Diplomat Jim Patterson Writes House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chair Ed Royce on Misleading HCFA Letter on White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer

James E. Patterson

Life Member American Foreign Service Association

Washington DC 20037

JEPDiplomat@gmail.com

February 1, 2017

Congressman Ed Royce 

2310 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Royce,

As a member of the California State Society and a foreign service professional, I want to call to your kind attention a recent email from my professional union, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). See transmitted Page Two of the email with the last paragraph circled.

The email to me states: “It is important to note that friends of the Foreign Service on Capitol Hill are showing their support in action (of AFSA dissent to President Trump’s immigration EO). Click here to read a letter to the President from members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.” See transmitted Page Three of the letter.

The letter address to “The President” and not to “President Donald J. Trump,” is signed by Ranking Members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Democratic Rep. Alan Lowenthal, who is not a Committee Member. As an AFSA member and a Life Member of the AFSA who voted for President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the AFSA email is inaccurate and offensive to me.

The Committee letter, dated January 31, 2017, should be address to President Donald J. Trump so as not to be divisive and fuel politically partisan charges President Trump was illegitimately elected President of the United States. Secondly, the email is inaccurate because Lowenthal is not a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Further, since the letterhead states “Committee on Foreign Affairs” Lowenthal is misleading readers, as is AFSA, that he is a Committee member.

It is disturbing to me AFSA has taken a partisan political position in violation of its mission. I urge you to call this matter to the attention of AFSA President Barbara J. Stephenson. Ambassador Stephenson needs to read and accurately describe these emails and stop distributing partisan political material in violation of the Hatch Act and other federal laws.

Please contact me if I can answer any questions on this very serious matter. Thank you for your service to California, the Nation and the World.

Sincerely,

James Patterson

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"History is a vast early warning system." Norman Cousins

January 31 in American Foreign Relations History 

In 1968, the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive began in South Vietnam. Jim Patterson Notes: Magazines are now on sale that document this important historical event in American Foreign Relations History. 

Birthday of Note: 

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, the former queen regent, is 79. 

Quote: 

"Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have." - Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel, Jim Patterson Note: True for material things and foreign policy accomplishments.  

Announcing:

Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations, 3rd edition 

Diplomat Jim Patterson On Meeting Futurist Alvin Toffler

                                                        Futurist Alvin Toffler


On Meeting Futurist Alvin Toffler


I first met futurist Alvin Toffler in summer 1986 when he made a rare visit to the US Department of Commerce to dedicate a historical plaque commemorating UNIVAC I which brought the government into the Computer Age in 1951. Toffler autographed my Univac program that day; I had not brought a copy of his book.

It was a beautiful summer June day and Toffler and his wife, Heidi, spoke at the outdoor ceremony. I talked with him about his invaluable book “Future Shock” which introduced the term “information overload” in describing the impact of computers on individuals and society.

“Future Shock” was published in 1970. The Wall Street Journal called the book “Explosive … Brilliantly formulated.” The Times of India said,” To the elite … who often get committed to age-old institutions or material goals alone, let Toffler’s FUTURE SHOCK be a lesson and a warning.”

London Daily Express: “Alvin Toffler has sent something of a shock-wave through Western society.” The Christian Science Monitor said, “Packed with ideas, explanations, constructive suggestions … Revealing, exciting, encouraging, brilliant.” The Manchester Guardian wrote: “An American book that will … reshape our thinking even more radically than Galbraith’s did in the 1950s … It is a spectacular outcrop of a formidable, organized intellectual effort.”  

I have kept “Future Shock” in my library since I first read it. Toffler predicted the end of “the Organizational Man,” the end of conventional offices,” and the end of narrow definitions of “professions.” It wasn’t coincidental Toffler wrote that technological advances made it easier for professionals to reach beyond their profession to use information from other disciplines to solve problems. The book is intriguing, encouraging, provoking, intellectually stimulating, and very likely, disturbing to some readers.

“The new spirit in these transient organizations is closer to that of the entrepreneur than the organization man. The free-swinging entrepreneur who started up vast enterprises unafraid of defeat or adverse opinion, is a folk hero of industrialism, particularly in the United States. Pareto labeled entrepreneurs as “not at all alarmed at change.” Was futurist Alvin Toffler in 1970s “Future Shock” suggesting the likelihood of a Donald Trump presidency?

