We have been discussing the rising support for censorship on the left in the last few years. Silencing opposing views has become an article of faith for many on the left, including leading Democratic leaders from President Joe Biden to former President Barack Obama. What is most distressing is how many journalists and writers have joined the call for censorship. However, even with this growing movement, the letter of hundreds of “literary figures” this week to Penguin Random House is chilling. The editors and writers call on the company to rescind a book deal with Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett because they disagree with her judicial philosophy. After all, why burn books when you can effectivelyban them?
The public letter entitled “We Dissent” makes the usual absurd protestation that, just because we are seeking to ban books of those with opposing views, we still “care deeply about freedom of speech.” They simply justify their anti-free speech position by insisting that any harm “in the form of censorship” is less than “the form of assault on inalienable human rights” in opposing abortion or other constitutional rights.
Yet, the letter is not simply dangerous. It is perfectly delusional. While calling for the book to be blocked, the writers bizarrely insist “we are not calling for censorship.”
While the letter has been described as signed by “literary figures,” it actually contains many who are loosely connected to the “broader literary community” like “Philip Tuley, Imam” and “Barbara Hirsch, Avid reader.” It also includes many who are simply identified by initials or first names like “Leslie” without any stated connection.
Nevertheless, there are many editors and publishing figures who list their companies (including HarperCollins, Random House and other companies) and university presses (including Cambridge, Harvard, Michigan Northwestern, Oxford) with their titles in calling for censorship. The list speaks loudly to why dissenting or conservative authors find it more difficult to publish today. These are editors who are publicly calling for banning the publication of those who hold opposing views from their own.
It also includes academics like Ignacio Leopoldo Götz Römer, Stessin Distinguished Professor Emeritus, New College of Hofstra University and Carole DeSanti, Elizabeth Drew Professor of English Language and Literature, Smith College (and former VP and Exec Ed, PenguinRandomHouse).
The focus of the letter is the fact that Barrett voted with the majority in the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Barrett has been the singled out in the past due to her judicial philosophy (which is shared by many federal judges and millions of citizens). Her home has been targeted and activists have published school information on her young children.
Recently, Rhodes College alumni sought to strip references to Barrett from the college because they disagree with her views. Her college sorority was even forced to apologize for simply congratulating her for being one of a handful of women to be nominated to the high court.
No attack appears to be beyond the pale for media or the left. Barrett sat through days of such baseless attacks on her character and even had to face attacks referencing her children. Ibram X. Kendi, the director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, claimed that her adoption of two Haitian children raised the image of a “white colonizer” and suggested that the children were little more than props for their mother.
The most striking aspects of these protests is the insistence that these individuals are still faithful to free speech as they seek to silence those with opposing views. The signatories express a common righteous rage to justify censoring others. We have seen this hypocrisy openly displayed by those who want to censor authors or journalists in the name of free speech or the free press.
Writers, editors, commentators, and academics have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls, including academics rejecting the very concept of objectivity in journalism in favor of open advocacy.
Columbia Journalism Dean and New Yorker writer Steve Coll has denounced how the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was being “weaponized” to protect disinformation. In an interview with The Stanford Daily, Stanford journalism professor, Ted Glasser, insisted that journalism needed to “free itself from this notion of objectivity to develop a sense of social justice.” He rejected the notion that the journalism is based on objectivity and said that he views “journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.” Thus, “Journalists need to be overt and candid advocates for social justice, and it’s hard to do that under the constraints of objectivity.”
An article published in The Atlantic by Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Arizona law professor Andrew Keane Woods called for Chinese-style censorship of the internet, stating that “in the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong.”
These are professors, writers, and editors who are sawing off the very branch upon which they sit. That would not be a problem but for the fact that they are doing lasting damage not only to free speech but their professions. For a writer to be against free speech is like an athlete being against exercise. It is the defining right for our country and an existential right for writers and academics.
This letter is not simply another manifestation of viewpoint intolerance. It is a statement of virtual self-loathing from people who work in the literary world; writers and editors who cannot abide the publication of opposing views.
The question is whether the companies listed with these signatories (including HarperCollins, Random House Cambridge, Harvard, Michigan Northwestern, and Oxford presses) will issue their own statements that they do not support such censorship and remain committed to publishing a wide array of views on issues like abortion.
