What'S Good In The Neighborhood February 11, 2019: Fill & Download for Free

Colombia: after the violencePeace efforts in the country have ended 50 years of intense conflict. Now, scientists are studying former fighters and victims as they attempt to heal.The accord's reincorporation council continues to determine protocols and institutional arrangements for reincorporation of ex-combatants. The Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN), formerly the Colombian Reintegration Agency (ACR), is the implementing arm of this process. Delays in implementing the program, caused by the refusal of FARC leadership some now living in Venezuela with influence do not to permit members to actively and effectively participate, increased the prospects that some ex-combatants could and or would return to engaging in criminal activities as they do daily in Venezuela.Colombia is a South American country with a frightening reputation for drug wars and kidnappings, but it is emerging on the scene as a favorite destination for adventure travelers.From the Caribbean coast to the friendly people and charming culture, in 2019 -4 millions travelers are flocking to see Colombia before it becomes a tourist hotspot – and here's why you should do it too.The short answer from us is yes, it is safe to travel to Colombia – as long as you keep your wits about you and stay away from known dangerous areas, this is one of the most incredible destinations in South America.Colombia was in the process of overcoming most of the domestic problems after the best International world wide war experts negotiated for years in Cuba a peace accord that yielded real peace and the Nobel Prize in 2016 to then President Manuel Santos. A referendum was held on a date having a hurricane day on the Caribbean- Atlantic coast and this accord was defeated by less than 1 %. From this point the new President of Colombia was capable to get a slightly revised accord approved.The FARC rendered a extremely high % of their arms under the United Nation supervision experts. The EX- FARCS where settled in 26 new resettlement small cities in selected areas of all over Colombia. They are in restrained communities with small houses, School, Libraries, and most of Colombia services are within these compounds that they cannot leave without supervision and authorisation. Most of them are like from another planet and never had a bed nor a bathroom something they now all have. They have also many incentive programs to allow them start a micro business ,studying and raising some kids. Plus they can engage in a Political party defending their cause. There has being some failures, breaches and difficulties thru these 26 camps but something in the low % rates…The disarmament and rehabilitation campaign is run by Colombia’s Reincorporation and Normalization Agency (ARN) in Bogotá. The ARN had been established years earlier, and it has since facilitated the reintegration of some 20,000 paramilitaries and guerrillas who left the conflict independently or as part of a separate peace agreement.The 26 transit zones that former fighters are entering offer amenities such as education and health care, and help to provide at least a measure of protection for the ex-combatants, who are regularly targeted by former enemies, FARC dissidents and civilians. After completing a programme, ex-combatants can receive ID cards that allow them to live and work legally in the country. The prospect of their return doesn’t thrill some local residents all over Colombia .Under the agreement, thousands of former FARC combatants are entering 26 designated ‘transit zones’ throughout the country — known officially as territorial spaces for training and reincorporation (ETCRs). Here, they will prepare to re-enter Colombian society. But several guerrilla groups continue to fight, including 1,000 FARC ‘dissidents’ who have refused to sign on to the accord.But after studying more than 600 combatants, we begun to grasp the complexity of their experiences. “I realized not all of them are sociopaths. I realized most of them are also victims.”The effort, which is politically controversial and expected to cost 129.5 trillion Colombian pesos (US$46 billion), faces overwhelming odds. But it grants scientists a unique opportunity to understand a population that has both inflicted and suffered the horrors of war. Most research into the psychological roots of violence and trauma has been performed with veterans from wealthy countries who fought in conflicts far from home. Most of Colombia’s ex-combatants, by contrast, have little education and are trying to re-enter the same society they once terrorized. There, they face enormous stigma and resentment, which makes it difficult for them to find work and form relationships with others.Colombia’s government is currently engaged in one of the largest peace efforts in history. As part of a 2016 treaty with the left-wing guerrilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the government will grant amnesty to fighters who leave the conflict and complete a re-incorporation programme, provided they have not committed serious crimes. Around 11,800 FARC fighter are in the radar program.In 2017, Colombia conducted more than 400 security trainings for thousands of non-Colombian individuals on citizen security, crime prevention and monitoring, military and police capacity building, anti-kidnapping, anti-extortion, hostage negotiation, and cyber-security.Now on the negative side is the Venezuela crisis with the 1,9 millions Venezuelans legals and illegals in Colombia that caused numerous difficulties that today are gaining strong criminal pace in some hard Terrorist areas as Cagueta, Cauca, Narino, Catatumbo region, La Guajira representing what is left, including Venezuelans of the long bloody conflict that had gripped Colombia for more than 50 years.Colombia: indigenous leaders killed in Cauca / AL JAZEERA NEWSFive indigenous leaders were killed last Tuesday in the latest attack on native communities in southwest Colombia. / by Hanna Wallis 3 Nov 2019 .President Ivan Duque made an emergency trip to the Cauca on Wednesday, and ordered 2,400 soldiers to be deployed in the region to strengthen security.Tacueyo, Cauca, a town in southwest Colombia, thousands on Saturday to mourn the death of indigenous governor Cristina Bautista, Bautista was an internationally recognised leader, who