire tutors, and make the significant financial sacrifices needed to build an impressive extracurricular portfolio.

It is noble that Stanford wants to make sure that any kid who is talented enough to gain admission there, regardless of income, has the option of doing so. It is, of course, preferable that Stanford and other schools have tuition waivers than nothing at all. These programs can only achieve their objective, however, if there are enough low-income high-school students who are accomplished enough to make the application cut for elite schools.



As Alex Ortiz, a Boston-based tutor who previously taught grade school in Washington Heights recently suggested to me, perhaps it would be better if schools took need into account, using income as the basis for affirmative action and crediting students for achieving what they have despite missing out on privilege. Better yet, it seems that federal and state governments could also do a better job in their efforts to improve all kids’ learning experiences, from prekindergarten on. That way, the country wouldn't have to rely on the generosity of extremely wealthy private institutions to advance social progress.

______________________________________________





Who created these global banking 1% civil unrest civil wars in LATIN AMERICA? The same global banking 5% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT civil unrest civil war players as in AFRICA/ARABIA----and southeast Asia. They were recruited by these same private military contractor structures filling our US cities and rural counties driven by those same global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS-----identifying those 5% freemason/Greek players pledging NOT TO CARE as says EMPIRE ALICE.




When our local youth organizations are controlled by global NGOS tied to UNITED NATIONS tied to WORLD BANK/IMF------as the US moves towards economic crash/economic collapse of dollar----the only JOBS JOBS JOBS will be that pathway to pre-K to career MILITARY JUNTA. Lot's of US 99% WE THE PEOPLE will be made impoverished----then more US 99% WE THE PEOPLE will be made impoverished----those dastardly 5% ROBBER BARON freemason/Greeks going under the bus----




THAT IS HOW MOVING FORWARD TAKES A STRONG, DEVELOPED FREEDOM, LIBERTY, JUSTICE, PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS HIGHLY EDUCATED, TALENTED, STRONG WAGES DOWN TO THIRD WORLD CHAOS LIBERTARIAN MARXISM.

RIGHT WING MILITARY JUNTA VS LEFT-WING REBELS--------------both working for global banking 1%

'untold numbers of babies and children were snatched by soldiers from their families during the civil war, which raged in El Salvador between 1980 and 1992, and which left about 75,000 dead and 8,000 missing. It pitched a vicious right-wing military junta against the left-wing rebels of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front'



Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)

Summary:
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five guerrilla organizations: the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí (FPL), Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP), the Resistencia Nacional (RN), the Partido Comunista Salvadoreño (PCS) and the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores Centroamericanos (PRTC). The FMLN was one of the main participants in the Salvadoran Civil War.




News › World › Americas



El Salvador's war children return to their roots
  • By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
  • Monday 17 July 2006 00:00
The Independent US




They represent a lost generation - thousands of children kidnapped by soldiers or otherwise separated from their parents during the bloody and chaotic civil war that tore apart El Salvador.


Many of them were later adopted and grew up in the United States and Europe, curious about their heritage but knowing nothing of their original families. Many thought their relatives were dead.



More than a decade after a ceasefire that ended the fighting, some of those children are discovering their birth families and learning about their past. A recently completed database established by the University of California Berkeley and an El Salvadorean group, Pro-Búsqueda, is allowing young El Salvadoreans trace their families and, if they choose, to make contact.



"This does a number of things; it fulfils a need on both sides," said Rachel Shigekane, a director of the university's human rights centre. "It helps families who are looking for missing children. It also helps people who might be stuck in limbo [to] move on. Equally, it can help people [discover] who they are and where they are from. It's not always a happy situation but I think people would always say they were glad they did it."



Such a dilemma currently faces Angela Fillingim. The 21-year-old was just six months old when she was adopted from El Salvador by a couple from northern California. It was only in her late teens that she began to think more about her heritage and then, last year, when visiting El Salvador, she made the decision to try and trace her family. She provided a DNA sample to Pro-Búsqueda.



Earlier this year she was told that she has a mother, Blanca Rodriguez, and a younger brother, living in El Salvador. They have corresponded by letter and e-mail and Ms Fillingim is planning to visit El Salvador to meet them. There will be plenty to discuss: Ms Fillingim's mother has only told her that she put her up for adoption because in 1985 "it was not a safe time to have a child".



"It's confusing, to say the least, to have a family that is biologically related and yet emotionally distant," she said. "I know it sounds corny but I think this will be a great opportunity to bring both sides of my family together."



She knows that her mother lived in the north-eastern Chalatenango region of El Salvador, which in 1982 was subjected to a nine-day military operation that killed hundreds. Ms Fillingim said when she meets her birth mother she will ask more about the circumstances of her adoption and also about the identity of her father. "These are questions I will wait for until we meet face to face," she said.



The human rights centre said untold numbers of babies and children were snatched by soldiers from their families during the civil war, which raged in El Salvador between 1980 and 1992, and which left about 75,000 dead and 8,000 missing. It pitched a vicious right-wing military junta against the left-wing rebels of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in one of the bloodiest episodes in Central America's history, and arguably represented one of the US's most shameful foreign policy interventions.




The administration of Ronald Reagan, fearful of the spread of Communism and having seen the Socialist Sandinistas sweep to power in Nicaragua in 1979, provided hundreds of millions of dollars of military equipment and training to El Salvador's government forces. It also sent Green Beret military trainers and special forces troops who covertly participated in the fighting, more than 20 of whom were killed.




Many of El Salvador's commanders were trained at the notorious School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, which taught brutal counter-insurgency tactics and even torture to cadets from throughout Latin America.

______________________________________________

MOVING FORWARD in US cities deemed FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES under the guise of global corporate campus militarized security and policing with ROTC meets global military, mercenary corporate training----simply complete a form to be identified as a military contractor receive grants to fund the purchase of bullets, AK -47s ----and use local BOY SCOUTS to recruit and advertise your military JUNTA-------GO MARXISTS always helping the poor.


'The two primary actors in the El Salvador civil war were a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group, called the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), and the government of El Salvador. However, like most civil wars, the conflict was much more complicated than this'.

'These nonviolent pro-democratic forces were dispersed among parties on the left, the center and the right - as well as among those people who didn't support any political party'.



  • Opinion
  • /
  • US & Canada
El Salvador's brutal civil war: What we still don't know



Twenty years after peace accords were signed, many aspects of El Salvador's long civil war remain murky.



by Mike Allison
1 Mar 2012



Scranton, PA - From 1980 to 1992, civil war ravaged the Central American state of El Salvador, claiming the lives of approximately 75,000 Salvadorans.

EL SALVADOR is a really small sovereign nation---




For three days this February, scholars from around the world gathered in El Salvador to assess the state of our knowledge of that country's civil war, 20 years after peace accords were signed that ended the conflict.

 President marks Salvadoran civil war with apology


The seminar - "History, Society and Memories: the armed conflict on the 20th anniversary of the Peace Accords" - was organised by the Unit of Investigations about the Salvadoran Civil War (UIGCS) of the Universidad de El Salvador. In the largest meeting of researchers on the civil war in El Salvador, participants from Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, France, Germany, Holland and the United States joined local academics in sharing what we have learned about the 12-year-long war.



According to Jorge Juárez of UIGCS, the seminar's goal was to "make known to the public a version [of the war's history] without passions, without ideology, that presents the simple truth of the facts".




What happened?
The two primary actors in the El Salvador civil war were a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group, called the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), and the government of El Salvador. However, like most civil wars, the conflict was much more complicated than this.



The FMLN was supported by the Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Soviet governments. Most people who have studied the conflict in El Salvador would argue that the Soviets did not provide much direct support to the guerrillas. I agree - but Nicaragua and Cuba would not have been able to provide support to the guerrillas had the Soviets not been supporting them. It's also true that the FMLN did not get as much military and financial support from these two governments as the Salvadoran government received from the United States.




However, the FMLN benefited tremendously from the opportunity to use Managua and Havana for meetings of its General Command. The FMLN was able to move weapons and personnel in and out of the country undetected via the Gulf of Fonseca and Nicaragua. Soldiers trained and received medical care in Nicaragua and Cuba. Many family members sought sanctuary abroad for the duration of the conflict to avoid falling victim to the government's death squads.

Members of the ERP making grenades [GALLO/GETTY] The FMLN also received support from individuals in Costa Rica and Mexico. The FMLN and its political wing, the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR), were recognised as a belligerent force by France and Mexico in 1981. Several panelists lamented the fact that we do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of the international support that came from these governments and their citizens during the war. To my knowledge, no one has estimated the value of such support.




Other aspects of the FMLN's history are similarly murky. In October 1980, several groups - the Popular Forces of Liberation Farabundo Marti (FPL), the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), the Armed Forces of National Resistance (FARN), and the Armed Forces of Liberation (FAL) - officially joined together to create the FMLN, with the addition of the Revolutionary Workers Party of Central America (PRTC) in December of that year.



However, the first guerrilla cells appeared a decade earlier. We know much less about the individual groups that operated during these years. Alberto Martín Álvarez of Mexico's Universidad de Colima shared his research on the origins of the FPL and the ERP. According to another speaker, Jorge Cáceres Prendes of the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, many radicalised students at the Universidad de El Salvador eventually founded or found their way into the guerrillas.
A history of violence



The FMLN's use of violence has also been insufficiently studied. While the majority of human rights violations was committed by the government and its security forces, the guerrillas carried out kidnappings, bombings and bank robberies during the 1970s to support their revolutionary dreams.



During the 1980s, the FMLN killed several mayors, informants and traitors, all crimes under the rules of war. There are also strong indications that the guerrillas began to rely more on terrorist tactics during the late 1980s.


There are also strong indications that the guerrillas used terrorist tactics more frequently during the later years of the war, alienating many Salvadorans and causing rifts with the democratic Left. Panelists also spoke about the systematic use of repression by the FPL in San Vicente. Violence against civilians perpetrated by the FMLN has often been dismissed as the actions of drunken commanders, or with the not-so-convincing argument that "the other side was worse". My impression is that most academics are also sympathetic towards the FMLN, and are not as interested in studying how the organisation used repressive tactics. As a result, we know much less about the FMLN's use of violence and its effect on postwar support for the party.



The government's role



The other main actor in the country's civil war was El Salvador's government, which was backed politically, economically and militarily by the United States.



Internationally, many people look to the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero in March 1980 and the murders of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter in November 1989 as the unofficial start and end dates of the war. However, to really understand why war erupted in 1980, one must analyse the failed October 15, 1979 coup.



In El Salvador, many people describe the coup as an element of the US-backed counter-insurgency effort. However, French sociologist Guilles Bataillon described the coup as a truly Salvadoran effort to avoid war. The coup was led by moderate elements within the military, but it was backed by Archbishop Romero, priests from the Jesuit-run Universidad de Centroamericana, as well as other civilian pro-democratic forces. The moderate military that led the coup was eventually pushed aside by the older, more hardline faction, and its civilian members quit following the military's escalating repression.



Those of us who study El Salvador typically see the coup in the way that Bataillon described it, but it was interesting to learn that how we understand the 1979 coup was not the dominant narrative in El Salvador. There, the US was seen as the primary mover.



Following the 1979 coup, José Napoleon Duarte became the most important civilian political figure in El Salvador. He joined the junta in March 1980 and became head of state that December. Here we could use more research on the relationships between Duarte and his Christian Democratic Party (PDC), El Salvador's military, the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, and the United States government.



The US sought to prop up a moderate civilian government led by Duarte, to isolate the far-right, and to defeat the FMLN. The US hoped that a moderate PDC, backed by a land reform programme, would undermine support for extremists on both the left and the right. However, the US' support political and economic reform led directly to the creation of ARENA. ARENA's founders did not support the PDC, a party that they characterised as a "watermelon" - green on the outside and communist-red on the inside. They also felt threatened by the proposed land reform programme which, if implemented, would strike directly at the source of the oligarchy’s economic power.



Therefore, Roberto D'Aubuisson created ARENA because he rejected the reforms supported by the US. It is true that prominent US politicians like Senator Jesse Helms (Republican-North Carolina) supported D'Aubuisson, who had trained at the infamous US School of the Americas in the early 1970s.




But it is also true that the US prevented his selection as interim president in 1982. When D'Aubuisson ran for president in 1984, the US funded his opponent. The US also would not permit D'Aubuisson, who allegedly threatened to kill the US ambassador in El Salvador, to enter the United States. We could use better details on D'Aubuisson and ARENA's relationship with the White House, members of the US Congress, the State Department, the Defense Department, and the CIA. Our knowledge of ARENA's death-squad origins and its subsequent activity as a political party often starts and stops with D'Aubuisson. To say that the US supported or did not support the man sometimes known as "Blowtorch Bob" - for his tendency to torture political prisoners with blowtorches during interrogation sessions - obscures as much information as it conveys. History is, obviously, more complicated.




"El Salvador's president, Mauricio Funes, recently apologised for one well-known massacre involving several hundred civilians."



How the Salvadoran armed forces thought and operated is also under-researched - even though they were responsible for the majority of human rights violations committed during the conflict, including a number of terrible massacres during the early 1980s.



El Salvador's president, Mauricio Funes, recently apologised for one well-known massacre involving several hundred civilians - primarily children, women and elderly - that the military carried out in El Mozote in December 1981. The details of the massacre are told in Mark Danner's terrific book, The Massacre at El Mozote. The book paints the US and the Salvadoran military in a horrible light, but it also leaves many questions unanswered.




According to Danner's reporting, Domingo Monterrosa, the military commander of the Atlacatl Battalion that conducted the operation at El Mozote, was killed in 1984 by the FMLN because they wanted revenge, and because he seemed to have changed his approach to counterinsurgency. He allegedly had started to promote a policy based upon winning the hearts and minds of the civilian population, rather than exterminating it.



Hopefully, with President Funes' recent creation of a military commission to investigate the history of the armed forces, we will have a better idea as to how the Salvadoran military's mindset changed during the conflict - or whether it changed at all. We might also gain a better appreciation of its relationship with the US, the PDC government, and the military in neighbouring Honduras. Unfortunately, since the commission looks like it will be comprised of military officers, I am not optimistic.



Eduardo Rey Tristán from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain explained that there are major knowledge gaps surrounding the extreme right and the army during the war, the political evolution of ARENA during and after the war, and many issues concerning human rights violations, perpetrated both by the government armed forces as well as those committed by the guerrillas. I would also add that there has been no systematic study on what I would characterise as the pro-democracy forces.

These nonviolent pro-democratic forces were dispersed among parties on the left, the center and the right - as well as among those people who didn't support any political party.


 Inside Story Americas - El Salvador's open wound


Why was the conference important? Well, it was the largest meeting of its kind, bringing local and international scholars together to discuss the war. We not only learned from each other, but we learned from the non-academics in the audience. We believe that it was important for Salvadorans to hear what we have learned about the war. During the 1980s, most Salvadorans received their information through propaganda put forth by the military and the rebels, or by a biassed media.




Most postwar discourse has been driven by elites who participated in the conflict either on the part of the guerrillas or the government. It's not that these individuals' perspectives are wrong; it is just healthier if they are challenged or supplemented by outside views. Those could come from more objective academics or from non-elite testimonies such as those provided by Lotti Silber in Everyday Revolutionaries: Gender, Violence and Disillusionment in Postwar El Salvador and by Carlos Enrique Consalvi and Jeffrey Gould in La Palabra en El Bosque. These two works let the people of Chalatenango and Morazán, the two departments most affected by the war, tell their own stories.




Another reason why the conference was important was that El Salvador's Armed Forces participated. Those in attendance sincerely hoped that the military's participation marked the beginning of a greater openness towards its participation in the war. Colonel Adalberto Ernesto Garcia Rivera explained to the audience what material of theirs was available to the public and to academics for their personal and scholarly use. Remarkably, he was sitting next to the director of the Museum of the Word and Image, Carlos Enrique Consalvi, who was the voice of the FMLN's wartime radio station, Radio Venceremos. The two men even joked about the possibility of collaborating at some future date.



Former Tendencias editor Roberto Turcios said he hopes that the Unit of Investigations about the Salvadoran Civil War (UIGCS) will eventually become the premiere institution for the study of the civil war and that the knowledge produced there will be accessible to all Salvadorans. I hope that UIGCS' work will help to ensure that people do not forget what happened during the 1970s and 1980s - and that today's youth will have a place to learn more about their not-so-distant past.

_______________________________________________



Keep in mind all last century our US GI BILL with its emphasis in social benefit to our US veterans allowed our veterans to attend ANY university----take ANY career pathway-------today the GI BILL is being gutted and dismantled and this will be the ONLY PATHWAY for our military families.



'Aid for Military Families | Federal Student Aid
studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/...

The federal government and nonprofits ... Scholarships for Military Families—Provides resources and contact information ... Army ROTC scholarships are offered ..'




This is how MOVING FORWARD US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE---makes far-right wing, authoritarian, militaristic, extreme wealth extreme poverty LIBERTARIAN MARXISTS of a 300 year US DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC capitalist sovereign nation.
HARVARD as global banking 1% does not feel the need for ROTC on its campus----but stands up for STANFORD, JOHNS HOPKINS, AND YALE as global banking 1% KNIGHTS OF MALTA.


Obama: Time for ROTC to Return

By Tara W. Merrigan and Zoe A. Y. Weinberg,

Crimson Staff Writers January 26, 2011





President Obama’s State of the Union address last night touched upon several issues that are likely to affect the University, including the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, funding for science research and technology, and the DREAM Act.


In his speech, which favored breadth over specifics, Obama managed to maintain a strong presence as a leader but the challenge will be implementing his proposals, professors said.



Barbara L. Kellerman, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, said that she felt Obama was able to do what he needed to in order to reassert his authority.
“Tonight he was the central figure that Americans have historically looked to, which was not the case for most of 2010,” Kellerman said.



Obama emphasized the importance of education, science scholarship, and technology, calling these pursuits “our generation’s Sputnik moment.”



Government and Sociology Professor Theda R. Skocpol said she felt his
“call to build American competitiveness” with countries such as China and India was a much needed vote of confidence in the country.



In light of Obama’s emphasis on improving education, professors said that they were not concerned that Harvard, which receives significant federal funding for its research projects, would be adversely effected by the partial five-year spending freeze that the President proposed last night.



Obama also called for colleges and universities to open their doors to  ROTC after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” in what some professors said they felt was a powerful message to the University.



“That was delivered right to Harvard,” said Kennedy School lecturer Elaine C. Kamarck.
Harvard and other universities have previously barred ROTC from their campuses because “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” violated their non-discrimination policies.
Though University President Drew G. Faust has recently said she welcomes the military’s return to campus, it remains unclear if ROTC will be reinstalled at Harvard.



“There is nothing more symbolically important than Harvard getting ROTC back,” added Kamarck. “The preeminent university in the country should have ROTC.”



Obama also discussed immigration reform and the politics of the DREAM Act—a bill which would extend a path to citizenship for undocumented minors—without mentioning it by name.



The president’s decision to speak vaguely about this legislation, for which Faust has been a major advocate, may have been an effort to diffuse partisan tension in the room, Kamarck said, considering that the speech comes close on the heels of the Tucson shooting.
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July 23rd, 2018

7/23/2018

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For those knowing US and world history, CLINTON era sounded the alarms that global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS were ready to get serious with sacking and looting----bringing on those ROBBER BARON 5% freemason/Greeks basically MAFIA.  Reading Salman Rushdie's novel THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH published early CLINTON era----mapped the same massive global banking schemes of ROBBER BARONS in India as was unleashed here in US.  MR FROG the municipal corporation----MR ABRAHAM the global corporation making most of its profits in global black market -----led by nothing more than a 5% freemason/Greek acting as mafia----capturing our US government at national, state, and local level.

Below, we see the same MOVING FORWARD under TRUMP-----POMPEO today as POMPEO 2 thousand years ago----working for global 1% pre-Christian NERO OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS.



SparkNotes:

The Roman Empire (60 BCE-160 CE): Important Terms ...www.sparknotes.com/history/european/rome3/terms



Sextus Pompei - Consul in 70s BCE, procunsul thereafter. ... Otho - One-time crony of Nero who bribed the Praetorian Guard to raise him as Emperor in 69 CE.



Below we see a great big POT ----calling the much smaller KETTLE---BLACK.

After a few decades of making ARABIA a nightmare of civil unrest civil war simply for more wealth and power by global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS----now we focus on Persia.  So, does ANY of continuous wars help our 99% of US WE THE PEOPLE? When the only jobs created are military deep, deep, really deep state---IT IS NOT JUST ANY JOB


NO----WE ARE BEING MADE A PERMANENT MILITARY JUNTA COLONIAL ENTITY.



Pompeo: Iran's leaders resemble the mafia


By Emily Birnbaum - 07/22/18 10:38 PM EDT 363
130 
© Anna Moneymaker

Secretary of State


Mike Pompeo on Sunday said Iran's leaders resemble "the mafia more than a government." 


"The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government,” Pompeo said during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.


During his remarks and the Q&A afterwards, Pompeo lambasted the Iranian regime and emphasized U.S. support for Iranian citizens, particularly those opposed to the government.


Pompeo offered support for the anti-government protestors that have been rallying across the country in recent months. 
"The specific grievances differ," Pompeo said. "But all those voicing dissatisfaction share one thing: they have been ill-treated by a Revolutionary regime. Iranians want to be governed with dignity, accountability and consent."

Our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE CAN RELATE TO THAT


President Trump in May stepped back from former President Obama's Iran nuclear deal, restoring heavy U.S. sanctions against Iran. The deal limited Tehran's nuclear ability in exchange for lifting international oil and financial sanctions, but America's departure has left Iran vulnerable to reinstated sanctions. 



Pompeo since May has ramped up rhetoric against Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's government. He threatened to impose the "strongest sanctions in history" if Iran did not take dramatic steps towards denuclearization. 


The secretary of State described the U.S.'s current strategy toward Iran a "pressure campaign" to get the Iranian government to pull back from aggressive behavior. 


"We are asking all nations who are sick and tired of the Islamic Republic’s destructive behavior to join our pressure campaign," Pompeo said. 


Pompeo further lambasted Iranian religious leaders as "hypocritical holy men" who amass wealth through corruption and exploitation of Iran's people.
"Iran's leaders have enriched themselves from corruption," Pompeo said.


After his prepared remarks, Pompeo fielded questions about U.S. immigration policy toward Iranian "civil society," including students who want to study at American universities. 


The Trump administration's travel ban includes Iran, which means even those unaffiliated with the Iranian government cannot travel to the U.S. without a waiver. The ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court last month, have left many Iranian students and families in the U.S. in limbo, cut off from their families in their home countries. 


"Iran continues to deny us the basic data-sharing systems that dozens of countries have already provided us," Pompeo said, explaining the ban. "We'd like Iran do to that. We still allow students to come in."
He added the Trump administration prioritizes vetting all those who enter the country.

__________________________________________

The US national media likes to make our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE think our US GLOBAL HEDGE FUND IVY LEAGUE universities are the winners-----they being the root of ROBBER BARON frauds these few decades have all the money as endowments---as global corporate profits.  Here in Baltimore that would be global hedge fund IVY LEAGUE Johns Hopkins-----the same in US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES across the US.  We discussed in detail those universities targeted to being ROBBER BARON centers for fraud----those MR FROG MUNICIPAL 5% freemason/Greek players.

We want to take this week to discuss just WHERE all those hundred trillions of dollars went in sacking and looting AMERICA----and as we state often----it is NOT to any corporation or institution that is AMERICAN.

Below we see where what were our strong, academic US IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITIES have been made these few decades into simply ABRAHAM GLOBAL CORPORATIONS specializing in black market profits.  Now global corporate PRODUCT MILLS----creating PATENTS for anything that will sell.



This chart shows how much more Ivy League grads make than you ...

www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/09/14/...

