What Is America’s National Identity?

Posted October 6, 2017 by danmillerinpanama
Categories: American culture, American identity, Clash of civilizations, Judeo-Christian ethos
Tags: , , ,

What Is America’s National Identity? American Thinker, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, October 6, 2017

Transnationalists determined to weaken and denude America know their route to victory lies in condemning the Judeo-Christian ethic which has provided America with its identity and life breath; and those at war with Judeo-Christianism know that in bringing down America the Judeo-Christian outlook will have lost its most vital fortress.

The Judeo-Christian ethos is an American treasure, a morality, to be defended and preserved, a gift and legacy to pass on to future generations.

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Many were elated and approved of President Trump’s July speech in Warsaw, Poland acknowledging the central role Western civilization plays in defining who we are and what we believe. Our freedom and survival depend on defending it, he said. Beyond that, he celebrated Western civilization as something extraordinary: “What we’ve inherited from our ancestors has never existed to this extent before.”

A vocal few, popular in left-wing opinion circles, condemned Mr. Trump’s remarks as an affront to multiculturalism, labeling his linkage of us with Western civilization, and our pride in it, as “tribalism, white nationalism, and racism”, claiming that references to Western civilization and ancestors are code words for the above-mentioned vices. For some, even the broad term “Western civilization” is offensive and prejudicial since, as with all definitions, it necessarily conveys something distinctive and thus circumscribed.

The question we should answer is: does a country or nation need an identity, a unique identity with salient features that distinguish it from other countries and nations? In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville gave a resounding affirmation to the need for a specific identity. He wrote that a corporate entity remains what it is as long as it operates by the principles upon which it was founded. When it changes those principles, it becomes something entirely different, and the success it had, based on its original formula, becomes uncertain and imperiled. It atrophies and declines. He spoke not against periodic tinkering but warned against fundamental transformation.

According to the wise and prescient de Tocqueville, we define an entity by its original principles and the values that created its success. These are the seeds that animate it and supply its people with special spirit. What, then, is America’s identity?

Some say it lies in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, which delineate the liberties that enshrine our peoplehood and, on a functional level, make possible a daily life open to achievement, aspirations, and human potential. Our way of life and the blessings that have come to us depend on everyone living within this Constitutional framework and by precluding its replacement or abridgement with another set of laws claiming to be a “higher morality” or temporarily more important, or by enacting waivers or special accommodation in the name of multiculturalism.

There are those today wishing to sideline the Constitution and our historic way of life by invalidating the men, and thus the ideas, behind it. Using charges of racism as the singular and only important lens in which to judge a person’s value, they nullify the totality, the overwhelming contributions, and extraordinary sacrifices of great men and women of a different era. Meanwhile, they grant themselves unassailable superiority and rigid final judgment simply because of their claims to victimhood or for espousing one of the many isms in today’s pantheon for self-righteous virtue signaling. A nation’s historic identity is being replaced by identity politics, culminating frequently in automatic indictment of historical figures simply because their race or moral values are now out of fashion.

There are those in America wishing to define us strictly as a nation of tolerance and inclusivity, this deification resulting often, as in Europe, in tolerating the intolerable and including everyone and everything to the point of endangering those in society not ensconced within rarified and protective gates. They think the best identity is no identity. But this vacuum and void, as witnessed in Europe, allows for other assertive or aggressive identities and mores to creep within and replace, zone by zone; for surely, strong and energized identities will replace the mushy identity of No Identity.

Though tolerance is a laudable theme, it is found elsewhere and is not an exclusive element of Americanism. The President was correct in underscoring the importance of Western civilization and how it connects and ties America and Europe. But America moved Western civilization beyond its previous European contours. It fashioned something more grand, a majestic idea, something that not only preceded the Constitution, but from the time of Plymouth Rock distinguished America from other Western polities, unfolding into the American civilization. It is the Judeo-Christian ethos.

Though its roots began in a religious and idealistic outlook, this ethos shortly developed into a civic attitude and philosophy, shaping the themes and civic perspective that were America’s foundation and key to our freedom and prosperity. It supplies a set of moral and philosophic principles regarding economic, social, personal, and political life. Among its distinguishing features are: personal responsibility, liberty, seeing man as an individual, a work ethic, rights from God, meritocracy, rights to property and how one makes his living, and freedom of religion and conscience. Together with these principles were the uniquely American ideals of fair play, rugged individualism, innovation, volunteerism, speaking one’s mind, and demarcating between right and wrong.