had represented indigenous women at the UN, who was killed last week along with four volunteer community guards in a massacre that has become a searing emblem of the state's unrelenting violence.The number of indigenous people killed in the area has risen sharply as armed groups seek to seize control of the power vacuum left by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after they demobilised as part of the 2016 peace deal.Areas in Colombia, the social and Indigenous leaders where killed.The UN has documented 52 murders of indigenous people in the northern part of Cauca this year alone.The country faces a national epidemic of social leader assassinations. In 2016, Colombia's homicide rate dropped to its lowest in four decades, at some 12,000 cases. And yet the number of social leaders and human rights defenders killed has been on the rise.Dozens of indigenous and social leaders have been killed in the aftermath of Colombia’s historic 2016 peace accord as illegal armed groups and dissidents seek to exert control over for former rebel territory and lucrative drug routes. Among those killed were 14 members of tribes in Cauca state, where Tuesday’s massacre took place. It is one of Colombia’s fastest-growing areas for cocaine production, responsible for about 10% of all illegal crops produced across the country last year, according to the United Nations.“This is a historical battle for territory,” said Sen. Feliciano Valencia, who represents Colombia’s indigenous community in Congress. “While the armed groups fight for control of illicit crops and drug routes, we are defending our territory and autonomy.”The nearly 2 million Colombians belonging to 115 indigenous groups carry less political and economic weight than their brethren in neighboring countries like Ecuador or Peru and are largely relegated to poverty-stricken areas traditionally neglected by the state and where alternatives to growing illicit crops are hard to come by.According to data from the Bogota-based conflict research organisation, INDEPAZ, between the beginning of 2016 and May this year, more than 700 indigenous leaders - 150 of whom were from Cauca - have been killed.The complex power struggle between guerrilla insurgents, the government, paramilitary groups and drug traffickers had killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. Now in November 2019 / 5 millions peoples have left Venezuela, the majority of them in Colombia. Many in Colombia are hard criminals from the Venezuela highest crime rate areas in the world from around Venezuela, and Caracas. In Venezuela there is no governance nor any from of logical commander or police system. The military are engaged in every aspect of any form of illegal trade , from Gas, Oil, Drugs, Food stolen cars and stolen merchandise.Venezuela world largest HUB for shipping drugs worldwideEPL/ “Pelusos” activity (January 1 to June 30, 2018)The EPL, or “Pelusos” as authorities call them, is a dissident faction of the guerrilla group that demobilized in 1991. The EPL has been at war with the ELN in the Catatumbo region since 2018, and is allegedly deeply involved in drug trafficking to Venezuela.The Catatumbo Area is now largest new coca growing area bordering Venezuela. Once inside Venezuela, the drugs are then whisked through military checkpoints and escorted or waved on by the army, allege US and regional officials and several Venezuelan army defectors.A defector from the Venezuelan border patrol told CNN that it was once his task to pick out trucks carrying traffickers' cocaine and ensure they passed through the border swiftly. He said this happened as often as three times a week, during the five-year period he served in the border region.In Red hard narco trafiking areas mostly dealing and exporting to Venezuela the world largest hub for Shipping drugs worldwide .Government travel advisories have declared parts of Colombia to be safe and approved for travel: adding Santa Marta, Barranquilla, Bogota, Tunja, Bucaramanga, Valledupar, as well as the Coffee Zone departments of Quindio, Risaralda and Caldas to Cartagena and San Andres . Colombia pacific Departments are with the most statistics for violence. When we speak to travelers who have been to Colombia, they have nothing but good things to say about the place; they say it's beautiful and it's safer than other South American countries. However, that's if you stick to the well-known tourist destinationFARC dissidents activity (January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018)Following the demobilization of the FARC in 2017, dissidents formed groups throughout Colombia and Venezuela. The biggest one is the 1st Front or Southeastern Block, which controls southern Colombia. Also in the south west of Colombia dissident groups impose authority instead of the rule of law.Other groups like in Antioquia, Arauca, Norte Santander Santander bordering Venezuela have rearmed having lost faith in the the Colombian peace process.Colombia continued to employ a modern, multi-agency approach to CVE, with a focus on encouraging individual guerrillas to demobilize. In 2017, the number of ex-combatants successfully graduating from the ARN's individual program (separate from those demobilized as a result of the accord with the FARC) reached more than 18,960. The number of FARC and ELN members who demobilized individually increased from 704 to 827.Colombia experienced a continued decrease in terrorist activity in 2017, due in large part to the November 2016 Nobel peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The UN ended the disarmament phase of its monitoring and verification mission on September 25, collecting 8,994 arms, 1.7 million rounds, and more than 40 tons of explosives.The Government of Colombia accredited roughly 11,000 ex-combatants for transition to civilian life. There were challenges implementing the peace accord, however, and a small number of dissident groups rejected the process. Reports confirmed some of these groups continued extortion and illicit activities as close as the borders of Venezuela.Peace talks between the Colombian government and the other major terrorist organization active in the country, the National Liberation Army (ELN), continued. In an effort to generate trust between parties, the government and ELN agreed to a three-month ceasefire, beginning October 1, which was the first such agreement during the 