The median annual earnings for an Ivy League graduate 10 years after starting amount to well over $70,000 a year. For graduates of all other schools, the median is around $34,000.

For an US global IVY LEAGUE grad to graduate earning $70,000 a year ----that's what state university grads earned right out of college last century.  We see our other US college grads earning US LIVING WAGE----THAT IS POVERTY LINE.  So, the US no longer has IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITIES------and what national media PRETENDS are US IVY LEAGUES with big endowments----being powerful and wealthy----as Johns Hopkins have simply been made into MR FROG------these institutions do not have the money-----global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS have all those hundreds of trillions---simply using our once strong academies as MR FROG.


Are students graduating from US IVY LEAGUES paying $30,000 to 60,000 a semester graduating to earn $70,000 a year really WINNERS? Of course not---they are on their way to being global corporate sweat shop white collar professionals.

These 7 US colleges are more selective than some Ivy League schools
Abby Jackson
Jul. 14, 2017, 11:24 AM


And you thought the Ivy League was exclusive. A Stanford University student on campus.



Justin Sullivan/Getty Images




Ivy League colleges are notoriously tough to get into.
Their acceptance rates range from 5.2% to 12.5%, and former Ivy League admissions directors say it's harder than ever to gain acceptance to the schools.
So you might be surprised to learn that other schools have even lower acceptance rates.



Business Insider listed schools that are even more selective than some of the Ivies, according to statistics provided on the class of 2021* admission rates from school websites.


*The rates for the University of Chicago and California Institute of Technology reflect class of 2020, as rates for the class of 2021 are not yet publicly provided.


To start, here's the ranking of Ivy League schools by their class of 2021 selectivity:


BI Graphics But even more selective than some of the schools on this list are ...

Claremont McKenna College — 10.35%

Located in Southern California, Claremont is a small liberal-arts college. Its acceptance rate is lower than those of Cornell and Dartmouth.



US Military Academy — 9.4%
Robert Libetti/ Business Insider Also referred to as "West Point" or "Army," cadets enrolled have their tuition paid by the US Army. In return, they have an active-duty service obligation. Its admission rate is lower than the rates for Dartmouth and Cornell.



California Institute of Technology — 7.9%
Flickr/Dmitry Mitin Based in Pasadena, Caltech focuses on science and engineering. Its acceptance rate is lower than Cornell's, Dartmouth's, UPenn's, and Brown's.



US Naval Academy — 7.5%
CC BY 2.5 Also referred to as "Navy," students enrolled have their tuition paid by the US Navy and, in return, they have an active-duty service obligation. This school is more selective than Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Cornell.




Massachusetts Institute of Technology — 7.1%
Via Flickr MIT's mascot is the beaver because of the school's "remarkable engineering and mechanical skill and its habits of industry." Its admissions rate is lower than the rates for Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Cornell.



University of Chicago — 7.6%
Wikimedia Commons / Adam Jones, Ph.D. The 125-year-old school is in Chicago's Hyde Park community. Its admissions rate is lower than the rates for Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Cornell.



Stanford University — 4.65%

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Stanford is the most selective college in the US — aside from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which has an acceptance rate of around 4%, but is more of a conservatory than a traditional university.

_____________________________________________

The first thing we see about selective university institutions ----almost all of them are MILITARY ---TIED TO MILITARY----as California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology ----with those US universities called most SELECTIVE being extremely far-right wing NEO-CONSERVATIVE-----with UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO having always been the source of global banking 1% far-right wing NEO-LIBERALISM.  All those US GLOBAL HEDGE FUND IVY LEAGUES opening to accepting a global banking 5% freemason/Greek creating a CRONYISM THROUGH FAMILY TIES-----are now throwing those 5% freemason/Greek families under the bus.

RUSHDIE'S 'THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH' made a point early in the novel that any of our NEWLY MERELY RICH who bring in those poor relations----will see their corporations fall apart.  The moral from RUSHDIE----as that global banking 1% freemason LITERARY STAR----

GO ON---TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN LEAVE THOSE POOR RELATIONS BEHIND.

That is what THE ME GENERATION of these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA were about-----those families supported by a single rich relation getting that patronage as business or pay-to-play are first to be made extremely poor----and not soon after MR FROG----MR ABRAHAM as newly merely rich and their network  IMPLODE.

Our US national media made big headlines for what are now called THE MOST SELECTIVE-----saying they were opening their doors to become more DIVERSIFIED----of course that simply meant ---instead of accepting our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown citizens----they are now only accepting OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS' global 1% and their 2%---ready to be MR FROG AND MR ABRAHAM.




Stanford is the most selective college in the US --

Stanford University — 4.65%


STANFORD/YALE has always been far-right wing global banking 1% BUSH NEO-CON-----the KNIGHTS OF MALTA-----while UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO/HARVARD has always been the far-right wing global banking 1% TRIBES OF JUDAH----banking teamed with bombing.


March 25, 2016

Stanford offers admission to 2,063 students from around the world


The Office of Undergraduate Admission announced today that 2,063 high school students have been admitted to the Class of 2020 from a pool of 43,997.



Stanford University has offered admission to 2,063 students, including 745 applicants who were accepted last December through the early action program, the Office of Undergraduate Admission announced today.
Richard H. Shaw, dean of admission and financial aid, said the Class of 2020 was carefully selected from 43,997 candidates, the largest application pool in Stanford’s history. The admitted students come from 50 states and 76 countries.


“We are honored by the interest in Stanford, and overwhelmed by the exceptional accomplishments of the students admitted to the Class of 2020,” Shaw said. “Our admitted students reflect the deep and profound diversity of the world in which we live. We believe these students will impact that world in immeasurable ways.”



Under Stanford’s generous financial aid program, which the university expanded in 2015, for parents with total annual income below $125,000 and typical assets for this income range, the expected parent contribution will be low enough to ensure that all tuition charges are covered with need-based scholarships, federal and state grants and/or outside scholarship funds. For parents with total annual income below $65,000 and typical assets for this income range, Stanford will not expect a parent contribution toward tuition, mandatory fees, room or board.


Students admitted under the early and regular decision admission program have until May 1 to accept Stanford’s offer.
______________________________________________

For 300 years in US our US politicians have been given a BONE-----by allowing a political appointment to these US military academies------this is what kept ALL IN THE FAMILY these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA----the top military officers MOVING FORWARD global military mercenary corporations.  TOP US OFFICERS graduate from these military academies------it is these top officers tied to being made GENERALS----who are always tied to being global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA.

This network of ROBBER BARON 5% freemason/Greek players these few decades was that MR FROG----MR ABRAHAM US Department of Defense massive frauds of tens of trillions----global development corporations as offshore SHELL CORPORATIONS made that 5% US global banking player newly merely rich funneling that wealth down to poor relations.

HOW DID OUR US 99% OF WE THE PEOPLE ALLOW A STRONG, FIRST WORLD, DEVELOPED NATION, RULE OF LAW, THRIVING REAL FREE MARKET ECONOMY ---BE MADE INTO MR FROG AND MR ABRAHAM?


So, these CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA ROBBER BARON POLS appointing to our US military academies----


NO LONGER HAVE THAT ABILITY.

So, our Maryland State global banking 1% pols no longer appoint to our ANNAPOLIS MILITARY ACADEMIES-----as to each state having these national military academies.


Bruce Fleming holds degrees from Haverford College, the University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt University. He has published more than a dozen books and many articles on subjects ranging from literary theory to dance to military strategy and the U.S. Naval Academy, where he has been a professor since 1987.

His Web site is www.brucefleming.net.


THE FEDERALIST is a right wing think tank pretending to be conservative Republican ---there is nothing FEDERAL coming from this think tank----and Bruce Fleming having graduated from very global banking 1% universities is outing NOW what has existed for several decades because TIMES THEY ARE CHANGING.


Leaders of GLOBAL MILITARY JUNTA do not come from our US newly, merely rich families---they come from global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS' families who appoint to their own 'military academies'.

We see especially our once strong US military academies were taken to being degraded geared towards graduating global corporate mercenary military leaders----and not our US sovereign PUBLIC MILITIA leaders.





  • Military
It’s Not Just West Point. U.S. Military Academies Have Become Disneyland For Politicians



The service academies are now the vanity projects of the military brass, not viable contributions to U.S. defense.




By Bruce Fleming    THE FEDERALIST
October 16, 2017




The military world and military academies—I’m a tenured civilian professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis--were rocked by an October 11 “open letter” exposing the rotten underbelly of our sister academy at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy.


The letter was penned by Robert Heffington, an Army officer and West Point graduate who taught there for several years before retiring. Only his retirement made it possible for him to publish the letter, since officers in uniform cannot publicly disagree with superiors. Within 24 hours, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslan Jr., head of the administration Heffington holds responsible for its deficiencies, responded by evoking the “thousands of graduates who sacrifice and serve honorably every day.”


Heffington’s letter is a scorcher. It pulls no punches and concludes it’s questionable whether West Point, founded in 1802, “should ever remain open.”

Heffington’s “BLUF,” Bottom Line Up Front: “First and foremost, standards at West Point are nonexistent. They exist on paper, but nowhere else. The senior administration at West Point inexplicably refuses to enforce West Point’s publicly touted high standards on cadets, and, having picked up on this, cadets refuse to enforce standards on each other.” He goes on: “The Superintendent refuses to enforce admissions standards or the cadet Honor Code, the Dean refuses to enforce academic standards, and the Commandant refuses to enforce standards of conduct and discipline.”




Heffington notes that students are admitted to play Division I football, which degrades academics: “we routinely admit athletes with ACT scores in the mid-teens across the board. I have personally taught cadets who are borderline illiterate and cannot read simple passages from the assigned textbooks.” Faculty members who object are silenced, he says.



To this, I say “Amen, brother.” Heffington’s letter caused me personal joy and professional agony. I’ve been making a number of the same points about Annapolis, an essentially identical taxpayer-funded institution, for the last several decades, earning repeated salvos of our administration’s ire and attempts to silence me. (West Point has few civilian professors, and no tenured ones.) So it was gratifying to hear someone else say the same things about our sister institution, with more vitriol than I usually employ.



So much needs to change with our institutions, yet there no signs of any changes even being contemplated. This is bad news for the taxpayers who are footing the bill and depend on them for one-fifth of the new officer pool. It’s also bad news for the disaffected, cynical students who have lost faith in the system. I think Heffington saw the cynicism without understanding its source. I think I do.



The Reasons to Prefer a Military Academy Are FewMost upper-class students at service academies have lost faith in the system, because it’s based on lies. First, these places produce about one new officer in five nowadays, far fewer than their glory days. Most other officers come from Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs, Officer Candidate School, or direct commissions. West Point (USMA) produces about half the number of officers of Army ROTC. Service academy graduates cost taxpayers about half a million dollars each plus wrap-around health care and so on, four times what the average ROTC officer costs and eight times what OCS costs.



That’s right: you can go to a civilian school ROTC for four years, put on a uniform a day or two a week, party as you like, have sex when you want (sex is forbidden at the academies), major in what you want, graduate, and serve alongside academy graduates—and no data show you’ll be a worse officer.

The students know this because they all have iPhones and Google.

The defenders of the academies fall back on that tired cliché of calling them “national treasures.” Up to World War II, they probably were, because that’s where almost all officers came from. We need officers, so if that’s their source, the source is a “treasure.” Only it turned out that officers can come from other sources! So it’s simply not true that all the pointless and infuriating things you have to do at the academies are necessary for being an officer, because 80 percent of officers don’t do these things and are just as good.
Defenders of the academies, invariably themselves graduates who got a college education at taxpayer expense, say they “set the tone” for the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard. There’s no evidence of this, and in any case I hope it’s not true, because their tone is one of deep disillusionment.
Hate to Break It, But We’re Not the ‘Best and Brightest’Another of the big lies, as Heffington shows, is the assertion that military academy students are the “best and the brightest.” I can’t tell whether the military brass really have no clue, or this is just hype to keep the tax dollars flowing and make the students feel it’s worth it. In fact, our SAT scores are about 100 points per test lower than Ivy-level schools, and the spread between upper and lower levels much greater. About 20 percent of our class consists of students recruited for athletics or given preferential admission to achieve racial goals (meaning non-white), and cannot get in even at the low level of SAT scores of 600 on each test with As and Bs in high school.




Not a problem; we send them at taxpayer expense to the relevant prep school, where nine months of a 13th grade are supposed to remediate what may be intrinsic mental slowness or decades of poor education. Typically it doesn’t, and these students fill our pre-college classes in English and math and fail to graduate at higher percentages. The truly gifted students (we have some) realize they’ve been sold a bill of goods. We have no magic chemical test for good “leaders” to make up for academic deficiencies. We don’t even require an interview for admission. Come to my classes to see how little “wow” factor many have.



Another lie is the wild exaggeration of our selectivity. I’ve been on our Admissions Board, so I have expertise Heffington doesn’t. We claim to get about 20,000 applicants, but define “applicant” as no other college does, by including the 7,500 high school juniors who want to come to our six-day summer seminar (only 2,500 come) and recently, all Navy ROTC applicants to any institution, as well as stubs of applications where a kid was convinced to enter his or her name and address and little more.




When I was on the Admissions Board, we considered about 4,500 applications for about 1,800 admits. That’s not the 7 to 8 percent “most selective” statistics the brass continue to report to U.S. News and World Report and the U.S. Department of Education. The students see the disappointing quality of those around them and begin to figure out that somehow these cannot be the “best and the brightest.”




Many Of Our Key Promises Are Broken


Because we admit to serve racial goals and to fill our teams, and because higher graduation rates make us look better, we aren’t about to throw anybody out. So what Heffington says is true: we “remediate” honor offenses nowadays, inability to pass the Physical Readiness Training, and just about everything else. Faculty members have also given up thinking that reporting plagiarism will result in any meaningful action.


Another set of lies is in the way that a policy of “no sex” has survived from the days when it made sense, back when we were all male with no out gays. Now we have one-third women, gay students, and, briefly, transsexual students. They all live in the same dormitory and are full of hormones. Of course they’re going to be having sex. They know what other college students do, and they know they’re not on ships (which also have problems with sex), so the lies the administration tells them about how this is like being deployed don’t impress them.


Finally, the officers they are supposed to emulate are fairly clueless and, according to the students, generally not very good role models. They aren’t here long enough to figure out what’s what, and because they are in the students’ chain of command, the students don’t talk freely with them. By contrast, I have had countless hall and office no-holds-barred conversations with midshipmen over three decades.



What the officers say to students frequently makes no sense: the training staff pitches the same full-bore fit at small infractions as at large. Plebes are told they have “just killed a platoon of Marines” if their uniform is out of reg. They know it isn’t true, so they tune out the adults shouting at them.



We’re All Going Through the Motions


The only reason for the military to get hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to run stand-alone colleges with standard classes is that these classes are somehow different. People on the outside think we’re Hogwarts. We aren’t. We teach the same subjects as down the street at the University of Maryland. Worse, the cadets and midshipmen are sleep-deprived and unwilling students, except for the few dozen top achievers who are candidates for coveted national scholarships. As Heffington notes, they can re-take an F for a higher grade in the summer—at taxpayer expense. Still, with grade inflation, that rarely happens.



They’re like all those military jets the current cabinet members love to use: flashy, expensive, and lots of fun.The vast majority are going through the motions, sleeping in class, memorizing, then mind-dumping largely technical material they forget anyway and whose utility has never been shown. (Electrical engineering for pilots, SEALs, or Marine Corps? Nonsense.) How do I know? They tell me. They won’t tell an 0-5, or anybody wearing a uniform, who can punish them for it.




I have to go to great lengths to get them involved in English, a subject most freshmen (plebes) have no interest in. Two semesters are required, which is good thing because typically their writing is terrible and they cannot organize their ideas coherently. But because the classes are mandatory and they came to be in the military, most are resistant. I have to win them over. We do things they like, such as push-ups and jumping up and down every 20 minutes to keep them awake. This is what it takes. Remember: I’ve been here more than three decades.



Do we teach them leadership? Well, we have courses called that, but at best these are intro psychology classes, and the high numbers of U.S. national academy graduates relieved of command in recent years or caught up in the Fat Leonard scandal suggests that our brand of “leadership” isn’t effective. Leadership, whatever that is, isn’t learned in a classroom.



The service academies are now the vanity projects of the military brass, not viable contributions to US. defense. They’re like all those military jets the current cabinet members love to use: flashy, expensive, and lots of fun. The superintendent lives in a Victorian mansion complete with waitstaff and has a reserved parking spot when he has to go two buildings over. The institution is the staging ground for their retirement ceremonies and funerals, and countless empty colloquia all based around the “leadership” we purport to teach but don’t.



It’s Basically a Military Disneyland


What does make us different from another college is the wrap-around control of students’ lives that leaves them unmotivated and mad, Mickey Mouse regulations that change from regime to regime, are applied randomly, and have no proven officer development benefits. The students realize they are cast members in a military Disneyland run for the benefit of the brass and the tourists, not the taxpayers who pay their way and want better-than-average officers. This is why they dress sloppily, answer back, and seem to take no pride in what they do—all the things Heffington saw as a direct affront to his officership.


For me, one of the most unsettling developments of the military in recent decades has been its courting by politicians to further their own personal agendas. A horrifying example was the disgusting commencement speech by Vice President Mike Pence at our last graduation repeatedly telling the military that it was better than the civilians it defends, and his attempt to position President Trump as “the best friend the military ever had.” Who doesn’t support our military? This is creating enemies that don’t exist.




The military is supposed to be apolitical. It’s a tool, not part of a specific political party. We need to do what the British did with Sandhurst: turn undergraduate education over to the ROTC programs and colleges, and use our beautiful buildings (and West Point’s incomparable location on the Hudson) for military graduate courses.



Our service academies are anachronisms trying to pretend they aren’t. The students have caught on. The administration hasn’t, and never will, because then they’d lose their taxpayer-sponsored country clubs. Defense? Nah. It’s all about show. The students, and the taxpayers, pay the price.

__________________________________________



When a nation loses its national sovereignty---it loses its PUBLIC MILITIA-----and these well-respected military institutions were long ago corrupted just as all during CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA. 

We discussed last week just who those global banking 1% ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT 5% FREEMASON/GREEK US civil unrest civil war players will be.  We KNOW these 5% civil unrest civil war players will be insiders for MR FROG----MR ABRAHAM ---

Below we see to where our US MILITARY ACADEMIES are MOVING FORWARD------revolutionary socialist-----that means these young men see themselves as far-right wing, authoritarian, militaristic, extreme wealth extreme poverty LIBERTARIAN MARXISTS----global corporate campus MILITARY JUNTA.



"I consider myself a revolutionary socialist," the 26-year-old Rapone told The Associated Press in a series of interviews'.

COMMUNISM WILL WIN indeed as this is the goal of MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE deep, deep, really deep state military junta. 



'"I knew there could be repercussions," said Rapone, who is scheduled to speak at a socialism conference in Chicago next month. "Of course my military career is dead in the water'.

The only 'socialism' conference happening in SUPER-DUPER GLOBAL NAKED NEO-LIBERAL LAISSEZ-FAIRE Chicago of course----is global banking 5% freemason/Greek civil unrest civil war.

Who appointed a SPENSER RAPONE graduating from WEST POINT ready to be that global banking far-right wing LIBERTARIAN MARXIST rebel?  ALTMIRE the great big raging global banking 1% Clinton neo-liberal.


Altmire, a Keystone State native and known as a centrist Democrat, represented the western Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District.



Army Splits with West Point Tweeter of 'Communism Will Win'

In this May 2016 photo provided by Spenser Rapone, Rapone raises his left fist while displaying a sign inside his hat that reads "Communism will win," after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (Courtesy of Spenser Rapone via AP)




The Associated Press 19 Jun 2018 By Mary Esch


WATERTOWN, N.Y. --


The images Spenser Rapone posted on Twitter from his West Point graduation were intentionally shocking:


In one, the smirking cadet opens his dress uniform to expose a T-shirt with a blood-red image of socialist icon Che Guevara. In another, he raises his fist and flips over his cap to reveal the hand-scrawled message: "Communism will win."



Less than a year after Rapone's images drew a firestorm of vitriol and even death threats, the second lieutenant who became known as the "commie cadet" is officially out of the U.S. Army with an other-than-honorable discharge.


Top brass at Fort Drum's 10th Mountain Division accepted Rapone's resignation Monday after an earlier reprimand for "conduct unbecoming of an officer." Rapone said an investigation found he went online to advocate for a socialist revolution and disparage high-ranking officers and U.S. officials. Officially, the Army said in a statement only that it conducted a full investigation and "appropriate action was taken."



An unrepentant Rapone summed up the fallout in yet another tweet Monday that showed him extending a middle finger at a sign at the entrance to Fort Drum, accompanied by the words, "One final salute."



"I consider myself a revolutionary socialist," the 26-year-old Rapone told The Associated Press in a series of interviews. "I would encourage all soldiers who have a conscience to lay down their arms and join me and so many others who are willing to stop serving the agents of imperialism and join us in a revolutionary movement."



Rapone said his journey to communism grew out of his experiences as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan before he was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy. And those views only hardened during his studies of history as one of the academy's "Long Gray Line."



He explained that he took the offending selfies at his May 2016 West Point graduation ceremony and kept them to himself until last September, when he tweeted them in solidarity with NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was taking heat for kneeling for the national anthem to raise awareness of racism. Many other military personnel also tweeted in favor of Kaepernick, although most were supporting free speech, not communism.



West Point released a statement after Rapone posted the photos, saying his actions "in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army."

OH, REALLY????



And U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, called on the secretary of the Army to remove Rapone from the officer ranks.



"While in uniform, Spenser Rapone advocated for communism and political violence, and expressed support and sympathy for enemies of the United States," Rubio said Monday, adding "I'm glad to see that they have given him an 'other-than-honorable' discharge."



One of six children growing up in New Castle, Pennsylvania, Rapone said he applied to West Point, which is tuition-free, because he couldn't afford college. He was nominated out of high school by then-U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire in 2010.


"He was an honors student, an athlete, a model citizen who volunteered in the community," recalled Altmire, a Democrat. "During the interview, he expressed patriotism and looked just like a top-notch candidate. There were no red flags of any kind."



But he wasn't accepted to West Point, so Rapone enlisted in the Army. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and was assigned as an assistant machine gunner in Khost Province.



"We were bullies in one of the poorest countries on Earth," Rapone said. "We have one of the most technologically advanced militaries of all time and all we were doing is brutalizing and invading and terrorizing a population that had nothing to do with what the United States claimed was a threat."



Toward the end of his deployment, he learned West Point fulfills a certain quota of enlisted soldiers every year. Despite his growing disillusionment about the military, he applied and got in.



"I was still idealistic," he said." I figured maybe I could change things from inside."


In addition to classic socialist theorists such as Karl Marx, Rapone says he found inspiration in the writings of Stan Goff, a retired Special Forces master sergeant who became a socialist anti-war activist.


Even while still a cadet, Rapone's online postings alarmed a West Point history professor, who wrote Rapone up, saying his online postings were "red flags that cannot be ignored." Rapone was disciplined but still allowed to graduate.


Greg Rinckey, an attorney specializing in military law, said it's rare for an officer out of West Point to receive an other-than-honorable discharge. He added that it's also possible the military academy could seek repayment of the cost of Rapone's education because he didn't serve the full five-year service obligation required upon graduation.



"I knew there could be repercussions," said Rapone, who is scheduled to speak at a socialism conference in Chicago next month. "Of course my military career is dead in the water. On the other hand, many people reached out and showed me support. There are a lot of veterans both active duty and not that feel like I do."

