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This children’s book is a must have in your family’s reading collection. This is geared for grades 1-3. A wholesome and cinematic story is told that fosters the appreciation and demonstrates the importance of family, community, and love. The story is told with the use of forest animals, and displayed with the most captivating color illustrations. We guarantee you and your family will love reading this work of literary art. This will kindle the bonds between family members while developing and improving literacy in your children.
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SPEAK ON IT!!! MANDATORY CONVERSATIONS FOR BLACK AMERICA
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SPEAK ON IT!!! MANDATORY CONVERSATIONS FOR BLACK AMERICA
Dr. Samori Swygert offers some of the most compelling insight on a myriad of issues that is germane to the African American community. This audiobook draws the listeners in with each second that ticks away. Journey with this author as he masterfully articulates issues on: single parent households, Hollywood and the entertainment industries effects on our youth, love and marriage, the waning utility of black churches, fading femininity in our young females, police abuse, government corruption and more.
This is a must have for your audio collection. Gather your friends, family, frat, sorors, neighbors , and give this young man a listen. This is a worthwhile investment.
New Facebook feature can access your phone’s mic
New Facebook feature can access your phone’s mic
by Dr. Samori Swygert
We’re in an era where cash is king, and information converts to currency and/or control. Every aspect of our life has become inundated with some digital platform. Facebook has developed a new app that allows them to turn on your cellphone’s microphone and record all your background audio.
The app is currently optional, so this feature is not imposed on the Facebook user, you have to opt-in. Facebook has issued public relations claims that they’re not recording and storing the audio data that is used for this new smartphone app. The app currently operates on the IOS and Android smartphone platforms.
Based on an article in Forbes Magazine, the app works by activating your smartphone microphone whenever you post a Facebook update. The sound is encoded, and then matched against a databank of audio files in real-time. This function allows users to see what their friends may be listening to or watching.
According to the article, Facebook believes this also facilitates a tailored and enhanced experience of the user’s music, TV show, and movie preferences. So, if I’m watching “Breaking Bad,” and post a Facebook update (while opted-in on the app), the sound gets recorded, coded, and matched with millions of audio files that Facebook can possibly make recommendations and update my friends about. This is similar to shopping for a book on Amazon. You purchase the book you’ve been searching for, but Amazon will also furnish their recommendations of similar materials. The only difference is Facebook’s feature is done sonically, and is a little more invasive or intrusive. However, you must opt-in.
This sounds like a hit for Facebook, and a home run for “Big Data.” My concerns reside in the fact that this is only the beginning. Companies always revise and update their policies and end-user agreements. It’s pertinent to remember that many companies and digital services share their database with the government. Just over a week ago, the YourBlackWorld team published an article I wrote about a contract that Twitter signed with the Library of Congress. The agreement allows the Library of Congress to archive all Tweets that are posted.
I can easily see the capabilities of this app being exploited by the government in the name of “national security and antiterrorism.” Let’s think about this for a second: Your smartphone has GPS tracking so your physical coordinates can be mapped to your specific location. If there is an app that can turn on your microphone, then surely there’s an app currently unbeknownst to you that can turn on your phone’s camera. This sets the stage for 24/7/365 surveillance.
What’s in a public relations statement?
How do you measure or test the veracity and truthfulness of a public statement from a company? Unless you have developed the software algorithms, and designed the app features personally, you’re really left to believe what companies promise you. Unless you’re in their IT department, and behind the closed-doors of their headquarters, you have no idea what employees are doing with your data. Hell, the government didn’t even know what Snowden was doing with NSA data until he exposed them.
Really think about this: How do you trust any public statement after several banking scandals, Bernie Madoff, Eric Snowden, the NSA, the IRS email scandal, or even a cheating spouse that vowed before God to not cheat? There will always be a flaw in the system when we involve humans to safeguard sensitive data. The human nature is corruptible in the face and opportunity to ascertain power. We’re familiar with the quote, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The “honor system” will always fail.
My last thoughts on big data
Big data is a double edged sword because it possesses tremendous potential to solve problems. The problem with big data is, “us.” This is the same dilemma with almost any physics or scientific development.