As for Justice Barrett, such attacks are unlikely to deter her from ruling according to her long-held and well-established jurisprudential views. She does not deserve such attacks but these individuals are the face of rage in our society. It is the license of rage that can overwhelm every value. It is a general psychosis that overwhelms every countervailing value; it allows writers and editors to oppose free speech and expect us applaud them for it.
It is not that difficult. When it comes to the justices, we have learned to hate the way described by Queen Margaret in Shakespeare’s “Richard III” — “Think that thy babes were sweeter than they were; And he that slew them fouler than he is.”
Throughout the movie “Cabaret” we get glimpses of the Thirties Berlin audience: dissolute, risque, partying, amusing, harmless.
Then near the end the camera shows us an audience full of Nazi uniforms. It is a shock. You realize these folks are no longer amusing and no longer harmless. They have become dangerous.
The literati attempt to censor Amy Cony Barrett’s book reveals less about her than it reveals about the leftist literati. Like that electrifying scene in ‘Cabaret’ we finally and clearly see that they are no longer amusing and they are no longer harmless. They are wicked and dangerous and have been for some while.
SPOT ON, WELL SAID, Prof. Turley…!! it’s time for folks like Jack Goldsmith and Andrew Keane Woods to seriously consider moving to China since they advocate their system….. Indeed, this is about FREE SPEECH.. it is not about ‘abortion’ as many commentators seem to feel.. Many overlook that, on closer examination, the SCOTUS left the door open for the States to offer such services, thus leaving a safety valve…Bottom-line: it is amazing to look at ‘Academia,’ long a champion of FREE SPEECH, now evolving into the Gestapo… i.e., the photo of the NAZI book-burning bonfire is chillingly what appears to be happening here, in the USA…. simply unbelievable…!!!
Jonathan: I don’t think anyone can take your claim seriously–that censorship is only coming from the “left”. But you claim the workers at Penguin are “dangerous” and “delusional” for calling for their employer to reconsider publishing Justice Barrett’s new book for which she got a lucrative $2 million advance. The workers’ complaint is that Penguin is putting profits ahead of taking a position on fundamental human rights, the right to abortion. Are you implying all the workers who signed the letter are “leftists”?
It should be pointed out that the theme of Barrett’s book is that judges should avoid letting their decisions be impacted by personal feelings. Does anyone really think Barrett’s decision in Dobbs was not affected by her Catholic faith or her membership in an extreme Catholic sect where female members have to submit to their male brethren? The 500 signatories to the letter point out: “Yet, it seems this is exactly what Comey Barrett has done, inflicting her own religious and moral agenda upon all Americans while appropriating the rhetoric of even-handedness–and Penguin Random House has agreed to pay her a sum of $2 million to do it”. Barrett is a hypocrite and the workers at Penguin want the public to know it.
The real threat of censorship isn’t coming from the “left” as you want us to believe. As I have pointed out in previous comments the real threat to free speech is coming from the right–book banning in public schools, telling teachers what they can and cannot discuss with students and even shutting down a high school student newspaper in Nebraska because right-wing zealots in the school district objected to the publishing of articles on LGBT themes. These are subjects you simply refuse to address–and shows your approach to free expression is distorted by your own right-wing agenda.
You assume that no one could possibly object to Roe for any reason other than religious. I’m an atheist and I could see the pretzel Constitutional logic that codified an issue that should have always resided with the States. I don’t oppose abortion so much as that it was obvious it was never Washington’s business in the first place. If Washington thought it was theirs’s they’ve had 50 years to pass an Amendment. The problem with the Left since Warren is that they have relied on the courts to achieve what they knew was legislatively impossible and it’s finally come back and bit them in the rear end.
I find it laughable they now cry “No Fair!!!”
I knew that DennisMcIntyre would bring up the banning of books in school by the right. I find it interesting that Dennis never wants discuss what books are being banned. Just for such an occasion I keep this example in my favorites. https://theiowastandard.com/shocking-images-from-book-gender-queer-which-is-stocked-in-school-libraries-across-iowa/. Dennis is all in for freedom of speech for the author of this book but he opposes such freedom for a Supreme Court Justice. Unfortunately Dennis is a much too typical representative of those on the left. Dennis is never specific because he wants to hide the books he is defending. Better to be in the shadows.