__________________________________________



Throughout CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA ------those handed privatized military mercenary corporations did not graduate from our US public military academies-----they were tied to being global banking 5% freemason/Greek players having little experience in military training.  They learned all that lying, cheating, and stealing needed to move tens of trillions of dollars in Department of Defense spending to building these global military corporations----but taking their instructions from GLOBAL 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA. PRINCE is simply that 33rd degree freemason just as TRUMP, CLINTON/BUSH----



Prince was accepted into the United States Naval Academy and attended it for three semesters before leaving, citing that he loved the Navy but disliked the Academy. He went on to receive his B.A. in economics from Hillsdale College in 1992'


After college, Prince was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy via Officer Candidate School in 1992.  Hillsdale College is a private, conservative Christian college in Hillsdale, Michigan.

As our US public military is being dismantled and employment being slashed-----what used to be our public militia are now being hired to be those global banking 5% freemason/Greek civil unrest civil war leaders.....NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR 300 YEAR OLD US PUBLIC MILITARY ACADEMIES.


So, PRINCE a few decades ago obviously wrote some good grant and outsourcing contracts to be made owner of what is now REPLACING our US military academies in training global military rank and file and recruiting and hiring what would be GENERALS-----now simply HIGH-RANKING CORPORATE EXECUTIVES.

MR FROG AND MR ABRAHAM as our local US city municipal corporation and global corporation steeped in black market profiteering----MOVING FORWARD to being GLOBAL MILITARY JUNTA as criminal---as corrupt---more brutal---filled with employees NOT tied to US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.  An OCCUPYING military is never filled with people from that sovereign nation.


Our US public military academies which used to graduate quality officers tied to US Rule of Law and professional military standards-----is now in hands of global mercenary corporations doing all that training.

This article is long but please glance through to see how today owning a global military mercenary corporation is a grant and outsourcing away complete with control of own military training and education curricula.


Starting a Private Military Company – A Complete Guide



Are you interested in starting a private military contractor company?

If YES, here is a complete guide to starting a private military company with little money and no experience.

Okay, so we have provided you an in-depth sample private military company business plan template. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample private mercenary services marketing plan backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for car private military companies. In this article, we will be considering all the requirements for starting a private military company. So put on your entrepreneurial hat and let’s proceed.



Why Start a Private Military Company?


The need for a secured environment cannot be relegated to the background in our today’s world full of chaos and graphical waste of lives, as a matter of fact; there are organizations that can’t operate if they don’t have private military as security guards.


For example; oil companies that work in rigs in hostile environment or construction companies that work in areas prone to violence would need armed security personnel to provide security for them in order for them to carry out their operations. That is where private military companies come in.


At the end of the Cold War between the United States and the now balkanized USSR, the world’s standing armies began to get smaller. Meanwhile, the nature of warfare was changing. Low-intensity conflict began to replace large-scale wars. In such a conflict, armed force is just one small part of an expansive menu of social, economic and political tools available to engage an enemy.



Accompanying this silent wars trend was a dramatic increase in the use and proliferation of advanced weapon systems. Maintaining these systems became a serious challenge. Soldiers spent more time monitoring weapons and learning how to operate them. With resources already stretched thin, armies were having trouble keeping up.



Floating a private military company is a little bit challenging simply because of the various huddles and governmental challenges you need to scale through before you can be issued license from the United States government. You are expected to have a sound military background, relevant certifications and clean criminal records. Once you are able to secure your license, you will still be expected to abide by the rules and regulations governing the business or else your license will be revoked and your company shot down.



Starting a Private Military Company – A Complete Guide
  • Industry Overview
According to a 2008 study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, private contractors make up 29% of the workforce in the United States Intelligence Community and cost the equivalent of 49% of their personnel budgets.

  • Interesting Statistics About the Private Military Contracting Industry
The Department of Defense (DOD) has an annual budget of over $500 billion as of 2011. A significant portion of these funds are used to purchase equipment and supplies from private civilian contractors. Although many military contractors are large corporations, contracts are also awarded to small businesses that provide products and services needed by the DOD.



The industry is growing with some estimating annual contracts in the $10-$20 billion range and others citing numbers as high as $100 billion. Though a worldwide phenomenon, the United States and Great Britain account for over 70% of the world’s market for their services.



Dramatic growth in the number and size of private military companies occurred at the time of the end of the Cold War, as Western governments increasingly began to rely on their services to bolster falling conventional military budgets. Some of the larger corporations are: Vinnell and Military Professional Resources Inc. in the United States; G4S and Keeni-Meeny Services in the United Kingdom; Lordan-Levdan in Israel and Executive Outcomes in South Africa.



The services of private contractors are used around the world. P. W. Singer author of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry says “In geographic terms, it operates in over 50 different countries. It’s operated in every single continent but Antarctica.” Singer stated that in the 1990s there used to be 50 military personnel for every 1 contractor, now the ratio is 10 to 1. He also points out that these contractors have a number of duties depending on who they are hired by.




In developing countries that have natural resources, such as oil refineries in Iraq, they are hired to guard the area. They are also hired to guard companies that contract services and reconstruction efforts such as General Electric. Apart from securing companies, they also secure officials and government affiliates.



Starting a Private Military Company – Market Research and Feasibility
  • Demographics and Psychographics
The demographic and psychographic component of those who need the services of a private military firm spreads across the public sector, the organized private sector.
  1. Governments
  2. Multi-National Corporations
  3. Oil Companies
  4. International Organizations
  5. Humanitarian agencies
  6. Non-Governmental organizations
  7. Media Personal
  8. The United Nations
List of Niches Within the Private Military Contracting Industry That You Can Specialize in
  1. Logistics
  2. Arms trade
  3. Escort services
  4. Combatant services
  5. Technical services
  6. Training and re-training.



The Level of Competition in the Private Mercenary Industry



There’s always going to be competition. Some of it will be good for you, and some of it will be bad for you. Accept it as part of life. Just keep in mind that you’re in business because you feel you can do a better job; you can do it more efficiently; and you can do it with greater satisfaction to your customers than anyone else. Be aware of the competition, but don’t worry about it. Just stick to your own business plan and you’ll be okay.




List of Well Known Brands in the Private Military Industry




The market for private military forces is enormous, so it’s no surprise that many different companies have emerged to capitalize on the billions of available dollars. The following is a list of popular private military companies that have existed or currently exist:




  1. BlackWater Corporation Worldwide
  2. Control Risks
  3. DynCorp
  4. Erinys
  5. Executive Outcomes
  6. Global Strategies Group, formerly Global Risk Strategies
  7. Kroll
  8. Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI)
  9. Olive Group
  10. Sandline International
  11. Triple Canopy
  12. Vinnell


ECONOMIC ANALYSIS



The private military company business is really terribly expensive to get into. Once you have the necessary equipment, insurance, and supplies, you’re ready to roll. The hard part is going to be drumming up business. Now days, just about any small business is going to be very competitive, due to the fact that so many people have lost their military jobs over the last few years since the cold war, and many of them are going into business of security themselves. If you work hard and do a good job, then business will come your way.


Starting a private military company is not like starting a mom and pop business in a street corner in down town Chicago, IL; it is indeed a serious business hence critical economic analysis must be conducted to ensure that the risks and other threats associated with starting a business from the scratch or investing in a business idea are mitigated.



If you are considering starting a private military company in the United States, your concern should not be restricted to just acquiring an office facility and equipping the facility or hiring the best hands in the industry, you should also be concerned on how to attract clients and secure mouthwatering security contracts.



On the average, setting up and running a private military business in the United States can be cost effective simply because you don’t have to maintain a large workforce when you don’t have a security contract to execute. With key good company’s profile, highly trained, highly qualified and highly experienced staff members in your team, you won’t have to struggle much to win security contracts when you submit your bids.



Is a Private Military Company Worth Starting from Scratch or is Buying a Franchise Better?



Personally, I don’t see the need for you to even consider buying a franchised operation. There’s just too much real help available for the “independent” to go to the considerable expense and obligation of a franchise. Starting from scratch, and as an independent, this is most assuredly a low-investment, low-overhead type business the kind we recommend for anyone and everyone who’s determined to make it on his own.



Although there is the possibility of buying a franchise from a successful private military company or even partnering with a big security company if you are considering owning an investment in the security industry.



One thing is certain, people are motivated to start a business based on various factors and incentives. If you are looking towards building a business that you intend controlling, a business brand that you hope to one day transfer ownership to your children and perhaps also sell franchise in future, then starting from the scratch should be your best bet. But if you only interested in making money and multiplying your wealth, then you may as well buy the franchise of a successful private military company that is willing to sell its franchise.



Possible Threats and Challenges of Starting a Private Military Company



Generally in the private military industry, both the already established private military companies and start – up security companies are subject to threat and challenges from government policies, global economic downturn which usually affects spending and unforeseen natural disasters (disasters that may cause setback).



Another threat that you are likely going to face when you start your own private military company is the arrival of a well – established private military company in the location where your business has strong presence.



Starting a Private Military Company – Legal Issues
  • Best Legal Entity to Use for a Private Military Company

Choosing a legal entity for a business is a huge determinant of the size the business will grow into, so choosing the right entity is very straightforward especially if you decided to grow the business big in the long term. While many business owners remain as a sole proprietor, there are others who form a corporation or a Limited Liability Company (LLC).



There are a number of tax and legal protections that you are afforded when you do so. Therefore, check with a tax or legal professional on the benefits of the different types of business entities and whether you should consider having your business become such an entity.



No doubt starting a private military company is indeed a serious business which is why the legal entity you choose will go a long way to determine how big the business to can grow. Choosing a legal entity for a business such as a private military company is some worth straightforward especially if you decided to grow the business big.



When it comes to choosing a legal entity for your private military company you have the option of choosing from a general partnership, a limited partnership, an LLC, a “C” corporation, or a “S” corporation. It is important to clearly state that these different forms of legal structure for business has its own advantages and disadvantages; which is why you must weigh your options properly before making your choice on the legal structure to build your private military outfit on.



These are some of the factors you should consider before choosing a legal entity for your private military company; limitation of personal liability, ease of transferability, admission of new owners and investors’ expectation and tax issues. If you take your time to critically study the various legal entities to use for your private military company, then you will agree that limited liability company; an LLC is the most suitable. You can start your private military company as a limited liability company (LLC) and in future convert it to a ‘C’ corporation or even a ‘S’ corporations especially when you have the plans of going public.



Upgrading to a ‘C’ corporation or ‘S’ corporation will afford you the opportunity to grow your private military company so as to compete with major players in the security industry; you will be able to generate capital from venture capital firms, stock market, you will enjoy separate tax structure, and you can easily transfer ownership of the company; you will enjoy flexibility in ownership and in your management structures as well.



Catchy Business Name ideas Suitable for a Private Military Company


Your private military company business name will be the first impression for your security business. Whatever the name is, it does not have to be flashy and lousy, make it less attention seeking as possible. Based on whichever name it is, it must create fear and make your clients feel safe. Consider the following names for your start-up;




  1. AirScan
  2. Allied Barton
  3. Arma
  4. Armor Group
  5. Asia Security Group
  6. Black Element
  7. Black Tiger International
  8. Blue Mountain Group
  9. Bohemia Interactive
  10. Chubb Security
  11. Corps Security
  12. Cubic Defense Applications
  13. Draken International
  14. Finnish Defense Forces
  15. H.O.S.T. Company
  16. G4S Risk Management
  17. GardaWorld
  18. Global Defense Systems
  19. HB Solutions
  20. International Intelligence Limited
  21. Jack Desmond Worldwide
  22. Paladin Tactical Solutions
  23. Pinkerton Government Services
  24. Red Sand Solutions
  25. RSB Group
  26. Securitas AB
  27. Sharp End International
  28. The Brink’s Company
  29. Triple Canopy
  30. Washington Group International


Best Insurance Needed for a Private Military Company



In the United States and of course in most countries of the world, you can’t operate a business without having some of the basic insurance policies that is required by the industry you want to operate from. Besides, the nature of the security industry requires that you have the proper insurance cover in place or else you will be forced out of business if anything goes wrong with the security contract you are handling.



So, it is important to create a budget for insurance and perhaps consult an insurance broker to guide you in choosing the best insurance policies for your private military company; it is their duty to help you assess the risks involved in the type of security business you intend running and then advice you accordingly.



Here are some of the basic insurance covers that you should consider purchasing if you want to start your own private military company in the United States of America; General insurance, health insurance, risk Insurance, payment protection insurance, liability insurance, workers compensation, overhead expense disability insurance and, business owner’s policy group insurance.



INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION



If you are considering starting your own private military firm, then you should consider filing for intellectual property protection. Filing for intellectual property protection for your firm is not only limited to your company’s logo and other documents, and but also protecting of course the name of your company.



If you want to file for intellectual property protection and also register your trademark in the United States, then you are expected to begin the process by filing an application with the USPTO. The final approval of your trademark is subjected to the review of attorneys as required by USPTO.



Is Professional Certification Needed to Run a Private Military Company?


Even though to operate legally, you must obtain a business license to operate the business, it is not technically required by law to employ licensed and certified personnel. To work for a private contractor agency as a security professional, workers must earn a private military contractor license or registration with their state.


Applicants typically need to hold a certain amount of training or experience and must pass a private military contractor exam. They may also need to undergo fingerprinting, and pass a criminal background test. Any security contractors who carry weapons must also be properly registered with their state.



List of Legal Documents Needed to Run a Private Military Company


Register your business with the government. Laws vary by state. Talk to your state Department of defense and Department of Licensing to receive the forms that you need to establish your business and to learn if you need a license to do b. You can notify the federal government of your business by applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can also create a business name for yourself and file a “Doing Business As” or “DBA” notice.



These are some of the basic legal document that you are expected to have in place if you want to start a cleaning business in the United States of America;



  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Business License
  • Business Plan
  • Non – disclosure Agreement
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
  • Apostille
  • Employment Agreement (offer letters)
  • Operating Agreement
  • Company By laws
  • Operating Agreement for LLCs
  • Insurance Policy


Writing a Business Plan for your Private Military Company


You’ve probably heard quite a lot of humdrum involving business plans. The reason for that is that they are extremely important especially in a carpet cleaning business. Consider it a roadmap for your business, one that will show you where to go during which stages. For now, however, we’ll have a look at those initial figures you’ll need to get yourself going.



Now, setting up a business plan to help start a carpet cleaning business isn’t rocket science and does not necessarily involve a business consultant’s input. The key to any business plan is to make a list of those things you will be spending money on and how much you will be getting in.



You might wonder why you need to have a business plan. You already know what kind of services you could offer. All you need is to find a client to start your bookkeeping business. If you need to do some marketing, you might say “I will think about it along the way”.



However, one of the most important management functions is planning. Without planning, you don’t know which way your business is going and you cannot measure your progress. A lot of small businesses fail because of poor planning.



Here is a list of items in your business plan to consider:
  1. Summary of Business Plan
  2. Management and Operating Plan
  3. Competitive Analysis
  4. Market Analysis and Marketing Plan
  5. Financial Plan
  6. Summary of Business Plan


A Detailed Cost Analysis for Starting a Private Military Company


There are several expenses that you would have to make before successfully launching your own private military company. It is important to state that the location you choose to launch your business will definitely impact on the overall cost of starting the business which is why it is very important to have concluded and analyzed your feasibility studies and market survey before drawing up a budget and sourcing for funding for your business.


Here are some of the basic costs you must look towards fulfilling when starting a private military company in the United States of America;



  1. The Total Fee for incorporating the Business in United States of America – $750.
  2. The budget for Insurance, permits and license – $5,000
  3. The Amount needed to rent a suitable office facility with enough space in the United States of America (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) – $50,000.
  4. The Cost for equipping the office (computers, printers, fax machines, furniture, telephones, filing cabins, safety gadgets and electronics et al) – $15,000
  5. The cost for acquiring security equipment, gadgets, accessories and uniforms – $100,000
  6. The Cost of Launching an official Website – $700
  7. Additional Expenditure (Business cards and Signage) – $2,500
  8. Other miscellaneous – $10,000


Going by the report from our research and feasibility studies, we will need about $200,000 to set up a small scale private military firm in the United States of America.



On the average, you would need over 500,000 US dollars to start a medium scale private military company in the United States of America. If you choose to start a large scale private military company, then you should look towards budgeting about 4 million US dollars and above. This money includes paying military experts that will be on your employee / payroll.


  • Financing your Private Military Company
Beyond traditional financing, you have a range of options when it comes to raising money. Some suggestions:




Your own resources:

Do a thorough inventory of your assets. People generally have more assets than they immediately realize. This could include savings accounts, equity in real estate, retirement accounts, vehicles, recreation equipment, collections and other investments. You may opt to sell assets for cash or use them as collateral for a loan. Take a look, too, at your personal line of credit. Many a successful business has been started with credit cards.



Friends and family:


The next logical step after gathering your own resources is to approach friends and relatives who believe in you and want to help you succeed. Be cautious with these arrangements; no matter how close you are, present yourself professionally, put everything in writing, and be sure the individuals you approach can afford to take the risk of investing in your business. Never ask a friend or family member to invest or loan you money they can’t afford to lose.



Partners:

Using the “strength in numbers” principle, look around for someone who may want to team up with you in your venture. You may choose someone who has financial resources and wants to work side-by-side with you in the business. Or you may find someone who has money to invest but no interest in doing the actual work. Be sure to create a written partnership agreement that clearly defines your respective responsibilities and obligations.


Government programs:

Take advantage of the abundance of local, state and federal programs designed to support small businesses. Make your first stop the U.S. Small Business Administration; then investigate various other programs. Women, minorities and veterans should check out niche financing possibilities designed to help these groups get into business. The business section of your local library is a good place to begin your research.




Choosing a Suitable Location for your Private Military Company




Choosing a location for your business is not what you should do without due consultation. The truth is that if you get it wrong with the location where you have decided to pitch your business tent, you are more likely going to struggle to make headway with the business.



One of the major reasons why businesses struggle, fail and eventual close shop is the fact that the owners decided to choose a wrong location for the business. As a private military contractor, situating your firm in a country or state hostile to your cause will kill your business from onset.



Nonetheless, if you are able to build a successful security company brand, you can pitch your business in any part of the world and still make success out of the business- especially if you run a security consultancy and advisory business. Conversely, if you are just starting out; especially if you are a newbie in the industry, it is important that you locate your business in an area with healthy business activities.



Starting a Private Military Company – Technical and Manpower Details



Your manpower as a military contracting firm depends on the scale at which you operate, if you operate on a small scale, you will only be the one running the business but if you choose to expand and go medium then you will need at least 4 more workers, anything above 4 employees means you are operating on a large scale.




Whichever scale you wish to operate will determine your manpower need and it is important for you to know that the industry is labor intensive which only needs people to man the equipment.



Equipment Needed to Start a Private Military Company

Technically, the contractor can buy anything that is not on the ITAR Arms List without asking anyone anything. If it is an ITAR (International Trade in Arms Regulation) controlled item, he must get special disposition from the U.S. Government and or the government he is supporting, as there must be an End Users certificate.


These are only issued by authorized and recognized government agencies, such as Ministries of Defense and Interior (Police). Further in order to use lethal equipment and or equipment that may interfere with the Air Defense, Air Space Control, GSM, and or radio frequencies, they have to have permission and coordination of the government in the territory in which they are going to operate.



For especially sensitive equipment, it is normally GFE or Government Furnished Equipment. Which means in order to do the job, the government will provide the equipment and you (the contractor) operate and maintain it.




Starting a Private Military Company – The Marketing Plan



  • Marketing ideas and Strategies for a Private Military Company
Even before the acquisition of equipment, you need customers. Your problem is going to be in reaching these prospects, impressing upon then the benefits of your service, and getting them set up with an appointment for you to do the work.



In most cases, you’ll be favorably impresses with the work, and will only have to pay with a copy of the finished flyer for the student’s portfolio, and a recommendation or testimonial about his work for you. Even if there should be a charge for the work you have done at the college, it will be a reasonable one.



Contracting with an advertising agency will probably take longer and will cost a significant amount of money. However, you might be able to contact a staff member who does private work on the side. But you should set a specific date for completion of the project, and agree to pay no more than half the total estimated cost until the job is finished, and meets with your approval.



The next step is to take this original of your flyer to a printer, and have printed whatever number of copies you want to start. Most quick print shops will be able to print up to 20,000 copies, and deliver in a reasonable time, with nominal costs. If you decide to start with more than 20,000 copies, you will do better by going to a regular commercial printer. Larger quantities that would take a quick print shop all day can be handled by a commercial print shop in a few hours.




While your flyers are being printed, you should be lining up your delivery people -local Brownie or Cub Scout Troops. No big problem here. Either look up their local headquarters office in your phone book or call a friend or two with children about the right age for the name and phone number of troop leaders. Arrange to pay these scout troops $10 for each thousand circulars they hand out door-to-door.


One other thing before you start handing out your flyers, be sure that you have someone available to answer the phone and set up appointments for you. It’s usually best to have a woman do this; it makes the caller think of your service as an established business. You can pay an answering service to handle these calls for you, but if your wife or a friend is available that would be even better. It is, however, imperative that a “live voice” answer your phone. People have some strange ideas about answering machines, and most businesses find they do much better not using them.



Possible Competitive Strategies for Winning Competitors in the Private Military Industry



Even before the acquisition of equipment, you need customers. Your prospects are all the businesses and organizations you can convince. Your problem is going to be in reaching these prospects, impressing upon then the benefits of your service, and getting them set up with an appointment for you to do the work.



Contracting with an advertising agency will probably take longer and will cost a significant amount of money. However, you might be able to contact a staff member who does private work on the side. But you should set a specific date for completion of the project, and agree to pay no more than half the total estimated cost until the job is finished, and meets with your approval.




Possible Ways to Increase Client Retention for your Private Military Company


Once you have the skills and your equipment ready, it is time to start sourcing for clients and most times based on your pedigree and past records, your clients will look for you. It is important for you to decide the category of military business you want to opt for. To create awareness for your business, you should develop a business proposal and send to likely clients. You should also consider opening a website.



Strategies to Boost your Brand Awareness and Create a Corporate identity for your Private Military Company



A good way to boost your corporate reputation and create an impression is to invest in a uniform and dress neatly at all times. You should also have your employees wear uniforms and be of proper conduct. This will ensure that you are properly branded. You must also ensure that you handle your client’s property with care and observe all safety rules.



You should know that most client’s would be observing you while you work and therein lies the success of your business because the probability of a client calling you back for another job or recommending you to other people depends on their first impression of you and the way you handled their job.


Creating a Suppliers/Distributors Network for your Private Military Company


As a private military firm, be on the lookout for opportunities and referrals from other firms who are not in your niche. So also, utilize you chances by contacting your banks, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and multi-national corporations to patronize and help them with their security needs.



Tips for Running a Private Military Company Successfully



The business of military contracting is a very risky venture that will later come with several court litigations and petitions due to the excesses of your personnel. As a business owner, you will succeed more in this field if you can train your military personnel to tone down these excesses. If they don’t, a bunch of the millions you make will be used in settling lawyers and paying damages in the long run.


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When our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown citizens allowed our REAL public military be taken by global corporations-----when our US military leaders are graduating from global mercenary military corporations owned and operated by people having no ties to US public military academies------we get NATO AS NERO.


Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.


We discussed last week how global mercenary military corporations act just as MR ABRAHAM global corporation black market profiteer of RUSHDIE'S 'THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH'. 

NATO AS UNITED NATIONS AS NERO/CATO/SENECA------Indeed, Europe as US are slated to BURN.  The US after several decades of funding global military actions using our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE Federal, state, and local taxes will now step aside as head of NATO to allow global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS decide who those GENERALS----MAJORS inside US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----will be.


LET'S SEE, BACK IN 3000BC ---1000 BC ANY BEOWULF RUTHLESS, BRUTAL, AND  MOST MEGLOMANIAC GOT TO BE COLONIAL MILITARY JUNTA---

So, that is indeed what TODAY'S US CITIES as deep, deep, really deep state global MILITARY JUNTAs will look like as well.  The difference today from 1000BC----the goals of PERMANENT SMART CITIES with goals of massive depopulation.