Radioactive elements are ever-present in nature; however, we’ve harnessed them to develop nuclear weapons, but we also use it as a source of energy. We’ve advanced the field of science, and in addition to developing cures, we develop bioengineered bacteria and viruses for germ warfare. This is how I see the progression of big data.
Big data allows profiles to be built about you by people you don’t even know. This allows agencies, institutions, jobs, and other bodies to prejudge, grade, rank, categorize, and label you without considering or factoring everything that makes you, you.
For instance, I could be a college student doing a term paper on methods to combat terrorism. To conduct my research, I have to read several articles about terrorism all over the internet to build the references for my paper. However, because I’ve researched various websites and archives, I might be put on a terrorist watch list, but I’m not a terrorist at all, I’m just a poor college student trying to complete my curriculum criteria.
In conclusion, I think this is a win for Facebook, and another step down a slippery slope of the loss of privacy and civil liberties for the American populace.
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/05/22/facebook-wants-to-listen-in-on-what-youre-doing/
$1,000 pill may cure Hepatitis C but leave you bankrupt
$1,000 pill may cure Hepatitis C but leave you bankrupt
By: Dr. Samori Swygert
How will Obama Care manage this medical conundrum? A new Hepatitis C medication has hit the market. The name of the drug is called Sovaldi (Sofosbuvir). The cost is $1,000 per pill. Yes, I said $1,000 per pill, and the prescribed regimen is for 12 weeks.1 This yields an astronomical medical expense of $90,000. However, clinical trials have noted that it cures 9 in 10 Hepatitis C patients. Gilead Sciences is the drug company that manufactures the medication.
The final prognosis of Hepatitis C results in liver transplantation, this usually occurs after severe decompensated Cirrhosis of the liver and treatment failure. The liver can’t be salvaged once this disease progresses to a certain point. Liver transplants cost as much as $577,000 according to an article published by WTOP (a reputable news source for Washington DC).3 Secondly, Hepatitis C has a 95% recurrence rate after liver transplantation. The public should also note that there are different genotypes of Hepatitis C, some more extensive and severe.
Hepatitis C is transmitted by blood, and sexual intercourse. The Infectious Disease Society of America (the leading medical authority on infectious disease) furnished their epidemiological estimates. The society estimates that approximately 3 to 4 million Americans are infected by Hepatitis C.2
There are other conventional therapeutic regimens that include medications like Ribavirin, Interferon, Simprevir, and more. However, many of the traditional regimens come with more undesirable side effects, and don’t produce the cure rate of Sovaldi.
This is critically important, because the Infectious Disease Society of America has actually updated their clinical guidelines for Hepatitis C. The update has made Sovaldi the first line treatment.
According to an article in Forbes Magazine, this same drug only costs $ 900 to complete the whole regimen in Egypt. You must ask yourself, “how does the manufacturer calculate their drug price?”. Many times drug manufacturers have to recoup all the expenses in research, drug development, marketing, and etc. However, this is a kind of precedent setting, and especially when you consider how cheap it is in another country but 100 times more expensive domestically.
This is going to throw so many curveballs and monkey wrenches in the Affordable Care Act and Medicare/Medicaid. How will states and insurance companies decide who is worthy of this drug?
The state of Oregon has already initiated discussion on how to limit access to this expensive medication to low income individuals. This is a social joust between ethics and economics. This manifests the true meaning of “the cost of living”. This also accentuates the argument of wealth disparities. A clear and distinct argument can be made about health versus wealth. A 1%’er with Hepatitis C wouldn’t flinch at the cost of this medication, however this budget item could dismantle an entire family that’s struggling in today’s economy. This makes you question the “AFFORDABILITY”, in the Affordable Care Act.
Lastly, this emphasizes the importance of responsibility in lifestyle, and creating wealth base. When individuals participate in risky behaviors such as unprotected sex, and IV drug use, you increase your susceptibility to disabling diseases such as Hepatitis C. The disease itself is physiologically crippling, and so is the burden of expense from pharmaceutical therapy.
We must understand that the interests of pharmaceutical lobbyists reside in maximization of profit for drug manufacturers, and not necessarily the patient in all instances. If the concern for patients were top priority, the government and the manufacturers would devise a more economically affordable strategy to increase accessibility to all infected patients, independent of costs.