RE:”I knew that Dennis McIntyre would bring up the banning of books..” If you knew that, then you are also cognizant of the fact that any attempt at rebuttal is equivalent to to talking to the hand. Pray that he has no opportunity to interact with children.
ZZDoc, I understand that talking to DennisMcIntyre is like talking to the hand but a rebuttal to his conflagrations hopefully will be read by those in the possession of an open mind. Pray that he has no opportunity to interact with other children.
RE:”but a rebuttal to his conflagrations..’ He’s been rebutted to the nines in these conversations. He remains Dennis and all who know him are aware.
Dennis, you lose the debate on facts.
There is no basic right to kill a baby for convenience.
Wow. Talk about delusional.
“. . . the workers at Penguin . . .” (“workers” repeated three times)
That is a typical, dishonest, socialist attempt to recast the conflict as one between “dispossesed workers” and “entitled owners,” i.e., as a class struggle. The signatories are *not* Penguin “workers.” They are overwhelmingly: “Members of the writing, publishing, and broader literary community.”
This conflict is between fascists in spirit (the signatories) and those who value publishing and learning.
‘Leslie’? Yeah, that smacks of credibility. Did they just walk around on the street randomly collecting signatures from whomever due to a lack of support within their own milieu, perhaps?
An aside: I, an Independent, voted a straight red ticket yesterday for the second time in my life. What a time to be alive.
DITTO.. as an Independent.. one who has voted mostly Blue since college days.. but this time will vote STRAIGHT RED – the only chance we have to bring the Balance Back… God Willing…………
James,
Good for you!
I will be voting in person on election day. Our town is so tiny, we can only have one day.
In previous elections, I have just walked in and said “Hi!” to everyone as we all know each other, got my ballot and voted.
2020 was the first time there was a line. And, there was a state trooper present.
Limousine lemmings are digging themselves into a hole so deep that they’re going to come out in China. Oh wait………….they’d love that!
China. Did you mention China? Interspersed with my daily reading of this blog, I must read my other emails. About 15 minutes ago, I was reading about China.
“TOTALLY OUT OF SYNCH WITH CHINA THREAT ESTIMATES
What’s wrong with this picture?
Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that China has accelerated its timetable for taking control of Taiwan, and the Navy’s top officer said that a military campaign to achieve that outcome could begin as early as this year….”
In the end, they say: “Of course, all of these decisions are driven by the availability of funding”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2022/10/25/air-force-navy-plans-look-totally-out-of-sync-with-china-threat-estimates/?sh=892f0d0d0e91&fbclid=IwAR2OPE8YI4vn8WOio06JX6riXC9TUpwTK60_4YwdWw6Rbvp2Xb325BuEtik
Yes, China is the biggest problem we may face while debating what a senile Democrat politician is doing while in the WH. The most powerful weapon the US has is its economy. In WW2 no one believed the US economy could produce so much, so quickly. Today, Democrats who care little about this nation have caused inflation that will destroy families and Americans. To prevent that, the Fed is pushing interest rates up, causing a recession. Gas prices are increasing, and to stop gas prices from rising as fast as they would, we are depleting our strategic oil supply so that Democrats can protect their members from being ushered out of Congress. Our military might is being diminished. LBGT is more important to our military leadership politicians than a new ship.
On the blog, we talk about censorship and banning books. That all comes from the left, which is now mimicking the censorship in China. We are dealing with a bunch of crazy people in our own country that don’t give a dam- about their children’s future.
Do not vote for a Democrat. Like cigarettes, Democrats kill, but in much greater numbers.
S.Meyer…superb comment. One of the first things Mao did was to start distancing the Chinese children from their parents, re-directing their loyalty from mommy and daddy to the government (via schools)….hmmm…sounds familiar.
“S.Meyer…superb comment. One of the first things Mao did was to start distancing the Chinese children from their parents, re-directing their loyalty from mommy and daddy to the government (via schools)….hmmm…sounds familiar.”