50-year conflict. ELN kidnappings, forced displacements, and attacks on the military, civilian population, and critical infrastructure dropped dramatically since October, with only one confirmed ceasefire violation. Nevertheless, ELN attacks spiked in rural and the Colombia-Venezuela border regions prior to the ceasefire, and local communities reported ELN-related extortion and displacement continued even after the ceasefire.Overall, the number of dissident FARC and ELN individuals who were either killed or captured decreased compared to 2016, while individual desertions increased. Civilian deaths caused by terrorism continued to fall nationwide. Colombian-U.S. counterterrorism cooperation remained strong and Colombia has openly condemned these organisations and its objectives.2017 Terrorist Incidents: Colombian government statistics showed a 40 percent decrease in terrorist incidents from 2016. This does not include incidents related to organized criminal groups. FARC dissident groups have conducted a small number of attacks on security forces and civilians.Prior to the October 1 ceasefire, the ELN continued low-cost, high-impact asymmetric attacks. An explosive device was detonated June 17 in the Andino Mall in Bogotá, killing three and injuring 10. The Colombian National Police (CNP) believe the People's Revolutionary Movement – a relatively new violent group with ideological connections to the ELN – was responsible. An investigation led to the capture of nine suspected perpetrators. Among 2017 attacks, several others were notable for their severity or press coverage:The ELN claimed responsibility for a February 19 attack in the La Macarena neighborhood in Bogotá in which a police officer was killed.On September 30, three police officers were killed in Miranda, Cauca department, in an attack believed to have been conducted by FARC dissidents.In September, just before the October 1 ceasefire, the ELN carried out a series of attacks on the Caño Limon-Covenas oil pipeline in Norte de Santander and Arauca departments. In 2017, there were 45 attacks on the pipeline prior to the ceasefire.On October 25, members of the ELN claimed responsibility for killing an indigenous leader in Choco department. The ELN later acknowledged it was a ceasefire violation.Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: There have been no changes to terrorism-related legislation and investigation procedures since 2016. Colombian authorities continued to operate joint police-military task forces to enhance coordination in countering terrorism.The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs supported the U.S. Department of Justice, through its International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), to continue to work with the Attorney General's Office and other agencies to improve standards for investigators, forensic experts, and criminal analysts. In 2017, ICITAP trained more than 160 wire communication analysts. In addition, at the request of the CNP criminal investigation unit, ICITAP began working with the National Police Cyber Center to achieve accreditation.Colombian border security remained an area of vulnerability specially along the Venezuela border. Law enforcement officers faced the challenge of working in areas with porous borders and difficult topography plagued by the presence of illegal armed groups and drug trafficking. The CNP lacked the personnel to enforce uniform policies for vehicle or passenger inspections at land crossings. Biometric and biographic screening was conducted only at international airports. The Colombian government uses Advance Passenger Information but does not collect Passenger Name Record data. Of its 184,000 officers, the CNP has 2,202 working on customs enforcement activities.Colombia remained a transit point for the smuggling of third-country nationals who may seek to enter the United States illegally. In 2017, economic challenges in Venezuela contributed to the migration of 1,660,000 Venezuelans, roughly half of whom entered Colombia illegally, according to Colombia's immigration authority. While the authority regularly detained third-country nationals who entered the country illegally, it lacked the personnel, enforcement power, and resources to respond to possible threats and repatriate migrants.There were no significant changes since 2016 in cooperation on border security, evidence sharing, and joint law enforcement operations with neighboring countries. Law enforcement cooperation between Colombia and the United States remained strong.In 2017, security forces captured or killed a number of high-value dissident FARC and ELN targets wanted for homicide, narcotics trafficking, crime and forced displacement.1-Refworld | Country Reports on Terrorism 2017 - Colombia2-Illegal armed groups (maps) | Colombia Reports3-Is it Safe to Travel to Colombia? The Good and Bad News4-https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/sr116.pdf5-Colombia: after the violence6-Corruption in Venezuela has created a cocaine superhighway to the US7-https://americamilitar.com/fuerza-aerea/63-plataformas-aew-elint-y-de-reconocimiento-aereo-de-la-fac-p35.html8-Colombia: Residents mourn indigenous leaders killed in Cauca9-https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/military-5-indigenous-killed-6-hurt-in-colombia-massacre/2019/10/29/516d5810-fac5-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html10-Colombia sees a rise in activist murders11-https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/why-war-torn-colombia-didnt-vote-for-peace/2016/10/03/dcd46eb6-88f9-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506_story.html