Alvin Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on their effects on cultures worldwide.

Toffler was an associate editor of Fortune magazine. In his early works he focused on technology and its impact, which he termed "information overload." In 1970 his first major book about the future, Future Shock, became a worldwide best-seller and has sold over 6 million copies.

He and his wife Heidi Toffler, who collaborated with him for most of his writings, moved on to examining the reaction to changes in society with another best-selling book, The Third Wave in 1980. In it, he foresaw such technological advances as cloning, personal computers, the Internet, cable television and mobile communication. His later focus, via their other best-seller, Powershift, (1990), was on the increasing power of 21st-century military hardware and the proliferation of new technologies.

He founded Toffler Associates, a management consulting company, and was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, visiting professor at Cornell University, faculty member of the New School for Social Research, a White House correspondent, and a business consultant. Toffler's ideas and writings were a significant influence on the thinking of business and government leaders worldwide, including Newt Gingrich, China's Zhao Ziyang, and AOL founder Steve Case. It is impossible to estimate Toffler’s global influence. Toffler and his work were influential to me and I am happy I had heard him speak and had a conversation with him. 

Bio Page for Toffler’s 1986 Appearance at the Commerce Department 

Alvin Toffler

Alvin Toffler is an author and social critic best known for his analysis of contemporary social change.
His books, including Future Shock, The Third Wave and Previews and Premises, have been published in some 30 languages around the world, from French, German, Spanish and Japanese, to Turkish, Polish, Hebrew, Arabic and Chinese. The Third Wave has been banned in Saudi Arabia. It is a bestseller in The People’s Republic of China. The Adaptive Corporation is his latest book.

His work has been awarded the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France (other winners, Alexander Solzhenitzen, Lawrence Durrell, W.H Auden).

In the United States, his work has won the McKinsey Foundation Book Award for its “Distinguished Contribution to Management Literature.” In addition, Toffler has been named Author of the Year by the America Society for Journalists and Authors for having “significantly influenced our attitudes and concepts of ourselves as an American society.”

His books are required reading in universities from the U.S. and Japan to Brazil and Zaire. They are studied by government officials around the world and have drawn public and private comment from such world leaders as Richard Nixon, Indira Ghandi, Pierre Trudeau, Ceausescu of Romania, Whitlam of Australia, Prime Minister Suzuki and former prime Minister Miki of Japan. The Third Wave was the subject of a major international television co-production.

Toffler has addressed groups in the U.S.Congress, the Japanese Diet, the British House of Commons, and may well be the only person to speak before a National Republican Governors’ Conference and a Democratic Party convention on the same day. He has also lectured before the USA-Institute of Politics at Harvard, as well as before scores of major corporations.

He holds six honorary degress( in Law, Science and Letters), serves on numerous boards, is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a winner of the Centennial Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and an Officer de l’Ordre des Arts et des Sciences.

Over the years he has worked closely with his wife , Heidi, who has played an important role as collaborator and editor, and who also pursues an independent career as a lecturer.
United States Department of Commerce News Washington DC 20230 Bureau of the Census
Public Information Office James O’Brien For Immediate release CB86-0-04

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                                               Walter Cronkite examines UNIVAC "output"

                                                                 UNIVAC in action. 


Census Bureau to Mark 35^th Anniversary of Dawn of Computer Age; Futurist Alvin Toffler to Speak

A commemorative plaque will be dedicated at Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, 
Saturday, June 14, to mark the bureau’s role 35 years ago as a pioneer in the computer age.
On June 14, 1951, the Census Bureau formally accepted UNIVAC I, the first general purpose data processing computer, from its manufacturer, Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corp.

Futurist writer Alvin Toffler will be the featured speaker. Author of Future Shock and The Third Wave, Toffler will speak on computers and the future. He will be introduced by Census Bureau Director John G. Keane. The ceremony will begin at 11:00 a.m.

Invited guests include Mrs. Kay Mauchly Antonelli, a computer pioneer closely involved with UNIVAC I; Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD); executives of Sperry Corp.; senior officials of the Department of Commerce, other federal agency representatives; and UNIVAC I pioneers from the Census Bureau and other organizations.