Thank you Kid. When I look at our schools and health clinics where teachers and doctors can make decisions for our children without the parents being involved or inculcate them with ideas contrary to the parents desire, I too note how close we have come to acting like the Chinese. That includes book banning and censorship.
A less known fact is that the CCP is building up its military presence in the Solomon Islands. My father fought in Munda and Guadalcanal in WWII. This is one of the most strategic locations in the Pacific. That is why the Japanese Imperial forces expended so much treasure and lives to keep it. It cost the U.S. and Allied Forces thousands of casualties, ships, planes, etc.
The military who controls this controls southern, southeastern Asia, Australia and many shipping routes. It can greatly hinder military movements, oil, raw materials and supplies.
The CCP is methodical and patient in its strategy. They are flooding our southern border with human trafficking and a free flow of fentanyl. They are executing a reverse opium war and costing the lives of many youth.
How much information does the CCP hold over the Biden family syndicate? They were certainly doing business with the CCP to the tune of millions of dollars in freebies, “consulting” and interest free “forgivable loans.”
Here in Doublestandardstan the left screams that you support book banning if you don’t want a primer on oral sex in your 6 year old kids class but they then try to ban a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE from writing a book. Is it irony, hypocrisy or both?
Remember the good old days when the ACLU would defend the NAZIS right to march in Skokie. Now the ACLU joins in having books banned because the far left 10% big mouths on Twitter demand it. It is sickening, truly sickening.
It’s not the far left at all it is the so-called moderates. I laughed at my own thought that neither centrists of of either want the ball. When one side took away the guarantee to autonomy, the other side put up the ARB. Still, neither side of the centrists want to serve the populace. These cultural discussions are intended to sustain the divisions leading to our own defeat. If we come together on what we agree on, then and only then will the oppressions created by Wall Street be reduced and eventually eliminated. Play into their divisive schemes and the people lose.
Early. No coffee yet. Did I read, “Abram X Kendi, Director of the Center for AntiChrist Research at Boston University “
rlboat………….LOL—You read it correctly! Neil Simon couldn’t have made that any funnier!
Antiracist Research is what I thought it said.
All of the objections raised by these self proclaimed experts, the have wrong. The ruling did not remove any rights. All that happened, SCOTUS ruled the court interfered with the peoples absolute sovereignty to self govern. SCOTUS said if the people want to kill a baby in the birth canal, the court lacks the jurisdiction to challenge.
But the left is willfully ignorant of the Constitution.
Dobbs did remove a previously judicially discovered constitutional right for a woman to choose an abortion prior to viability. You can agree or disagree that Dobbs was right to do so, but that is what happened.
Regardless, this call for censorship is abhorrent. If anyone disagrees with the Justice’s judicial philosophy, either in general or as applied in a particular case, he or she can argue against it; suppressing its expression because of some amorphous “duty of care” is wrong.
After viability or where baby… fetal-baby meets granny in legal state, if not in process. The wicked solution (i.e. elective abortion, planned parenthood) under the Pro-Choice ethical religion denies human dignity and agency, and reduces human life to negotiable commodities for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes.
That said, overturning the Twilight Amendment returned, did not ban, legislation of the wicked solution to democratic choice in States under Constitutional authority. You can still elect to abort, cannibalize, sequester a human life at any state under a layer of privacy (e.g. murder) in darkness, and until viability in cases of rape… rape-rape, and, unfortunately, if you detect an undesirable trait (e.g. one-child, selective-child).
Dobbs did remove a previously judicially discovered constitutional right
The Constitution does not work that way. There is no path for the judiciary to discover stuff. It says enumerated rights or‘ those rights retained by the people.’
You attitude is exactly why this conflict is so maddening. Dobbs is nothing but a sound piece of constitutional deliberation. At its best, the people are fully in charge of the life. At worst, the people are fully in charge of their lives.
I believe that’s how I described it when I said they threw it back to the states. They left a womens right as an individual up to the whims of religious autocrats. Thus, women have no rights as a singular human being. Let’s not forget the final beast in Daniel’s prophecy leading to the coming of God’s kingdom has no respect for what women want. Before you call that God’s will, understand the beast leads itself into utter annihilation. God does not try men with evil. The evil is brought out by the desires of the beast itself.
