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U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

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Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#261
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't really a lot of crime in Japan. It's culturally very shameful to be a criminal or to have a criminal in the family in Japan, and the entire culture is based on maintaining the family honor.

Yet the Yakuza and underworld exists and operate in some manner.

Yakuza is legal in Japan. Not sure what you mean by “underworld” in the Japanese context.

Edit: my info about yakuza being legal is outdated. Japanese authorities have been cracking down on it.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People saying they want a "partner in crime" on dating apps is a cliché for a reason ;-)

it is a very american thing... perhaps some kind of romanticization from the the Bonnie and Clyde era

Also the culture has a huge amount of influence from mass incarceration of citizens, and tons of media portraying police, lawyers, courts, crime, etc.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The privatization of the military is one of the most corrupt and corrosive things our country has done in a while. I flew F-18s for the Navy and did a ground tour in Iraq with Special Forces. Look at the pay grades in 2020.[1] E3-E6 are making about $25-40k in salary. With some hazard pay and Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and Subsistence (BAS), depending on where you live (if not in the barracks) maybe you are ma…

Why stop at the military? The privatization of most of American institutions has lead to massive corruption and terrible outcomes for the typical citizen. We're that not far from becoming a banana republic.

We already are. We're just a relatively rich banana republic. All the corruption can skim off layer after layer of profit, and there's still enough left that we can live reasonably okay lives as long as we don't get sick.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Hazard pay" is $150 per month at most. The "free lifetime healthcare" gets eroded every congressional session (for a while there they took away dental coverage), and the VA health care system has a well-deserved reputation for being a nightmare factory. There is no such thing as a "zero-interest mortgage." The only benefit to a VA loan is the zero-down-payment. The only way to retire on a full-salary pension is to s…

In recent years, there seems to have been a push to hire vets into lucrative positions in the private sector. I know anecdotes are frowned upon here, but all four veteran friends/family of my own age managed to land very good jobs immediately after discharge. None had any college degrees, one (special forces) landed a mid-level management position at a bank, two (technical MOS) went into IT for defense contractors, a…

> Interestingly, the last one served ~2 weeks before receiving a medical discharge due to complications from a high-school football injury. He graduate high school, did practically nothing for two years before enlisting. Comes back a month later a veteran with a medical discharge and is getting multiple job offers.

Sounds fishy to me.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#265
post #8

From the article: "In a criminal complaint, federal prosecutors said they were acting on a request from Japanese authorities to extradite Michael L. Taylor and his son, Peter M. Taylor, for their alleged roles in helping Mr. Ghosn escape from Japan." It appears they were not arrested for any US crimes.

Something has to be a crime in both Japan and the US for one to be extradited for that crime.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#266
post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s because we had adults voting then

Our voting population was actually much younger at the time, despite the voting age being slightly higher (21).[1] > the median age in 1940 was 29.0 years, compared to 37.2 years in 2010 [1]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1940-us-census-data-released-on...

I think your parent comment was referring to emotional maturity--and I would agree with his/her point.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The privatization of the military is one of the most corrupt and corrosive things our country has done in a while. I flew F-18s for the Navy and did a ground tour in Iraq with Special Forces. Look at the pay grades in 2020.[1] E3-E6 are making about $25-40k in salary. With some hazard pay and Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and Subsistence (BAS), depending on where you live (if not in the barracks) maybe you are ma…

They were almost certainly not clearing $1k a day, the company who contracted them was.

I know folks who were making $250k per year as contractors in war zones over 10 years ago. It wouldn’t surprise me if the number is higher now. These were all for skilled jobs that required TS SCI clearances.

$250k is $5k a week for 50 weeks. These folks often didn’t work 50 weeks since generous home leave was frequently given, so $1000 a day may actually be on the low side.

Also note that there are tax exemptions via treaties or war zone exceptions that can make a significant impact on take-home wages.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#268
post #8

From the article: "In a criminal complaint, federal prosecutors said they were acting on a request from Japanese authorities to extradite Michael L. Taylor and his son, Peter M. Taylor, for their alleged roles in helping Mr. Ghosn escape from Japan." It appears they were not arrested for any US crimes.

Something has to be a crime in both Japan and the US for one to be extradited for that crime.

Can you give me better phrasing for what I meant? They were not arrested for crimes committed on US soil. As far as I can guess, no US law enforcement would have arrested them for the crimes they committed without the request from Japan (though I may be very wrong about this).

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is this "honk honk"? I've seen it lots of places. Might just be baader meinhoff, but I first encountered it in Chicago where aggressive drivers are constantly honking but its commonplace practice to give two loud honks on your car horn coming out of alleyways letting pedestrians know you don't intend to stop and slowly approach but instead are barrel assing out of the alley and don't give a shit if you kill some…

"honk honk" is an alt-right meme. It refers to clown world or the fact that current politics, the zeitgeist or how the world works is clownish. I have only ever seen "honk honk" used when referring to issues involving Islam, racial minorities or the treatment of women.

Your first paragraph is correct, but your second doesn't match the usage in the OP.

Re: U.S. arrests former Green Beret, son, in connection with Ghosn escape from Japan

#270
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't really a lot of crime in Japan. It's culturally very shameful to be a criminal or to have a criminal in the family in Japan, and the entire culture is based on maintaining the family honor.

Yet the Yakuza and underworld exists and operate in some manner.

That's true, of course.

But the Yakuza are kind of an "honorable criminal" type. They don't foist their criminal actions on the general populace.

It's a bit complicated, and doesn't make a lot of sense in the American paradigm. They're not like the Italian Mafia exactly.

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