America is much more than a land mass between the Atlantic and the Pacific. It is more than just a country. It is a nation; a nation with an exceptional identity born in a transcendent idea. The Judeo-Christian ethos made us singular among the nations.

The civic Judeo-Christian ethos does not demand adherence to the details of religion or to a particular form of worship or religious creed, nor loyalty to a particular religion. The ethos is open to all, just as is Western civilization. That its founders and ancestors were mostly white is not a structural roadblock to all sharing in its outlook, except in the mind of racialists eager to impute racism in anything distinctive or weaponize against those with whom they disagree.

Transnationalists determined to weaken and denude America know their route to victory lies in condemning the Judeo-Christian ethic which has provided America with its identity and life breath; and those at war with Judeo-Christianism know that in bringing down America the Judeo-Christian outlook will have lost its most vital fortress.

The Judeo-Christian ethos is an American treasure, a morality, to be defended and preserved, a gift and legacy to pass on to future generations.

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Palestinian “Reconciliation”: Hamas Free to Fight but Now Abbas Accountable

Posted October 6, 2017 by Peter Hofman
Categories: Uncategorized

by Bassam Tawil

Source: Palestinian “Reconciliation”: Hamas Free to Fight but Now Abbas Accountable

  • Abbas’s new partnership with Hamas means that from this moment on, the Palestinian Authority (PA) president should be held responsible for everything that takes place inside the Gaza Strip.
  • Until now, Abbas was rightly absolved of any responsibility for what was happening in the Gaza Strip. He has been able to argue that because he is not there, he is not responsible if Hamas has tunnels and is building up its weaponry and firing rockets at Israel. Now, the jig is up.
  • Why shouldn’t Hamas accept a deal that allows it to retain its security control over the Gaza Strip while Abbas’s government is busy collecting garbage, paying salaries to civil servants and footing the bill for water and electricity?
  • Failing to hold the Palestinian Authority government — and Abbas — responsible means endorsing the Hezbollah model, where the Lebanese government is impotent and the real power is wielded by the Shiite terror group, Hezbollah.

Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) government is on its way back to managing civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, meanwhile, says it will remain in control of security and will not lay down its weapons or dismantle its security forces and militias.

Abbas’s new partnership with Hamas — the product of Egyptian mediation efforts between the two parties — means that from this moment on, the Palestinian Authority president should now be held responsible for everything that takes place inside the Gaza Strip.

Abbas and his PA government should now be held accountable, among other things, for the fate of two Israeli civilians and the remains of IDF soldiers being held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas.

Now that the Palestinian Authority has reached a deal with Hamas, President Mahmoud Abbas should be held accountable for what goes on in Gaza. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Abbas should also now be held responsible for any rockets that are fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel. Abbas cannot have it both ways. He cannot use the new partnership with Hamas to project himself as the legitimate president of all Palestinians, including those living in the Gaza Strip, but at the same time argue that he does not have “control on the ground.” He cannot have his prime minister and government managing the day-to-day affairs of the Gaza Strip while at the same time claim that he cannot do anything about Hamas’s security forces and militia.

Until now, Abbas was rightly absolved of any responsibility for what was happening in the Gaza Strip. Hamas expelled him and his Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip in 2007, and since then he has been able to argue that because he is not there, he is not responsible if Hamas has tunnels and is building up its weaponry and firing rockets at Israel. Fair enough.

Now, the jig is up. Abbas can no longer avoid responsibility for anything that happens inside the Gaza Strip. He demanded that Hamas dismantle its shadow government and allow the Palestinian Authority to assume its responsibilities as the sovereign power in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was clever enough to grab the opportunity. Hamas complied with his demand and cordially invited Abbas and his government back into the Gaza Strip.

What motivated Hamas? Love for Abbas? Love for Egypt? No, Hamas complied with Abbas’s demand because doing so furthered its own interests. Why shouldn’t Hamas go for any agreement that does not require it to make any meaningful concessions? Why shouldn’t Hamas accept a deal that allows it to retain its security control over the Gaza Strip while Abbas’s government is busy collecting garbage, paying salaries to civil servants and footing the bill for water and electricity?

