What is the general feeling among you OPP'ers on the generic issue of "profiling"?

Do you feel this is a logical and acceptable tool to be used by employers, law enforcement personnel, and the general public in our everyday lives?

The following is a brief portion of an article written by Mike Krieger. He raises an issue that should be a concern for all Americans. How can we allow our government to electronically surveil and record every aspect of our lives, and use and abuse it for political purposes? We know that judges, politicians, prominent business leaders are targeted, and using J. Edgar Hover's time proven technique of blackmail and leverage, our society is corrupted as a result. Should we not as a people be aware, discuss, and disseminate this information to our family and friends. Do we not have the power to effect positive changes within our own government?


Authored by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.

From the 2013 post, Martin Luther King: “Everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was Legal”
The fact that most of the debate surrounding the unmasking of Trump personnel revolves around whether it was legal or not highlights just how superficial and ethically deranged our culture has become. If what she did was indeed legal, this is an enormous problem in the first place, one that privacy advocates and opponents of Big Brother surveillance have been warning about constantly since the gulag spying panopticon was put in place following 9/11. For the purposes of this post, let’s assume that what Susan Rice did was legal.

If her actions were indeed totally by the books, we need to use this incident as a rallying call to reform the laws immediately. Likewise, Donald Trump should be pushing such reform tirelessly from his bully pulpit, but given his authoritarian nature I doubt he will. Fortunately, Rand Paul is heeding the call. https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2017/04/04/if-what-susan-rice-did-wasnt-illegal-it-should-be/

If you dispute this statement, I offer you two recent examples to illustrate my point.

"In February, a number of Irish citizens were surprised to find out that selling Kerrygold butter - a line of butter produced in Ireland - is a criminal offense in Wisconsin. Irish Central reports:

Under a 1970 law all butter sold in the state must be subjected to scrutiny by a panel, which recently ruled Kerrygold was not compliant. Their problem with Kerrygold’s products was that the cattle who produce the milk for the cheese and butter are grass fed, something the panel ruled was against state law.

Any shopkeepers who continue to stock the brand face a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail — something that has enraged consumers." http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-04/3-lessons-learned-wisconsins-war-foreign-butter

As a second example, I offer the recent negative vote of Corey Booker (D-NJ) on a an amendment that would lower drug prices for Americans, "Progressives in the Democratic Party are outraged after 13 Democrats voted against an amendment that would have allowed Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, saying it’s a sign that Big Pharma has too much power in the party." http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/pharma-booker-canada

This vote occurred even thought "A Kaiser Family Foundation poll from last September found that 71 percent supported importation of medicines from Canada."

In a statement to the media after the vote, Booker’s office said he supports the importation of prescription drugs but that “any plan to allow the importation of prescription medications should also include consumer protections that ensure foreign drugs meet American safety standards. I opposed an amendment put forward last night that didn’t meet this test.”

What Booker did not share with the media is the following information: "As MapLight data shows, Booker has received more pharmaceutical manufacturing cash over the past six years than any other Democratic senator: $267,338. In addition, significant numbers of pharmaceutical and biotech firms reside in Booker’s home state of New Jersey. Other Democrats receiving six-figure donations from the industry, like Casey, Patty Murray, and Michael Bennet, opposed the amendment." https://theintercept.com/2017/01/12/cory-booker-joins-senate-republicans-to-kill-measure-to-import-cheaper-medicine-from-canada/

So, if you really believe that butter from "grass fed cows", or less expensive drugs imported from a Canadian pharmacy are for your public safety, ..... then I've got a bridge to sell you!

Examine very carefully the next time you hear a politician use "public safety" as a rational for any new law or piece of legislation that infringes on your freedom or consumer purchasing decision.

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Unless, and until a solution can be found to store solar energy, it will never be the long term answer for power generation.
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/01/california-has-too-much-solar-power-and-thats-a-go.aspx
Use California for example, if you only want to use electricity while the sun is shining, that's fine. But what do you do when it is dark out, or cloudy for 3 days straight, use a gas lantern or read by the fireplace?

If you think green power is the solution to our energy needs, look no further than Germany as an example, and learn from their mistakes.

"Twenty-two percent of Germany’s power is generated with renewables. Solar provides close to a quarter of that. The southern German state of Bavaria, population 12.5 million, has three photovoltaic panels per resident, which adds up to more installed solar capacity than in the entire United States." http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/too-much-solar-energy/16621/

"All of Germany’s subsidies and support for green energy have sharply increased power prices, with the average German paying 39 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity. The average American only spends 10.4 cents per kilowatt-hour by comparison." - The Daily Caller

https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-expensive-gamble-on-renewable-energy-1409106602
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/high-costs-and-errors-of-german-transition-to-renewable-energy-a-920288.html
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/green-energy-bust-in-germany

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May I suggest an alternative. Be selective in whose posts you choose to read, and ignore some of the people that are simply trying to get a rise out of you. I have taken my own advice.

Saudis To Kerry: We Created ISIS...And CIA Knew

written by daniel mcadams
thursday april 21, 2016

It was US intervention in the Middle East, say the Saudis, that led us to create first al-Qaeda and then ISIS. The US attack on Iraq tipped the balance in the region in favor of Iran and counter-measures needed to be taken. This is nothing new. The CIA helped create and back the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to counter the 1979 Soviet invasion. And the CIA knew about (at the least) Saudi plans to counter Iran's rise in the region and the uncertainty produced by US-instigated "Arab Spring" beginning in 2011. The lesson? Interventionism has consequences, some intended and some unintended. Usually counter to the stated objectives. Trying to order the world, the central planners have only created chaos.