“I believe that’s how I described it when I said they threw it back to the states. They left a womens right as an individual up to the whims of religious autocrats. “
There is no right to abortion in the Constitution, and historically the federal government was not involved in the issue. Suddenly, some thought they should leave a woman’s rights as an individual up to the whims of Nine. What can be more autocratic than Nine deciding such an important issue that didn’t exist in the Constitution?
As you are now saying, the Nine decided that a prior decision was wrong and left that decision to 330 million. You should be ecstatic. A woman’s right to abortion and a child’s right to live is now up to the people. What is wrong with that?
‘Holy ‘Discriminating against the First Amendment rights of a Justice of the SCOTUS’, Batman!!” How totally braindead!!
Jesus said on the Cross “Father forgive them for the know not what they do”. These people know what they do and this just shows us the mass sickness that permeates so much of the left. Not all but a significant portion. The right has it’s demons but they are badly overwhelmed by what is going on with the left. One could become enraged by these horrendous attempts to destroy our freedoms and turn to the broad and righteous sword and go forth and slay the multitudes of the evil. I really feel biblical today.
But laying waste to these minions and their anti American views would accomplish little. Instead we should show the unity and strength of those who waged a campaign of 50 years to overturn the abomination of Roe V. Wade. Use that unity and strength to gradually take back the ideals of the Constitution and our most precious institutions. Victory in elections can turn the tide and then codify what is necessary in law and enforcement to remove this heinous leftist movement. Start with Education at lower levels and turn and remove the purveyors of destruction from power there and then focus on higher education and corporate America. It will take some time but we can all do it.
GEB,
I like to think your words on the election, turning the tide, etc. is possible.
I also think civil war is equally possible.
GEB, the 50 years it took to overthrow a woman’s freedom came at great cost to faith in Christ (aka the Word of God) and salvation. To accomplish that feat you had to embrace the only two types of persons for whom Jesus Christ reserved his ire; namely, the false religious leaders and the rich man. You embraced the lie that sinners deserve punishment while elevating the rich man and his corporate interests. Thus, by overturning Roe they “strained out the gnat and gulped down the camel.” In protecting the life of the unborn they aligned themselves with those putting all existential life at threat of global annihilation through climate changing destruction of our air, water and soil. Those who voted for 50 years to overturn Roe elevated riches above God. Jesus said you can’t serve two masters, you can’t serve God and riches because you will love one more than the other. They chose the rich man’s lies rather than remain true to Jesus’ words. (John 8:31-32; John 6:63) Yet, Jesus calls them to repent and follow him. It is a choice all must make. There’s is no getting around it and woe to those usurping it.
What about the Republican cancel culture when they tried to assassinate the Speaker of the House?
There is yet no confirmation of any political motive for that crime beyond what you and others of your ilk infer. However, what is established fact it the politics of the Cancel Culture assault on the Congressional baseball game. Can you do better than ‘what abouts’ in your conversations. Likely not! Tiresome!!
Sammy: So, who is the “they” in your comment? You cannot be seriously referring to the weird happening at the Pelosi estate in San Fran, can you? You know nothing about the perpetrator of this crime and yet you know who he should be lumped in with? Most likely one of the hundreds of illegals and mental cases living on the streets of their once-beautiful city.
The perpitrator has a bunch of odd rants on his social media some of which are being painted as right wing,
But historically this person is associated not with left – but FAR left causes.
Mostly likely he is just nuts.
We will see more and more of this.
The flood of drugs long term use of many results in permanent mental issues resembling schitzophrenia is one factor.
LIfe – public life is a careful balance of chaos and order. Too much of either is dangerous.
The spike in chaos – which is entirely driven by the left, is the prime driver of the spike in crime.
The democratic policies that republicans target are a factor, but the largest driver is rises in anxiety, depression, and declines in trust ….. too much chaos.
Chaos breeds violence and the most likely perpitrators are those with mental health issues that require order to survive.
Like schitzophrenics.
Schitzophrenics nearly always are attached to a cause – usually one of their own making, that is constructed of random stolen bits of the ideologies left and right arround us.
The El Paso shooter could be presented as a right wing nut or a left win loon depending on how you currated his writings.
The same with most of these.