Abbas knows that Hamas will not lay down its weapons or dismantle its security forces and armed wing, Ezaddin Al-Qassam, despite the “reconciliation” agreement and the presence of the Palestinian Authority government in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas nevertheless decided to proceed with the new “reconciliation” agreement to assert his status as the legitimate president of all Palestinians. He also went with the agreement to thwart any deal between Hamas and his arch-rival, Mohammed Dahlan. Abbas is prepared to do just about anything to prevent Dahlan, who, based the United Arab Emirates, sees himself as a potential successor to Abbas, from returning to the Palestinian political arena. The situation continues to cause Abbas sleepless nights.

Now that Abbas’s government is back in the Gaza Strip, Israel and the rest of the world are entitled to hold him fully responsible for what takes place there.

Abbas’s government is either the sovereign power in the Gaza Strip, or it is not. If Hamas is not going to hand over security control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority government, then the whole “reconciliation” deal is nothing but a joke. Such an arrangement would turn Abbas into the mayor of the Gaza Strip, while Hamas remains the de facto ruler and sovereign authority there.

This is what is actually happening: Hamas wants to endorse the Hezbollah model in the Gaza Strip. Hamas wants Abbas to deal with the dirt of civilian affairs while it continues to dig out dirt for more terror tunnels.

If Abbas reached a bad deal with Hamas, that is his problem. It should not be the problem of Israel. It would be a mistake to return to the pre-2007 era, when both Abbas and his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, were sitting in the Gaza Strip while Hamas and other terror groups were firing rockets and missiles at Israel. Back then, both Abbas and Arafat were unable to stop the terror attacks against Israel even though the Palestinian Authority security forces were in charge.

Enough is enough. From now on, any government sitting in the Gaza Strip should be held fully accountable for what happens there. Failing to hold the Palestinian Authority government — and Abbas — responsible means endorsing the Hezbollah model, where the Lebanese government is impotent and the real power is wielded by the Shiite terror group, Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government should be held responsible for everything that happens inside that country. The Lebanese government, as the sovereign power, should be held accountable for what Hezbollah does. This is the precisely the policy that needs to be adopted now with Abbas. Israel should demand that he and his government return the bodies of the IDF soldiers. Israel should demand that he return also two Israelis held inside the Gaza Strip. Israel should demand that Abbas and his government stop building tunnels that are to be used to attack Israel.

If Abbas responds that although his government is back in the Gaza Strip he has no control over security matters, he should be called out for the bluff of the “reconciliation” deal. The PA president ought to be informed: If you are not in control and your government is not really in charge, then get out of Gaza and stop playing the role of legitimate president of the Palestinian people; you are really nothing but a puppet dangled by the leaders of Hamas.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim based in the Middle East.

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Special Operations Warrior Foundation aids the US forces at the tip of the spear

Posted October 6, 2017 by danmillerinpanama
Categories: special forces, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, U.S. Military
Tags: , ,

Special Operations Warrior Foundation aids the US forces at the tip of the spear, Jihad Watch, , October 6, 2017

(This video seems appropriate:

— DM)

 

As evidenced by the tragedy Wednesday in Niger, America’s Special Operations Forces remain at the tip of the spear in this long war. Our Special Operators are serving in high-risk areas of hostility such as Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Niger and over 70 other countries around the world every day.

It takes a special kind of “quiet professional” to meet the exacting standards of America’s Special Operations Forces. As this trans-generational war continues, Special Operations Forces will be facing new challenges all too frequently. In fact, there has never been a greater need for Special Operations Forces than right now. Special Operations will continue to be the force of choice, time and time again.

For the past 37 years the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) has been dedicated to honoring the sacrifice of Special Operations Personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty or are severely wounded and hospitalized as a result of wounds sustained in combat. And for the 11th consecutive year, SOWF continues to this while maintaining a 4-Star Charity Navigator rating.

Mission Statement:

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation ensures full financial assistance for a post-secondary degree from an accredited two or four-year college, university, technical, or trade school; and offers family and educational counseling, including in-home tutoring, to the surviving children of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty.

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation also provides immediate financial assistance to severely wounded and hospitalized special operations personnel.

SOWF ensures full college scholarships to the surviving children of Special Operators who die in the line of duty – to any fully accredited college or university in the nation. Financial assistance includes tuition, room and board, books, fees, computers, transportation and miscellaneous expenses.

Additionally, SOWF provides ongoing support and academic counseling to make sure every student has the opportunity to do well in school. SOWF offers professional tutoring – at no cost – to all students from kindergarten through college graduation.