Below we see US far-right wing think tank CATO outing NATO AS NERO-----when in fact CATO was team NERO AND SENECA.  Again, in US what have always been far-right wing LIBERTARIAN political groups and think tanks----are being made to sound like they CARE FOR OUR US 99% WE THE PEOPLE black, white, and brown ----


ALL THE ACTIONS THESE FEW DECADES OF CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA WERE FAR-RIGHT LIBERTARIAN----PLEASE DON'T FALL FOR MORE PRETENDING.


Commentary
NATO as Nero: Alliance Postures While Europe Burns


By Doug Bandow
This article appeared in Forbes on May 20, 2012.


NATO leaders are meeting in Chicago with a full agenda. It’s the biggest NATO meeting ever, with some 60 governments in attendance. But no one is asking the most important question: why is America still defending Europe?




The North Atlantic Treaty Alliance once had an obvious purpose: to defend North Atlantic countries. More precisely, the U.S. was to protect everyone else. The war-ravaged western European states feared pressure, if not conquest, by the Soviet Union. NATO also helped tie a rearmed Germany to its neighbors.



The alliance finished its work on November 9, 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. Soon the Warsaw Pact dissolved and the Soviet Union disappeared.



There then ensued a desperate attempt to find a new role for the alliance. Some officials suggested that NATO could fight the illicit drug trade, promote the environment, or even aid student exchanges. Alliance advocates settled on engaging in “out-of-area” activities. That is, NATO abandoned its traditional role of defending its members and switched to pursuing social engineering around the globe, as well as acting as a tool to socialize former communist states.




One thing did not change. The U.S. continued to subsidize the defense of everyone else. NATO essentially stood for North America and The Others. If anything was going to happen, it would have to be organized and paid for by Washington.



Even during the Cold War the Europeans would promise to increase military spending, only to welsh when budgets got tight. Once the threat from the Soviet Union dissipated so did the continent’s heretofore modest interest in self-defense. Before he retired as Defense Secretary, Robert Gates complained that European military budgets “have been chronically starved for adequate funding for a long time, with the shortfalls compounding themselves each year.”



The consequences have been grave. According to the group Notre Europe, the continent suffers “some alarming shortfalls in the areas of strategic transportation, communication, intelligence, logistics and satellites, requiring the implementation of costly reforms in terms of resources.” Despite having 1.8 million men under arms, at most 100,000 of them “are equipped and sufficiently trained to be able to be deployed in crisis theaters.”



Successive crises have driven down European military outlays.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has detailed cuts in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and others. Even Great Britain, which traditionally maintained the most serious European military with the greatest expeditionary capabilities, is dramatically cutting outlays and capabilities. James Russell of the Naval Postgraduate School complained: “The European countries have made a strategic-level to disarm essentially.”




For years the Europeans talked of creating a continental military capability separate from NATO. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty was supposed to boost this process. However, the idea was stillborn. It’s not much good having a Common Defense and Security Policy without the military necessary to back it up.



The problem was evident in 1999 when the allies bombed essentially defenseless Yugoslavia. America did most of the work since Europe was estimated to have barely 10 to 15 percent of U.S. combat capabilities.
Last year’s intervention in the Libyan civil war was no better. It was supposed to be a European-led operation, but the Europeans took months to push the opposition to victory over the ragtag forces of Moammar Qaddafi.



Just eight NATO members contributed anything militarily; most contributions were minimal. Several countries ran short of munitions. According to the IISS: “the NATO air operations center in Italy managing the campaign had been designed to run 300 sorties a day, but was struggling to manage 150, about one-third the number flown over the much smaller Serbia/Kosovo theater in 1999.” Washington was responsible for destroying anti-aircraft defenses, launching drone attacks, providing 80 percent of aerial refueling, and, of course, resupplying the Europeans when their weapon stocks ran low. “Europe is dead militarily,” one general told Robert Kaplan of the Center for a New American Security.



However, for the Obama administration there is no looking back. America’s NATO ambassador, Ivo Daalder, wants the alliance to go global. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently opined: “Of course, NATO is and always will be a transatlantic organization. But the problems we face today are not limited to one ocean and neither can our work be.”



Where will the necessary forces come from?

National Security Adviser Tom Donilon admitted: “We know that allies need more advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. They face shortages in helicopters and transport aircraft. They need to make greater investments in the precision munitions and unmanned systems that are critical on today’s battlefields and will be even more important in the future.” Last year only two of the other 27 NATO members devoted more than two percent of GDP to the military.




Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: “We need to use this moment to make the case for the need to invest in this alliance, to ensure it remains relevant to the security challenges of the future.” Similarly, NSA Donilon noted that President Barack Obama was “asking the alliance to ensure that it has cutting-edge capabilities.”



Greece appears headed out of the European monetary union. Voters in France, Germany, and Italy have revolted against fiscal austerity. Britain’s economy has fallen back into recession. The government in the Netherlands collapsed with early elections to follow. The economic news in Spain continues to worsen. Who in Europe is going to spend more money to provide “cutting-edge capabilities”?



An embarrassed NATO Secretary General Andes Fogh Rasmussen has proposed “smart defense,” which means “money spent more effectively. It is shared defense. It is efficient defense.”



Which in practice means NATO is going to remain North America and The Others. Washington will still be on call to meet European as opposed to American security needs, as in Libya.



With the end of any existential threat to Europe, NATO today only fights wars in which the members have no common interest. The Balkans conflicts were tragic, but had only minimal impact even on European alliance members. The status of the former Yugoslav republics was of no meaningful interest to America. Yet Washington essentially fought that war for the Europeans, who have since ruled Bosnia as colonial overlords and are attempting to force the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo to submit to another artificial state based in Pristina.



The U.S. dragged the Europeans into a more than decade long war in Afghanistan against the wishes of the European peoples. They have little interest in establishing a modern, liberal democratic state in Central Asia. Which is why most European countries imposed “caveats”—an incredible 83 at the start—limiting their personnel’s exposure to combat.



The Europeans now all desperately want out.

The Chicago summit was supposed to formalize a gradual withdrawal timetable. However, newly elected French President Francois Hollande promised to pull his nation’s 3300 troops out by the end of the year, though doing so may be logistically difficult. With the NATO military mission formally scheduled to last until the end of 2014, the Obama administration fears Paris’s plan may spark a rush to the exit.




Britain and France returned the favor in Libya when they effectively got the rest of Europe and the U.S. to fight their war. Similar efforts are brewing to ensnare NATO—which means America—in Syria’s civil war. For instance, the foreign minister of Belgium, which has all of 34,300 men under arms, recently pushed for debate over invading Syria to create “humanitarian corridors.” Everyone knows who would be doing the bulk of the fighting, and it wouldn’t be Belgium.


It brings to mind Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn’s insistence last year that stopping Qaddafi “requires military action.” The Grand Duchy had a population of less than a half million, no air force or navy, an army of 900 men, and a paramilitary gendarmerie of 612. Just whose military did Minister Asselborn expected to do the stopping?



Yet NATO expansion is in the air. In March Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), just defeated for reelection in his party’s primary, and Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) introduced the “NATO Enhancement Act” to extend the alliance. Unfortunately, NATO expansion adds security liabilities rather than military abilities.



Originally the alliance was created to protect Western Europe from the Soviet Union. Today no country is in a position to dominate Eurasia. The idea of an attack on western—or central—Europe is but a paranoid fantasy. Russia may be an unpleasant neighbor, but it has reverted to pre-1914 great power mode. Moscow wants secure borders and international respect. Florid threats to preempt a missile defense system to the contrary, even Vladimir Putin at his most aggressive isn’t likely dreaming of a revived Red Army marching down the Unter den Linden in Berlin or Champs-Elysees in Paris.



If there is genuine danger of Russian military action, it is in the east, precisely where NATO is expanding. However, these areas were part of or dominated by both Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. America still has an interest in the liberated states’ development into vibrant democracies, but that does not warrant potential war with a nuclear-armed power.



Morgan Lorraine Roach and Luke Coffey of the Heritage Foundation argue that adding new members “is critical to mobilizing Europe and its allies around a collective transatlantic defense.” But look at the list of potential new members.



The top tier of aspirants, endorsed by Sen. Lugar’s legislation, holds Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, and Montenegro.




Bosnia and Herzegovina is an artificial country ruled by the European Union’s “High Representative.” Bosnia exists only because Western military intervention forced Serbs and Croats to remain in a territory dominated by Bosniaks. There is little more unity today than in 1995 when Bosnia was established by the Dayton Accords. Bosnia’s internal tensions—Serbs in the Republic Srpska continue to strongly resist “national” rule—would become an American problem with NATO membership. The IISS describes the Bosnian armed forces as “an uneasy amalgam of troops from all three formerly warring entities.” Bringing such an entity into NATO would be little short of madness.



Adding Georgia would be even more foolish. Tbilisi desperately wants to join NATO, but has a very bad relationship with Russia, with which it fought a brief war in August 2008. Georgia’s human rights record remains “uneven,” according to Human Rights Watch. Indeed, Freedom House reports “electoral problems such as the abuse of state resources, reports of intimidation aimed at public employees and opposition activists, and apparent voter-list inaccuracies.”



Worse, President Mikhail Saakashvili started the 2008 conflict by attacking Russian forces in the breakaway territory of South Ossetia. Many suspect that he did so because he expected Western support. The Georgian people deserve to be free and secure, but not at the risk of war for America. For Moscow border security is a vital interest: imagine America’s reaction if Russia forged a seemingly hostile military alliance with Mexico.



Macedonia also wants in but has been blocked by Greece in a dispute over the former’s name, which refers to territory included within the latter’s boundaries. Macedonia also has been caught in the riptide of Albanian nationalism, barely avoiding a destructive civil war like that in Kosovo. Freedom House warned that “poor relations between the Macedonian Slav majority and the ethnic Albanian minority have raised doubts about the country’s long-term viability.” Last year the International Crisis Group cited “rising ethnic Macedonian nationalism, state capture by the prime minister and his party, decline in media and judicial independence, increased segregation in schools and slow decentralization” which “risk undermining the multi-ethnic civil state Macedonia can become.” With a military of just 8000 Macedonia would add little to the alliance.



Montenegro is much the same, only it has an even smaller armed forces and closer economic relationship with Russia, the chief target of NATO. Montenegro also managed to achieve a peaceful separation from Yugoslavia and avoided being pulled into the violent whirlpool of Albanian separatism next door. But there is no reason to add it as a new American defense client.




Kosovo, Serbia, and Ukraine are on some lists as well.



Kosovo is another artificial state born of war with allied military support. Kosovo has been recognized only by about half of the world’s states. It remains under allied occupation without a formal military. Its government contains men charged with criminal involvement and war crimes; corruption and human rights remain problems. The European Commission acknowledged that “public administration reform in Kosovo remains a major challenge.” The north of Kosovo, with an ethnic-Serb majority, continues to maintain a separate existence with close links to Belgrade.



Another candidate is Serbia, which NATO countries bombed for 78 days in 1999. Now Belgrade wants to join the onetime aggressors. However, Serbia continues to refuse to recognize Kosovo—a perfectly reasonable decision, but one in conflict with the policy of most NATO members. And while the Serbian military is larger than Montenegro’s, it would require bountiful American subsidies to bring it up to alliance standards.
Ukraine also has its supporters, though a majority of Ukrainians oppose the idea and the Yanukovich government is in very bad odor in the West. Kiev is capable of deterring an attack from Russia. Moreover, adding Ukraine would further poison relations with Moscow, appearing as part of an American-inspired effort at encirclement. NATO membership also would make Ukraine’s disputes with Russia America’s disputes.



Advocates of NATO expansion treat security guaranties as hotel chocolates to be placed on every nation’s pillow, irrespective of America’s national interests. The U.S. has nothing at stake which warrants the expense necessary to upgrade the alliance aspirants’ militaries or the risk of going to war for them against a nuclear-armed power. Adding these nations would not fulfill the most basic purpose of any alliance: to enhance America’s security.



Of course, while war with Moscow is unlikely, it remains possible. As Kaplan argued, it would be wrong to assume “that Europe will face no geopolitical nightmares in its future.” However, this argues against moving NATO further eastward. For Russia border security is a vital concern. Four years ago Russia demonstrated its willingness to defend those interests with military force, if necessary. The deterioration in that nation’s conventional forces means that Moscow would be forced to rely on nuclear weapons as the ultimate equalizer in any confrontation with the West. Warned Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian General Staff: “In certain conditions, I do not rule out local and regional armed conflicts developing into a large-scale war, including using nuclear weapons.”



Europe still should be defended. But by Europeans.

Before the Chicago summit former U.S. NATO ambassador Kurt Volker complained about “things that are not on the agenda that are the most important issues.” He pointed to Syria, Iran, and the Arab Spring, none of which NATO could—or should—do much about. But one important issue was left off the agenda: NATO’s future.


Last June Secretary Gates predicted “a dim if not dismal future” for the alliance. He warned “that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress — and in the American body politic writ large — to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.” Last October Gates’ successor, Leon Panetta, was only slightly less blunt: “legitimate questions about whether, if present trends continue, NATO will again be able to sustain the kind of operations that we have seen in Libya and Afghanistan without the United States taking on even more of the burden.”



Of course, the answer obviously was no, and nothing decided in Chicago will change it.


To coin a phrase, it is time for a change. Washington once opposed an independent European defense. Now the U.S. should insist on it. Or rather—since it is not America’s place to decide Europe’s future for Europe—should adopt policies likely to lead to that result. Washington should bring home the 80,000 troops which remain in Europe and announce that it will be formally leaving NATO after a “decent interval.” The Europeans could use the existing alliance structure to organize continental military affairs, perhaps in cooperation with the European Union. (Albania, Croatia, Iceland, and Turkey are not currently EU members, but Croatia is slated to join next year and the others are candidates for membership; Canada is the only true outlier.)



The U.S. should not “leave” Europe but forge a less formal cooperative relationship including intelligence sharing, joint maneuvers, and mutual base access. In the rare case where military action served both America and Europe, such as confronting Somali piracy, they should act together. In the unlikely case of an uncontainable hegemonic threat against Europe—which currently enjoys about ten times the GDP and more than three times the population of Russia—the U.S. could intervene. However, normal responsibility for protecting Europe and ensuring security in adjoining regions would be left to Europe.



Retrenchment is necessary to better defend the U.S. Washington should not entangle America’s future in geopolitical controversies of no concern to the U.S. At a time of fiscal stringency Washington cannot afford to continue to protect America’s prosperous and populous allies. And the only way they will do more for themselves is if the U.S. does less for them. Welfare dependency is not only a domestic problem.


NATO played an important role during the Cold War. The collapse of communism and the Soviet Union have eliminated its raison d’être. Even NATO admits that the alliance’s “value is less obvious to many than in the past.”


Instead of desperately concocting new missions for an old alliance, the U.S. should applaud NATO’s success and turn the organization over to the Europeans. America no longer need protect a continent that is both richer and more populous than our own nation.


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Here we see the same for our US Naval Academy as for our US West Point Army academy.

When these US national media articles speak of ROTC as being just as good as our US public military academies in educating and training our US military leaders-----they do not explain how those ROTC training are tied to institutions no longer PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES-----ROTC training tied to vocational community colleges are extensions of global corporate campuses which contract with global mercenary military corporations.


Local


Naval Academy professor: A veneer of selectivity


By Daniel de Vise December 30, 2011

U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen signal their classmates in semaphore at the 112th Army-Navy football game.

(REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)



In a recent article, I wrote of allegations that the U.S. Naval Academy artificially inflates its application totals by counting large numbers of applications that are incomplete.




The Naval Academy reported an admission rate of 7.5 percent last year, one of the lowest in all of higher education. But academy officials now acknowledge that roughly two-thirds of the 19,146 applications were incomplete and never seriously considered for admission.



Overcounting applications can give an institution an unfair advantage in its admission rate, a key measure of selectivity. I found, in a survey of local institutions, that several other colleges around Washington count small numbers of incomplete applications in their official totals, but not the large numbers reported by the Naval Academy.



Academy officials said the institution has an admission process that is fundamentally different - - and far more extensive - - than those at traditional universities. The process comprises 11 distinct steps, whereas the bulk of a traditional college application can be completed in one sitting.



Here is a guest post by Bruce Fleming, the Naval Academy professor whose Freedom of Information request prompted the disclosure. Fleming is an outspoken critic of the service academy.




The U.S. Naval Academy’s response to my recent FOIA request seeking clarification regarding what we count as an applicant produced the sensational information that we overstate our selectivity by what is probably a factor of about 4-to-1. It’s still unclear what our true selectivity is, because though only about 5,700 applications (out of more than 19,000 claimed) go to the Admissions Board, I know from my own time on the Board that not all of these are complete either. More relevant may be the fact that about 1,900 applicants are deemed “fully qualified,” and about 1,500 are accepted. It’s not hard to be “fully qualified.” All it requires is SAT scores above 600, a B average from an undemanding high school, and some pushups. So our true acceptance rate may be over 50 percent.


This is a shocking revelation about an institution that claims it’s “held to a higher standard,” and from the military that exists to defend taxpayers. As Dan de Vise points out, selectivity is the coin of prestige among colleges. Though selectivity counts for only 1.5 percent of the much-cited US News rankings, public perception of exclusivity is a huge part of the 22.5 percent of the US News score devoted to “peer assessment.” Although some of the less stellar schools de Vise questioned admitted to counting a few incomplete applications, the Naval Academy apparently claims about 70 percent of its reported total are incomplete. That we do this is no longer under debate.


Here’s a question, by me, with a one-word answer—taken from the FOIA letter from the Academy to me: “Are High School juniors and above who initiate an application online counted as part of this number whether or not they subsequently complete an application?” Response: “Yes.”




This revelation is indicative of many things, none of them good. First we should consider the appalling fact that it required a Freedom of Information request—which a government entity like the Academy cannot legally refuse to comply with—to wrest from this taxpayer-supported institution data that it should be eager to share with its paymasters, the civilians. This, unfortunately, is consistently the way the academies operate. It took a similar FOIA request from a reporter at the Annapolis Capital to elicit the fact that the Naval Academy’s (taxpayer-supported) Prep School in Newport is composed of about half non-white minorities and half recruited athletes, who are generally admitted with lower grades and SAT scores than other midshipmen, and who make up about 20 percent of the following year’s USNA class. Another FOIA request by the same paper produced the revelation that Naval Academy disciplinary measures were slanted towards women and against men.




This unwillingness to share information with the civilian world contributes to a culture of suspicion and impunity with respect to civilians who pay their bills. Consider that the most recent Superintendent was removed a year early for having presided over an administration that worked with off-the-books “slush funds” for recruited athletes and racial minorities that the Navy Inspector General blasted. But the Board of Visitors wasn’t even told until months later, when the report was about to be made public. The Superintendent before that was yanked after a single year—he’d grabbed the wrist of a Marine gate guard who asked for his ID (as the guard was supposed to do). But it took having this incident in the Annapolis paper to produce this result.



The Academy wants respect bordering on reverence from the civilian world, yet it wants to be able to forgo following the same rules as everybody else: it wants to be able to win a two-mile race by running a mile. The FOIA response made clear that the Naval Academy does not follow, nor should it be expected to follow, the criteria of the Common Data Set (though this is also used to provide such information to the U.S. Department of Education as well as private outlets such as the hyper-important US News rankings).



To quote the letter: “There is no mandate to apply the definition of the common data set to the U.S. Naval Academy’s admissions process. Of note, the requirements for admission to the Service Academies are different than other colleges and universities.” And this was echoed by the Academy spokesman quoted in Dan de Vise’s article of 28 December: the Naval Academy is different. Yet, they supply this completely cockeyed data to best other schools that are playing by the rules.


Similarly, the academies claim incessantly that their students are the “best and the brightest.” They also claim to teach “leadership” and to produce “leaders.” (Check out their Web sites.)



On what are these claims based?

Apparently the gullibility of the taxpayers. “Best” is apparently defined by being at the service academies, and that is a circular definition. “Brightest” is never justified—nor can it be. More than a quarter of our students have SAT scores in the 400s and 500s. Yes, our top quarter is comparable to the top half of Ivies. So we have some bright kids, but they’re the exception. Oh, we hear: But they’re leaders! This, too, is circular: the only “leadership” we consider in admission is things like student council offices—which also help get you into the University of Maryland (whose SAT scores, a visiting lecturer pointed out recently, are now higher than USNA’s). And for our target groups of recruited athletes and racial minorities, even this leadership score becomes irrelevant: students below our minima simply enter by the taxpayer-supported back door of NAPS.




What’s striking nowadays is the unrelenting barrage of self-serving hype coming from the academies, little of it apparently justified by facts. The academies are like any government program, intent on their own survival. This they do by claiming over and over to be better than they are compared to the alternatives—much to the disgust of most of their students, who are not allowed to talk to the public on this subject. (Increasingly USNA reminds me of East Berlin, which I got to know as a Fulbright Scholar in West Berlin: only good news, lie with statistics, control information, and make the citizens cheer on the streets—for us it’s the mandatory football games.)



In 1950 the academies were the primary officer production source; this is no longer true. Now, after radical expansion of ROTC in the 1960s and 70s, more than twice as many young officers come from ROTC programs housed in civilian colleges and universities as come from the academies. And as many Officer Candidate School officers are produced each year as Academy graduates. These ROTC officers cost taxpayers on average one quarter of what the academies’ products cost—and are apparently just as good. We’d better hope they are, because there are twice as many of them as academy graduates. (An academy graduate costs taxpayers close to a half a million dollars.) The academies don’t actually produce better “leaders” than an ROTC program, or for that matter than the civilian universities. Certainly they’re prestige objects for the military—and I’m sure the Superintendent and the other brass who live on our gorgeous campus like their taxpayer-supported mansions with the white-coated servants and the groundsmen. Who wouldn’t? This, I believe, is why the academies have begun to engage in a desperate end-game to artificially burnish their image and ensure their own survival. The wild over-inflation of selectivity is part of this campaign.

The shrill insistence by the military on its own virtue is, finally, indicative of a serious problem in the military’s relationship with the civilian world. Consider the Army’s dogged initial insistence that Pat Tillman was not, in fact, killed by “friendly fire;” the fabrication of the story of Jessica Lynch; and the recent embellishment by the Marine Corps of their medal winner’s story. This is lying to the people the military is meant to protect, and who pay for it. It is absolutely, completely, unacceptable. Yet it now has become common.



I have suggested in my book “Bridging the Military-Civilian Divide” that this too-glowing misrepresentation by the military of itself is part of this largest problem of all, the fact that the minority professional military in these all-volunteer times lacks a coherent sense of its purpose with respect to the civilian world. It’s not so clear that what they do is defense (how was Iraq defense? Afghanistan?). Still, it costs lives, and limbs, and psyches, and civilians go about their business of shopping—as President Bush suggested we do. Apparently the military disdains and resents the civilians it exists to defend—and feels free to lie to these civilians. The Naval Academy’s wild exaggeration of its selectivity is the tip of an iceberg.

____________________________________________


We will segue from MILITARY JUNTA public policy to education public policy looking at what happens in our US cities when once strong, local, domestic universities are consolidated into global hedge fund IVY LEAGUE corporations------if our US public military academies are going to be replaced by ROTC instruction on global corporate campuses as 'universities'----of course that ROTC will be tied to the same global mercenary military corporations being installed in MOVING FORWARD US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----and of course it will be global banking 1% educating our US citizens just how to be that military EMPLOYEE.

If our US 99% of WE THE PEOPLE all race to get that multi-national corporate ROTC training----we are MOVING FORWARD GLOBAL MILITARY JUNTA in US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES.


