RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.thefp.com/p/where-free-speech-ends-and-lawbreaking-begins?utm_campaign=email-post&r=8t06w&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Even antisemites have the right to free speech, as Nadine Strossen and Pamela Paresky correctly wrote in The Free Press. Since the Hamas massacre of October 7, they have been taking full advantage of that right. Especially on college campuses.

Pro-Palestinian groups have harassed and even assaulted Jewish students; protesters have interrupted courses and taken over buildings; Ivy League professors have called Hamas’s attack “exhilarating” and “awesome”; students have torn down posters of missing Israeli children; others have chanted—and even projected onto university buildings—slogans, like “from the river to the sea,” “globalize the intifada,” and “glory to our martyrs.”

In response to such activities, universities have suspended or banned student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine. Alumni have pulled their donations and publicly stated that they won’t hire students who signed letters blaming Israel for the massacre. Republican lawmakers have suggested revoking the student visas of those participating in anti-Israel protests.

Those who care deeply about free speech are asking themselves many questions at this urgent moment: What should we make of the calls to punish Hamas apologists on campus? After all, this is America, where you have the right to say even the vilest things. Yes, many of the same students who on October 6 called for harsh punishment for “microaggressions” are now chanting for the elimination of the world’s only Jewish state. But Americans are entitled to be hypocrites. 

Don’t these students have the same right to chant Hamas slogans as the neo-Nazis did to march in 1977 in Skokie, Illinois—a town then inhabited by many Holocaust survivors?

I would put my free speech bona fides up against anyone. I’m also a lawyer and sometime law professor who recognizes that not all speech-related questions can be resolved by invoking the words First Amendment. 

Much of what we’ve witnessed on campuses over the past few weeks is not, in fact, speech, but conduct designed specifically to harass, intimidate, and terrorize Jews. Other examples involve disruptive speech that can properly be regulated by school rules. Opposing or taking action against such behavior in no way violates the core constitutional principle that the government can’t punish you for expressing your beliefs.

The question, as always, is where to draw the line, and who’s doing the line-drawing. 

Here are some of the most pressing questions those who care about civil liberties and protecting the rights of Jewish students are asking.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/11/pirate_money_a_surprising_constitutional_bulwark_against_the_tyranny_of_the_great_reset.html

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will be a major weapon of the Great Reset, a.k.a., Agenda 2030, the elitist plan to dominate the world. 

They are a threat to individual sovereignty as they will allow governments to track citizens’ spending and control behavior.  By linking them to social-credit systems of the kind China has implemented, they could be used to induce conformity.  Through restrictions, penalties, programming of transactions, or turning off access outright, whole populations could be coerced into buying only what elite-controlled governments want them to.

Is there a way to resist this tyranny?  At least in America, there is, thanks to the perspicacity of our Founding Fathers, says Kevin D. Freeman in his highly readable Pirate Money: Discovering the Founders’ Hidden Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset.  The key, he points out, lies hidden in plain sight in Article I, Section 10, Clause 1.2 of the Constitution, which says: “No state shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debt.”

Therefore, he suggests that states create their own digital currencies – tied to a gold reserve, unlike the dollar, which no longer is – to undercut the Fed’s monopoly on creating money.  Citizens could then buy and use such state-issued digital currency anonymously, forestalling centralized control and the Great Reset, and preserving their financial freedom.  For the foreboding slogan of the Great Reset is: “You will own nothing and you will be happy.”  In the name of revolutionizing the financial system and promoting inclusion, an unelected elite is effecting a global takeover, gradually working towards abolishing private property, curtailing individual freedom, and impoverishing the masses.  

Freeman’s suggestion may seem far-fetched, but he is striving to make it a reality.  Through his efforts with the Texas legislature, bills have been introduced in the state’s House (HB4903) and Senate (SB2334) requiring the comptroller to establish a gold-backed digital currency that citizens may buy.  The Texas government would physically hold the gold in its bullion depository (authorized in TX Gov. Code Sec. 2116) on behalf of buyers, who could transact with the digital currency and redeem it in gold or cash if and when they want to.  Freeman expects some definitive legislative outcome by 2025.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/america-is-under-attack/

“The United States is under attack. The Biden administration’s unwillingness to acknowledge this unsustainable reality won’t make it disappear. Absent a development that changes Iran’s calculations, the Islamic Republic will test American resolve in increasingly reckless ways.”