The Foundation also provides immediate financial assistance to severely wounded Special Operators to allow their families to be with them in the hospital and to offset expenses associated with their injuries. SOWF delivers a $5,000 check to the wounded Special Operator’s bedside immediately following arrival in a U.S. military hospital. We also provide an iPad so that the Special Operator can keep in touch with their comrades and family.

Please consider supporting our Special Operations Forces by donating to this exceptional organization today.

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China’s North Korea conundrum

Posted October 6, 2017 by danmillerinpanama
Categories: China and North Korea, North Korea - regime collapse
Tags: ,

China’s North Korea conundrum, The Hindu, October 6, 2017

(We dance around in a ring and suppose,
But the secret sits in the middle and knows. — Robert Frost. — DM)

A file photo of a missile during a military parade in Pyongyang. | Photo Credit: AP

With tensions between the U.S. and North Korea running high and relations between Beijing and Pyongyang at a historic low, questions are being raised about how China might respond in the event of a regime collapse. The scene along the China-North Korea border in the wild mountains of northeast Asia provides some clues.

Despite a dearth of traffic and trade, construction crews are at work on a six-lane highway to the border outside the small Chinese city of Ji’an along the Tumen River, a corridor that could facilitate the rapid movement of tanks and troops.

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Questions are being raised about how it will respond to a regime collapse

Securing North Korea’s missile launchers and nuclear, chemical and biological weapons sites would likely be a chief priority for China in the event of a major crisis involving its communist neighbor, analysts say, although Beijing so far is keeping mum on any plans.

Despite China’s official silence, its People’s Liberation Army likely has a “vast array” of contingency plans involving military options, said Dean Cheng, an Asia security expert at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington.

The PLA and paramilitary People’s Armed Police could also be deployed to deal with refugees and possible civil unrest, he said.

What’s less clear is whether and under what conditions China would commit troops as an occupying force should North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime fall apart, Mr. Cheng said. “We can hypothesise that they might, but, as the observation goes, those who know don’t say and those who say probably don’t know,” he said.

With tensions between the U.S. and North Korea running high and relations between Beijing and Pyongyang at a historic low, questions are being raised about how China might respond in the event of a regime collapse. The scene along the China-North Korea border in the wild mountains of northeast Asia provides some clues.

Despite a dearth of traffic and trade, construction crews are at work on a six-lane highway to the border outside the small Chinese city of Ji’an along the Tumen River, a corridor that could facilitate the rapid movement of tanks and troops.

Strategic choice

Guard posts, barbed wire-topped fences and checkpoints manned by armed paramilitary troops mark the frontier along the border signs of concern about potentially violent border crossers or even more serious security threats.

China’s unwillingness to discuss its plans is likely a strategic choice by the notoriously secretive PLA, but potentially threatens unintended consequences were a major crisis to emerge, experts say. Asked about Chinese preparations for a North Korean crisis, defense ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian offered assurance but no details at a monthly news briefing on Thursday.

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Saudi King asks Putin to help contain Iranian threat, accepts Russian gains in Syria

Posted October 6, 2017 by Joseph Wouk
Categories: Uncategorized

Source: Saudi King asks Putin to help contain Iranian threat, accepts Russian gains in Syria – DEBKAfile

 , , , , , 

President Donald Trump’s best Middle East friend and ally, Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, arrived in Moscow Thursday Oct. 5 for a three-day state visit, a week before the President unveils his new Iran policy.

This policy, to be announced on Oct. 12 will, according to DEBKAfile’s sources,  introduce new sanctions against Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), while refraining from taking the United States out of the nuclear pact (JCPOA).
He is expected to extend this pact on Oct. 15 for another 90 days, by certifying that Iran is in compliance with the terms of the accord it signed with six world powers in 2015.

In his comments on Wednesday, Oct. 4, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated that the pact was not the most important aspect of the administration’s Iran policy, when he said: “The JCPOA represents only a small part of the issues we have to address with Iran.”

The 82-year old Saudi king, and his powerful son, Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman, are now persuaded that even in the capacity of President Trump’s senior ally in the Sunni Arab camp he created during his Riyadh visit last April, Riyadh is not precluded from developing relations with the most powerful player in the region, Vladimir Putin.
As far as Riyadh is concerned, Iran’s nuclear program is not much of a problem – the Saudis have long accepted its inevitability. They are far more concerned by the failure of Trump’s Iran policies, new or old, to stop Syria and Iraq from running downhill into the wrong hands.
They see Iran, far from pulling out of the two war-torn countries, deepening its military grip. The Saudis feel they are left out in the cold by proactive Russian-Iranian-Hizballah military cooperation in Syria and control of the Syrian-Iraqi border. This military pact has been strengthened by Turkey, to form a relationship that was celebrated Wednesday by President Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Tehran, accompanied by Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar.