Creating global monopolies of the only pathway our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE will have to an education -----global corporate campus pre-K to career vocational tracking apprenticeship child labor.


Is today’s university the new multinational corporation?



June 5, 2015 4.07am EDT


A growing number of colleges and universities are emerging as multinational organizations – creating start-up versions of themselves in foreign countries.


Those vacationing in western France may drive past a campus of Georgia Institute of Technology. Similarly, those visiting Italy may come across a Johns Hopkins nestled in Bologna; or if you are a visitor to Rwanda, you may come across a Carnegie Mellon University campus.


According to the Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT) at SUNY-Albany, 51 US universities now operate 83 branch campuses outside of the United States. Arkansas State has recently announced it will build a campus in Mexico. Qatar is already home to campuses from six American universities.

Students can now earn degrees from New York University in New York City, Abu Dhabi or Shanghai.


This sort of activity is being duplicated by institutions from Australia, the United Kingdom, India and more than two dozen other countries. Globally, universities in 32 countries export 235 branch campuses across 73 nations.


How are we to understand these developments? Do they bring advantages for students, academia as well as nations? Have higher education institutions become tools of public diplomacy? Or, are such institutions evolving into multiple national corporations with limited affinity with their home nation?


For the past five years, as co-directors of C-BERT, we have been tracking the development of this phenomenon, research that has included visits to some 50 of these institutions in 15 countries.



Universities go global

The fact is that no longer are global activities limited to the for-profit educational conglomerates such as the Apollo Group University of Phoenix and Laureate that have developed an international footprint through investment in online education and the purchase of colleges in multiple countries.


Rather, a growing number of public and private nonprofit universities have entered this space, creating, for example, branch campuses where a student in a local country can attend classes, join student organizations, engage in research projects and earn a degree awarded in the name of the home campus.


The earliest branch campus we’ve identified opened in the 1920s, when Parsons Fashion School in New York opened a location in Paris, so they could be in the fashion capital of the world, even though much of the growth in this sector started only in the 2000s.



Today, this effort is not limited to a handful of elite four-year institutions; it includes schools ranging from community colleges to boutique graduate schools, offering associates’ degrees to doctorates.



Proponents argue that branch campuses provide needed educational capacity in underserved areas, while allowing the home institution to diversify its revenue and enhance its reputation. Critics claim that operating under authoritarian governments hampers the academic freedom of faculty and students.



Push and pull factors

Most branch campuses seem to fall somewhere in between the glorious and the atrocious. But, first, let us look at some of the factors leading to the setting up of these branch campuses.


In our view, there are a number of internal factors pushing institutions to open branches - mainly, resources, regulations and reputation.


With declining government subsidies at home, concerns about rising tuition rates and heightened competition for students, some colleges and universities are looking for new ways to expand their economic base, through the delivery of courses overseas, foreign research monies and relationships with donors in other countries.

Having a physical presence is helpful, and at times necessary.

Also, it is sometimes easier to expand and be innovative in a different country, where the rules and regulations of the home and host nations (or states) do not constrain their efforts as much. In the US, we have found that while accreditation standards apply to international activities, many state regulations do not extend beyond their borders.


In addition, places like the Dubai International Academic City and EduCity in Malaysia are considered “free trade” zones designed to provide such regulatory relief from both the importing and exporting nations.

Global engagement also seems to be increasingly tied to an institution’s and nation’s reputation. For example, global university rankings such as those by US News and World Report and Times Higher Education factor in the international engagement of institutions.


This is not all. Higher education institutions have become tools of public diplomacy. Some exporting governments see International Branch Campuses (IBCs) as a means to strengthen their alliances with the importing nations.


There are also a number of factors pulling institutions to set up overseas.

Foreign universities have demonstrated interest in locating branches near rapidly expanding academic markets and being part of the emergence of Asia as a power player in the higher education landscape. It is no accident that most of the IBCs built in the past decade are located around the Indian Ocean and Pacific Rim.


Indeed, some countries have developed strategies and enacted policies to encourage international branch campus development through an “education hub.” Hubs usually indicate a country’s intention to promote itself as a regional or international destination for students.


Places like Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Qatar have provided financial and regulatory incentives to attract prestigious IBCs. But destinations such as Dubai, that do not offer any subsidy, are popular locations as well; in fact, IBCs are charged high rents to operate in places such as Dubai International Academic City (though they can receive exemption from many local regulations).


Some importing nations seek to raise their own international reputation by aligning themselves with well-respected institutions such as Duke, Yale and Texas A&M University.


Why some fail


However, at times the reasons for expansion do not align with reality, as the recent retreats of George Mason, Michigan State and the University of La Verne illustrate.


These campuses, like the 26 others that C-BERT data report, closed because they either encountered unexpected market and cultural conditions or lacked sufficient support from the home campus.


Unrealistic projections of revenue and enrollment, regulatory conflicts, and incompatible partnerships are the hallmarks of a bungled branch.


Creating an IBC is akin to creating a “start-up” in a foreign nation – with a different set of laws, cultural expectations and educational infrastructure. Abu Dhabi is very different from New York City. And it isn’t China either.

The established infrastructure of a campus in one country is repurposed in another country with the intention of educating students, fostering local research and innovation, and, through spillover, improving the overall quality of the domestic education sector.

As pioneers in an educational experiment, faculty and staff may be called on to help with a variety of tasks including budget planning, recruiting students, course scheduling, website design, furniture construction, staffing residence halls and even fixing computers.


Changing loyalties

It is clear that colleges and universities are emerging as important international actors, offering benefits to the institution as well as the importing and exporting nations.


What is not clear is how these arrangements will affect the relationship between a nation and its higher education sector.


Historically, colleges and universities have been viewed as anchor institutions that are tightly linked to their local communities and often are significant engines of economic development.


But we are now seeing campuses move locations in their effort to find “best deals” in terms of more regulator flexibility or government subsidies. The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business announced in 2013 that it would leave Singapore and set up shop in Hong Kong.



Similarly, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has indicated that it will leave Singapore this year. It is now looking for another Asian base.



Do these trends suggest that US universities will close their home campus if they get a better deal elsewhere? Likely not. Much of the cachet of the branch campus comes from being associated with a home country like the United States, for example.
But both institutions and nations need to realize that these endeavors can be big gambles, and not everyone has a winning hand.
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July 20th, 2018

7/20/2018

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If we read the article shared yesterday about these few decades of growing global private mercenary corporations and what they are known to be doing-----drug, gun, sex slaves, operating with impunity-----then we see SALMAN RUSHDIE'S THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH----main character ABRAHAM married to AURORA.  Rushdie's tale is centered in INDIA the characters ---the politics ---the religious anxieties mirror what was growing in CLINTON ERA America.  ABRAHAM was simply that global corporation willing to do anything to advance wealth and power for Solomon and his family.  

Here in US today we have MOVING FORWARD to OPPOSITES----our NATIONAL PUBLIC MILITARY tasked with protecting US sovereignty and all 99% of WE THE PEOPLE-----and CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA privatized global mercenary corporations pledged to do anything global corporations tell them to.

This is the difference in US in who is running for local, state, or national office no matter pretending to be right wing Republican ---or left wing Democrat-----if a military candidate wins in today's rigged and fraudulent elections it is because they are tied to global military mercenary corporations and not to being retired US public military.



'10 Frightening Facts About Private Military Companies - Listverse
Private military companies are essentially armies that are controlled by no one but their shareholders and whoever pays them the most. They're not about to
listverse.com'


So, ABRAHAM in this novel mirrors today's global corporations having black market business as their major money-maker and especially tied to running guns, drugs, slaves, and those 5% freemason/Greek civil unrest civil war military junta.




'Simultaneously, Abraham's commercial empire bursts asunder when its illegal underpinnings are uncovered. In a rapid denouement, all of the main characters, except Moraes, perish in an orgy of fire bombings that level much of Bombay'.

AN ORGY OF FIRE BOOMINGS THAT LEVEL MUCH OF BOMBAY-----of course this was at the time that BOMBAY was morphing int MUMBAI------that ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE city needing BOMBAY to be leveled to make way for SMART CITY MUMBAI.


The Moor's Last Sigh


Summary & Study Guide Description



The Moor's Last Sigh Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:



The Moor's Last Sigh tells the family history of Moraes Zogoiby, known as "the Moor." He is the last survivor of a family descended from the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (ca.1469-1524), who sailed to India in search of spice and whose offspring grew rich in shipping it to the West. Among his ancestors, Moraes also numbers Boabdil (Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad XI, ca. 1460-1527), the last Muslim king in Spain, forced in 1492 to surrender his city to Ferdinand and Isabella. The spot from which Boabdil gazed for the last time at Granada is today a tourist attraction, known as 'The Last Sigh of the Moor.' His descendents, who made their way to southern India, took, as their family name, his nickname, "Zogoiby" - "The Unfortunate." Another branch of the family descended from Black Jews who immigrated to Cochin, India, and built a synagogue in 1568. It, too, is a famous landmark, preserved to this day. Moraes concentrates on the last four generations of his ancestors, spanning the first eight decades of the twentieth century. At every point in this fictional tale, authentic history is interwoven.




We first meet Moraes at age thirty-six in Spain, breathless, on the run, and determined that his quirky family's story will not perish when he dies. He introduces first his mother, Aurora, as a young girl and offers detailed depictions of her close relatives that help us understand how she could evolve into the strong, difficult character who would destroy the one true love of her only son's life, cast him out of her home and life, and, unreconciled, suffer a tragic, accidental death. The pain of these events fills Moraes' story long before the circumstances are relayed.



As we grow familiar with Moraes' maternal relatives, "the battling da Gamas of Cochin" - great grandmother, Epifania, and her husband, Francisco, grandmother, Belle, and her husband, Camoens, great aunt, Carmen, and her husband, Aires - we experience life in late, colonial India, an era of growing change.



Moraes gives less detail about his paternal line. His father, Abraham Zogoiby, is introduced as a manager in the Gama Trading Company warehouse. Aurora falls in love with him and seduces him away from his Jewish heritage. We meet his conniving mother, Flory, and witness their split over his decision. We see Abraham taking control of the business and returning it to prosperity (in the dangerous, early days of World War II) with financial help from Flory. Her condition on the loan is that he turns his first-born son over to her, to be raised as a Jew. Agreeing to this creates a rift with Aurora, whom we follow to Bombay and great success in the worlds of art and politics, as India comes to independence in 1947. Again, historical figures - Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru - are skillfully woven into the narrative.




Only after Flory's death do Abraham and Aurora reunite, and we are introduced to their four children, Ina, Minnie, Mynah, and Moor (Aurora intended the humor in their names), and the servants who care for the prosperous Bombay household. We meet a fellow artist, Vasco Miranda, who takes up residence in the house and helps Moraes come to grips with the forces that form his personality: a malformed right hand and a rare condition that causes him to physically age at twice the rate he develops chronologically and emotionally. Doorkeeper Lambajan teaches him to box. Ayah (the title of native nursemaids in India) Jaya Hé introduces him to the city's vibrant streets. Tutor Dilly Hormuz unleashes his sexuality. A cruel critic of his mother's work, Raman Fielding, brings us into the volatile mix of religion and politics that thrive in Mother India. Sitting for his mother's Moor paintings, and listening to her chatter, helps Moraes understand her personality. Like magnets, mother and son attract and repel one another. Abraham remains, for a long while, a distant, indistinct character; it is only hinted that they will some day reconcile and Moraes will learn - and dutifully relay - the dark details of his father's business.




Finally, as the first part of the novel ends, we are introduced to the long-anticipate lover, Uma Sarasvati. She is a mysterious, contradictory figure, who utterly shatters the Zogoiby family. Aurora, alone, is never taken in by her charms. How Uma can cause such a violent rift between her and her son remains a mystery for much of the book. The reality of it, however, is that Moraes must set upon a new, independent chapter of his life.




This chapter begins in prison, following Moraes' arrest for Uma's murder and involvement in his father's black marketeering in narcotics. He is rescued by Raman "Mainduck" Fielding, who is closing in on his goal of political mastery of Bombay. Moor becomes "Hammer," as a member of Fielding's elite goon squad that terrorizes and intimidates anyone who opposes the interests of the Hindu majority. For the first time Moraes is comfortable with his deformed right hand and administers savage beatings to foes, not just obediently, but enthusiastically and with relish. We meet Hammer's colorful, sadistic colleagues: Sammy "the Tin Man" Hazaré and Chhaghgan "Five-in-a-Bite."



Following Aurora's death, "Hammer" leaves Fielding's camp, which further unravels when the beauty queen Nadia Wadia drives a wedge between commander and Hazaré. "Moor" reconnects with Abraham and allies with him to bring peace to his mother's still tormented soul. Through a private investigator, we learn that both parents have had multiple sexual partners and harbored a multitude of secrets. While these unravel, it appears that Aurora's death was not an accident. "Hammer" once more goes into action, murdering Fielding, the presumed perpetrator.



Simultaneously, Abraham's commercial empire bursts asunder when its illegal underpinnings are uncovered. In a rapid denouement, all of the main characters, except Moraes, perish in an orgy of fire bombings that level much of Bombay.



Moreas flies to Spain, to search for four of his mother's paintings that survived the conflagration. Three, he was certain, had been stolen by Vasco Miranda, the artist whom Aurora had dismissed from her household fourteen years earlier. Miranda's painting, which Aurora had mocked as commercial fluff, had earned him a vast fortune and international fame. He used his riches to construct a hideous fortress on a hillside in Benengeli. We follow him, wandering the city, taken in by half-sisters who claim to be the aging recluse's housekeepers. When they bring Moraes word that a parcel has been delivered to the fortress, he convinces them to smuggle him inside. There, he is taken prisoner and locked up in the tower with a Japanese art conservator, Aoi Ué, kidnapped to remove Miranda's pedestrian over-painting of The Moor's Last Sigh in order to reveal the original portrait of a bare-breasted, young Aurora Zogoiby. Miranda orders his new companion to record his life story in full detail, promising that, like Scheherazade, he will be allowed to live so long as his tales amused his master. When both tasks are complete, Miranda turns his gun on them. Aoi perishes, but Moor is spared when the drug-crazed, bloated gunman's heart explodes as he had long ago predicted it would. Moor flees, nailing sheets of his story to trees and fences across the countryside, coming to rest in the overgrown cemetery where we first met him, hoping he will, in death, find peace.

__________________________________________


There is lot's of ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE global banking 1% freemasonry imagery in MOOR'S LAST SIGH----but this week we are discussing MILITARY JUNTA public policy goals in MOVING FORWARD US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES----so we will simply highlight those images.  This novel is a great way to see how back in 1990s Clinton era the same global 1% using the same economic, black market criminality and corruption created the dynamic of global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS fighting for India's sovereignty.

We liked the character MR FIELDINGS or THE FROG because he represented our US CITIES global banking BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION seeking to control all community economy, development recruiting his following throw his CORPORATION's FAKE LABOR AND JUSTICE organizations.  As well, THE FROG in India was our RELIGIOUS RIGHT here in US while he PRETENDED to be HINDI -----our US religious right PRETENDED to be Christian while ignoring every religious tenet whether HINDI or Christian.  THE FROG gained his power by sending his hired THUGS to break down any REAL POPULIST organizations trying to help Bombay's 99% of citizens.


MR FROG wanting to be MAYOR OF BOMBAY was the far-right wing religious theocracy being HINDI as is MOVING FORWARD today with TRUMP/PENCE.  MR FROG was not shy about reinstating India's STRONG CASTE system making sure no Bombay citizen ever left his/her CASTE.


GLOBAL BANKING 1% CANNOT HAVE A FAR-RIGHT, AUTHORITARIAN, MILITARISTIC, EXTREME WEALTH EXTREME POVERTY LIBERTARIAN MARXIST MILITARY JUNTA REGIME WITHOUT SOME NUT-CASE CLAIMING TO BE THAT FAKE RELIGIOUS THEOCRACY LEADER.



Of course, neither MR FROG nor TRUMP are religious ----but 5% freemason/Greek FAKE RELIGIOUS players are a great way to recruit for MILITARY JUNTA.  DAILY KOS and DAN DIEGO FREE PRESS are both raging global banking far-right wing CLINTON/BUSH media outlets with FAKE NEWS----pretending any of these religious stances are real.

The Trump-Pence Theocracy Continues to Take Shape, As “Abstinence” Is Elevated To National Policy


May 7, 2018 by Source

By Dartagnan / Daily Kos



Between 2007 and 2015, the rate of teen pregnancies in the United States dropped approximately 50%. Much of the credit for that goes to federal and state educational programs that teach teenagers about birth control and making informed choices about sex. The Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, implemented in 2010 during the Obama Administration, was one of the most effective of these efforts, providing annual grants totaling 200 million dollars to the states to operate and evaluate their public health programs aimed at preventing unwanted teen pregnancies.




These programs are vital because more than 25% of American girls become pregnant by age 20. Many of these pregnancies are neither expected or wanted. The drastic negative economic and social implications of that fact–to women and American society— should be obvious. The real beneficiaries of programs such as the TPP are women because it is women (in this country at least) who have been burdened socially with major responsibility for contraception. It is women’s lives and futures that are impacted the most by an unwanted pregnancy.



In August of last year the Trump Administration, through its Department of Health and Human Services, effectively ended funding for the TPP program two years before it was to be re-authorized. In its place, the Administration specified that any recipients of grants from the TPP must follow one of two “abstinence-based” agendas,  de-emphasizing birth control as a method of preventing pregnancy.




Now women are essentially being told by the Trump Administration and these state programs that if they want to avoid becoming pregnant they should simply not have sex (the fact that Trump may be the most sexually licentious U.S. President in U.S. History doesn’t seem to factor into the equation).



The efforts of the Administration to impose sexual control over women are not limited to teenagers. This morning’s New York Times has compiled a litany of Administration’s recent efforts to implement its efforts to control adult female sexual behavior:



The administration is promoting a “just say no” approach to adults as well as to teenagers. It’s poised to shift Title X family planning dollars — funds largely intended to help poor adult women around the United States get birth control — toward programs that advocate abstinence outside of marriage, as well as unreliable forms of birth control like the rhythm method…[.]



There is virtually no evidence that these types of programs are effective. Not only are they ineffective at controlling teen pregnancy, they are even ineffective at promoting abstinence. Coupled with the elimination of education about contraception, they are a recipe for an explosion of teen pregnancy as well as a resurgence of sexually transmitted diseases among both teens and adults. They are also rife with disinformation intended to foster a subservient role for women in American society:



 A 2004 government report found that many such curriculums undersold the effectiveness of condoms and made unscientific assertions, like a claim that a 43-day-old fetus is a “thinking person.” This kind of propaganda also promotes gender stereotypes. “Women gauge their happiness and judge their success by their relationships,” one curriculum taught students. “Men’s happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments.”
***
Disinformation is at the center of this agenda. It makes it more difficult for women to acquire the knowledge they need to control if and when they become pregnant — a problem that is exacerbated by the administration’s hostility toward abortion rights. Beyond that, abstinence-only education keeps all people who are subjected to it in the dark about critical aspects of their health, and treats a normal part of life — sexuality, and women’s sexuality in particular — as aberrant and shameful.




Trump’s efforts to deny American women the right to engage in sex out of wedlock has also extended itself into American involvement with the rest of the world, with this Administration’s representatives at the UN single-mindedly obsessed with promoting abstinence as a condition for recipients of American aid:



Members of HHS, USAID, and the US Mission to the UN asked for references to contraception, abortion, and comprehensive sex education to be struck from a document on international gender equality, calling the US a “pro-life nation.”



Of course, the issue of abortion dominates Administration policy, from its efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, to its vocal support for anti-choice organizations and the implementation of novel anti-choice legislation, and its rabidly anti-choice judicial appointments. The clear goal of this Administration more than any before it is to control not only female reproduction but a women’s right to have sex out of marriage at all.



There’s only one explanation for this assault on women’s freedom—the Administration’s reliance on its (white) Evangelical “Christian” voter base. It doesn’t matter that the type of anti-women religious extremism that dominates the thinking of these closed-minded fanatics is at odds with the beliefs and values—religious or otherwise– of the great majority of Americans. It doesn’t matter that white Evangelicals themselves are a minority of the American electorate. In order to placate this vital Republican-voting demographic, Trump, and in particular his supposedly “devout” Vice President Pence, have injected this Evangelical brand of extremist, religious dogma into our national policies with a vengeance.  As in most of the world’s religions, Americans’ peculiar strain of Evangelical religion presupposes that women (and correspondingly, women’s needs) are subservient to those of men. That is the way the “religion” germinated and perpetuated itself in this country. And more so than any Administration in history this one is bending over backward to accommodate these people.


Trump’s high placement of far-right conservatives such as Tom Price and Valerie Huber, who once ran an organization dedicated to abstinence-only education and now is in charge of Title X implementation at the HHS, is the clearest evidence of his desire to accommodate Christian extremists in formulating a national policy with far-reaching, destructive social impacts on the majority of Americans who don’t ascribe to these beliefs.



Nor does it matter that Trump himself is proving himself as morally depraved as any “whoremonger” or adulterer condemned by St. Paul in The Acts, or any prophet of the Old Testament, for that matter.  For these Evangelicals, Trump is a tool, a means to an end, with the end being the imposition of a religious-centered pro-Christian governmental philosophy in this country. A theocratic government, with the ultimate goal of bringing the rest of Americans into line with their “teachings.”



The control of women’s behavior is only the first step towards that goal.
__________________________________________

MR FROG wanting a religious theocracy meets ABRAHAM with his global corporation filled with black market guns and military junta.  Of course they have to battle it out for control of BOMBAY------each recruiting the 99% of Bombay citizens some coerced----some pushed because of no jobs-----pitted against each other having no real population group as WINNER as a goal.

ABRAHAM AS MR FROG not shy about deliberately making BOMBAY economy stagnant to force those 99% of citizens to join one military junta or the other.

Below we see global banking 1% raging neo-liberal LAISSEZ FAIRE UNITED NATIONS pretending there is any way to regulate GLOBAL CORPORATE PRIVATE MERCENARY ARMIES.  We are now told these mercenary corporations will no doubt be GOOD UN PEACEKEEPERS-----as well as UNITED NATIONS MILITARY.

So, ABRAHAM was married to that global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS European family----while THE FROG represented global 1% ASIAN KINGS AND QUEENS not liking these new immigrant rich.  Both armed with their own military junta-----filling each avenue of BOMBAY civil society with these militant employees.


'Private military and security companies (PMSC)'

A private military company (PMC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services. They are one type of private security companies. PMCs refer to their staff as "security contractors" or "private military contractors". Private military companies refer to their business generally as the "private military industry" or "The Circuit".[1][2]



DON'T WORRY SAYS UNITED NATIONS---THOSE SAME GLOBAL CORPORATIONS BEHIND CONTINUOUS WARS AND CIVIL UNREST THESE SEVERAL DECADES WILL NOW BE OUR PEACEKEEPERS!



This is a long article but please glance through to see how global media pretend the United Nations is protecting and wanting to regulate the very military structures having created a few billion of our global citizens death and civil destruction and make them RESPECTABLE GUARDIAN ANGELS.  BUT, for our US and Western Europe to get there we have to have the same decades of civil unrest civil wars and complete breakdown of society before these GUARDIAN ANGELS can be installed as MILITARY JUNTA.

----if PMSC sounds like PP1, 2, AND 3----public private partnerships installed during Clinton to hand complete control of all US national, state, and local government agencies to global corporations----you would be correct---this is simply MOVING FORWARD US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES with global militarized security corporations. THOSE CRAZY SWISS-----always looking out for our 99% WE THE PEOPLE stating SELF-REGULATION of global mercenary corporations will do.

 
THE SWISS of course being global 1% banking OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS----KNIGHTS OF MALTA.