The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87), one of the many American naval assets tasked with maintaining free navigation of maritime shipping routes, came under attack over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Mason received a distress call from a tanker with links to an Israeli-owned company. The Houthi Islamist militia group in control of much of Yemen had previously warned Israeli-linked vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden that they would come under attack, and the tanker’s distress signal suggested that this was no idle threat. The Mason found an ongoing attempt to hijack the ship, disrupted the attack, and captured the attackers as they made their way back to Yemeni shores. Within hours of this intervention, two ballistic missiles were fired from within Houthi-controlled Yemen “toward the general direction” of the Mason.

“U.S. officials would not say who was responsible for the attack and if the five-person group was acting under the orders of a state or group,” the New York Times reported. Nevertheless, “officials said that they are investigating whether Iran was involved.” We should expect a speedy conclusion to the administration’s investigation. Since the October 7 massacre, American assets and interests in the region have come under sustained attack by Iran-backed elements. The attempted attack on the Mason is almost certainly a part of that campaign.

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/biden-administration-under-fire-after-pentagon-requests-114-million

The Biden administration is under fire after the Pentagon requested $114 million for diversity and equity initiatives, an increasingly controversial topic that critics say is politicizing the armed forces.

The Defense Department’s fiscal year 2024 budget request shows the federal agency’s emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion, including “ensuring accountable leadership with continued emphasis and investments in sexual assault and harassment prevention, suicide prevention, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA), and Insider Threat Programs.”

The DOD document shows that DEI is at the forefront of DOD policy.

“The Department will lead with our values – building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do,” the report said.

From the report:

Leaders at all levels are responsible for fostering a climate of inclusion that supports diversity, is free from problematic behaviors, and does not tolerate retaliation or reprisal against those filing complaints. Ultimately, recruiting and retaining a force with diverse backgrounds, thought, experience, expertise, and education enhances DoD’s global joint warfighter capabilities fundamental to all DoD activities. The DoD has taken a number of actions to strengthen its antidiscrimination posture and advance diversity and inclusion throughout the Department. Notably, DoD expanded endeavors historically known as diversity, equity, and inclusion to include a distinct focus on accessibility to highlight the importance of an accessible workplace and further ensure equal opportunity for all. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/27/dems-are-getting-mugged-by-reality-often-literally/

Some Democrats are waking up and noticing that the policies they’ve been cheerleading have produced violent crime waves, a massive migrant crisis, and genocidal antisemitism. One would hope the public at large is catching on as well.

Just over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a spate of headlines about lefty, soft-on-crime Democrats attacked on the mean streets they’ve helped create.

A Secret Service agent opened fire on would-be car thieves who tried to break into an unmarked SUV in the ritzy Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Turns out, the agents were assigned to one of President Joe Biden’s granddaughters. As one poster on X noted: “It’s pathetic that the Naomi Biden incident was the catalyst for the MSM to finally acknowledge the severity of the D.C. crime crisis.”
In early October, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, was carjacked at gunpoint in the Navy Yard area of Capitol Hill. “I was just coming into my place,” he said. “Three guys came out of nowhere and they pointed guns at me.”
Later that same month, Jason Williams, a George Soros-backed district attorney in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, and his mother were carjacked by thieves pointing rifles at them. Williams, whose 2020 campaign benefited from $220,000 in Soros contributions had promised to “end the use of Louisiana’s stringent habitual offender laws, never transfer juveniles to adult court, and become much pickier about accepting cases for prosecution.”
In September, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party official Shivanthi Sathanandan – who three years earlier declared “We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. Say it with me.” – suffered a broken leg, lacerations, cuts, and bruises from carjackers who beat her in front of her two young children. She changed her tune after getting mugged by reality. “We need to … catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city, and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM,” she posted on X.
Earlier this year, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., was assaulted in the elevator of her Washington, D.C., residence by a 26-year-old man. One of Craig’s former staffers was hip-deep in the “defund” movement, at one point calling for people to “Burn. It. All. Down” in 2020 in response to police-involved deaths in New York.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20176/trump-ii