Stop comparing for the list would be endless and non productive. Deal with the consequences of losing our free thoughts and voices. Ask the question … ‘What is the left so afraid of that they have to silence all those who disagree with them?’ Could it be that if people are allowed to speak freely, then their voices will be louder than those who wish to silence them? Then what … the oppressors lose power and domination?
Children as they question ‘why’ know when they are being frauded when the parents say “because I say so”. And when these four words are uttered it means that there is no good reason for the proclamation except ‘parental authority’. Reason with people and you have better results. Adults react to domination the same way … and they should. It is a gift to live in a country that demands freedom of speech throught its Constitution Who has the daring to take it away other than bullies!
Sammy, their thinking is okay to them because she’s a democrat. They think only democrats sent jobs overseas. They blindly forget Ronald Reagan. And that’s just the beginning of their willfully ignoring all the facts showing both parties do it. They actually think the Republicans are different. Well, they are better to the rich man than democrats but both sides do it. American government is nothing but the long arm of financial interests. What greater proof is needed to reveal that neither party’s leaders do anything but feign religious values while ravaging Earth of its life sustaining resources and destroying all life that gets in its way?
Sammy, the loon is an ILLEGAL and your side would not deport him. The loon has committed prior crimes and your side will not jail him.
Sammy, a real piece of work doesn’t even know that just last week a Marco Rubio worker was badly beaten by leftist thugs. Sammy doesn’t care that Rand PAul was violently attacked and people on MSNBC said it was their favorite story. All of this on top of the guy wanting to kill Kavanaugh and the Steve Scalise shooting.
Boy the left are real lying fools.
So republicans paid off a green nudist to sneak past Pelosi’s high fences, 6 attack dogs, to beat Paul Pelosi with a Hammer ?
Delusional is an apt term here. Don’t those signatory’s realize that the mob will eventually turn on them?
“… and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.” (Th. Jefferson)
Barrett is one of several religious autocrats on the court who put women’s rights up for grabs by the religious automatons in every state, regardless of individual human rights. To put some of Jesus Christ’s own words in a nutshell, What goes around comes around. I have no sympathy for her own defiance of the Constitutional rights of the individual.
Kidrambler-I see no abortion or infanticide in the constitution. Please cite the section and phrase. There was a Supreme Court decision called Roe V. Wade but since no one codified that with a constitutional amendment, it was relegated to just another court decision which can be overturned. It did not ban abortion, it simply returned that decision to the states either through legislation or plebiscite. Which is how abortion was applied in virtually every other democracy on this planet. Not by simple fiat of a court.
Women have no more absolute control of their body than men in the Civil war, WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam who were drafted and placed in combat to lose life and limb. Many of my classmates and friends would have loved to have that argument on their side in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The rest you can find in graves and cemeteries all across the country and in places all around the world.
GEB, what was unconstitutional was using personal religious values as a personal catalyst to twist the law in a way that denies women human rights. As a side note, the six week heartbeat can’t exist without the mothers blood, ergo the baby is not an individual entity/life.
We have freedom of religion in this country. Barrett and others denied that freedom to women.
GEB, Excellent!
RE:Barrett is one of several religious autocrats”…. You need to read the the Roe opinion and the Dobbs opinion in their entireties.. You may or may not come to learn that you really don’t know what you’re talking about.
ZZDoc, I’m much older than you think.
RE:”ZZDoc, I’m much older than you think..” As am I. I was getting my ambulatory anesthesia training as a resident assigned to the Ob-Gyn unit of a major inner city hospital when the Roe opinion came down.. The best to describe matters afterwards was a walk-in birth control service on demand.. Shoot ’em up, wheel ’em in, and suck ’em out!!” A community of color doing its best to control its numbers at the behest of a government which proported to act in its best interests.Whispered in dark corners, as some were wont to observe, Margaret Sanger’s ‘Great White Hope’ had finally come to pass.
The Dobb’s decision was comparable to the 3/5 compromise that limited influence of slavers and [rabid] diversitists (e.g. racists) in legislation, regulation, and election. Unfortunately, as with the 3/5 compromise, human rites will still be performed for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes in left-wing jurisdictions.
Your arguments hold no water. Though I have posted this many times, I will post the link again to a statement by Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Deal with it and come back with an argument not so porous.