The Census Bureau helped pioneer the computer age by actively supporting the research and development that produced UNIVAC I (short for “Universal Automatic Computer”). In use from 1951 to 1963, it was retired and presented to the Smithsonian Institution where it is now in the Museum of American History.  

Tours of the bureau’s current computer installations, descendants of UNIVAC I, will be conducted for guests beginning at 11:45 a.m. Demonstrations of automated equipment and modern data retrieval will also be features. The U.S. Navy Band and Navy Color Guard will participate.
A limited number of reservations for the ceremony are available by calling Miss Joanne Owen.

-X-

June 1986 

Language for the Plaque:

THE FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF THE PLAQUE BEING DEDICATED.
FIRST ELECTRONIC GENERAL PURPOSE DATA PROCESSING COMPUTER

THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS DEDICATED THE WORLD’S FIRST ELECTRONIC GENERAL PURPOSE DATA PROCESSING COMPUTER, UNIVAC I, SERIAL NUMBER 001, ON JUNE 14, 1951. THE SHORTENED NAME UNIVAC WAS DERIVED FROM THE FULL NAME “UNIVERSAL AUTOMATIC COMPUTER.”

UNIVAC I WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT IN PHILADELPHIA BY THE ECKERT-MAUCHLY COMPUTER CORPORATION UNDER THE DIRECTION OF ITS CO-INVENTORS J. PRESPER ECKERT AND JOHN W. MAUCHLY.

UNIVAC I REMAINED AT THE FACTORY SITE FOR OVER A YEAR AND WAS USED THERE BY THE CENSUS BUREAU TO PROCESS PART OF THE 1950 DECENNIAL CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING. THIS ELECTRONIC MARVEL ATTRACTED WORLDWIDE ATTENTION WHEN IT BECAME THE FIRST COMPUTER USED BY TELEVISION NEWS TO PREDICT THE RESULTS OF THE 1952 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

UNIVAC I WAS EVENTUALLY MOVED FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE CENSUS BUREAU HEADQUARTERS IN SUITLAND, MARYLAND, WHERE IT LOGGED 73,500 HOURS OF OPERATION BEFORE BEING RETIRED FROM SERVICE IN 1963.
FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE MORE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THIS MACHINE, UNIVAC I CONTAINED 5,400 VACUUM TUBES AND 18,00 CRYSTAL DIODES. THE COMPUTER REQUIRED 18 KILOWATTS OF ELECTRICAL POWER TO OPERATE AND WEIGHED ALMOST 15 TONS. IT’S MEMORY UNIT, WHICH WAS MADE OF ACOUSTIC DELAY LINES FILLED WITH MERCURY, COULD STORE 12,000 CHARACTERS OF PROGRAM AND DATA.

UNIVAC I HAD 10 MAGNETIC TAPE UNITS THAT READ AND WRITE ON PLATED METAL TAPE AT THE RATE OF OVER 10,000 CHARACTERS PER SECOND. AUXILIARY UNITS INCLUDED AN OPERATOR’S KEYBOARD-TO-TAPE DEVICE AND A CARD-TO-TAPE CONVERTER AS WELL AS SEVERAL PRINTING DEVICES.
PROGRAMS FOR UNIVAC I WERE WRITTEN IN MACHINE CODE, AND ALPHA-DECIMAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE WHICH REQUIRED NO ASSEMBLER. ITS EXECUTION SPEED WAS 2,000 INSTRUCTIONS PER SECOND.

SELECTED ARTIFACTS FROM THIS HISTORIC MACHINE ARE NOW ON DISPLAY IN THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION’S MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
--
THIS MARKER WAS INSTALLED ON JUNE 14, 1986, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 35^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORIGINAL DEDICATION OF THE FIRST UNIVAC I.

January 21 in Foreign Relations History

1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.

2003, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that for the first time, the largest minority group in the United States was Hispanics (who may be of any race).

The guillotine was used for executions in France as recently as 1977. The death penalty was abolished there in 1981.

"Reason therefore must be the standard by which we determine the respective claims of revelation; for otherwise we may as well subscribe to the divinity of the one as of the other, or to the whole of them, or to none at all." -- Ethan Allen, "Reason: The Only Oracle of Man"

1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton (GRAH'-tuhn), Connecticut (however, the Nautilus did not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later).