The Role of Private Military and Security Companies in Modern Warfare – Impacts on Human Rights



Gross human rights violations have brought the use of Private Military and Security Companies as a tool of foreign policy into the limelight. Heavily armed forces with limited accountability are the outcome of an increasingly privatized security sector. Violations committed by these forces outside of their home states are unregulated and go unpunished. PMSCs put the security of their own staff as well as that of civilians at risk. In this article, Jose Gomez del Prado, former Chair of the UN Working Group on the use of Mercenaries, explores the negative implications of using PMSCs in today’s globalized world.



By Jose L. Gómez del Prado



The Brown Journal of World Affairs
August 11, 2012

Private military and security companies (PMSC) have been involved in grave human rights violations that have attracted international attention and debate over the legitimacy of PMSCs, the norms under which they should operate, and how to monitor their activities. These companies pose a real problem to human rights, to the foundations of the democratic modern state, and to the rule of law[1].


The widespread outsourcing of military and security functions has been a major phenomenon in recent years
[2].The new industry that has developed is transnational in nature and has grown very rapidly with the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.



Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the U.S.S.R., military and security functions, previously considered inherently state functions, have been increasingly contracted out to the private sector. This important change with regard to the monopoly on the legitimate use of force[3] has been primarily implemented in western countries in the context of the anarchical globalization of the world economy. The private military and security industry has taken advantage of the reduction of national armies and the globalization of the economy to find a profitable niche and grow it into a powerful global phenomenon estimated at over $100 billion yearly[4].It has benefitted from the insecurity and fear that followed the terrorist attacks of the early 2000s and within the context of countering terrorism reinvigorated by “the global war on terror”.



The availability of experienced security and military personnel for hire has enabled governments, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to circumvent political constraints on the use of force[5]. PMSCs operate in zones of low-intensity armed conflict such as Afghanistan– and post conflict environments-such as Iraq and Colombia. These companies also provide services for extractive industries and multinational corporations operating in unstable environments[6].



The new export security industry expanded primarily, though not exclusively, in Western Europe and North America. The growth has been particularly pronounced in the United States and United Kingdom, where 70 percent of the companies of this new security industry are registered[7]. Parallel to this privatization of warfare, there has also been increased demand for private security at the international level and for protection of property at the domestic level in states all over the world. In many countries, the number of private security personnel is greater than the number of active state police[8].




A. INVOLVEMENT OF PMSCs IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS




The use of PMSC as a new instrument of foreign policy, particularly of the USA, may be due to a number of factors such as: (a) the lack of human resources in the armed forces; (b) that they are considered to be more cost efficient; (c) nepotism and/or good contacts with the Administration; (d) to avoid responsibility for the acts committed by PMSC; (e) to avoid the control of democratic institutions; (f) to intervene in the internal affairs of a country. The use of PMSC as a foreign policy tool, however, not only raises a number of dangers but indicates that the State is abdicating to the private sector an essential responsibility.



Heavily armed and operating in situations of conflict, private security companies have been functioning in the absence of national regulatory frameworks to vet the recruitment of their employees, to control their weapons and to monitor their activities. There has also been opacity in their behavior and a lack of transparency which companies have manage to establish through the creation of numerous layers of subsidiaries or subcontracts in diverse countries[9].


The lack of accountability for human right violations that they have committed has been partly due to the difficulties in the application of domestic laws to PMSC actuating in foreign countries as well as to the difficulties in carrying out investigations in failed states. It has also been partly due to the difficulties in establishing responsibilities. Indeed, if the direct responsibility of the State for human rights violations can easily be proved when one of its agents commits a human right abuse, it is much more difficult to establish the link when it is a contracted PMSC or one of its employees. Moreover under international law for human right abuses only the responsibility of natural persons, not legal person, are recognized. To these circumstances also has contributed the immunity granted by governments to PMSC operating in a number of situations[10].




Despite the argument of home or contracting states from which PMSCs operate that they cannot be responsible for human rights violations committed by PMSC employees outside their territories and national jurisdictions, home states[11] should be able to regulate PMSCs at the source because they have the effective territorial control over different activities of PMSCs. Their territorial competence and control should make it possible for the state where PMSCs have their business headquarters or operational seat to discharge its due diligence principle duty. Under International Human Rights Law, states have the responsibility “to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused” by acts of private military companies or their staff that impair human rights[12].”




All these factors have provided a propitious terrain where the human rights of the civilian population have been violated. An additional fact important to bear in mind is that PMSC, in their search for profit, often neglect security putting their employees in dangerous or vulnerable situations which may have disastrous consequences, such as the 2004 Fallujah incident in which four Blackwater private contractors were killed allegedly due to a lack of safety precautions that Blackwater was supposed to provide. That particular incident changed the whole course of the war in Iraq. That incident may be considered as the turning point in the occupation of Iraq. It led to an abortive US operation to recapture control of the city and a successful recapture operation of Fallujah in November 2004, called Operation Phantom Fury, which resulted in the death of over 1,350 insurgent fighters. Approximately 95 America troops were killed, and 560 wounded.


PMSCs, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, have been operating in gray areas without any control or lines of command threatening the lives and security of the civilian population. The following examples, which are not exhaustive, may serve to illustrate the impact of PMSC in the enjoyment of human rights.




Afghanistan

29 June 2009, a number of civilian casualties occurred as a result of a shooting incident between an Afghan private entity operating as a security company (Afghan Special Guards) and the Afghan National Police inside the Attorney General’s Office in Kandahar[13].



5 May 2009, two Xe (formerly Blackwater) private security contractors working for the U.S. Army were involved in an incident in Kabul, in which one Afghan civilian was killed and three others injured according to a US military inquest in Kabul.[14] “While stopped for a car accident, the contractors were approached by a vehicle in a manner they felt threatening. The contractors were trainers hired by Paravant LLC, a subsidiary of Xe[15]. There were allegations that they were issued AK-47s despite guidelines from the U.S. Department of Defense specifically indicating that the Xe personnel would not be armed[16]. A US Senate inquiry found that the Blackwater subsidiary Paravant illegally signed out 500 machine guns from a US military store[17].



Iraq 9 October 2007 In central Baghdad, two Armenian women were shot dead when their car came too close to a convoy protected by Unity Resources Group (URG) contractors.[18] URG employees opened fire as they felt threatened that the women’s car approached the convoy at high speed and was not going to stop.[19].


The same company (URG) was also involved in the March 2006 shooting of a 72-year-old Australian professor[20]. This 25-year resident of Baghdad, who drove through the city every day, allegedly accelerated his vehicle as he approached the guards and did not pay attention to warnings to stop[21]



According to a U.S. Congressional memorandum, between 2005 and 2007 Blackwater guards were involved in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq. [22] The document raises serious questions about how State Department officials responded to reports of Blackwater killings of Iraqi civilians. For example, in the case of a shooting of a guard of Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd-al-Mahdi in December 2006 by a Blackwater contractor, the State Department allowed Blackwater to transport the contractor out of Iraq within 36 hours of the shooting and suggested a $15,000 fine.[23] A similar approach was taken in other cases involving the shooting of innocent Iraqi civilians. Iraq continues to grapple with the legal immunity granted to private security contractors under Order 17 issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Such immunity has prevented prosecutions in Iraqi courts. Nor have prosecutions in the home countries of such companies been successful.



The lack of accountability for violations committed between 2003 and 2009 persists and the victims of such violations and their families are still waiting for justice.[24]The lack of vetting procedures by PMSCs is best illustrated by the case of Danny Fitzsimons, a former British Army paratrooper who fatally shot two colleagues at the U.K. security company ArmorGroup (now part of G4S) and injured an Iraqi security guard in Baghdad. Fitzsimons had been discharged from the British Army in Iraq.  Despite having been diagnosed by several psychiatrics as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Fitzsimons was contracted without any vetting procedure. In 2009, 36 hours after arriving in Baghdad, he shot dead two of his colleagues- a British and an Australian- and injured an Iraqi guard. In February 2011, he was tried in Iraq and condemned to 20 years in prison[25].



The most egregious known human rights violation by a PMSC is the shooting massacre perpetrated on 16 September 2007 by Blackwater personnel in Nisour Square, Baghdad. Seventeen people were killed and twenty others were severely injured[26]. Blackwater [27] has also been accused of fabricating documents to acquire unauthorized weapons, defrauding the USA government, and tolerating the widespread use of steroids and cocaine by its personnel.[28]  Only after the implementation of a new Status of Forces Agreement in January 2009 and the cancellation of Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17—which had granted immunity to contractors—was the government of Iraq able to deny Blackwater’s application for an operating license. However, the company still had a contract with the U.S. State Department, and some Blackwater personnel were working in Iraq at least until September 2009[29].




Two United-States-based corporations, CACI International and L-3 Services (formerly Titan Corporation), have allegedly been involved in torturing Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.[30] The two companies, contracted by the U.S. Government, were responsible for interrogation and translation services in several facilities in Iraq. The Center for Constitutional Rights and a team of lawyers brought claims against the two companies under the Alien Tort Claims Act in 2004 on behalf of over 250 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claimed they were “subjected to rape and threats of rape and other forms of sexual assault; electric shocks; repeated beatings, including beatings with chains, boots and other objects; prolonged hanging from limbs; forced nudity; hooding; isolated detention; being urinated on and otherwise humiliated; and being prevented from praying and otherwise abiding by their religious practices.”


Rendition flights



A number of reports have indicated that private security guards have played a central role in some of the most sensitive activities of the CIA. These activities include arbitrary detention and clandestine raids against alleged insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, involvement in CIA rendition flights, and joint covert operations[31]. Employees of PMSCs have been involved in the transport of detainees from pick-up points (such as Tuzla, Islamabad, and Skopje); in rendition flights to drop-off points (such as Cairo, Rabat, Bucharest, Amman, and Guantanamo); and in building, equipping, and staffing the CIA’s “black sites.[32]” In 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc., a subsidiary company of Boeing, on behalf of five persons who had been kidnapped by the CIA and held in overseas secret prisons maintained by the United States[33]. Allegedly, Jeppesen would have participated in the rendition by providing flight planning and logistical support.The US government had petitioned to dismiss the case under the state secrets privilege The plaintiffs petitioned the US Supreme Court on 7 December 2010 asking it to hear an appeal of the dismissal. In May 2011 the Supreme Court declined to hear the plaintiffs appeal[34].



Ecuador
Three Ecuadorian provinces and 3,266 plaintiffs have initiated lawsuits against DynCorp—a private company contracted by the U.S. State Department—concerning grave health problems [35]as a consequence of the spraying of narcotic plants along the Colombian and Ecuadorian border under Plan Colombia[36].

Equatorial Guinea
The 2004 attempted coup d’état perpetrated in Equatorial Guinea is a clear example of the link between mercenaries and PMSCs and violation of the sovereignty of States.[37] In this particular case, the mercenaries involved were mostly former directors and personnel of Executive Outcomes, a PMSC that had become famous for its operations in Angola and Sierra Leone.[38] The team of mercenaries also included two employees of a PMSC, Meteoric Tactical Systems, who at the time were providing security to diplomats of western embassies in Baghdad, including the Ambassador of Switzerland.[39] It also included a security guard who previously worked for the PMSC Steele Foundation, which also provided protection to President Aristide of Haiti[40]. A number of people involved in the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea were arrested in Zimbabwe, others in Equatorial Guinea itself. The coup was intended to overthrow the government and hijack rich oil resources.





B. ARE PMSCs THE NEW PRIVATE PROVIDERS OF THE USE OF FORCE, THE MERCENARIES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY?



PMSCs are the modern reincarnation of a long lineage of private providers of physical force, such as corsairs, privateers, and mercenaries. PMSCs are non-state entities operating in extremely blurred situations, where the lines between what is allowed and what is not are difficult to identify.[41] The new security industry moves large quantities of weapons and military equipment. It provides services for military operations, recruiting former military as civilians to carry out what has been labeled as “passive or defensive security”.



During the French Revolution, Swiss “private soldiers were also exercising passive security to protect Louis XVI and his family in Versailles. They were mercenaries. Today in Iraq, legally registered employees of private military and security companies protect President Kharzai of Afghanistan, U.S. generals, and many other political or diplomatic figures.




Mercenaries have existed throughout history. They have been a constant in all wars, but almost disappeared for nearly one hundred years after privateers were outlawed in the nineteenth century[42], only to reappear in the 1960s during the decolonization period, which took place under the United Nations in Africa and Asia. To a certain extent PMSCs constitute the new corsairs.



The definition of “mercenary” is contained in two universal instruments and one regional convention.[43]. The universal instruments are Additional Protocol I (Article 47) to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, within the context of ius in bello, and the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, adopted by the United Nations within the context of ius ad bellum. Under International Humanitarian Law, mercenaries are not given the protection of combatants but are not outlawed. Under the UN convention, mercenaries are criminalized[44].




According to the UN Definition of Aggression[45], one of the obligations of Member States is to prohibit the use of its territory to recruit, train and send “armed bands, groups, irregulars, or mercenaries” abroad to be used in combat operations directed against the “sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of another State.” PMSC personnel are one of the categories covered by the definition.[46] The term “political independence of another State” is a direct reference to the right of self-determination stipulated in Article 1 common to the International Human Rights Covenants.




According to the definition under Article 47 (2) of Additional Protocol I, to be considered a mercenary the person has to fulfill the six conditions set out in that instrument. A mercenary (a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict; (b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities; (c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party; (d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict; (e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and (f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces[47].



The definition of a mercenary under the UN Convention covers all the criteria of Additional Protocol I with the exception of “does in fact take a direct part in the hostilities.” In addition, the UN Convention includes “any other situation” in which a non-national is recruited to take part “in a concerted act of violence aimed at (i) overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State, or (ii) undermining the territorial integrity of a State.” Whereas Additional Protocol I only applies to international armed conflicts, the UN Convention covers both international and non-international armed conflicts. Furthermore, the UN Convention makes the recruitment, use, financing or training of mercenaries an offense under international law and implies that any foreigner taking part in any violent activity aimed at provoking a change of regime through a coup d’état during peacetime may be considered a mercenary.



A number of the activities fulfilled by PMSC[48] may meet the requirements contained in the international instruments regarding mercenaries. Also, the recruitment of former militaries and law enforcement personnel as “security guards who would be ’exposed to great risks [...] including but not limited to the threats inherent in a war situation,” included as a clause in a number of contracts that the private security contractors signed, is extremely close to the element of the definition that specifies that the mercenary must be specifically recruited “in order to fight in an armed conflict.” [49] Even if they do not conduct offensive operations but have been recruited to protect military objectives, “security guards” may be targeted by the enemy who consider them as being recruited in an armed conflict. A number of activities conducted by PMSC employees may be considered direct participation in hostilities, such as the involvement of Blackwater employees in Najaf, Iraq, on 4 April 2004.



According to the interpretation of some legal experts of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the majority of PMSC employees operating in international armed conflict could be considered civilians. Only a small number are seen as combatants and mercenaries, who would lose protection under International Humanitarian Law when taking “direct part in hostilities.” The UN Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries does not require the direct participation of “security guards” in hostilities.[50].



Even though the main motivation of many of the private contractors engaged by PMSCs may be private gain, it is extremely difficult to prove this in court. Moreover, for many private guards, the motivation is a mixture of monetary gain, the “excitement and adrenaline” of adventure, and the possibility to put in practice all of their training, as. PMSCs usually hire personnel who have been highly trained in dangerous and counterinsurgency operations such as members of US SEALs, or SWCC, the British SAS or the French Legion[51].



The criteria of nationality and residence could not be applied to contractors from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other countries which have been involved in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. It could be applied to nationals of countries such as Peru, Honduras, and Chile that are not parties to the conflict. In the case of Chile, it is interesting to point out that while the government of Chile voted against the UN Security Council resolution to intervene in Iraq Chilean citizens were contracted by PMSCs to provide “passive protection” in Iraq. The requirement that a mercenary must not be a member of the armed forces of a party to the conflict could easily be circumvented by a given state that utilizes PMSCs by incorporating these employees into its own armed forces.




Each of the elements taken individually poses problems to classify PMSCs as mercenaries. For PMSCs and their employees to be considered mercenaries, all the requirements in the definition of the international instruments must be cumulatively met. PMSCs are commercial firms legally registered in their home countries, a large number of which have obtained contracts from governments (the Pentagon and the State Department in the United States).


In addition, only 32 states have ratified the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries and most of the governments which contract PMSC are not parties to the Convention.



All these difficulties to apply the 1989 International Convention against mercenaries indicate that this international instrument has become obsolete to deal with the new phenomenon of PMSCs.



C. THE NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL REGULATION



Self-Regulation: The Swiss Initiative, the Montreux Document of 2008, and the International Code of Conduct of 2010.



In 2006, in order to address the demand for a clarification of legal obligations under International Humanitarian and International Human Rights Law with regard to PMSCs, the government of Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross launched what has been known as the Swiss Initiative, an international consultation process with main stakeholders: governments, the new industry of PMSCs, and civil society.[52] The Swiss Initiative has been supported domestically and by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, where most of the industry (70 percent) and the lobbyists for the new security industry are located: the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) and the British Association of Private Security Companies (BAPSC).[53]
On 17 September 2008, the process led to a common understanding by 17 states known as the Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict.[54] This set out what the signatories view as the relevant IHL and IHRL applicable to PMSCs as well as a set of good practices for them. The second phase of the Swiss Initiative is the International Code of Conduct for PMSCs, aimed at setting high standards for the industry worldwide and supporting the establishment of a voluntary enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance with such standards. This is, however, still in the process of elaboration.




The United Nations and the proposed draft convention to regulate and monitor PMSCs




In 2005, the United Nations established the Working Group on the use of mercenaries “To monitor and study the effects of the activities of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and security services on the international market on the enjoyment of human rights, particularly the right of peoples to self determination, and to prepare draft international basic principles that encourage respect for human rights on the part of those companies in their activities”. [55]



In the course of five years, the UN Working Group on Mercenaries has found that there is a regulatory legal vacuum covering the activities of PMSCs. It has also discovered a lack of common standards for the registration and licensing of these companies, as well as for the vetting and training of their staff and the safekeeping of weapons. While a number of rules of IHL and IHRL could apply to states in their relations with PMSCs, the Working Group has observed that there are challenges to the application of domestic laws, in particular for international PMSCs operating in a foreign state, and difficulties in conducting investigations in conflict zones. The effect of this situation is that PMSCs are rarely held accountable for violations of human rights.




The military and security services provided by PMSCs are highly specific and dangerous. They should not be considered ordinary commercial commodities left to the self-regulation of the market and internal controls.  PMSCs have succeeded in creating diffuse responsibility and a lack of accountability through a labyrinth of contractual and insurance layers and shells.



Moreover, one should not forget that legal responsibilities of states to take appropriate measures to prevent, investigate, punish, and provide effective remedies for relevant misconduct of PMSCs and their personnel fully remain even if states have chosen to contract out certain security functions.



The Working Group has conducted a series of consultations with governments of the five geopolitical regions of the world on the impact of PMSC activities on the enjoyment of human rights, as well as on regulating and monitoring the activities of private military and security companies.



It has also organized a series of consultations with a wide range of stakeholders on the content and scope of a possible draft convention. An initial draft text of the convention was circulated to some 250 experts, academics, and NGOs to collect their input on the contents and scope of the Convention. The Working Group received some 45 written submissions comprising a total of over 400 comments.



In 2010 the Working Group recommended to the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly principles, main elements, and text for a possible International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies.[56] Both documents take into consideration the comments received from these stakeholders and feedback from member states.



The proposed binding international instrument aims to reaffirm and strengthen state responsibility for the monopoly on the legitimate use of force, identify inherent state functions that cannot be outsourced to PMSCs under any circumstances, and regulate the use of force and firearms by PMSCs under international human rights standards. It also envisages the development of a national regime of licensing, regulation, and oversight of the activities of PMSCs and their subcontractors. The proposed convention identifies inherent state functions that cannot be outsourced, making a bright line between functions that are permitted, but should be regulated, and functions that belong to the state and cannot be privatized.




The new instrument would establish an international register of PMSCs based on information provided by states. State parties would be compelled to provide data annually for the register on imports and exports of military and security services of PMSCs and standardized information on PMSCs registered in and licensed by the state party. This obligation to share information about companies in an open and transparent way would provide greater public and parliamentary scrutiny. An international committee would monitor the measures taken by state parties to implement the convention.




The proposed convention would apply not only to states, but also to intergovernmental organizations, within the limits of their competence, with respect to PMSCs, their activities, and their personnel. It would apply to all situations where PMSCs  operate, regardless of whether the situation is considered to constitute an armed conflict or not.




The fact that PMSC personnel are not usually “mercenaries” is also a strong argument for the adoption of a new instrument to deal with a new type of actor. Contrary to the “dogs of war” mercenaries of the past, private military and security companies are legally registered, and the definition used in international instruments—such as the one contained in Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and the one in the UN Convention on Mercenaries—typically does not apply to the personnel of PMSCs.





The argument that employing PMSCs is cost-effective may be true in the short term and if a number of socioeconomic variables are not taken into consideration, such as training in the use of weapons and counterinsurgency operations of former militaries and policemen, which is paid by taxpayers. In this regard, it is worth noting the increasing number of military personnel who, attracted by higher salaries, are leaving the army in developed and developing countries to join PMSCs. One way to decrease costs for PMSCs has been to contract more former military members and policemen from developing countries at much lower salaries. Issues of reintegration and post-traumatic stress disorder in individuals returning to their communities from military or security work abroad have not been assessed either. Because of the nature of their contracts, thousands of these disposable “guns for hire” are available in the market and ready to be employed in any conflict situation.



The aphorism that the invisible hand of the market is enough to regulate the activities of PMSCs without outside intervention seems to have been abandoned after a number of events have proved to the contrary.


The Working Group is not the only body calling for a legally binding instrument to regulate and monitor the activities of private military and security companies. This is also the position of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which has adopted two reports recommending “that the Committee of Ministers draw up a Council of Europe instrument aimed at regulating the relations of its member states with PMSCs and laying down minimum standards for the activity of these private companies.”[57] The UN Working Group’s proposals follow the same logic as the “Stop Outsourcing Security Act” proposed by U.S. Congress Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.



Most UN Member States, upon considering the impact of PMSCs on the enjoyment of human rights, assert the opinion that outsourcing functions related to the legitimate use of force to private contractors requires binding regulatory and monitoring mechanisms at the international level due to the transnational character of the industry. The position of western states, however, is that a binding instrument with regulatory and oversight mechanisms is too premature. The recommendation made by the Working Group to the United Nations to create an open-ended intergovernmental working group to consider an international regulatory framework to monitor PMSCs has been accepted despite the opposition of western states.[58] A process has been set up in the United Nations for political negotiations on this important issue by Member States, Intergovernmental Organizations, and civil society represented by human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations.[59]


___________________________________________

While ABRAHAM built his own PMSC---------PRIVATE GLOBAL MILITARY AND SECURITY CORPORATION-----MR FROG as sovereign citizens was getting mighty nervous over his ability as a sovereign INDIAN wanting wealth and power -----to be able to become that FROG TO PRINCE------just as our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE today understand that CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA has unleashed the same against our US sovereign nation ----indeed trying to take the US to colonial status.


THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH ends with these two factions along with global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS fighting it out for BOMBAY-----as we stated above BOMBAY bursts into fire-----preparing BOMBAY to MOVE FORWARD to being MUMBAI------GLOBAL ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE SMART CITY.


Mumbai Metropolitan Region to develop 5 Smart Cities
December 20, 2014 smartadmincp Smart Cities News, Smart City Projects

MUMBAI now -----SMART CITIES being that global banking 1% militarized, deep, deep, really deep state controlled by global mercenary military and security corporations mirrors BALTIMORE MD USA being made BLOOMBERG FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE #2 NORTH AMERICA ------it too MOVING FORWARD SMART CITY control of US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES by these same PMSC-----PRIVATE GLOBAL MILITARY AND SECURITY CORPORATIONS.