Roe v. Wade, in contrast, invited no dialogue with legislators. In- stead, it seemed entirely to remove the ball from the legislators’ court. In 1973, when Roe issued, abortion law was in a state of change across the nation. As the Supreme Court itself noted, there was a marked trend in state legislatures “toward liberalization of abortion statutes.”’ …
https://law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/ECM_PRO_059254.pdf
Page 1205
RE:”Your arguments hold no water…”Precisely” As Ginsberg concluded…”Roe, on the other hand, halted a political process that was moving in a reform direction and thereby I believe, prolonged divisiveness and deferred stable settlement of the issue.” Roe disadvantaged pro-life advocacy in the same fashion as Dobbs. Instead of leaving ‘well enough alone’ the zealot advocacy was hoisted by its own petard. They should have known when they had a bird in the hand.
“[T]he writers bizarrely insist ‘we are not calling for censorship.’”
“I want Nancy Kerrigan to be kneecapped. But I’m not calling for thugish behavior.” (Says the Tanya Hardings of the world)
122 people who list themselves as “author”. I’ve heard of (and read) only one, Lee Child. I don’t think a real life Reacher would be happy with him.
Did Lee Child really sign the petition? If so I am really saddened by that because I have read all Reacher books, but now I will have to give my time to other authors.
Now that King Musk has paid the ransom for that silly Blue Bird we can only hope that all will sleep knowing that now “The Truth Will Set Us Free” and the Gates of Hell shall be closed forever.
“Gates of Hell”. So was the Sixth Seal has been broken and the Bird is Free?
My prediction the Bird will soar to greater heights if FREE SPEECH is allowed.
Mean tweets just in time for 2024.
Those 500 “literary” figures are nothing but garden variety cowardly thugs who don’t even have the integrity to be honest about their censorship. They know censorship is wrong, so they rename it as something virtuous. That’s what Democrats do — rename things to fit their delusional world. So burning and looting become “social justice” and censorship becomes “protection from violent words.” America would be a lot better off without Democratic social justice and without their protection racket.
Lefties are ugly people.
Monumentcolorado, I’d rather be ugly than a hateful, intolerant evangelical who judges the world around them to gain their own faithless self-righteousness. Jesus said they are receiving their reward in full. They have rejected the undeserved kindness of the Christ and the love of God in favor of their self perceived judgments.
kidrambler———-Your comments certainly explain why you’re “kidrambler” and not “adultrambler”.
.At least you’re honest about it.
Good one Cindy! The paid trolls have become incredibly predictable and tediously boring regardless of which newest avatar they use. Sometimes a flame is justifiable along with a good dose of snark
I wish someone would pay me. Snark & flames is necessary when you can’t defend your position. So yes, bravo to Cindy’s snark & flames estovir.
Thank you, Estovir!
CindyBragg, I’m nothing but honest. In fact, my husband once called me “excruciatingly honest.” It’s a badge I wish more persons would pursue instead of defending some political parties agendas.
kidrambler—-I’m quite sure you think you’re “nothing but honest”, based on what you consider to be the truth. But one must know actual facts, beyond one’s own version of the “truth”, and that’s where the “adult” part comes in.
You’re welcome, kid.
kidrambler–
“a hateful, intolerant evangelical who judges the world around them to gain their own faithless self-righteousness”
Is this not a spot-on description of those who so zealously promote abortion?
No, I don’t think so. They are not forcing anyone to agree with them. If you don’t believe in abortions don’t have one. The truth is, religious zealots can’t always successfully instill their values onto their children. So they want Uncle Sam to do it for them. That’s against freedom of religion. By circumventing the federal law they seek the State legislatures to do it. But states rights cannot lawfully deny their citizens their constitutional rights, including freedom of religion. It is only the pro-lifers seeking government’s to punish those who disagree with them. Ergo,on this issue, they alone are intolerant.
The good samaritan stopped to help a man beaten at the side of the road. He bandaged him, and fed him and provided him care and shelter.
He did not, call the police, organize his community to spend other peoples money to help the homeless.
If you personally give of your time, your wealth to visit those in prison, feed the hungry shelter the homeless, cloth the naked – then I commend you, and if there is a Christ – you can count on eternal life.