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2016/april/21/saudis-to-kerry-we-created-isisand-cia-knew/

https://youtu.be/Jm5fRu9xJI8

thebigp wrote:
How to defeat ISIS--8fh.,b2-- br "Degradation... (show quote)
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If you really want to defeat ISIS, you need to know it's history and how it was created.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/america-created-al-qaeda-and-the-isis-terror-group/5402881

no propaganda please wrote:
I identify as a horse. No, really. I do. br (To re... (show quote)
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I love Jon Rappaport. What a keen wit. He knows how to make a point.

[thebigp wrote:
The future of yesterday's fuel--18fh. br A large s... (show quote)

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As a result of Chernobyl and Fukushima, many are obviously turned off by the concept of safe nuclear power. That is very unfortunate. The new 4th generation nuclear power plants on the drawing board, are in fact, safe, and can also get rid of much of the nuclear waste that is being improperly stored around our country. Between the Molten Salt Reactors, to the Thorium reactors, to the NuScale small modular reactors, there is so much potential for nuclear to safely solve the worlds energy needs.


http://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/advanced-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx

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Pennylynn, there is a great deal of information out there on the internet about how to deal with this problem. The real issue is, how committed is your friend to really wanting to improve her condition? Most people are not willing to make the lifestyle changes that are necessary to see real improvement in their lives. For many, if they can't take a pill to solve their problem, they are lost.

Your friend must take ownership of her own health. She should be actively reading and looking at alternatives to her problem. First recommendation, get plenty of exercise. Second, she could start by changing her diet and eliminating carbs with a high glycemic index (potatoes, carrots, peas) and replace them with lots of fresh vegatables, Kale, Broccoli, celery, Okra, etc.

For many people, juicing is pretty severe, but that is a great way to improve many health maladies.

Have her add more beneficial oils to her diet, flaxseed, black seed oil, coconut oil. Add more nuts, and healthful spices such as Cylon (not regular) Cinnamon, Gymnema Sylvestre, Bitter Melon.

Now, let's see how committed your friend really is in attempting to solve her borderline diabetes problem.

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You make the best argument for Gorsuch that I have heard regarding the frozen trucker case. If an employee can leave a company at will, why can't the company fire an employee at will. It may be a shitty thing to do, but that responsibility falls upon the company and not Gorsuch.

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ChuckyB..... you raise an important issue, namely the relationship between Law and Morality. Here is one explanation of the two:

"Law is an enactment made by the state. It is backed by physical coercion. Its breach is punishable by the courts. It represents the will of the state and realizes its purpose.

Laws reflect the political, social and economic relationships in the society. It determines rights and duties of the citizens towards one another and towards the state.

It is through law that the government fulfils its promises to the people. It reflects the sociological need of society.

Law and morality are intimately related to each other. Laws are generally based on the moral principles of society. Both regulate the conduct of the individual in society.

They influence each other to a great extent. Laws, to be effective, must represent the moral ideas of the people. But good laws sometimes serve to rouse the moral conscience of the people and create and maintain such conditions as may encourage the growth of morality.

Laws regarding prohibition and spread of primary education are examples of this nature. Morality cannot, as a matter of fact, be divorced from politics. The ultimate end of a state is the promotion of general welfare and moral perfection of man.

It is the duty of the state to formulate such laws as will elevate the moral standard of the people. The laws of a state thus conform to the prevailing standard of morality. Earlier writers on Political Science never made any distinction between law and morality.

Plato's Republic is as good a treatise on politics as on ethics. In ancient India, the term Dharma connoted both law and morality. Law, it is pointed out, is not merely the command of the sovereign, it represents the idea of right or wrong based on the prevalent morality of the people.

Moreover, obedi­ence to law depends upon the active support of the moral sentiments of the people. Laws which are not supported by the moral conscience of the people are liable to become dead letters.

I doubt this will clear up the issue. Many OPP'ers simply look at the law as the law. Period, end of story. Others, such as myself feel that sometimes a law does not reach a just conclusion, and that conscience and the interest of justice should take precedence. No easy answers here.

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No offense Jack, but I'm glad you are not being nominated to the Supreme Court.

You forget one little matter. Our Bill of Rights, specifically the 4th Amendment which is supposed to protect citizens against unreasonable searches and seizure. Roosevelt authorized the deportation and incarceration with Executive Order 9066, but the Supreme Court never ruled on the issue of the incarceration of U.S. citizens without due process.

A lot of things can be justified in the interest of "national security". We have been fighting the "war on terror" since 2001, and my guess is that it will never end. There will always be some real or imagined "boggyman" out there that will enable the government to justify any action. My concern is that Neil Gorsuch will be a very capable "enabler" of the next government crackdown on our personal freedoms. After all, if you can condone torture because it is the law, just what type of government law or behavior is out of bounds anymore?

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If you can send me a link from any youtube video where Pieczinik claims that Bush, Kissinger, or Chelsea Clinton are good, honest people, I will gladly reconsider anything that he has to say on this matter.

As to Al Franken, please don't confuse the message with the messenger. Just because Franken is a nutter, the facts in the frozen trucker case haven't magically changed. We know what happened, and how Gorsuch ruled, irrespective of the fact that Franken happened to be the one who pointed it out.

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Thank you. I could not have said this any better.