First let me make this perfectly clear:I’m not pro-Trump. I’m not anti-Trump, either. I’m pro-America.Whatever is good for the United States I’m in favor of. Only prove to me your ideas for a better American society through data and logic, not your emotional appeals to self-righteousness (seriously, spare me the ad hominem).And you know what, as much as a crude ‘n crass man Trump is there is one thing that I love about him.Remember that moment with Megyn Kelly “grilling” Trump?“Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without it’s downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account—”Before Megyn with a Y can finish, Trump drops this bombshell I never thought I would hear a presidential candidate say.“Only Rosie O’Donnell.”Haha, not that, but come on liberals, that was hilarious!This is what he said that got me on his side, “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.”YES!That’s it! That’s exactly my issue!Not being able to say unfavorable truths backed by facts towards protected classes of people is an aspect of this politically correct, thought policing, doxing, calls for violence, meme educated, culture that I believe is getting too comfortable towards a radical brave new world.Progressives are bringing back guilty until proven innocent, destroying reputations on flimsy evidence, and inciting a race war to push a political agenda using anything they can get their hands on, cough, cough Smollett and Covington!How many so called incidences of Trump “supporters” inciting violence against minorities are actually conspiracies to divide America?Did you guys forget Evergreen?Did you forget that radical leftist took Bret Weinstein hostage in his own room, the police no longer offering him protection from the mob of 21st-century liberal ideology?Did you not hear what the extremist leftist youths of today were saying?“Your free speech is not more important than the lives of like black trans, fems, and students on this campus.”Did you not hear how normal people were afraid to speak up?“I’m afraid of having a nuanced opinion because I’m afraid that my opinions will be stigmatized.”Events like this are happening at the universities across America and the left’s main concern is making sure students’ feelings aren’t hurt while learning facts.I believe most people on the left are horrified about cases like Evergreen. But I don’t believe that is true about statements like this:“I want to live in a world with real equality. I want to live in a world where an equal amount of white kids are shot every month. An equal world. I wanna see white mothers on TV cryin’, standin’ next to Al Sharpton, talkin’ about “We need justice for Chad!” "I want to live in a world where an equal amount of white kids are shot." - 6 Memorable Moments From Chris Rock's 'Tamborine'Most leftist would say that Evergreen is an example of the extreme left and those same leftist would say there is nothing wrong with what Chris Rock said, without realizing this kind of rhetoric based on nothing more than an appeal to emotions is dividing American citizens while decaying the harmony between groups of people.Satire is meant to critique an aspect of society. Propaganda is meant to mislead people into believing a commonly held lie. And this is the cheap propaganda that I’m tired of hearing by the so-called progressives.It’s easy to spout off a personal truth than spend weeks searching through data to uncover the whole truth of a situation.It’s like when Louis C.K. said his bit about white people and time travel:“Here’s how great it is to be white. I can get in a time machine and go to any time and it would be fucking awesome when I get there. That is exclusively a white privilege. Black people can’t fuck with time machines.” [1][1][1][1]What about the Odalisque where it was the white woman who was fetishized into an object of sexual lust by Muslim rulers? [2][2][2][2]Or the Viking raids of England,[3][3][3][3] or the Norman invasion of England,[4][4][4][4] or the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland,[5][5][5][5] or the Umayyad conquest of Hispania.[6][6][6][6]But it’s just a joke, right?Sure, it’s a joke based on propaganda not satire. It fuels the politically correct agenda that White people are always the oppressors and minorities are always the victim. This narrative polarizes Americans not unite them. And it’s not supported by the data just like Chris Rock’s bit is not supported by it.Here’s a chart by the CDC that people like Chris Rock never bother to read:It shows the homicide rate divided by race where 20.9 homicides per 100 thousand were committed by Blacks that were not counted as Hispanics compared to Whites with their 2.6 or Hispanics with their 4.9.But no Trump is the racist for Tweeting:Which according to the CDC on homicides, it is true if you interpret 20.9 homicides per 100 thousand “overwhelming.”Now if you compare this reTweet of his I would agree he is being inflammatory towards Blacks with the stereotypical gangster depiction:And I don’t condone Trump’s rebuttal to using this false stat:“When Trump was later challenged by a journalist about the tweet and something so mundane as evidence was applied to Trump’s ‘fact,’ Trump replied: “Hey am I gonna check every statistic?” Brian Boyd: Bullshit can be more dangerous than lies in politicsIt turns out that the San Francisco police department doesn’t keep track of which race commits crime.[7][7][7][7] Check it out yourself:Source:They only track the race of individuals for traffic violations. [8][8][8][8]Not even the police reports that describe why an SF officer used his or her firearm say the race of the victim. This is important because it shows variability in behavior between groups of people. Whereas counting all the victims of police shootings and grouping them by race doesn’t tell you why they were shot. Grouping them by behavior and race would be much more effective in proving racial discrimination.Consider this example of a boy getting shot because the family dog lunged at a police officer:“On March 2, 2000 at 18:50 hours, an FTO and her recruit responded to 1200 Naples Street to check on the well being of an 11-year old. When the boy opened the door, a 60-pound dog rushed past the boy and bit the FTO on the forearm. The dog advanced toward the recruit officer who fired and hit the dog. The one round traveled through the dog, through the knee of the boy, grazed the FTO's leg, struck a stucco wall, and landed on the floor.”White House Police Data InitiativeIt’s the first entry in the Excel sheet.No race, which is unfortunate because if we could find a difference in behavior that resulted in arresting individuals engaging in criminal behavior then we could save lives, regardless of race.Here is another example of SFPD reports on why they shot and killed specific individuals:Source:You have to look at independent studies that compile data from many sources such as the Public Defender’s Office with this study or the Office of Citizen Complaints, interviews, ride alongs, and many other sources as done in this study to know who is killing who.So one Tweet by Trump was