tapitsbo » Fri Sep 09, 2016 5:41 pm wrote:Yeah, PufPuf93 my posts on this board are quite offhand relatively low quality and I have a lot of respect for yours. Wasn't trying to shoot you down so to speak...
Sure muslim extremists have some "agency" of their own (some in this board have suggested that term is a hijack)
Personally I believe there are lots of forces that could rein these guys in but in particular private interests have kept the extremist militias going so now we see an arc of activity from Nigeria to the Philippines and beyond. As others on here have commented, government agencies are now often getting their information about these groups from private think tanks and corporations, whose published materials are often very revealing on these topics
Even the Gulf States and Israel however problematic have large factions hostile to the jihadist groups; countries like the US UK and France hardly seem a lot better. I think me and Jack might agree that world co-operation to regulate some of the private sector could help here. It doesn't seem likely though in the near future.
Of course rule-by-death-squad isn't only being applied to muslim areas. It's understandable that many Western populations are irked by what can feel like autonomy given to communities sympathetic to jihadism while the majority culture is closely monitored and often lacks political representation. On the other hand I absolutely believe that the clash of civilizations dynamic is being engineered and exploited by the owners of elite institutions that have global reach and overrule nation-states more often than not
I hope you did not misread my tone in that my intent was to mention my own sloppiness. The world stage is a big complex hostile mess and one aspect is a perceived and engineered clash of civilizations that benefits a small minority at great cost. There is much social Darwinism afoot be by war or by wealth stratification in more affluent and modern nations.
Political and financial leadership now seems to lean toward widening the divide rather than a peaceful world. Divide and conquer is an old strategy.
I agree with you and Jack too. Feel pretty old and hopeless and pissed off too.
a feeling less in touch with the reality than the belief in the Obamaphone?
Jack I didn't dream up the Obama Phone in the middle of an acid trip.
The people that got those phones believed Obama was responsible for giving it to them and that was no accident. The Obama administration piggy backed on the Lifeline program and duped people into believing that Obama gave them a phone. They believed it so the political ruse of influencing people to be grateful to Obama worked. Even the media referred to it as an Obama Phone. Voters watch TV.
The more phones that were handed out the more money that was made on the government contract by manufactures. Manufacturers don't get those sweet heart deals unless they are willing to engage in "pay to play" and you know that.
How many political pigs you reckon were lined up at this trough wasting our tax payer dollars giving phones to people that didn't even need a phone? Giving these phones to people was every bit as much about making money, and probably more, than it was giving a phone to people that could not afford one.
You think those politicians give a damn if people have a phone or not? Not...
FCC cracks down on Obama Phone fraud, fines eleven companies $90 million December 15, 2013 | | Filed Under: legal
The Federal Communications Commission has taken another major step in its efforts to reduce fraud and abuse in the Obama Phone program by assessing $90 million in fines against eleven companies that participate in the program across the country.
According to a report by St Louis, Missouri’s KMOV News 4, the fines have even been assessed against two companies that previously told the station that the allegations were nothing to worry about.
Watch the video (which sometimes doesn’t come up):
The FCC stated that Maryland-based Cintex Wireless intentionally targeted customers whose incomes were not low enough to qualify for Obama Phones. The company “earned” millions of dollars by enrolling these unqualified people.
When KMOV sent its news team to research the story, one Cintex representatives claimed to know nothing about the fines and another one was on vacation.
Despite the fact that Cintex’ legal team says they abide by the rules of the Obama Phone program, the FCC hit the company with a $9.5 million fine for allegedly violating the rules.
In an earlier report, the KMOV News 4 team learned that Life Wireless, a division of Telrite, was shipping Obama Phones to Missouri residents who said they had never enrolled in the program. After conducting a thorough audit of the company’s business, the FCC agreed and imposed a $22 million fine.
Global Connection, another Obama Phone competitor, was assessed a $12 million fine on the same day.
In addition to the $43.5 million in fines on Cintex, Life Wireless and Global Connection, the FCC has imposed fines of nearly $47 million against 8 additional Lifeline Assistance (Obama Phone) providers in the last three months. The companies have two options — either pay the fines or appeal them — and it has yet to be determined which choice the companies will make.
According to industry observers, there may be more than 2 million fraudulent Obama Phone accounts. The program has been plagued with fraud and abuse and the intent of the FCC audits are intended to clean up the troubled program.
So not only do we almost certainly have some pay to play action going on but then the government turned around and scooped up millions in fines on the deal. (also known as pig snout grease) Sweet!
You think that money went back to the taxpayers? Not...It went to the pigs at the trough, not to mention the middlemen politicians who took their cut in under the table money or campaign donations from manufacturers or however they got their snouts greased.
If the taxpayer money goes to provide desperate people with a phone I am all for it but wasting taxpayer dollars to fatten the pigs is the way Washington works and that is no secret.
So where are we in 2016? How many hundreds of MILLIONS OF DOLLARS are the pigs sucking up their snout now? Kind of funny how they have just let this fraud not only continue but actually expanded it by adding internet, innit?
Fraud and Fines, as defined in the political gangster dictionary = pig snout grease.
Qui bono?
Commissioner says fraud from Obamaphone program approaching $500 million By Rudy Takala (@RudyTakala) • 6/8/16 4:48 PM
The federal subsidy known as the "Obamaphone" or "Obamanet" program could be losing nearly $500 million to fraud annually, according to a top Republican on the Federal Communications Commission.
Commissioner Ajit Pai made the accusation Wednesday in letter to the Universal Service Administrative Company, referring to the FCC's Universal Service Fund, which provides a monthly $9.95 subsidy for telecom service to low-income consumers.
The subsidy is limited to one per "independent economic household," or IEH, but telecom companies have the ability to override that restriction if applicants check a box stating they represent a separate household, even if they have the same address.
The Universal Service Administrative Company is a nonprofit organization designated by the FCC to administer the fund.
Pai wrote that data obtained by the FCC last month revealed carriers had enrolled nearly 4.3 million subscribers using the IEH override process between October 2014-April 2016, or 35.5 percent of total subscribers for the period. "It is alarming that over one-third of subscribers — costing taxpayers almost half a billion dollars a year — were registered through an IEH override. Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2584747
"Just one year of service for these apparent duplicates costs taxpayers $476 million," added Pai, who now is asking the Universal Service Administrative Corporation for answers to several questions.
They include a list of any investigations or audits into the apparent fraud that USAC has conducted, and details about any process the company has in place to ensure that consumers who self-describe as being part of a separate household are being truthful. Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2585434
"Given the hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds apparently lost to unscrupulous behavior in the Lifeline program, I hope you will agree that USAC's paramount task must be to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from the Lifeline program," Pai wrote.
The program was originally established to help low-income consumers in rural areas obtain access to 911 services. It was expanded to include cellular devices in more recent years, and expanded in March to include Internet service.
Pai said that fraud was "alarming", alarming he said! But the didn't outline a detailed plan to stop it did he? Wonder why? I bet his pension is, well, fat as a pig!
And you don't believe these guys would hand out some Obama Tablets, or Hillary Tablets, or Trump Tablets, or whatever they might call it? I do.
"A mind stretched by a new idea can never return to it's original dimensions." Oliver Wendell Holmes