Judging by what advisers are preparing on the Middle East, Trump II will focus on “closer ties” with allies, including Israel, and no more “favors” to the Islamic Republic in Iran and Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey unless he is back in line.
Trump thinks that Marxists and other “crazy leftists” have seized control of US universities and are brainwashing whole generations thanks to tax-exempt private donations and public funding.
So far the Democrats continue to mock Trump and refuse to take him seriously. This could cost the Democrats dearly. For even if the solutions that Trump suggests appear weird the problems he raises are real.

“He is dangerously close to getting re-elected!” This is how, in a recent issue, the London weekly The Economist presented Donald Trump’s chances of returning to the White House next year. This was based on a few polls indicating that, if nominated, Trump would have a chance of winning next November.

One must always be careful about predictions, especially by the press.

The Economist put Indonesian’s ruler General Suharto on its cover and predicted he would emerge as the most powerful leader in Asia. Less than a year later, Suharto was swept away by a popular uprising.

However, let us not dismiss the magazine’s prediction about a second presidential term for Trump because, even if he fails to win the nomination, he has already had a lasting impact on American politics.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/11/25/the-complexity-of-idiocy/

Often, yours truly has expounded (okay, ranted) upon the term “narrative,” which is just an artful euphemism for “lie.” A device drawn from fiction, as opposed to non-fiction, it facilitates lying by eliding the need for providing the facts and proving the truth of one’s assertions. Consequently, it is a boon to propagandists, who can harp on a “narrative” ad nauseum to provoke and persuade the public to do as the purveyor of the lie seeks.

For the Left, one oft used word signaling an impending narrative is the word “complexity.” Usage of this word allows the Leftist to cull and, importantly, dispense with whatever facts or allegations they choose to create a narrative. This is critical in instances where the facts at hand lead to an ineluctable conclusion – i.e., the truth – that is antithetical to the Left’s aim. Let us explore four instances of the Left’s “complexity” of idiocy driving a narrative harmful to America and the world.

In American domestic policy, the Left is not content with foisting cancel culture upon the country and coopting the corporate media to control the political debate. The Left wants to silence any dissent to its authoritarian aims. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution recognizes and protects the God-given rights to each citizen of “political rights,” such as free speech. One would think the constitution’s prohibition would be the last word on censorship; but one would be underestimating the Left’s power to pretend the clear prohibition of government censorship is, instead, “complex.”
https://amgreatness.com/2023/11/25/the-complexity-of-idiocy/

Often, yours truly has expounded (okay, ranted) upon the term “narrative,” which is just an artful euphemism for “lie.” A device drawn from fiction, as opposed to non-fiction, it facilitates lying by eliding the need for providing the facts and proving the truth of one’s assertions. Consequently, it is a boon to propagandists, who can harp on a “narrative” ad nauseum to provoke and persuade the public to do as the purveyor of the lie seeks.

For the Left, one oft used word signaling an impending narrative is the word “complexity.” Usage of this word allows the Leftist to cull and, importantly, dispense with whatever facts or allegations they choose to create a narrative. This is critical in instances where the facts at hand lead to an ineluctable conclusion – i.e., the truth – that is antithetical to the Left’s aim. Let us explore four instances of the Left’s “complexity” of idiocy driving a narrative harmful to America and the world.

In American domestic policy, the Left is not content with foisting cancel culture upon the country and coopting the corporate media to control the political debate. The Left wants to silence any dissent to its authoritarian aims. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution recognizes and protects the God-given rights to each citizen of “political rights,” such as free speech. One would think the constitution’s prohibition would be the last word on censorship; but one would be underestimating the Left’s power to pretend the clear prohibition of government censorship is, instead, “complex.”