For even minimal influence over Syria’s fortunes, the Saudis realize they must open doors to the Kremlin. They also understand that Putin alone has the clout to make Tehran limit its backing for the Yemeni Houthi insurgency, which a Saudi-led coalition is fighting.

Indeed, Russian influence weighed in recently behind Tehran’s decision to withhold from Houthi forces the high-precision ballistic missiles they demanded for wreaking serious damage to Saudi cities.
King Salman arrived in Moscow with four instruments of persuasion in his pocket:

  1. A pact with Saudi Arabia, the acknowledged leader of the Sunni Arab world, would be another feather in the cap for Vladimir Putin when he campaigns for re-election as president next March, as the Russian leader who restored his country’s military power in the Middle East.
  2. Coordination with Riyadh on oil and gas prices and supplies will also be an achievement the Russian ruler can hardly resist, after their first successful foray in manipulating the market together. Last year, the Saudis were able to persuade 10 members of the OPEC oil cartel to cut back on oil quotas so as to boost prices. The rising prices gave Putin the bootstraps for pulling the Russian economy out of a hole.
  3. Salman arrived in Moscow with a huge delegation of business executives, economic leaders and potential investors seeking information on opportunities in Russia.
  4. The king will also show an interest in large-scale arms purchases from Russia – another bonanza for Putin – thereby breaking the US-European military industries’ virtual monopoly of the Saudi market.

In July 2015, when the friendship between the then Crown Prince Salman and President Putin blossomed, Riyadh pumped $10 billion of investments into the Russian economy.

However, two months later, President Putin ordered the massive expansion of Russian military intervention in Syria to rescue Bashar Assad’s rule, although it is anathema to Riyadh. He has never budged from this goal.

This goes to show that even lavish Saudi petrodollars have a limited impact on Putin’s strategic designs for the Middle East. And so Salman can’t be sure even in three days of talks to sway the Russian leader from his path.

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Trump takes new aim at Hezbollah, part of tougher Iran stance

Posted October 6, 2017 by Joseph Wouk
Categories: Uncategorized

Source: Trump takes new aim at Hezbollah, part of tougher Iran stance – POLITICO

Donald Trump is pictured here. | Getty Images
President Donald Trump is expected to determine that the pact is not in the United States’ interest but stop short of calling on Congress to re-impose sanctions. | Shawn Thew/Getty Images

The Trump administration on Friday plans to roll out a new public campaign aimed at cracking down more forcefully on the armed wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon, part of a broader effort to counter the militant Shiite group’s chief backer, Iran.

The new push will include instituting cash rewards for its “most wanted” operatives, stepping up U.S. intelligence and law enforcement efforts, and also aims to enlist allies to do more to undermine the group’s global network, three administration officials told reporters Thursday.

 The so-called Party of God, Hezbollah is also a powerful political bloc in the Lebanese government. It is an avowed enemy of Israel and has been responsible for a series of attacks against U.S. and other Western interests for decades. The State Department designated it a terrorist group in 1997.

The primary objective of the new public campaign, one administration official said, is to “expose them for their behavior” and seek to undermine Hezbollah’s political legitimacy in Lebanon.

“It’s a paradigm shift in how we view Hezbollah,” added another administration official involved in the effort who was not authorized to speak on the record. “While it strives for legitimacy, it is conducting terrorism.”

The “strategic messaging” effort will begin with an announcement at Friday’s White House news briefing, the officials said, followed by a series of other public efforts over the weekend and into next week.

The officials said the new strategy grew out of a larger White House review on Iran as President Donald Trump has to decide by next week whether to recertify the 2015 deal to freeze Tehran’s nuclear program in return for listing economic sanctions.

Trump is expected to determine that the pact is not in the United States’ interest but stop short of calling on Congress to re-impose sanctions.

“We want to counter Iran’s malign activities,” one of the officials said, adding that the new focus on Hezbollah is “part and parcel of that” and that the group “behaves like a proxy” for Tehran.