semi-accurate and the other one was false, whether that makes him a racist is up to your personal judgment. I like that he is willing to talk about what others won’t.Because when I see liberals talking about crime in America they tend to describe the minority as a victim, no matter what he or she did.I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist as the Collaborative Reform Initiative study points out:In a 2010 criminal investigation, a series of racist, sexist, and homophobic text messages was found to have been shared among a group of SFPD officers.You can find the racist text messages here.Nor am I trying to make light of the issues Black people face in America. Cases like Ving Rhames must be discussed and policies enacted to prevent such injustices from happening in the future:“Here I am in my own home, alone in some basketball shorts. Just because someone called and said a large black man is breaking in, when I opened up the wooden door a 9mm is pointed at me.” Actor Ving Rhames says police held him at gunpoint in his own homeWhat I’m saying is that progressive narratives push the idea that disparity is primarily caused by racism.Overlooking the data, I would argue that racism is only one out of six reasons why cops kill more Black people in terms of population density when only compared to population densities where crime rate is lower than where the majority of Blacks live like the inner cities such as Chicago.Here are six variables that better explain what is happening in society when we see disparity among Blacks and other races, especially Whites.Absent Parents/abusive parents [9]Living in an inner city where population density is highPoverty that lowers IQ by around 10 pointsNot surrendering or cooperating with policeUsing a toy gun to commit crimeAttitudes towards Blacks reinforced by association to crimeSince these issues affect Blacks more disproportionately than Whites or Asians, we see Black people over represented in crime and every other aspect in society where these variables play a role.Progressives like Chris Rock make it harder to talk about variables 1–5 because they are always pushing the 6. For example did you know that 69.4% of Black people had a child outside of marriage compared to 28.4% for Whites and 11.8% for Asians? Don’t you think that’s going to influence social dynamics more than racism?Some might say that 69.4% of Black unmarried births in 2017 is proof of systemic racism. And I would say if that is the case why did systemic racism lower the unmarried birthrate for Black people staring in the ‘70s before it rose back throughout the late 80s?[10][10][10][10]?If we want to search for systemic racism, then if we look at the legislation that passed before 1959 to present we might find an explanation for the rising unmarried women childbirths in the black community and in the USA.Here’s another graph by Child Trends that shows an increasing trend of births outside of marriage.[11][11][11][11]Before I go through legislation memory lane, another explanation why unmarried childbirths are so high in the Black community is because of unemployment in Black males:“Liberals have tended to favor the explanation offered by William Julius Wilson. In a 1987 study, Wilson attributed the increase in out-of-wedlock births to a decline in the marriageability of black men due to a shortage of jobs for less educated men.” An analysis of out-of-wedlock births in the united statesHere’s the chart of Black male unemployment from 1972 to February 2019:Source:According to this chart unemployment for Black males at 1979 was 9.2%. Before the recession between 1973 through 1975, it was at 5.2% before jumping up to 13%.The unmarried childbirths for Black women at 1979 was at 57.2% before jumping to 62% by 1983. So it may look like there is some correlation between the rising unemployment of Black males.But if we compare the unmarried childbirths per million, we see that unmarried childbirths in the Black community were decreasing per million up until 1985 before it shot back down in the 90s.The reason why I think it is most likely a federal policy that increased unmarried childbirths is because unemployment for Black males in December of 1982 was at 20.7%, the highest it will ever be between 1972 through the present, and the unmarried childbirths for the Black community was still decreasing per million.And not only that, while unemployment was decreasing in 1985, unmarried childbirth was increasing. And while unemployment was increasing in 1990, unmarried childbirth was decreasing again per million.I would think the opposite would be true if Black male unemployment played a greater role in unmarried Black female childbirths.Birth control contraceptives had the opposite effect of reducing childbirths outside of marriage:“Although many observers expected liberalized abortion and contraception to lead to fewer out-of-wedlock births, in fact the opposite happened because of the erosion in the custom of “shotgun marriages.”[12][12][12][12]And when progressives talk about the legacy of slavery, surely this disparity between White unmarried birthrates and Black unmarried birthrates is what they are talking about.How can you have a culture of marriage when White people force you to have none with these kinds of sentiments?“The slave has no rights. Of course, he or she cannot have the rights of a husband, a wife.”But leaving it at slavery and not trying to probe further doesn’t resolve the issue.Perhaps the rising trend of unmarried childbirths from 1959 to now is the result of the Social Security act of 1935:“It provided a direct payment of $18 per month for one child, and $12 for a second child.” [13][13][13][13]Here is the systemic racism:“ADC was primarily created for white single mothers, who were expected not to work. Black mothers, who had always been in the labor force, were not considered eligible to receive benefits.”And then the expansion to include Black mothers in the ‘60s:“The Civil Rights Movement and the efforts of the National Welfare Rights Organization in the 1960s expanded the scope of welfare entitlements to include black women.”Followed by the Work Incentive Program mandate in 1971 to force Welfare participants to join if they want their social welfare benefits:“Originally WIN was voluntary, but in 1971 the federal government mandated participation for welfare recipients with no special responsibilities at home or no preschool age children (this latter provision meant that mothers were allowed to remain at home until their children entered elementary school). ” [14][14][14][14]This meant unmarried mothers had to register before they got their living assistance.