What are your thoughts?? Is this a form of medical gentrification? Should the government intervene and regulate drug pricing?
Sources:
2. http://www.hcvguidelines.org/
3. http://www.wtop.com/628/3644354/1000-a-pill-Sovaldi-jolts-US-health-care-system
How NSA surveillance can compromise our financial security
How NSA surveillance can compromise our financial security
By: Dr. Samori Swygert
I think that the surge in government intrusion into our privacy poses a risk. Eric Snowden revealed the vast collection and archiving of our telephone, email, and internet data. Can unlimited access to our private plans compromise and undermine the American financial system, economic system, and rights to intellectual property (patents, trademarks, and research)?
My hypothesis is, humans are flawed and are easily corruptible when the appropriate stimulus is presented. As humans we are imperfect and live with vices, habits, hang-ups, and react in the most unpredictable manner when we’re desperate.
NSA versus Intellectual Property
The following is a hypothetical scenario to illustrate my point. Let’s say myself and 3 other colleagues have been designing a new invention that we wish to get patented. We may email each other the layout, designs, specifications, mechanisms, equations, measurements, and other details that go into making an invention. Our invention could revolutionize the automobile industry forever.
Let’s say an NSA employee scans our email because one of my colleagues has an Arabic name that flags their system protocol. While reviewing the email, the NSA employee realizes that he/she has stumbled upon a gold mine because he understands the potential of our invention. He/she then takes all of our information and either sells it to bankrolled car industry expert or to a friend that decides to beat us to the patent process.
We can’t say this isn’t possible when Eric Snowden was able to pull hundreds to thousands of highly classified documents for his agenda. I believe this is how mass surveillance can compromise the intellectual property of American citizens.
NSA versus the American Financial System
Allow me to pose another hypothetical scenario. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), regulates the investing system. They protect the financial market from fraudulent activity, insider trading, promote a fair monetary system, and a myriad of other responsibilities. We’ve seen Martha Stewart serve time for insider trading of her shares of ImClone stock. We’ve seen what happened with Bernie Madoff, Enron, WorldCom, and more.
Imagine the amount of powerful information an NSA employee has at their disposal. What kind of financial power could be gained by accessing Warren Buffet’s email, phone calls, and internet activity.
The NSA employee could literally tip the hands of any and every corporation, private equity firm, hedge fund, and mogul. They would have private knowledge on future mergers, acquisitions, sell-offs, splits, and other big Wall Street /private sector deals. This valuable information grants a secret advantage and privilege to an NSA employee. They can sell this knowledge to a select few, or use it to unfairly enrich themselves.
This is how I think mass surveillance can compromise the American Financial System.
NSA versus the American Political System
American history and civics classes always reinforced the dynamic of “checks and balances”. This purported mechanism was constructed to guarantee that no branch of the federal government overstepped their respected boundary.
However, the American political system has consistently evolved since its’ initial inception. We’ve arrived at a crossroad where money, Super-Pacs, soft money campaign contributions, television, radio, and social media steers our political system in an unprecedented manner.
We’ve seen how the IRS is now under the scrutiny and investigation for targeting Republican and Tea Party affiliated political figures. The IRS is accused of illegally going through their emails.
Do you remember the David Petraeus scandal, or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s bridge debacle? Their political integrity were and are placed on the line by emails and text messages. Imagine the political power that can be yielded if bank rolled special interest groups started throwing massive amounts of money at NSA employees to excavate private dirt on political opponents. What if they paid them to divulge political strategies, and campaign plans of political opponents, to intervene and prematurely counter attack other political candidates?
This is how I believe this era of mass surveillance and collection of data compromises the American political system, financial system, and possibilities of intellectual property.
We are vulnerable and susceptible to a hidden monkey wrench in our daily lives. We don’t know how our data is being used, manipulated, and exploited. We have no way to assess the character and integrity of the individuals that have unlimited access to our most intimate and private plans. The more technology and government become intricately interwoven in our lives, we evolve into victims of control. The person that doesn’t know, will always be the victim to the well informed.
I would advise you to watch the cable show: American Greed. This show profiles how some of the most sophisticated crimes have been orchestrated by individuals in power due to a perversion of their moral character.