1968, the Battle of Khe Sanh began during the Vietnam War. An American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed in Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.

1977, on his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

2007 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in his country's affairs.


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Jim Patterson is a member of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations  and a Life Member of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). 

Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Obama Iran Policy

Diplomat Jim Patterson at CNN studios, Atlanta. 

Jim Patterson note: The U.S. Treasury makes a transaction this large to Iran without knowledge of the State Department who, coincidentally, is involved in "separate diplomatic negotiations" with Iran for release of 4 Iranian-American hostages. If this is a case of two separate agencies working on "separate diplomatic negotiations," it indicates how the government acts without complete information on an international issue as sensitive as Iran is.

With economic sanctions gone with the Iran nuclear deal and now with this huge 2016 payment, Iran has vast financial resources to engage in anti-American aggressions in the Middle East and beyond which allows Tehran to further destabilize the region and engage in attacks in Allepo with its allies Russia and Syria. This is dangerous policy that complicates diplomacy in the region and endangers countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Further, Iranian provocations over 2016 indicate no change in its militant policies toward the United States. The secretive Obama/Kerry/Rice Iran policy has not served American diplomatic interests. 

Dear Mr. Patterson: Thank you for contacting me regarding U.S.-Iranian relations.  I appreciate the time you took to write, and I welcome the opportunity to respond. As you mention, the United States delivered a cash payment of $400 million to Iran in January 2016.  This payment represented the first installment in a now complete $1.7 billion settlement regarding a cancelled fighter jet deal between the pre-revolutionary Iranian government and the United States.  The jets were never delivered because of the 1979 Iranian revolution.  The Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal that was established to resolve litigation surrounding this cancelled contract has been ongoing since 1981.   I understand you believe that the $400 million was paid as a ransom for the release of four American detainees held by Iran.  As you may know, the United States has a long-standing policy of not paying ransoms for American hostages. I also understand you are concerned about the fact that foreign cash was used to make the payment.  According to the White House, the payment was made in cash because U.S. banks are not permitted to facilitate electronic transfers with Iranian banks.  In addition, foreign currency was required because Federal law prohibits the use of U.S. dollars in financial transactions with Iran.   On January 16, 2016, Iran released four Iranian-Americans who had been imprisoned for several years, including Jason Rezaian, an American journalist, and Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine.  According to the State Department, the settlement and the prisoner release were the results of separate diplomatic negotiations. Please know that I have carefully noted your thoughts on this matter, and I will keep your views in mind should legislation related to U.S.-Iranian relations come before me in the Senate.  Once again, thank you for writing.  I hope you will continue to keep me informed on issues of importance to you.  If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C., office at (202) 224-3841 or visit my website at www.feinstein.senate.gov.  Best regards. Sincerely yours,   Dianne Feinstein          United States Senator Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the nation are available at my website,feinstein.senate.gov. And please visit my YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for more ways to communicate with me.

US diplomat/Facebook Stockholder James Patterson Supports Israel's 'Facebook Law'

                                         US diplomat and Facebook Stockholder James Patterson 

James E. Patterson

Life Member American Foreign Service Association

Washington DC 

January 8, 2017

Honorable MK Gilad Erdan, Internal Security Minister

Israeli Knesset By Email

Dear Minister Erdan,

As a Facebook stockholder, I write in support of your bill on removal of criminal content from Internet sources, including Social Media Providers. For the past three years, I have been vocal to CEO Mark Zucherberg about not allowing this content on our platform. I do not believe Facebook executives lack the ability to monitor and timely remove for this content.

At the Facebook annual meeting two years ago, Zucherberg and the Facebook board promised me the corporation would not allow criminal content that could incite individuals to acts of violence and acts intended to economically or politically destabilize Israel such as the BDS propaganda. There is a fine line between the BDS propaganda and criminal content intended to incite people to violence.

I have asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which scrutinizes corporate filings by publicly traded U.S. companies, to review Facebook’s public filings to ensure they are complying with all U.S. and applicable international laws. If Facebook allows such criminal content after assuring stockholders they would not, the U.S. can act to enforce compliance on Mark Zucherberg.