MR FROG as a local INDIAN want-a-be PRINCE loses out when India's OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS join the global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS of Europe, Arabia, Eastern Asia for ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE under UNITED NATIONS PRIVATE MILITARY/PEACEKEEPERS.


It's a good thing the only REAL development happening in US CITIES DEEMED FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES is building of SMART CITIES infrastructure because these few decades of US civil unrest civil war causes all kinds of death, destruction, community citizens displaced.

ROBBER BARON 5% freemason/Greeks black, white,and brown players morphing from criminal fraud and government corruption to being leaders of military junta.





Books

Mumbai now, Bombay then


MEENA MENON



Chennai, March 02, 2010 09:42 IST
Updated: March 02, 2010 09:42 IST


This rather large and heavy coffee table book on Mumbai's past and present has a breezy essay on ‘Mumbai Now' by Naresh Fernandes and pictures by the renowned Chirodeep Chaudhuri. Fernandes draws upon his own maternal grandfather's history to illustrate how you can make it anywhere if you make it in Mumbai.



He starts off his contribution with the little known “shuttlers” who ferry film reels from theatre to theatre. “It's the kind of livelihood that could only have been invented in Mumbai.” Fastracking through enterprise, culture, food and movies, he hits on the central point — the point where the city changed dramatically, the communal riots in 1992-93 — and ends with the city becoming the target of terrorism. “No matter how bad things get, they seem to suggest, we have an infinite capacity to cope. But now it's all too clear that we're wearing thin.”



Succinct
In contrast, Jim Masselos presents a succinct and much more rosy picture of the past in the ‘Bombay Then' section, which is interesting and beautifully illustrated in black and white. “Bombay or Mumbai has always been a city of the here and now, of today, of tomorrow and even of the day after.” He brings out how “the efforts of citizens concerned with preserving the city's heritage” have contributed to the importance of Bombay's history.



And so we are taken back in time to the islands and the Elephanta caves and also treated to stories of drunken Portuguese soldiers who shot at the priceless statues out of boredom, the seven islands coming together, the early educational institutions, and how the city acquired a character of diversity. “Bombay town over the first half of the nineteenth century acquired a character of diversity and even cosmopolitanism.



There was a mix of ethnicities, communities, castes, religions and classes. Among them were Armenians and Greeks, Chinese and Persians, Arabs and Jews from outside the subcontinent; while from within it came not only immigrants from the immediate Marathi, Konkani and Gujarat hinterlands but from further afield — from Kerala, Rajasthan, North India and Bengal.”



Taking the reader through a rather snappy account of Bombay's rise as a city, Masselos says that “it was clear by the beginning of the 1920s that Bombay had begun to reach the limits of the seven islands from which it had begun and now needed to move outwards.” The city was beautiful and faithful to its reputation as Urbs Prima in Indis, the first city in India.


A Mumbai resident cannot but feel nostalgic reading about the city's better planned past, which comes out for instance in this observation: “Pherozeshah Mehta, like many other leading men of the city on many occasions and over many years, referred to the beauty of its harbour, the superiority of its location and the calibre of its public buildings.”



Masselos speaks of the “enormous civil pride in Bombay” something that has painfully eroded over the years, of the city's key role in the nationalist struggle, and how it became a “fully Indian city” after Independence.




Breathtaking
The opening page of the ‘Bombay Then' section is a breathtaking and rare photo from the 1880s of the city with a panoramic view along the coast. Other captivating features include: old pictures of the Ganpati festival with smaller crowds, giving it an almost personal touch; rare shots of the first railway line in India, between Bori Bunder and Thane, inaugurated in 1853; the Bombay-Pune railway line that cuts through the Western Ghats; the old Fort walls of the city which were pulled down later; and the old Churchgate station with approach through a moat and the harbour. The black-and-whites of yesteryear serve as a balm for the strained eyes that are so used to a crowded, congested and almost ugly city that Mumbai is now.



One of the pictures of Rampart Row with Flora Fountain (now Hutatma chowk) in the centre is particularly riveting. So are many of the city's aerial views of the Bombay Race Course, Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) apart from the island city itself. Another blissful view is that of the promenade along Chowpatty and Marine Drive with only a few cars, unimaginable today.



In contrast, the ‘Mumbai Now' section is brightly coloured. While the city has changed so much, the picture showing hordes of people walking through a flooded thoroughfare is worth more than a thousand words. And that kind of says it all about Mumbai now.

_____________________________________________
We will end this week's public policy discussion referencing SALMAN RUSHDIE'S THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH----by pointing to the political conflicts in this novel----it is always a member of that wealthy global corporate family who is made the hero of COMMUNIST/MAOIST fighters for our 99% of WE THE WORKERS.  We spoke earlier this week about the global banking 5% freemason/Greek players being ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT MARXIST REBELS VS RIGHT WING FASCISTS in Latin America----in Africa---in southeast Asia-----well, here too in Rushdie's novel come those global banking MARXISTS----and they do indeed invade SRI LANKA ----creating death, destruction continuous societal turmoil for those 99% of Sri Lankan citizens after which Sri Lanka is made a FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE with almost all of its native citizens dead or vanquished.


'Fastracking through enterprise, culture, food and movies, he hits on the central point — the point where the city changed dramatically, the communal riots in 1992-93 — and ends with the city becoming the target of terrorism'.

So too in Rushdie's novel does this become BOMBAY morphing to MUMBAI.  Now, do US cities need global banking ---global corporations---do we need militarized juntas creating all kinds of violence, guns, drugs, population tensions in order to REBUILD OUR LOCAL US CITY ECONOMIES? 

OF COURSE NOT-----WE CAN REBUILD OUR LOCAL US CITY ECONOMIES IN EACH COMMUNITY WITH SMALL BUSINESSES AND SMALL BUSINESS MANUFACTURING.


Why is CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA now TRUMP MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE?  They are attacking our national, state, and local sovereignty to take US to colonial independent economic zones ruled by global military tribunal.


HOW PROGRESSIVE AND FREE MARKET IS THAT!!!


For those not knowing UNDERARMOUR -----loving that ARMOUR----is top global corporation is supplying military/global security and policing uniforms, boots, et al -------as what makes it  a billion dollar corporation with some sales of sports wear on the side.  Here is our former Baltimore Police chief now tied to global security corporation----being that


'Private military and security companies (PMSC)'

with lots of global banking 5% FAKE religious leaders ready for MILITARY JUNTA here in Greater Baltimore.  This Baltimore police chief chasing BAD GUYS WITH GUNS led a police force filled with corrupt police officers we all knew were tied to political machine drug, gun, violence making Baltimore one of the most violent and third world in US.  
BEALEFELD as Rushdie's BOMBAY government and law enforcement never seemed to notice ABRAHAM as black market global corporation or MR FROG as THE CORPORATION running a mafiosa syndicate ----ONE VOTE ONE BRIBE said ABRAHAM and MR FROG.  THE MOOR----the only survivor of the complete dissolution of both these crime families-----was arrested for his father's crimes as the low-level manager but freed with bribes.


Fred BealefeldVice President & Chief Global Security Officer at Under Armour

Bel Air, Maryland
Law Enforcement
Current
  1. Under Armour,
  2. U.S. Department of Justice
Previous
  1. Stevenson University,
  2. Baltimore Police Department
Education
  1. Community College of Baltimore


Experience

  • Vice President & Chief Global Security Officer
    Under Armour

    July 2014 – Present (4 years 1 month)Baltimore, Maryland Area
    Responsible for the development, implementation and oversight of all global security efforts for Under Armour; including personal security for UA teammates, facility and asset protection.
  • Member; Bureau of Justice Assistance Law Enforcement Forecasting Group



  • U.S. Department of Justice
    March 2014 – Present (4 years 5 months)


  • The U.S. Department of Justice's Law Enforcement Forecasting Group (LEFG) helps the Bureau of Justice Assistance anticipate emerging crime trends and identify developments in tactics, strategies, and technologies that might assist law enforcement agencies provide quality police services. Composed of law enforcement executives and criminal justice researchers, LEFG members provide invaluable environmental scanning that BJA uses to develop new programs to test concepts and to create training and technical assistance programs that are immediately relevant to the law enforcement field. LEFG members have identified five top priorities for BJA law enforcement programs as:

    Crime Analysis & Capacity Building
    Gun Violence
    Information Sharing
    Human Resources (recruiting, training, retaining)
    Social Media

    https://www.bja.gov/Programs/LEFG-Bealefeld.html


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July 19th, 2018

7/19/2018

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'Founded by ex-members of the US Army Special Forces, Triple Canopy is a mercenary force that works mainly for the US government in Iraq. Their employees include former Navy SEALs, Rangers, Special Operations personnel and police officers'.

We shared a JUNTA VIDEO that did a great job describing the proliferation of military juntas around the global followed by those military weapon caches. Since it is the global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS behind all that EISENHOWER ACT GLOBAL MITRE CORPORATION expanding military complex-------then as CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA take our US sovereign nation to being a colonial tribute state these few decades----so too, now does those American colonial FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES become targeted for these same military junta civil unrest civil war structures---

MOVING FORWARD TODAY INSIDE EACH US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONE.



'Stephen Kinzer: America’s slow-motion military coup - The ...
www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/09/16/america...America’s slow-motion military coup ... the emergence of a military junta in Washington may seem like welcome ... A zombie war in Afghanistan; Military officers, ...'


Again, REAL left social progressives distinguish between our PUBLIC US MILITARY RANK AND FILE-----and what has been made a global private mercenary military corporation these few decades. It is these former special operations soldiers once PUBLIC US military for decade or two working for global military corporations who are those political candidates running and winning US elections.

THE US HAS NEVER OPENLY ALLOWED COVERT AGENTS AS US POLITICAL OFFICIALS.


All of these global private mercenary corporations were built during CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA----yet it is TRUMP being blamed for creating a military junta.


Politics


10 Frightening Facts About Private Military Companies


Pauli Poisuo January 7, 2014

Private military companies are essentially armies that are controlled by no one but their shareholders and whoever pays them the most. They’re not about to go anywhere, either—on the contrary, as capitalism marches on, there are more and more of these private armies running around the globe.



Let’s take a look at what they do.


10 Discount Soldiers



The thing about private military companies is that (like any other company) they can come from literally anywhere. Defion Internacional, for instance, hails from Peru, South America. This may not seem like the most obvious place for a frightening private army—that is, until you realize that Peru suffered a 20-year internal conflict that ended as recently as 2000 and is still trying to pick up the pieces.



The country is full of men who grew up in a state of constant conflict, and are now struggling to support their families in a poor economy. As such, Defion Internacional has been able to hire their personnel with as little as US$1000 per month. Of course, these men think it is a fairly good salary for them, as typical monthly wages in Peru (if they manage to get work) is only around $200 a month.



Defion Internacional specializes in dangerous security assignments in the Middle East, but also has other lines of business such as food and medical services, English teaching, and (most frighteningly) insurance. The company has been given missions in Iraq by the US Department of State, meaning that these underpaid Peruvians have actually worked with the US Military. They have also worked for a larger US private military company called Triple Canopy Inc., although these days the latter prefers to do their own hiring in Peru. Hey, speaking of Triple Canopy . . .


9 A Private Army Guards US Officials Abroad



Triple Canopy, like Defion Internacional, is known to employ discount South American soldiers. However, that’s just a small fraction of their business. Founded by ex-members of the US Army Special Forces, Triple Canopy is a mercenary force that works mainly for the US government in Iraq. Their employees include former Navy SEALs, Rangers, Special Operations personnel and police officers.



Although it specializes in security and escort operations, Triple Canopy has been responsible for some of the toughest missions a mercenary company can undertake. After Saddam Hussein’s fall, the company found employment in Iraq, guarding and escorting US officials and performing other high-risk duties. As a company that works closely with the military, some have dubbed them the “other army” of the United States.



8 Rise Of The German Mercenaries



For years, Germans (who for obvious reasons have tried to lead a conflict-free life since World War II) scoffed at the American private militaries that were causing trouble all over the world’s conflict zones. In 2007, they received some troubling news of their own: A former German officer called Thomas Kaltegärtner had founded a mercenary company of his own.



Kaltegärtner’s company, Asgaard German, then went on to cause further gray hairs to German politicians by signing a deal to provide security services for Galadid Abdinur Ahmad Darman, the President of Somalia. Apparently, their mission is no less than restoring security in the war-ravaged area.



This may not sound like such a bad thing, except for one thing: Darman happens to be a self-appointed president—one of many Somali warlords who’ve claimed that title and refuse to recognize the authority of the official, United Nations-appointed transition government of the country. One can only imagine what “security services” for such a person might entail, and how he is planning to “restore peace in the area.”



And now he has a bunch of highly trained German soldiers to help him.


7 Image Issues



These days, private military companies are very keen on maintaining a positive, professional reputation. After all, the Information Age has made sure that every single gaffe companies make eventually finds its way to the eyes of the world. A prime example of this new, shiny veneer is Sandline International, the now-defunct British company closely associated with Aegis Defence, whose mercenaries saw action in war-torn Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea, among other places.



Sandline had an advisor and public spokesman called Michael Grunberg, who smilingly fed the media the same kind of corporate buzzword talk that a tech company CEO might sprout: According to Grunberg, his company and its horde of privately paid soldiers are “established entities, have established sets of principles and employ professional people.” Sandline also handled bad publicity just as awkwardly as any other company: For instance, when a book that criticized the company came out (Mercenaries: An African Security Dilemma) they responded by publishing a massive list of flaws in the writing, nitpicking the book’s details to death without really responding to any of the more serious accusations.



6 Academi


Academi is probably the most harmless-sounding name on this list, but don’t be fooled: The company is actually none other than the infamous Blackwater. The company’s history of atrocities runs so far and deep that there are entire websites solely dedicated to listing their various shady activities: For a while, they were even involved in a CIA death squad.”

THIS IS OF COURSE TRUMP'S DEVOS AND PRINCE------THAT MILITARY JUNTA




The name “Academi,” which has been in use since 2011, marks the second time the company has attempted to whitewash its name in five years. It’s first name change was to “XE Services,” which lasted only two years, until yet another “corporate restructuring” took place. So far, this strategy seems to work for them, as their new name is yet to be too tarnished. Then again, judging by the fact that they have already been forced to admit to at least 17 federal criminal charges and pay millions of dollars in fines, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before they have to come up with an even less threatening name. Though with their reputation at this point, there probably is no name that could soften their public image.


5 Executive Outcomes


In the other end of the sliding scale of terrifying private militaries, we have Executive Outcomes, known to their friends as EO (if they have any). This South African company has been sighted in most African war zones, where it is said to hold high influence. Executive Outcomes mercenaries have been seen in Sierra Leone, Angola, Uganda, Botswana, Zambia, Ethiopia, Namibia, Lesotho and, of course, South Africa. Although they officially state their only mission is bringing peace, they have been suspected of several shady activities ranging from Sierra Leone-based oil company shenanigans to diamond dealings with the jewel giant De Beers.



The company is notorious for targeting the client country’s mineral-rich regions, often regaining and securing control of gold, oil and diamond regions before paying attention to other matters. Some whisper they don’t always get around to returning these possessions to the country. Executive Outcomes is said to own gold mines in Uganda, oil drilling facilities in Ethiopia and a variety of other peacetime business ventures in the other countries it has fought for.


4 The Case Of Jamie Leigh Jones


In 2007, Jamie Leigh Jones, an employee of private military contractor Halliburton/KBR, claimed she was gang-raped by several of her co-workers. This traumatic experience was just the beginning of her struggles with the private military company. Her employer then decided to cover up the incident by locking her in a shipping container with no food or water for 24 hours. This was followed with a warning: They’d immediately fire her if she left Iraq to seek medical treatment.



Unsurprisingly, Jones sued. However, the court proceedings proved problematic. KBR’s employee contract stipulated that Jones’s claims be heard without jury, judge, public record, or transcripts, which made it extremely difficult to prove whether or not anything had happened.
Finally, after 15 months of much-publicized fighting, Jones was allowed to take KBR to court. When the case finally came to trial in 2011, KBR wheeled out evidence that had been completely ignored by the media. Jones had a history of manipulation and lying and had wildly changed her story multiple times. One of these changes included the claim that her pectoral muscle had been torn and her chest had been injured to the point of disfigurement, but she “could not produce a single witness from Iraq” who could confirm that she’d even claimed to have a chest injury. In fact, her flight out of Iraq required her to put on a very heavy bulletproof jacket, which doctors pointed out would have been literally impossible with the specific injuries she claimed to have. She eventually lost the case, despite maintaining to the end that her story was true.



Although we may never find out for sure what exactly happened to Jones and how it was initially dealt with by the company, it did bring to light KBR’s unethical employment contract, which banned employees from pressing sexual assault charges in court. Since the incident, the US government passed an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill, which prevented the government from dealing with companies who have that clause in their employment contracts, and so KBR was forced to change it.



3 Trophy Videos


In 2005, a “trophy video” featuring presumably Scottish or Irish men randomly shooting Iraqi civilians was uploaded on a site that was unofficially affiliated with Aegis Defence Services—a private military company that incidentally employs both Scots and Irishmen. The incident caused considerable outcry in news media all over the world, and sparked dialogue about the state of Iraqi defense. At that point, over 25,000 private security contractors were stationed in the country. They were widely hated and had a reputation for abusing and even killing civilians at the slightest provocation. None of them had ever been brought to law, because the local law enforcement had been specifically forbidden to prosecute them.


HERE IN US WE HAVE SEVERAL YEARS UNDER OBAMA OF JUST SUCH KILLING OF CIVILIANS AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION---MILITARIZED POLICING AND TRAINING.


Despite video footage, this case was not an exception. Upon carefully reviewing the available material, US Army’s Criminal Investigation Division eventually concluded that they are not going to press charges. Meanwhile, Aegis Defence is keeping its own internal investigations carefully under wraps. None of the incident’s investigative files have been released to the public.



2 The Founder, David Stirling


Although mercenary armies have been around more or less since war was invented, the creation of the modern private military company is usually attributed to Colonel David Stirling. Stirling was a Scottish Laird and a skillful military man to the very core: Even before he started dabbling in the mercenary business, he had created a little something called the SAS, which you may know as one of the most elite special force units in the world.



After Stirling left the army following World War II, he moved to Africa and founded Capricorn Africa, a society for promoting racial harmony. However, destiny had chosen another path for him. Before long, he was running Watchguard International Ltd., a commercial company that helped train security units for several Arab and African countries. Watchguard, established in the 1960s, is usually attributed as the first modern private military company.



1Sex Trafficking


DynCorp is one of the most powerful private military companies in the world, with most of its several-billion dollar revenue coming directly from the US government. Sadly, allegations have been made that the company’s code of conduct leaves something to be desired—to say the least.


In the late 1990s, two whistleblowers (independently from each other) came forward and alleged that DynCorp employees stationed in Bosnia were routinely abusing civilians. According to their accusations, DynCorp people engaged in sex with minors, and had even sold civilians to each other as slaves.



The company immediately reacted to the terrifying news . . . by firing both of the whistleblowers. One of them in particular, Kathryn Bolkovac, had already been facing severe difficulties before the firing: Despite the fact that she had uncovered a network of brothels and bars at which kidnapped women were forced to entertain peacekeepers, her attempts to report the issue through the chain of command were constantly sabotaged and people even threatened her life.



However, Kathryn persevered. She, along with the other whistleblower, took DynCorp to court. The company lost both cases, and the antics of its employees were revealed to the world so hard that Hollywood even made a major motion picture out of Bolkovac’s story.


+ Sharp End International


Despite living in a continent that is mainly made of deadly spiders (or maybe because of it), Australians have an uncanny ability to bring their own peculiar sense of humor in almost any situation. Private military business is no different: With its joking name that is in sharp contrast with its no-nonsense webpage, it’s no surprise that Sharp End International hails from Australia. Another clue is that they actually have a Facebook fan page.

Sharp End is a relatively tiny company, as private military hordes go. This is because it’s a highly specialized organization: A private military force that trains other military forces. Its special operatives are experts at providing training for government and corporate troops, which means that they actually show other private militaries how things are done. This makes them a potentially highly dangerous entity—luckily, they seem to have a fairly strict code of conduct and won’t train just anyone.

_________________________________________



Argentina and Chile were the earliest LATIN AMERICAN nations to be taken by global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH.  Without coincidence we discussed it was Argentina under PERONS embracing Hitler nazi leaders....Perons and Hitler working for same global 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS.

Let's look at today's US cities and think how covert global banking 5% freemason/Greek civil unrest civil war players embroiled all of South and Central America into decades of MILITARY JUNTA.

During CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA global banking 1% identified that 5% freemason/Greeks to be ROBBER BARON pols and players sacking and looting our Federal, state, and local treasuries.  In exchange for LYING, CHEATING, AND STEALING----those CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA were given PATRONAGE as either CASH or bogus small businesses or NGOs while they pretended public policies were helping 99% of US LABOR AND JUSTICE.



What happens after the SACKING AND LOOTING stage is the morphing from ROBBER BARON period to those global banking 5% freemason/Greeks becoming CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR PLAYERS.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED FIRST INSIDE ARGENTINA/CHILE---THEN EXPORTED TO OTHER LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS.


'The exportation of the "Argentine" method to Central America

Argentina's military involvement in Central America began during the Nicaraguan Revolution between 1977 and 1979, when Argentina began supporting the Somoza family regime in Nicaragua in its fight against the Sandinista Front. Argentina supported the Somoza dictatorship until its overthrow by the Sandinistas in July 1979. In November 1979, before the 13th Conference of American Armies in Bogotá, Colombia, junta leader GeneralRoberto Eduardo Viola offered a proposition calling for a joint Latin American effort against, on his words, "leftist subversion", citing this as "the greatest military threat in the region".[2] Pursuant with this plan (referred to as the "Viola Plan"), Argentina expanded its counterinsurgency and military assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras at the behest of the military leadership in those countries'.

All these MILITARY JUNTA LEADERS work for global banking----one side pretending to be MARXIST REBELS the other side being far-right wing authoritarian militia.  Whether inside cities or in rural areas sovereign citizens in those targeted nations were first forced to try to save their lives---then they were impoverished and made fearful for their lives----then they were forced to chose a MILITARY JUNTA for which to work and support.  None of those 99% of citizens WANTED TO DO THIS----they did it to survive.

All of these global banking 1% OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS' civil unrest civil war were indeed tied to KNIGHTS OF MALTA---TRIBES OF JUDAH----finger-pointing going back and forth-----but the rank and file sovereign citizens forced into these military juntas were simple, honest citizens trying to have work and support families.



A Human Rights Breakthrough in Guatemala


A chance discovery of police archives may reveal the fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared in Guatemala’s civil war



By Julian Smith
Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe
October 2009


Rusting cars are piled outside the gray building in a run-down section of Guatemala City. Inside, naked light bulbs reveal bare cinder-block walls, stained concrete floors, desks and filing cabinets. Above all there is the musty odor of decaying paper. Rooms brim with head-high heaps of papers, some bundled with plastic string, others mixed with books, photographs, videotapes and computer disks—all told, nearly five linear miles of documents.

This is the archive of the former Guatemalan National Police, implicated in the kidnapping, torture and murder of tens of thousands of people during the country’s 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996. For years human rights advocates and others have sought to hold police and government officials responsible for the atrocities, but very few perpetrators have been brought to trial because of a lack of hard evidence and a weak judicial system. Then, in July 2005, an explosion near the police compound prompted officials to inspect surrounding buildings looking for unexploded bombs left from the war. While investigating an abandoned munitions depot, they found it stuffed with police records.