Consequently, as they have on college campuses, the Left has been weaponizing federal and state governments both directly and through colluding with private entities to censor free speech.  Creating the camouflage of “complexity” by pretending there exists a transcendent right not to be “offended” and purporting to be promoting “safety,” the censorious Left’s aim is to cloud the truth that the supreme law of the land prohibits the government from infringing upon Americans’ free speech and all political rights. And no amount of faux complexity can obscure the fact that there is nothing more dangerous than a censor.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/maryland-hate-crime-commission-official-compares-israel-to-nazi-germany/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=blog-post&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=top-bar-latest&utm_term=second

Maryland’s attorney general has temporarily suspended an official on the state’s Commission on Hate Crime Response who compared Israel to Nazi Germany in a series of social-media posts and claimed that reports of Hamas murdering Jewish babies were “fake.”

Zainab Chaudry is the Maryland director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and was appointed to the hate-crime commission by Maryland attorney general Anthony Brown in August. Made up of 20 stakeholder representatives, the group is designed to “develop strategies to prevent and respond to hate crime activity and evaluate state laws and policies relating to hate crimes.” The commission’s first annual report to the General Assembly is slated for December 2024 and will detail recommendations on addressing hate crimes.

Following Hamas’s October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis, Chaudry made a series of antisemitic social media posts. On October 17, she posted a photo of Israeli flags at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin next to a photo of Nazi Germany flags at the same gate in 1936. She captioned the post: “That moment when you become what you hated most.”

“The Commission must serve as a model for the entire State on how to respond to incidents of hate and bias,” Brown said on Tuesday. “The Commission is facing its first test. How we respond has deep implications. I take this very seriously, and I will do everything possible to bring people together to move forward the critical work of this Commission.”

Directly after Hamas invaded Israel, Chaudry referred to the attack on Facebook as an “uprising in Palestine.” She asked followers to remember that Palestinians “are a people who are illegally occupied.”

“Militarized occupation is inherently evil and violent,” she continued. “The state of Israel was created through the oppression, persecution and subjugation of Palestinians. It sits on the graves of martyrs and people forcibly displaced from their homes, forced to endure humiliation, terror, desecration of their holy spaces.”

Chaudry accompanied her post with a Malcolm X quote: “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

On Facebook two days later, Chaudry criticized elected officials for showing “support for an apartheid government that has been waging terror against Palestinians for decades.”

https://www.city-journal.org/article/create-a-crime-research-powerhouse

Calls to “reimagine” everything from policing to incarceration have dominated criminal-justice policy circles in recent years, but truly innovative research has been stifled. The federal government should devote more resources to collecting data on criminal incidents and offenders, police, courts, and other facets of public safety.

To start, policymakers should work to improve the consistency and uniformity of data that cities provide. All jurisdictions—encompassing roughly 18,000 law-enforcement agencies—should report their data to the FBI-run National Incident-Based Reporting System. NIBRS, which became the sole collections system in 2021, improves on past systems by collecting not just broad incident numbers but also such details as date, time, and location, whether offenses were carried out or merely attempted, the relationships between victims and offenders, the presence of drugs, whether the offender was under the influence, gang involvement, and whether a computer was used in the commission of the crime. All told, NIBRS reports on 52 discrete offenses.

Though the FBI has distributed $120 million since 2015 to help departments adopt this system, in 2021, about 7,000 police agencies, representing approximately 35 percent of the U.S. population, still did not provide any data. It’s unlikely that the 2022 numbers will be more robust. With more than a third of the country’s crime reporting missing, analysts struggle to draw solid conclusions. Federal authorities should therefore offer carrots and wield sticks to ensure that jurisdictions submit NIBRS data.

Further, Washington should establish a “sentinel cities” program—an idea proposed by crime-data analyst Jeff Asher. Such a program would include about 100 cities, offering them targeted funding to publish statistics on selected offenses, at frequent, synchronized intervals, on an open portal and using a standard data format. Collecting all this baseline information will enable authorities to view and analyze trends.