Peace
The Library of Congress archives everyone’s Tweets
The Library of Congress archives everyone’s Tweets
by Dr. Samori Swygert
We live in a highly sophisticated and technology driven society. Many of us have become desensitized to the intrusion of privacy by various governmental agencies. We’ve seen civil liberties dwindle away piece by piece under the Patriot Act. Many people are comfortable with the sacrifice or trade-off of civil liberties for the promise of national security.
Edward Snowden, William Binney, and other whistleblowers have divulged the various means in which the government conducts “data mining.” This is a process in which any and all desired digital data is collected, intercepted, screened, stored, warehoused, and archived for retrieval at any request.
Well, the Library of Congress and Twitter signed an agreement in which the Library of Congress collects and stores all Tweets from the users of Twitter.
This may be old news to some people, but this may be new news to many people. The following is a direct excerpt from the Library of Congress website : “This month, all those objectives will be completed. We now have an archive of approximately 170 billion tweets and growing. The volume of tweets the Library receives each day has grown from 140 million beginning in February 2011 to nearly half a billion tweets each day as of October 2012.”
I think the important message in all of this is that as consumers and patrons, we need to truly understand all the implications of the privacy agreements before we click “ok” or “agree” at all times. Many service providers of software, telecommunication, and other digital services have disclosures that we should think about seriously. Many companies have established contracts with the government to hand over your personal data (if requested) to specific government agencies. We’ve seen this resurface with the email and cellphone providers in this Edward Snowden versus the NSA debacle.
Twitter is made for individuals to publicly express their opinions, interests, and perspectives. However, I think it’s important to keep this in the back of your mind as you think about posting various statements and pictures on the internet. We all can use a reminder, but I also believe we need to remind our kids and adolescent family members about internet etiquette, appropriateness, and integrity of character.
We’re in the age of “selfies,” “cyberbullying,” and “doing it for the Vine!,” but always remember Big Brother is watching, Third Party Cyber Voyeurs are lurking, and what you say and post can potentially come back to haunt you in the future. Don’t forget about the young black male that is serving time for threatening the President on Twitter.
This is also extremely important in era when unemployment is high, job and education competition is intense. You don’t want your future judged on a knee jerk Tweet, drunk Tweet, or indecent photo that you posted. I think sociopolitical commentary is okay as long as it’s respectable, logical, and devoid of violent rhetoric.
Here are some links from the Library of Congress for reference and to share with your children:
http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2013/01/update-on-the-twitter-archive-at-the-library-of-congress/
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/files/twitter_report_2013jan.pdf
African American homicides may fuel organ trafficking
African American homicides may fuel organ trafficking
By: Dr. Samori Swygert
I was having a conversation with my studio engineer last night, and he encouraged me to watch a BBC documentary on the underground economy of organ harvesting and cadavers. This came up because I was telling him about the morbidity rates of African Americans that come through the hospital I work at.
I was explaining (in anonymity for HIPAA purposes) how there are so many young African Americans diagnosed with HIV, HIV(+) mothers that are giving birth, and of course victims of shootings, and stabbings. We were discussing potential methods of reducing crime and risky behavior through the music we’re producing, via positive and real life messages.
I watched the BBC Documentary, and the facts in the documentary hit me like a ton of bricks. Various factions of society are profiteering hundreds of millions into billions of dollars from both an illegal underground, and a legally regulated economy based on dead bodies.
The documentary detailed the intricacies of demands that medical schools have for cadavers, to train medical and dental students. This is how soon to be doctors gain their skill, and mastery of anatomical orientation. Anatomy and physiology are the basic bricks in almost any career in the healthcare field. Thus, there is a high demand for cadavers for students to dissect and train.
Many people also undergo orthopedic surgery, organ transplants, and other tissue replacement surgeries. There is a reciprocal balance to life and death. The longer you live, the probability of needing some sort of surgery increases, and the humans that die and choose to donate their bodies, serve as a viable resource for successful surgeries. Cadavers can be used for their: corneas, bones, heart valves, skin, blood vessels (Saphenous Veins for cardiac bypass surgery), and of course their organs.