Zucherberg, according to former employees, actively censors political views with which he disagrees. If he can do this, then he can keep criminal content and economically and politically destabilizing propaganda off Facebook. I intend to keep him to his promise to keep this content away from unstable individuals.        

   

I wish you success in enacting this important anti-terrorism legislation and it is my hope U.S. lawmakers will enact a similar law.

Sincerely,

James Patterson 

Member California State Society

Member America Israel Public Affairs Committee

Friend Israeli Defense Forces

Sunday 8 January 2017

פנייתך התקבלה.

בברכה,

לשכת השר לביטחון הפנים, ח"כ גלעד ארדן

English

Your request was accepted.

Best regards,

Minister of Public Security Bureau, MK Gilad Erdan 

Diplomat Jim Patterson and Obama/Kerry on "the Problem of Syria"

Dear James: Thank you for writing.  What started off as peaceful demonstrations by the Syrian people has become a devastating civil war, breeding human suffering on an order of magnitude that has affected the whole world.  Russia and Iran have continued to prop up Syria’s brutal dictator Bashar al‑Assad despite his rejection by a majority of the Syrian people.  Hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions have fled for their lives, and terrorist groups like ISIL are exacerbating the strife.  My Administration has supported a political transition away from the Assad regime, worked to alleviate human suffering, and gone after terrorist groups that threaten the United States and our allies and partners. The human cost of this conflict is evident, captured in searing images of Syrians killed by their own government, refugees waiting at border crossings, and children drowned trying to escape war.  Helping those who have been pushed to the margins of our world is a matter of collective security, and we have a moral responsibility to assist families forced from their homes.  In response to this humanitarian crisis, the United States has stepped up as the largest donor of assistance, providing over $5.9 billion in aid since the start of the conflict and increasing the number of refugees we admit. Together with a coalition of more than 60 countries, we have focused on degrading and ultimately destroying the threat posed by ISIL.  However, we know that a long-term solution requires finding an end to the war in Syria, which is not possible as long as Assad remains in power.  With our partners around the world, we have supported moderate Syrians and pressured the regime’s international backers—including Russia and Iran—to work toward an inclusive political transition to a new government that can stop the fighting, unify Syrians, and allow them to rebuild their lives.  There are no easy answers to this conflict and no military solution that can eliminate the suffering.  We must continue pushing for full access to humanitarian relief until a political settlement can be reached. Thank you, again, for writing.  To learn about how you can help those affected by this crisis, visit www.AidRefugees.gov. Sincerely, Barack Obama From The Aspen Institute: For the eighth year, the nation's thought leaders, elected officials, experts, and innovators arrived at the Washington Ideas Forum for tough and dynamic conversations with moderators from the Institute's partners at The Atlantic.  Secretary of State John Kerry: "I make no apology for trying to reach out and find out if there is a way to achieve the political settlement that everybody agrees is the only way to solve the problem of Syria. You find people constantly saying that there is no military solution. Well, if there is no military solution, what is the political solution? It's the job of the secretary of state and diplomats to try and do that, as tough as it may be. And it is tough."  Jim Patterson Note: Russia, Iran and Assad found a military solution to Allepo by bombing it into oblivion. More than 500,000 Syrians died while Obama/Kerry/Clinton wrote "tough" speeches and gave "tough" presentations about "the problem of Syria." The loss of Syria, early withdrawal of US troops in Iraq which gave rise to ISIS, and the Benghazi tragedy are a total failure of US leadership. Americans voters had no confidence Hillary Clinton could effectively address or resolve any of these problems. Mr. Trump often told voters the US and the world were a mess due to Obama/Clinton and "what do you have to lose" by voting Trump. A vote for Trump was a vote for Big Change in the US and we now have it. Obama is not leaving without spreading more national and global division, violence and upheaval.   -30-  James Patterson  Life Member American Foreign Service Association  Member California and New York State Societies  Associate Member Korean War Veterans Association  Life Member Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America  Member Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations  Member American Israeli Public Affairs Committee Friend of Israeli Defense Forces Member US Philippine Society  Contributor Foreign Service Journal Life Member Republican National Committee Friend of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation    .