“WIN provided on average about $250 to serve each potential registrant… Operating the WIN employment and training programs cost welfare agencies more than issuing monthly benefit checks, so WIN became little more than a registration requirement for many recipients.”Followed by the Earned Income Tax Credit enacted in 1975 and its expansion via the Tax Reform Act of 1986, 1990, 1993, 2001, and 2009. Maybe this tax incentive is why some women choose to have kids outside of marriage:“For tax year 2018, the maximum EITC benefit for a single person or couple filing without qualifying children is $519. The maximum EITC with one qualifying child is $3,461, with two children it is $5,716, and with three or more qualifying children, it is $6,431.”[15][15][15][15]That $2942 tax difference might incentivize women to have children outside of wedlock coupled with all the other social welfare benefits. This creates the situation of an uncommitted male, i.e. an absent or abusive parent, which in turn increases the chances the male son will give in to criminal pressures and influences.Conversations like these is why I think Trump was better than Hillary because even if he used a wrong statistic it would still push the debate onto other aspects that affect people of color and which we can do something about like UBI for poverty or different social policies for absent parents or a school voucher system to empower parents living in the inner city to choose the school for their child instead of liberal owned labor union school with a history of leaving children way behind.Ask yourself this, who benefits from having people of color do poorly in American society? Those are the people that are likely to derail the conversation away from plausible reasons and solutions to the issues facing those communities.Here’s why Chris Rock’s claim that more Blacks are getting shot by police is ridiculous:According to the Counted, 574 Whites were killed by police in 2016 compared to 266 Blacks.Only if you compare per million, the death rate is drastically disproportionate to the population of African Americans in the United States, however, doesn’t that make sense if you compare the CDC findings on homicide divided by race?And doesn’t it also make sense that more Blacks are the victims of gun violence when you consider most African Americans live in inner-cities that are highly populated?I mean when have you ever heard of a brother living up in Montana for example? Just look at this graph that plots the number of police killings per state population and see how deaths rise as population increases.Plus it is erroneous to say that Black people make up 12.3 percent of the USA’s population and are 24 percent of the victims of police shootings in the USA.You have to consider that some states like Delaware, North Dakota, Maine, and Wyoming have 1 to 2 police killings year. Taking your pool of police shootings from these states where the Black demographic is low shows a misleading figure.The comparison should not be made between Black and White people living in different states or cities but between Black and White people living in the same cities where most of the crime is happening.Don’t you think the city that has “a surge in gun violence: 3,550 shooting incidents and 4,331 shooting victims” will have most of the police killings in its state? And if most of the Black population lives in that city then wouldn’t it make sense for the Black and White police killings to show a disparity between the groups.Now compare the demographics of Chicago to Illinois:That’s 61.3 percent White (not Hispanic) to 14.6% Black for Illinois. If you compare this pool to the total police shootings in Illinois then you’re not getting an accurate reflection of the crime stats because the most encounters with police where law officers are forced to resort to deadly force are happening in a city with a demographic of 31.7% White (non Hispanic) to 32.9% Black.What I’m trying to say is how you compare numbers will determine how you see reality and the problem facing you. If your comparison is wrong, the conclusion won’t be right. And I believe the progressives are pushing the wrong conclusion because they misplaced their comparison, either intentionally or unintentionally is up for your inner conspiracist to decide.If you want to say slavery, Jim Crow, the Great Migration, redlining (systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the selective raising of prices) and a natural tendency for humans to side with their in-group, to say all that, disadvantaged Blacks, then I’m with you.My only question is: when does the person holding the gun, pointing it at another human’s face, take responsibility for their actions?When does someone like Donovan Thomas, a 22 year old Black male, take responsibility for trying to rob a White Castle with a BB gun?“An off-duty St Louis police officer shot and killed Thomas inside a White Castle restaurant as he allegedly tried to rob the business with a BB gun. Two off duty officers observed the suspect pull a gun on an employee and when he did not drop the gun as instructed one of the deputies shot him in the abdomen. Thomas was pronounced dead at the hospital.”Donovan Thomas - 22 Year Old Black MaleSo you say political correctness is not an issue? That people don’t want to divide America. That the Smollett and Covington cases were anomalies.Well check this out:A man holding up a White Castle with a BB gun is classified as unarmed.How is that not dishonest as hell? This is a symptom of a country that can’t report anything negative on protected classes in America.Read the full story here if you’re interested.Only remember this is one individual out of 6840. Don’t you think calling the inequity of Blacks shot by cops proof that systemic racism exists is too easy of an answer?But perhaps I’m being factitious, you know, cherry picking the data to support my world view.What Black Lives Matter and individuals like Chris Rock are getting at is the level of violence used when confronted with Black crime juxtaposed with White crime.