The officials said the new push was also fueled by charges in June against two individuals, Samer El Debek and Ali Kourani, accused of providing material support and resources to Hezbollah.

The charges say that El Debek “allegedly conducted missions in Panama to locate the U.S. and Israeli embassies and to assess the vulnerabilities of the Panama Canal and ships in the canal.”

Meanwhile, “Kourani allegedly conducted surveillance of potential targets in America, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City,” according to the U.S. Justice Department.

One of the administration officials said those cases were “likely the tip of the iceberg.”

Another official added that “it is not just an Israeli problem.”

Along with other attacks, Hezbollah has been blamed for truck bombings at the U.S. Embassy and a Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina, and more recently, in 2012, the killing of five Israeli tourists in a bombing in Bulgaria.

The group has gone to war with Israel several times and has also been backing President Bashar Assad of Syria in that country’s six-year civil war.

The officials said Hezbollah’s role in helping Assad keep power had cost the group significantly but had also provided critical battlefield preparedness. “They have lost a lot of forces on the ground, but they have gained a lot of experience,” one official said.

Asked whether the group posed more of a threat to the United States than in the past, two officials said there was no new intelligence to suggest that Hezbollah is more likely to launch an attack inside U.S. borders.

“They have a capability,” one official said. “They might not have the intent to act today.”

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The Holocaust Bar and Grill

Posted October 6, 2017 by Peter Hofman
Categories: Uncategorized

Perhaps, just perhaps we have to do better on history !

It is only a matter for surviving, not really important .

 

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Britain Moves To Criminalize Reading Extremist Material On The Internet

Posted October 5, 2017 by danmillerinpanama
Categories: Formerly Great Britain, Freedom of speech, Freedom of thought, Internet
Tags: , , ,

Britain Moves To Criminalize Reading Extremist Material On The Internet, Jonathan Turley’s Blog, Jonathan Turley, October 5, 2017

(What do “extremist” and “far right” mean in this context? For example, is anything deemed “Islamophobic” or critical of government policies “extremist” or “far right”? — DM)

 

Rudd told a Conservative Party conference that she wants to crack down on people “who view despicable terrorist content online, including jihadi websites, far-right propaganda and bomb-making instructions.”   So sites deemed “far-right propaganda” (but not far-left propaganda) could lead to your arrest — leaving the government with a sweeping and ambiguous mandate.

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For years, civil libertarians have warned that Great Britain has been in a free fall from the criminalization of speech to the expansion of the surveillance state.  Now the government is pursuing a law that would make the repeated viewing of extremist Internet sites a crime punishable to up to 15 years in prison.  It appears that the government is not satiated by their ever-expanding criminalization of speech. They now want to criminalize even viewing sites on the Internet.  As always, officials are basically telling the public to “trust us, we’re the government.”  UK home secretary Amber Rudd is pushing the criminalization of reading as part of her anti-radicalization campaign . . . which turns out to be an anti-civil liberties campaign.

We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in France (here and here and here and here and here and here) and England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here).  Even the Home Secretary has been accused of hate speech for criticizing immigrant workers.

Prime Minister Theresa May has previously called for greater government control of the Internet.  Now, the government not only would make reading material on the Internet a crime, but would not necessarily tell you what sites will be deemed the ultimate click bait.  Rudd told a Conservative Party conference that she wants to crackdown on people “who view despicable terrorist content online, including jihadi websites, far-right propaganda and bomb-making instructions.”   So sites deemed “far-right propaganda” (but not far-left propaganda) could lead to your arrest — leaving the government with a sweeping and ambiguous mandate.

The law would move from criminalizing the downloading of information to simply reading it.  The move confirms the long criticism of civil libertarians that the earlier criminalization would just be the start of an ever-expanding government regulation of sites and speech.  Rudd admits that she wants to arrest those who just read material but do not actually download the material.

In the past, the government assumed near total discretion in determining who had a “reasonable excuse” for downloading information.

Britain has long relied on the presumed benevolence of the government in giving its sweeping authority in the surveillance and regulation of speech, including the media.  This move however is a quantum shift in government controls over speech and information.  Indeed, this comes the closest to criminalization not just speech but thought. It is a dangerous concept and should be viewed as disqualifying for anyone who want to hold (or retain) high office.

What is particularly striking is that this new law seeks to create a new normal in a society already desensitized to government controls and speech crimes.  There is no pretense left in this campaign —  just a smiling face rallying people to the cause of thought contro.

Sound familiar?