The documentary estimated that a cadaver can be worth up to $250,000. This made me extrapolate this to our African American community and the conversation I had with my music engineer, Highlife. Are we worth more posthumously, when we consider young African Americans dying in the violence like in : Chicago, Miami, Camden, Philly, Detroit, New York City, New Orleans, and etc?
Let’s look at the math. Let’s say a relatively young 18 year old male that lives in the streets without a financially established family bleeds to death from a gunshot to the neck. If the family can’t afford to bury him properly, or there is just no family claim to him, he can be a jackpot for this economy. Harvesters can use his veins for bypass surgery, his corneas, heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, his bones, and a whole lot more. Let’s extrapolate this to annual murder rates within America that hit triple digit numbers on an annual basis in numerous states across the country.
This is serious, remember Trayvon Martin’s body lay in the morgue unclaimed and unidentified for a few days. What would have happened to his relatively healthy young body?
Between the use of cadavers and the prison industry, we are fueling a multibillion dollar industry from cultural genocide within our African American community. One person goes to jail and institutions cash in, the other dies and institutions cash in, funeral homes cash in, firearms and ammunition manufacturers cash in, medical supply companies cash in from surgical use and supplies required for length of stay in a hospital.
People were we born to be the cash cow of America by subscribing and resorting to violence? Also, I’m not interested in hearing that other cultures kill their people, I’m solely focused and concerned about what’s happening in our community because these homicides, and suicides are affecting our families and future.
What’s your thoughts on this? I have attached the link to the BBC documentary below so you can watch it with your family or just yourself. Peace……
Is “increasing minimum wage” just feel good rhetoric?
Is “increasing minimum wage” just feel good rhetoric?
By: Dr. Samori Swygert
For many workers across America, their hourly wage has remained stagnant, fixed, and inflexible. The only financial increase many have experienced is the cost of living.
This article will address the everyday cost of living and its’ incongruences with the hourly wage of the average American. The question to ask is, “Is an increase in hourly wage, too little too late or a last minute attempt to pacify the American populace?”
Household budgets remained strapped for cash. Family members routinely trim expenditures, and choose between their wants, needs, and mandatories. The inability to effectively prepare for retirement, emergencies, children’s education, afford a wedding, and even deciding to have children are all governed by our earning potential.
President Barack Obama rallied for an increase in the federal minimum wage with vigor, fervor, and tenacity in his State of the Union address a few months ago. President Obama’s aim was to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.00/hour. However, that is federal minimum wage, meaning for government employees. I agree with the President that the minimum wage should be increased.
My 2 questions for America is: “What about the non-federal employees across America?”, and “Is $10.00/hour enough to survive in America, realistically?”
Some states are adopting the approach that President Obama rallied for, and have begun to increase their state minimum wage. We’ve seen strikes, walkouts, and protests from fast food to Walmart employees breakout from state to state.
Let’s analyze this
Virtually every facet of our society has increased the price tag on the goods and service they provide to Americans.
FITNESS- Washington D.C. has moved to implement a Yoga tax. Yes, gyms will now have to pay a Yoga tax for fitness. The D.C. government feels this tax based revenue can help subsidize the expenses on the city’s budget.
MILK- The New York Post published a March 2014 article that details how the cost of a gallon of milk may increase to an extra $1.00 based on the projection of dairy industry experts.
MEAT, POULTRY, FISH- The Daily Mail quoted some statistics published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a June 2014 article. They assert that the cost of meat, poultry, and fish have increased 7.7% over the last year. Furthermore, they graphically displayed the increase in cost of meat, poultry, and fish based on the Consumer Price Index. Meat, poultry, and fish are at the highest point they have ever been since 1967 according to the Consumer Price Index.
CHILD CARE- In April 2014, The Pew Research Center published an article that analyzed the increasing trend of stay at home mothers over decades. The data reveals that more mothers are choosing to be stay at home moms due to the elevation in the cost of child care. The research also shows that from 1985 to 2011, the average weekly cost of child care increased by more than 70% when using inflation-adjusted dollars. All my friends and work colleagues with children attest that their weekly childcare is approximately $250 or more. This calculates to at least $12,000 per year in basic childcare. A $10.00/hour job calculates to $19,200 before taxes. Childcare alone will consume over half your income in a $10.00/hour job. This doesn’t factor in food, transportation, housing, utilities, clothing, emergencies, and SAVING!