“If that White Castle brother was White, he would’ve been taken in alive and given a side of fries to munch on during the ride to the precinct.”The Aurora movie theater shooter, James Holmes, not only was packing gas bombs, smoke bombs, but had a shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle, and a .40-caliber handgun and this crazy White guy gets taken in alive to face a trial whereas an unarmed Black therapist gets shot while helping his autistic client.[16][16][16][16]That’s valid criticism and cases like Charles Kinsey, the therapist, or Eric Garner, the Black man who died while repeatable telling the police he couldn’t breathe while he was put in a choke hold, are horrible examples of police brutality, which point to the sixth variable.My question is do these cases represent the majority of Blacks shot/killed by cops and do we have any examples of Whites experiencing situations like Kinsey or Garner or Donovan?Again my argument is that the media misrepresents data to polarize Americans, political correctness being one tool of that misrepresentation.National Police Violence Map says this below its map of all the police shootings:“Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.”And then there’s this infographic about unarmed victims:With this infographic right next to it:Followed by an infographic talking about deaths happening in the major inner cities:And then followed by this one:The reason why I brought up the White Castle incident is because that man was classified as an unarmed victim, which if you look at that pie chart that reads, Non-Violent/Unarmed (69%), it makes me believe that incidences like the White Castle one are included in non-violent/unarmed police encounters with Black men that end in death.I find this misleading. I believe when the majority of people look at these stats they use them as evidence that racism is primarily responsible for the disparity. They overemphasize the sixth variable instead of highlighting variables 1–5.First the White Castle charge that if Donovan was White, lethal force wouldn’t have been used.If racism is the reason, then I shouldn’t be able to find examples where a White man did the same thing as Donovan did, the only difference being their skin color.This is what happened to Dylan Parker Thomas, an 18 year old White man, when he pointed his BB gun to a police officer:“Dylan Thomas apparently robbed and then gave the money back to a pizza delivery driver. The driver spoke to an off-duty officer, Officer H.A. Berry, who was working in full uniform and driving a police car at Walmart. Berry found Thomas and shot and killed him when Thomas allegedly pointed his BB gun at Berry.” 18-year-old carrying revolver replica BB gun shot, killed by officerBeing White didn’t save Dylan just like being Black didn’t save Donovan. Again a man, this time White, robbed a pizza delivery lady and then gave back the money, and this was classified as an unarmed victim of police shooting.This is what happened to Anthony Ray Borden-Cortez, an 18 year old Hispanic man, when he pointed his BB gun at an officer.“Anthony Ray Borden-Cortez allegedly pointed a BB gun at the officer after he fled from police in a stolen vehicle and crashed, police said. He was shot and killed.” 18-year-old killed by Ogden officer was armed with BB gun, police sayHere’s the crazy thing about this unarmed victim:MAPS says he wasn’t fleeing but the news article says this, “Anthony Ray Borden-Cortez, of Ogden, allegedly pointed a BB gun at the officer after he fled from police in a stolen vehicle and crashed, police say.”So Anthony did flee using a stolen car from a police station! So far none of these men’s skin color saved them from being shot and killed by a cop while unarmed with a BB gun.This man didn’t have a BB gun but he was White and shot when he charged at a police officer:“A Wagoner police officer initiated a traffic stop with a man who was driving erratically around 9:15 a.m. The officer said that Elisha Edward Kelley got out of his vehicle and refused to follow commands. Kelley then became aggressive and charged at the officer and was shot and killed, police said.” OSBI investigating fatal officer-involved shooting in downtown Wagoner574 Whites were killed by cops in 2016 compared to 266 Blacks. Sometimes the Whites were in situations similar to the Blacks and neither of them survived, so if racism can’t explain why the Whites were killed, why do you accept racism was the cause when Blacks were killed?Especially when this study says, “Current research is conflicted as to whether implicit racial bias influences officers' decisions to use lethal force. However, to our knowledge, no study has directly assessed the racial composition of officer killings of suspects.”[17][17][17][17]Or when Charles Menifield, dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration says, “There might be some bad apples in the police department, but white officers are no more likely to use lethal force against minorities than nonwhite officers.”[18][18][18][18]So if White officers are not more likely to use lethal force to minorities than nonwhite officers, perhaps cases like Eric Garner or Charles Kinsey or Ving Rhames are not proof of racism but proof of all people associating Black people with crime.Meaning that a Black person and a White person and any other person has been taught by society to associate Black people as more likely to commit crime. This might explain why the neighbor called the cops on Rhames or why the cops pointed their guns first before asking questions or why Kinsey was still shot even though he had his arms in the air or Black officers still kill Black victims at the same rate as Whites and other minorities.It’s more insidious than racism because everyone is operating on a collective association that hurts members of the Black community.But even if that is so, I don’t believe anyone would find that statement empowering. Nor would I find that explanation capable of explaining most of the police violence on Blacks. Absent fathers, living in inner cities, poverty, and specific behavior traits when dealing with police officers explain a lot more of the cases than the collective association paradigm.You can call me all the names you like for loving Trump’s stance on political correctness, but that doesn’t get to the root of this issue, this distorting of facts to fit infographics that spread animosity between groups.Let me repeat that: distorting facts to fit infographics that spread animosity between groups is the political correctness problem I saw eating away at America.That’s what I’m really ashamed of. It’s embarrassing that Hillary supporters and Trump supporters can’t share a beer or coke and crack jokes at one another.Are we seriously blaming white supremacy for a guy sticking up a White Castle with a BB gun?If that’s not political correctness gone cray-cray, I don’t know what is.I’m not ashamed of Donald Trump because I still believe in Malcolm X’s solution to solving racism in America:“The way this problem can be solved, first, the white man and the black man have to be able to sit down at the same table. The white man has to feel free to speak his mind without hurting the feelings of that Negro. And the so called Negro has to feel free to speak his mind without hurting the feelings of the white man. Then they can bring the issues that are under the rug out on top of the table and take an intelligent approach to get the problem solved. That’s the only way that they will ever do it. We need an action program while we are Muslim, while we are Christian, while we are, WHATEVER we are, we still need an action program that will eliminate these evils that are in our community.”From what I’ve read, progressives get their feelings hurt when conservatives say that maybe racism isn’t a bigger threat to Black people than the destruction of the Black family.You had Daniel Patrick Moynihan warning America in the 60s of the dangers of not addressing this issue of black children being raised without their fathers in his The Negro Family: The Case For National Action.You had Thomas Sowell warning America of these problems throughout his career such as in articles like The Inconvenient Truth about Ghetto Communities’ Social Breakdown.You even had another group of sociologists re-exploring Moynihan’s thesis around 5 decades later with their Moynihan Report Revisited.And what you get for a response from the progressive left is more jokes that appeal to emotions, more name calling, and more calls to ban speech that offends them.I don’t want the USA to turn into the U.K. where it’s appropriate to arrest people for offensive speech.Because as an American, I find that truly shameful.EDIT:Special thanks to Diego Duarte and Anders Tilly for their comments and allowing me to see another perspective.Much peace and love.Footnotes[1] Louis CK - Time Travel is Excluslively a White Privilege[1] Louis CK - Time Travel is Excluslively a White Privilege[1] Louis CK - Time Travel is Excluslively a White Privilege[1] Louis CK - Time Travel is Excluslively a White Privilege[2] Odalisque | Encyclopedia.com[2] Odalisque | Encyclopedia.com[2] Odalisque | Encyclopedia.com[2] Odalisque | Encyclopedia.com[3] Invasions of the British Isles - Wikipedia[3] Invasions of the British Isles - Wikipedia[3] Invasions of the British Isles - Wikipedia[3] Invasions of the British Isles - Wikipedia[4] Norman conquest of England - Wikipedia[4] Norman conquest of England - Wikipedia[4] Norman conquest of England - Wikipedia[4] Norman conquest of England - Wikipedia[5] Invasions of Ireland from 1170 - 1320[5] Invasions of Ireland from 1170 - 1320[5] Invasions of Ireland from 1170 - 1320[5] Invasions of Ireland from 1170 - 1320[6] Umayyad conquest of Hispania - Wikipedia[6] Umayyad conquest of Hispania - Wikipedia[6] Umayyad conquest of Hispania - Wikipedia[6] Umayyad conquest of Hispania - Wikipedia[7] White House Police Data Initiative[7] White House Police Data Initiative[7] White House Police Data Initiative[7] White House Police Data Initiative[8] White House Police Data Initiative[8] White House Police Data Initiative[8] White House Police Data Initiative[8] White House Police Data Initiative[9] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_08-508.pdf[10] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr48/nvs48_16.pdf[10] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr48/nvs48_16.pdf[10] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr48/nvs48_16.pdf[10] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr48/nvs48_16.pdf[11] https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/75_Births_to_Unmarried_Women.pdf[11] https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/75_Births_to_Unmarried_Women.pdf[11] https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/75_Births_to_Unmarried_Women.pdf[11] https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/75_Births_to_Unmarried_Women.pdf[12] An analysis of out-of-wedlock births in the united states[12] An analysis of out-of-wedlock births in the united states[12] An analysis of out-of-wedlock births in the united states[12] An analysis of out-of-wedlock births in the united states[13] Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Wikipedia[13] Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Wikipedia[13] Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Wikipedia[13] Aid to Families with Dependent Children - Wikipedia[14] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2979/e6424e03166305622d81fcb969f2beb9c6dc.pdf[14] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2979/e6424e03166305622d81fcb969f2beb9c6dc.pdf[14] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2979/e6424e03166305622d81fcb969f2beb9c6dc.pdf[14] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2979/e6424e03166305622d81fcb969f2beb9c6dc.pdf[15] Earned income tax credit - Wikipedia[15] Earned income tax credit - Wikipedia[15] Earned income tax credit - Wikipedia[15] Earned income tax credit - Wikipedia[16] Police Shoot Unarmed Black Man With Hands Up [CAUGHT ON TAPE][16] Police Shoot Unarmed Black Man With Hands Up [CAUGHT ON TAPE][16] Police Shoot Unarmed Black Man With Hands Up [CAUGHT ON TAPE][16] Police Shoot Unarmed Black Man With Hands Up [CAUGHT ON TAPE][17] Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects?[17] Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects?[17] Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects?[17] Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects?[18] Killing of black suspects is more than a 'white police problem' - Futurity[18] Killing of black suspects is more than a 'white police problem' - Futurity[18] Killing of black suspects is more than a 'white police problem' - Futurity[18] Killing of black suspects is more than a 'white police problem' - Futurity