“We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”

George Orwell, 1984

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Senate Intelligence Committee expands Russia investigation

Posted October 5, 2017 by danmillerinpanama
Categories: "Trump dossier", 2016 elections and Russia, Awan family, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Great Trump - Russia conspiracy, Judicial Watch
Tags: , , , , ,

Senate Intelligence Committee expands Russia investigation, Fox News via YouTube, October 4, 2017

The blurb beneath the video states,

Judicial Watch director of investigations Chris Farrell discusses the news that the Senate Intelligence Committee will be expanding its investigation into whether Russia colluded to influence the 2016 election.

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Saudi women are driving good news

Posted October 5, 2017 by danmillerinpanama
Categories: Saudi Arabia and females, Saudi Arabian human rights, Saudi media
Tags: , ,

Saudi women are driving good news, Al Arabiya, Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi, October 5, 2017

It was a homegrown movement, supported by both male and female, of different ages and backgrounds, from all parts of the country, including conservative areas. The Saudi people have spoken, and a majority gave their vote to the new law — religious scholars and tribal leaders included.

The next step, we are now calling and waiting for, is the “Protection of the National Unity” law against racial, gender and religious discrimination. Hashtags advocating the law became top trends in Twitter. It is a march we started years ago. It went through the Shoura Council, and is still there.

Like any monumental change, it was resisted. Society was not ready then, but now, we believe it is. In such favorable environment our hopes are sky high. Soon enough, I expect the law to be approved with a royal decree.

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It is not easy to get used to good news! Not in this era or world! But last week, many of our overdue dreams were realized — all at once. We expect more of the same. If so, we may finally find enough reason to change our attitude from gray to bright!

For decades, some questions have been haunting me everywhere I went — in summer British schools, US colleges, international conferences and seminars, as well as, the Western media. Questions about women rights were among the most persistent — and hardest to answer.

First, you need to explain how the religion of Islam has nothing to do with the shortcomings of some Muslims. Then, you go some distance to explain why wouldn’t a system in a Muslim country adhere to Islamic Shariah. And once you clarify the influence of social customs and traditions, you may have already lost your audience!

During a recent conference, my American colleague was patient enough to go with me through all the above phases, before she asked: how could we help? I told her any help from your direction would complicate things. Saudi women are already doing their best to change society from within. They managed to reach many levels, including ministerial, and positions that were reserved for men in the past, such as security.

Today, they vote and run for offices in municipality and chamber of commerce elections. Some become chairwomen of banks and mega companies. A third of our Shoura Council members are women — more than in the US Congress and most European parliaments.

Ability to work

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has just lifted restrictions on their ability to study and work without the approval of their guardians. Girls are more than half the student population with better grades.

They had the same opportunity as males in scholarship abroad, again with higher scores. Once they graduate, they enroll as doctors, nurses, engineers, bankers, scientists and university professors, side by side with their male colleagues.

Those are more important accomplishments, in my opinion, than driving a car. Still, women right activists around the world seem to be concerned most with just this one issue, and surprisingly unaware of the giant steps taken in other areas.

Just wait a bit longer, I advised, keep to the sideline, and let our women continue their march. Soon enough more achievements will be realized, including car driving, I promised my American colleague.

We had this conversation just last month. Last week not only the ban on women driving was lifted, but we are about to have a “sexual harassment” law.

The better half

Importantly, the new driving law would treat male and female equally, including the starting age of 18 and the no-need for parental approval. Those are giant steps for our better half! They deserve them and more.

Now, I feel the urge to call my American colleague and all others whom I promised the change to tell them: Didn’t I tell so? Yes, we did it! But on our own! No one could dare to tell us we changed under foreign pressure.

It was a homegrown movement, supported by both male and female, of different ages and backgrounds, from all parts of the county, including conservative areas. The Saudi people have spoken, and a majority gave their vote to the new law — religious scholars and tribal leaders included.

The next step, we are now calling and waiting for, is the “Protection of the National Unity” law against racial, gender and religious discrimination. Hashtags advocating the law became top trends in Twitter. It is a march we started years ago. It went through the Shoura Council, and is still there.

Like any monumental change, it was resisted. Society was not ready then, but now, we believe it is. In such favorable environment our hopes are sky high. Soon enough, I expect the law to be approved with a royal degree.

Good news does come sometimes unexpectedly. I hope they continue and we get used to them. Ameen!

This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on October 5, 2017.

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