Moving along……….
RENT- April 2014, The New York Times published an article that detailed how the average cost of rent has drastically increased nationally. The asserted premise recommends that rent and utilities should not exceed 30% of your household income. They provide detailed data from 2000 – 2013. The average percentage of rent and utility expenditures in 2000 hovered around 25%. 2013 the average percentage of rent and utility expenditures has risen to almost 40%.
ENERGY BILLS- I won’t go too far in detail about the increase in energy bills for households for the sake of brevity in the article. I’ll furnish the links for you to review at your leisure. However, from Chicago, to Baltimore, to New Orleans, to California, the utility bills are increasing dramatically. Chicago’s electricity bills are projected to increase by 18%, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company will add an additional $15.00 to customer’s monthly bill in the upcoming months. The New Orleans energy company, Entergy, has reached an agreement with Algiers, New Orleans to increase energy rates by 31% over a 4 year period.
TRANSPORTATION- Transportation costs have risen and are increasing nationally. The supplied links will illustrate how fares have increased for subways, tolls, bridges, tunnels, buses, and ferry.
COLLEGE TUITION- We can’t forget how the cost of tuition has skyrocketed to unimaginable and almost unattainable proportions (please read the NPR article that is attached).
GASOLINE- We can’t forget the cost of gasoline, and the implementation of the gas tax (please see the Washington Post article).
HEALTHCARE- Yes, we have Obamacare in play but not all states are implementing it. Secondly, just because you may now get healthcare, it doesn’t stop the increase on healthcare deductibles and copays that many insurance companies are hiking up. (Please see the USA Today article)
So in conclusion
The increase in minimum wage to $10.00 isn’t enough. This increase doesn’t match the cost of living in today’s society. The sad part is that the outcry from millions of workers across the nation is loud. However, corporations assert that they won’t have enough to run their business, and will be forced to lay off workers if they increase minimum wages. This is a bunch of nonsense because these same corporations give multimillion dollar year-end bonuses to their top cabinet members each consecutive year. This is supported by McDonald’s deciding to give their new CEO a $13.8 million dollar package from his $4.1 million dollar package in 2011.
Let’s not forget about the raiding and dismantling of employees pension funds.
The promise to raise minimum wage by 2 or 3 dollars is a pacifying move, something to placate the American demographic into silence. However, we don’t need a conciliation prize, we need gainful employment, and in the same breath, we as citizens need to focus on entrepreneurship and group economics to uplift ourselves.
The articles I furnished are proof positive that corporate America doesn’t care about the proletariat that propels them into wealth.
- http://nypost.com/2014/03/17/milk-prices-could-rise-by-1-per-gallon-experts/
- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/business/more-renters-find-30-affordability-ratio-unattainable.html?_r=0
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/07/03/foxx-hedges-on-gas-tax-increase/
- http://online.wsj.com/articles/washington-plan-to-tax-yoga-leads-to-political-posturing-1403577281
- http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/30/health-care-spending/7007987/
- http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/290868013/how-the-cost-of-college-went-from-affordable-to-sky-high
- http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/06/27/3265117/tacoma-narrows-bridge-traffic.html
- http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/11/30/toll-hike-coming-to-port-authority-bridges-and-tunnels/
- http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/local-news/its-now-a-little-more-expensive-to-use-metro.php
- http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/golden-gate-transit-increases-bus-and-ferry-fares/ngXNG/
- http://blogs.rollcall.com/the-container/transit-fares-going-up-in-several-systems/?dcz=
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2660709/Price-meat-fish-eggs-time-high.html
- http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/08/rising-cost-of-child-care-may-help-explain-increase-in-stay-at-home-moms/
- http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140309/NEWS11/140309785/chicago-electric-bills-to-rise-up-to-18-in-june-under-new-integrys-deal#
- http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2014/07/03/bge-requests-an-increase-of-185m-for-gas-and.html
- http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/blog/2014/06/26/algiers-electric-bills-to-rise-over-4-years/
- http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/12/mcdonalds-former-new-ceo-big-pay-bumps/2078001/
Weaponized drones will create the most unthinkable atrocities
What happens when drones become weaponized domestically?
by Dr. Samori Swygert
Most Americans are familiar with drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). What will happen when drones become weaponized domestically?