Human rights investigators suspected that incriminating evidence was scattered throughout the piles, which included such minutiae as parking tickets and pay stubs. Some documents were stored in cabinets labeled “assassins,” “disappeared” and “special cases.” But searching the estimated 80 million pages of documents one by one would take at least 15 years, experts said, and virtually no one in Guatemala was equipped to take on the task of sizing up what the trove actually held.



That’s when investigators asked Benetech for help. Founded in 2000 in Palo Alto, California, with the slogan “Technology Serving Humanity,” the nonprofit organization has developed database software and statistical analysis techniques that have assisted activists from Sri Lanka to Sierra Leone. According to Patrick Ball, the organization’s chief scientist and director of its human rights program, the Guatemalan archives presented a unique challenge that was “longer-term, more scientifically complex and more politically sensitive” than anything the organization had done before.




From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala’s civil war pitted left-wing guerrilla groups supported by Communist countries, including Cuba, against a succession of conservative governments backed by the United States. A 1999 report by the United Nations-sponsored Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification—whose mandate was to investigate the numerous human rights violations perpetrated by both sides--estimated that 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. In rural areas, the military fought insurgents and indigenous Mayan communities who sometimes harbored them. In the cities, the National Police targeted academics and activists for kidnapping, torture and execution.



Although the army and the National Police were two separate entities, the distinction was largely superficial. Many police officers were former soldiers. One police official told the Commission for Historical Clarification that the National Police took orders from military intelligence and had a reputation for being “dirtier” than the army. The National Police was disbanded as a condition of the 1996 Guatemalan peace accords and replaced with the National Civilian Police.



The archive building is a very different place depending on which door one enters. One leads to the rooms filled with musty paper. Another opens on to the hum of fans and the clack of keyboards from workrooms and offices. Young workers in matching tan coats stride down brightly lit hallways, where row after row of metal shelves hold hundreds of neatly labeled file boxes.




Benetech’s first task was to get a sense of what the archive held. Guided by randomized computer instructions, workers withdrew sample documents: Take a paper from such and such a room, that stack, so many inches or feet deep. The more samples that are collected, the more accurately the researchers can estimate what the entire archive holds. Following this method, the investigators avoid charges from critics that they are selecting only incriminating documents.




In one room, three women in hairnets, gloves and painters’ breathing masks are bent over a table. One brushes a typewritten document yellowed with age. After each document is cleaned, it is digitally scanned and filed. The Guatemalan researchers place all the documents into storage. Some documents—the ones randomly selected by Benetech—will be entered into a database called Martus, from the Greek word for “witness.” Martus is offered free by Benetech online to human rights groups, and since 2003 more than 1,000 people from more than 60 countries have downloaded it from the group’s Web site (www.martus.org). To safeguard the information stored in Martus, the database is encrypted and backed up onto secure computer servers maintained by partner groups worldwide.




Working with an annual budget of $2 million donated by European countries, researchers and technicians have digitized eight million documents from the archive, and cleaned and organized another four million. Based on the evidence collected so far, there is “no doubt that the police participated in disappearances and assassinations,” says Carla Villagran, a former adviser to the Project to Recover the Historic Archives of the National Police. In some cases the information is explicit; in others, conclusions are based on what the documents don’t contain. For example, a name that disappears from an official list of prisoners might mean the person was executed.




As the details of daily reports and operational orders accumulate in the Martus database, a larger picture has emerged, allowing investigators to understand how the National Police functioned as an organization. “We’re asking, ‘What’s going on here?’” says Ball. Did the police get their orders directly from military intelligence or senior officials within the police force? Did mid-level officials give the orders without consulting superiors? Or did individual police officers commit these acts on their own initiative?




Ball insists that Benetech’s job is to “clarify history,” not to dictate policy. Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom showed his support with a visit to the archive last year. Still, “in this country, it has become dangerous to remember,” says Gustavo Meoño, director of the archive project. There has been at least one attempt to firebomb the archive. Not everyone is eager to dig up the recent past, especially police—some still serving on active duty—who could be implicated in crimes. But at the very least, the researchers hope to give closure to victims’ relatives and survivors. “If you have an official document that proves what you’ve been saying is true,” Villagran says, “it’s more difficult for anyone to say that you’re lying about what happened to you, your family and the ones you loved.” Villagran’s voice cracks as she tells how her husband was kidnapped and then disappeared during the war.




This past March, Sergio Morales, the Guatemalan government’s human rights ombudsman, released the first official report on the police archives project, “El Derecho a Saber” (“The Right to Know”). Though many human rights watchers had expected sweeping revelations, the 262-page report mostly just described the archive. Ball was among those disappointed, though he hopes a second report currently under development will include more details.




Yet the report did cite one specific case—that of Edgar Fernando García, a student who was shot in 1984, taken to a police hospital and never heard from again. (García’s widow is now a congresswoman.) Based on evidence recovered from the archive, two former members of a police unit linked to death squads were arrested, and arrest orders have been issued for two other suspects. It was an alarming precedent for those who still could be implicated: the day after the report’s release, Morales’ wife was kidnapped and tortured. “They are using violence to spread fear,” Morales told newspapers.




The question about what to do with future findings remains open. “Prosecutions are a great way of creating moral closure—I’ve participated in many,” says Ball. “But they aren’t what will change a country.” In his view, understanding how the National Police went bad and preventing it from happening again—“that’s real improvement.”




The work at the archive is expected to continue. Villagran hopes to have another 12 million documents digitized over the next five years. Meanwhile, the databases have been made available to Guatemalan citizens and human rights groups everywhere, says Ball. “Now it’s the world’s job to dig through the material and make sense of it.”


___________________________________________

There is NO MYSTERY-----UNITED NATIONS is tied to international labor organization WORLD WORKERS who pretend to be leftist MARXISTS----often JACOBIN freemasons---joining JESUIT KNIGHTS OF MALTA freemasons-----

If we watch on TV news these few decades of MUSLIM nations in ARABIA and Eastern Europe under attack----first the Taliban---then al-Qaeda ----then ISIS----these MILITARY FIGHTERS started first having 5% global banking civil unrest leaders receiving all kinds of military weapons caches-----forcing local sovereign citizens to fight with them-----then those original leaders disappear and VOILA those military fighters are now TERRORISTS. 

REAL left social progressives have shouted for several decades these military fighters national news were claiming were local sovereign citizens were always implanted 5% global banking civil unrest civil war players.  Same in LATIN America---same in Africa----

So, MOVING FORWARD civil unrest, civil war with MILITARY JUNTA in US will look just the same.  We are already starting to see the FAKE ALT RIGHT ALT LEFT 5% FAKE CIVIL UNREST groups trying to recruit our US 99% to one militarized group or the other. 

WHAT HAPPENS TO SPEED UP THIS 'RECRUITMENT'?  THOSE 5% FREEMASON/GREEK PLAYERS ARE ALLOWED TO GET VIOLENT----

When we say 'ALLOWED'----we mean already inside US cities deemed Foreign Economic Zone we see these militant groups expanding----street gangs or mafia----become those military junta leaders.
  In US cities these violent groups are often tied to local political machines.

WHEN THE GLOBAL BANKING 1% PATRONAGE MOVES FROM SUBSIDIZING SMALL BUSINESSES TO SUBSIDIZING MILITARY JUNTA -------WE SEE THESE GANGSTERS BECOMING VERY ORGANIZED.


There are no shortage today in US cities of gangs black, white, and brown----all they need is that CIA covert operations leaders pretending to be civil unrest civil war leaders ----and VIOLA---we have MILITARY JUNTA in US started just this way in LATIN AMERICA----in ARABIA----and yes, global banking 1% ASIAN OLD WORLD KINGS AND QUEENS use this same structure for their MAOIST civil unrest civil wars.


The 6 Most Gang Infested Cities in America


It is estimated that over 1.5 million people are members of the roughly 35,000 different gangs operating in the United States. Among those gangs are street gangs, both on the national and local level,

  • by MC
  • – on Jul 26, 2014
  • in Most Shocking
It is estimated that over 1.5 million people are members of the roughly 35,000 different gangs operating in the United States. Among those gangs are street gangs, both on the national and local level, outlaw motorcycle gangs, prison gangs, gangs affiliated with organized crime, and gangs made up solely based on ethnicity. The majority of these gangs came to fruition in the major urban areas where they still thrive today. Even relatively safe cities crime wise such as New York or Los Angeles (relative to the most dangerous U.S. cities) have no shortage of gangs vying for territory while carving their own niche in illicit trade.



While gangs are by no means exclusive to America, far from it, when one hears of violence in a major city the typical reaction “it’s probably gang related” echoes across the populace. Compared to many other first world nations, America has a higher proliferation of gang members, and gang violence, and while social conditions that create gangs, and help recruit gang members, such as poverty, failing education systems, and systemic racism all play a major role in exacerbating gang culture, it’s also easy to forget that for a country with a population of over 307 million people, the amount of those members of society involved in gangs is a mere 0.004 percent.



While the culture of fear is actively prevalent in the media on a daily basis, creating a constant anxiety that anyone at any time may fall victim to gang crime, the fact is most gang related crime is aimed at rival gangs, not average civilians. But try telling that to the people who live in many of these cities whose borders contain the highest concentration of gang members in the nation. In the majority of these cities the threat of being targeted by a gang, either for recruitment, or as a victim, is all too real.



*(The cities on this list are, by and large, in no particular order as concluding the number of gang members per city is widely inaccurate and some more recent studies are incomplete. Furthermore, statistics are based upon municipal law enforcement agencies, the FBI and CDC gang information.)



6 East St. Louis, Illinois
Via walkoverstates.wordpress.com



As anyone who has driven through East St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri’s brother in Illinois can attest, it’s not a pretty picture. There is no wonder that gangs have built themselves such a nice home in the city where, apart from a street named after current President Barack Obama, seems to be completely forgotten by the rest of the country. The city is one of America’s most violent, and the murder rate in East St. Louis is 17 times higher than the national average. And the murder rate is only going to keep growing as violent street gangs vie for turf almost completely unchallenged by a law enforcement agency that saw its budget decrease by over 33 percent between 2008 and 2011. Welcome to the city of 27,000 where a police officer was shot in the face in a shopping mall, and which the Governor of Illinois called an absolute “war zone.”





5 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Via Oklahoma City


There are parts of Oklahoma City that are beautiful; and there are parts that are downright scary. Note to traveler; if the gas station you pull up to has bullet proof windows, bars on top of that and a bullet proof glassed kiosk for the clerk to sit in, you’re in the wrong part of town. Because of the intense rivalries between street gangs, the violence in Oklahoma City follows such a pattern that has become tried, tested and true for decades as well. Shootings over rival territory, and the drug trade, predominantly between males aged 15-19, and, especially in Oklahoma City’s case, drive by shootings make up the majority of gang violence in the city, making it one of the most gang ridden cities in the country.




4 Camden, New Jersey
Via thecoli.com



There is a disturbing trend to the correlation between the highest levels of gang activity in America’s cities and the amount the budget for those cities’ police forces has been cut. Like others on this list, Camden is no exception to this rule. Also listed as America’s most dangerous city overall, Camden’s police force shrank by over a third between 2008 and 2011, the same period of time that gang membership across the U.S. nearly doubled. What can a city possibly do to combat gang crime, or any crime for that matter without a police force to enforce law and order? In a city with a high school drop out rate of nearly 70 percent that is per capita one of the poorest in the nation, the life of a gang member almost seems appealing to Camden youth. Really. What other options are there? In a wasteland like Camden, there is little chance for many of the city’s population of just over 70,000 to escape either the allure of gang culture, or the impact it has on one's life.




3 Detroit, Michigan
Via 4thmedia.orgIs



it any surprise Detroit is on this list? One of the most dangerous cities in America, it's no wonder it’s also one of the most affected by gangs. A massive decline in industry leading to unemployment and poverty… all perfect breeding grounds for gang culture. What’s worse, with the city’s massive economic collapse on a governmental level as well, where once there were over 4,000 police officers, now there are around half that, in a city with a core population of over 700,000 people.



Another major issue facing what little law enforcement there is left in Detroit is the fact that unlike many other larger cities with gang problems, the gangs in Detroit are not typical in the fact that they don't have any affiliation with the more well know and established street gangs in most cities, or any real hierarchy. Street gangs in Detroit essentially spring up per neighborhood, with names most outside the city wouldn’t even be aware of. Not that it makes a difference.



As the national crime rate decreases across the board in the U.S. Detroit’s continues to rise, in no small part due to the fact that gangs run the streets virtually unchecked by crippled law enforcement. And sadly, it’s predominantly the youth, the ones who have only known Detroit to be a shell of its former self, who seem to continue to get tangled up in gang culture. In 2010, when statistics were most complete on Detroit youth’s involvement with street violence the city counted 106 youth homicides and arrested 12,000 youths for various other criminal activities. Based on preliminary studies, just as Detroit’s crime rate has risen, so has the proliferation of youth in street gangs.




2 Los Angeles, California
Via fbi.gov



Once nicknamed the “gang capital of America” Los Angeles has lost that distinction, but not by much. According to the Los Angeles Police Department there are an estimated 450 gangs active in L.A. comprised of over 45,000 members. Practically every single gang that operates in America with much validity is in operation in Los Angeles. Again, according to the LAPD “during the last three years, there were over 16,398 verified violent gang crimes in the City of Los Angeles. These include 491 homicides, nearly 7,047 felony assaults, and approximately 5,518 robberies…” the majority of which are a result of the drug trade and never-ending turf war to control it. While as a whole for a city of its size Los Angeles is quite safe, in the areas where gangs are most visible, it’s best to stay away.



1 Chicago, Illinois
Via nytimes.com



In recent years Chicago has made a dramatic leap to overcome Los Angeles as America’s gang capital with a staggering 150,000 gang members and become one of the most violent cities in the country. In fact, Chicago recorded 413 murders in 2013 alone, a shocking number, if it weren’t for the fact that it actually represented a decrease from the 532 murders in Chicago in 2012. What’s worse, according to city law enforcement agencies, 80 percent of all shootings and murders in Chicago are gang related.

Again, like most major cities in the United States, economic hardship on the municipality has led to budget cuts and less law enforcement patrolling the streets. There are barely 200 members of Chicago’s anti-gang task force. How can police possibly contend with hundreds of different gangs all operating within the city, primarily the west and south sides, with such little resources? Exacerbating the problem is that the historical hierarchy of the Chicago gangs has seemingly come undone, with various factions of former larger gangs all claiming territory, and clearly willing to shoot first at anyone unfamiliar who may be encroaching on said territory. Even a member of the street gang the Vice Lords himself told NBC news that "there is no one to control this, so it has become haywire.”



Chicago has become a massive and violent play for territory in a powder keg of gun violence, fuelled by the drug trade. Murders for the current year stand roughly similar to last year, at 206 thus far, but after the 84-hour outburst of violence over the 4th of July weekend in which 82 people were shot, and 14 killed, the situation in Chicago seems far from stable.
_____________________________________________

We have shouted for decades that these US city gangs are being supplied weapons through the same global military weapon caches------MOVING FORWARD these 'militant groups' will explode.

As MOVING FORWARD sends our US economy to collapse---all pre-planned----all staged these few decades----as we eliminate more and more jobs----as we end safety net programs----as we bring more and more global 99% labor pool -----we are watching the STAGING OF MILITARY JUNTA structures.

Global banking 1% LOVE military juntas because national and international news always makes it sound as if these groups are local bad-guys.  Then these groups are made to sound like local terrorists-----all while global banking 1% KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH are never mentioned.

Our 99% of US city citizens black, white, and brown over these few decades of FAILED STATE US CITY ECONOMIES have been able to move from communities to more safe communities---have been able to leave US cities to escape---but MOVING FORWARD MILITARY JUNTA expands that violence to all US city communities and especially to rural communities.

THIS IS BIG-TIME ORGANIZED GLOBAL BANKING SACKING AND LOOTING OF CIVILIZED SOCIETIES----JUST AS IN 3000BC----1000BC AND ALL 99% OF WE THE PEOPLE WILL BE FORCED TO SEEK PROTECTION INSIDE ONE OR THE OTHER MILITARY JUNTA.





Violent Crime Is On the Rise in U.S. Cities


By Josh Sanburn and David Johnson
January 30, 2017




Violent crime increased in many of the nation’s largest cities in 2016, the second year in a row that metro areas saw jumps in homicide, robbery and aggravated assault.



According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which collected data from 61 metropolitan police agencies, U.S. cities saw 6,407 homicides in 2016, an 11% increase from the year before. Dallas, Las Vegas, Louisville, Memphis, Phoenix and San Jose all saw rises in killings last year, as did some smaller cities that typically have very low murder rates. Arlington, Texas, for example, had 4 homicides in 2015 but 18 in 2016; Salt Lake City saw 6 in 2015 compared with 14 last year.

Wonder why BALTIMORE having been ranked #1 in nation for just these violence, drugs, gang stats are never listed.


Homicide Rate Change
Rising
Unchanged
Falling
Hover or tap circles for city details, scroll or pinch to zoom


AKALARAZCACOFLGAHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMEMIMNMOMSMTNCNDNENHNMNVNYOHOKORPASCSDTNTXUTVAVTWAWIWVWY


Homicide rate changes compare 2016 data to the average of previous 5 years. Source: Major Cities Chiefs Association
Darrel Stephens, the MCCA’s executive director, cautions that it’s too early to know whether increases seen over the last two years are mere blips or the beginning of a sustained increase in overall crime rates around the country. Criminologists often say it takes at least three to five years of data to show true trend lines.



President Donald Trump routinely portrays crime in the country’s inner cities as out of control. Last week, he tweeted a vague threat to “send in the feds” in Chicago if the city didn’t lower its crime rates. But even with the recent increases, crime remains near all-time lows.



“We’ve had at least two years running now where there’s been an increase in 35 to 45 major cities,” Stephens says. “It’s a major issue and should be in the cities where it’s taking place. But it’s not anywhere near the kind of violence that we had in the 1990s.”
Homicide Rate in Select Cities, 1985-2016


1986198819901992199419961998200020022004200620082010201220142016Homicides per 100,000 people010203040506070


chicago, ILdallas, TXlas vegas, NVmemphis, TNsan jose, CAst. louis, MO


Source: FBI UCR, Major Cities Chiefs Association




Stephens says many departments cite similar problems: gang violence and retaliation, violence associated with drugs, the overwhelming number of guns in many U.S. cities, and even problems related to conflicts originating on social media. Another consistent factor is that violent crime is often concentrated in just a handful of neighborhoods. In Chicago, for instance, most of the homicides occur in a few areas on the South and West sides.



In Dallas, officials often cite domestic assaults and drug-related offenses as factors in the increasing crime rates, leading the department to create a 170-member violent crime task force made up of K-9, narcotics, and gang units. Memphis, meanwhile, is struggling with domestic violence and gang-related violence.



“We are going to put more focus in the police department on the gangs and the gang units, because they are really driving a lot of the homicides,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told local NBC affiliate WMC earlier this month.



The raw numbers, however, often don’t fully reflect the circumstances behind the increases. The city with one of the biggest spikes last year was Orlando, where 85 people were killed compared with 32 in 2015; 49 of those, though, were from the Orlando nightclub shooting in June.



Read more: See Chicago’s Deadly Year in 3 Charts
About a third of the cities noted in the report either remained steady or saw declines in the number of homicides, including Baltimore, which had a record number of murders in 2015 but reported a decrease last year.


As for this year, Stephens says he believes the crime rates will largely be similar to 2016. “I don’t think that’s going to substantially change this year,” he says.
_________________________________________

We discussed in detail some of these CIA----GLOBAL BANKING 5% CIVIL UNREST CIVIL WAR PLAYERS tied to decades of LATIN AMERICAN attacks by global 1% KNIGHTS OF MALTA----TRIBES OF JUDAH----and this is simply ONE----MS-13 -----indeed, they have been filling our US cities these few decades----they work for global banking 1%.

When we partner global military mercenary covert operatives with these organized crime and drug gangs we have the makings of MILITARY JUNTA.  These gangs get their weapons from the same military weapons caches released by WEAPONS MANUFACTURES tied to US but operating overseas in Foreign Economic Zones.  FLASH-FORWARD this coming decade or two and almost all of our 99% US CITIZENS will feel forced to belong to one of these MILITARY JUNTA.

TODAY, IN US CITIES THESE VIOLENT GROUPS ARE CONFINED TO POOR AND LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES----MOVING FORWARD THIS COMES UP THE INCOME LADDER.


As we stated----local politicians fund and support these violent gangs-----that is what having local politicians as MILITARY JUNTA ----Trump only now being labelled this after these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA building these junta structures. Our US global banking 5% freemason/Greek pols and players supporting the explosive growth of military junta-----if we continue to allow MOVING FORWARD.

So, in LATIN AMERICA----as in ARABIA----as in southeast Asia several decades ago----local politicians did the same thing---tying themselves to local community crime and drug gangs-----global banking 1% sent in billion dollars and caches of military weapons---and VOILA Latin America becomes embroiled in MILITARY JUNTA.

Has MS-13 'literally taken over towns and cities of the US'?


By Tal Kopan, CNN


Updated 11:07 AM ET, Fri May 19, 2017
Washington (CNN)


President Donald Trump on Thursday made a sweeping assertion that the MS-13 gang has "literally taken over" US cities -- but his remarks about the violent street gang contained a number of misstatements or claims that were impossible to back up with evidence.


MS-13 has been a frequent talking point of the Trump administration as part of its justification for hard-line immigration policies and border security. It was in that context that Trump brought up MS-13 in his opening statement in a joint news conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos -- as he talked about stopping trans-border crime.

What is MS-13? The 'transnational' street gang on the FBI's radar

"MS-13, likewise, a horrible, horrible large group of gangs that have been let into country over a fairly short period of time are being decimated by the Border Patrol and by ICE and by our incredible local police forces and they are getting out of our country or in some cases, going directly into prisons throughout our country," Trump said. "But they've literally taken over towns and cities of the United States."
Trump's comments contained a number of mischaracterizations of MS-13 or assertions that are not backed up by any statistics.



While Colombia is an important front in the fight against gangs and drugs, MS-13 is a Central American and US-based gang, so Trump's mention of the issue seemed unrelated to his conversation with Santos.

MS-13 is Trump's public enemy No.1, but should it be?
It was also entirely unclear which cities and town Trump meant were "literally taken over" by MS-13, which remains a small fraction of the overall gang problem in the US, per available statistics.



Neither the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the White House responded to a request for clarification.


Origin of MS-13: Not imported and not new


Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13, is a transnational gang with a heavy presence in Central America -- but it actually began in the United States three decades ago.
MS-13 began in Los Angeles in the 1980s amid a flood of Salvadorans fleeing a civil war to the US.



It was the US deporting these immigrants in the '90s back to Central America that sent the gang there, where it took hold.



Now the gang has footholds in the US and in Central America in cities like Los Angeles, New York and the Washington, DC, region and countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.



While it's unknown how much of the Central American strength of MS-13 was homegrown, a Congressional Research Service analysis of MS-13 found that its ranks were continuously strengthened by deportees from the US returning home, even as members also migrated to the US.



There were roughly 24,000 MS-13 members in Central America in 2012, according to an analysis by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Today, the Justice Department estimates roughly 30,000 members worldwide and more than 10,000 in the US, a number that has held steady for some years but that the department believes is trending upward.



The Obama administration Treasury Department in 2012 sanctioned the gang as a transnational criminal organization -- the first such designation for a street gang.



Connection to immigration: Difficult to assess


The departments of Justice and Homeland Security have been unable to provide reporters with any estimates of how many MS-13 members nationwide came into the US illegally -- and how many members joined the gang after coming to the US. The gang actively recruits in immigrant communities in the US and often victimizes undocumented immigrants, who are vulnerable to extortion because they fear law enforcement will discover their status.



There are roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.



The Department of Justice says it has found in recent investigations that gang leaders in El Salvador are directing US cliques to