This article will address the dangerous possibilities of the manipulation and exploitation of drone technology and the dilemma of science and technology that outpaces legislation and regulation.
Some citizens are unconcerned about drones. Many feel that drones provide national security. However, drones are like any other device that can be used as a weapon. The final result resides with the person in control of the apparatus.
Here’s an example:
You can put a gun in the hand of a well-trained, ethical police officer and she/he can provide security without a problem. You can take the same gun and put it in the hands of a Virginia Tech student, and he can kill and injure multitudes of innocent citizens. What is the intent and mind state of the operators of these killing apparatuses?
Now that drone technology is out of Pandora’s Box, what are we to do? The government isn’t the only manufacturer of drones, there are private sector manufacturers that construct drones.
To confound the situation, we also have home-made engineers and physicists that build all types of machines and apparatuses within the confines of their abode.
The majority of American inventions were built in an attic, basement, garage, backyard, or private lab. These same inventions are eventually sold to government agencies, corporations, or propel the inventor into successful entrepreneurship.
I forecast that in the near future, backyard inventors will equip home-made drones with guns and other forms of munitions. The moment this occurs, we will witness some of the most unthinkable atrocities across the country.
Exploring the possible implications
Think about how Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, and John Kennedy were assassinated. Imagine an armed weaponized drone that can hover around a specific target unknowingly and discreetly. The drone could be perched at an inaccessible but perfect vantage point for a kill shot, and then remotely guided back to its owner with stealth. Instead of drive-by’s we could start seeing fly-by’s.
Think about how we have Neo-Nazis, KKK, Skinheads, and other racists and anti-Semitic groups across the country. These groups could wage their own sick wars on innocent civilians with personal weaponized drones. They could fly these drones into highly populated African American communities and take out many blacks, and the news would probably say, “They were victims of random acts of gun viοlence, gang wars, innocent by-standers, or drug related shootings,” and people wouldn’t think twice.
Let me make this clear: This could enable a high-tech, modern day “Black Wall Street” or “16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.” The Black Wall Street bombing was the aerial fire-bombing of a productive African American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Alabama was a hate crime where four little girls were killed by a racist. The only difference now is that this new technology could allow this to be done by a drone.
You may say I’m pushing the envelope, but let’s extrapolate this to mass school shootings. Imagine a sick individual that has positioned a weaponized drone by schools, offices, or shopping malls, and remotely shoots innocent civilians while at home eating milk and cookies like it’s a video game. Woah! Well we just saw two 12-year-old girls stαb another girl multiple times to please a fictional internet character.
Let’s be logical
I’m just a writer that thinks about situations from several angles other than the one angle presented. The use of drones is presented as a security tool, but there are many other dimensions that are ignored and intentionally dismissed.
Last week, CBS reported that a Seattle woman saw a drone hovering outside her apartment window and viewing her activity. The woman alerted the building staff and they went outside, at that point the owners of the drone quickly packed up their equipment and drove away before local authorities arrived.
According to Politico, this also happened to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Dianne Feinstien said she walked up to one of the windows in her home and a drone was positioned just inches away from her face. Once that occurred, she began pressing for drone regulation. Now, imagine if that was weaponized.
My thoughts
I think it’s too late now. The technology is here, and you can’t regulate criminals. You can make laws, but a criminal’s philosophy is premised on the disregard for law. How do you regulate and control what people are building in their homes?
My other concern is the government or police’s use of drones domestically. Once you’re on a watchlist, you don’t know if you’re targeted for surveillance and or elimination. There is a no fly-list, but people are unaware of the eligibility criteria that places them on this type of list and other lists. What happens if you’re viewed as a threat or your name is confused with another individual that should be on a watch-list? There are even companies in South Africa that have built drones that fire pepper spray bullets for striking South African miners.
However, there is a drone industry, and industries generate money and tax-based revenue. I’m very cautious about the use of drones. If I can see this and feel reluctance and apprehension, please believe some sicko is probably already plotting and salivating for the right time.
This is not a case of IF but a case of WHEN. Keep your eyes peeled! Peace!
Here is a Youtube parody clip I made from Watch the throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iEHFRgW-j8Q