If you are however the typical left wing nut trying to change the world by forcing OTHERs to do good things you do not do yourself,
then you are far WORSE than those you criticise.
Mother Theresa is a saint, But Elon Musks life has improved the lot of the least well off far more than she.
In the half century, the population of the earth has more than doubled, the standard of living of the average person has more than doubled. There is no country in the world today unable to feed its own people from craps grown in that country – but for political conflicts – wars and warlords. The world is inarguably a far better place today than 50 years ago, nearly everyone is much better off. More than twice as well off.
Workers in Bangeledesh are striking for better conditions in their factories – in 1960, they were starving, there were no factories.
All of this is the result of the decline of socialism and the rise of free markets.
John Say, when is it ever wrong for a government to seek to care for the needy, especially when governors hold a relative position of authority by God? The government will never stop taking your tax dollars. Would you rather, if given the choice, they spend your tax dollars enriching corporate overlords or caring for the disenfranchised. WWJD?
What you are spouting is the rich man’s deception.
“John Say, when is it ever wrong for a government to seek to care for the needy,”
ALWAYS – All government spending is taken involuntarily from citizens. It MUST be justified by the social contract and Charity is NOT part of the social contract.
“especially when governors hold a relative position of authority by God?”
Have we lost 250 years somewhere that I missed ? Are you arguing some divine right to government.
“The government will never stop taking your tax dollars.”
Of course it will. When it takes to much – we have nothing to live on.
But long before that people resist.
“Would you rather, if given the choice, they spend your tax dollars enriching corporate overlords or caring for the disenfranchised.”
False dilemma.
I do not support either
You appear to support both.
Regardless I will absolutely assure you that however much power you give to government massive amounts of it will be directed to special interests. I would further note that what you purportedly direct towards charity will itself be directed primarily to those able to rent government power.
Finally – what do you mean by disenfranchised ? Every citizen rich or port may vote.
I presume you mean the less fortunate ?
I would then note that FACTS are beyond dispute – nothing benefits the least fortunate more than free markets.
Not government programs, not charity – the benefit of free markets for those at the bottom is so great that this is not even a close issue.
“What you are spouting is the rich man’s deception.”
What I am pointing out is FACTS.
Compared to Pharo in Egypt we are ALL rich. Compared to most humans who have ever lived until the past 50 years – we are all rich.
There is no deception here – except among those that think there is some personal moral virtue in doing no good on their own and advocating for theft.
Even the mythical Robin hood did not actually steal from the rich to give tot he poor – he stole from Government – the tax collector and returned it to the people.
Seems to me….George Soros hates America….and Democrats pick people who want to destroy it!
weird how Fascist Democrats control Government, Education, Healthcare, Media, Big Tech, Big Banks, Woke Businesses, majority of billionaires….but think republicans are FASCISTS to want freedom?
Zuckerberg, Bloomberg bought $500,000,000 of Democrat votes!
Thats because everything many Democrats accuse you of they are actually doing. The one thing that proves that is Hillary accusing Trump of ties to Russia but who is the real person with real tieds to Russia Hillary.
Biden has sold out America to China and Ukraine.
The man is a lying dog faced phony soldier, a THUG, pedo and a traitor. There is no Truth in him.
guyventer, you’re mistaking Democrats as in control. Wall Street controls all that said. “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Jesus Christ threw the money changers out of the Temple courtyard and the Catholics and evangelicals restored them to it because they “have no king but Caesar.” They crucify the Christ endlessly.
Just when I think I need to do penance for my many sins, reading your tripe easily grants me scores of Plenary Indulgences, for which I thank you. Where do I send a check? or do you prefer 30 pieces of silver?
RE:”Just when I think I need to do penance for my many sins..” Shows you his confusion in the matter. The money changers were thrown out of the Temple because business is not conducted on the Jewish Sabbath and Jesus was addressing and re-enforcing that practice. They were not the only merchants in the outer court yard conducting business. Outside the Temple business could have been conducted as usual. Historically, Sunday blue laws, advocated by THE CHURCH were motivated by the same objective.. Most blue laws have been repealed in the United States, although many states ban selling cars and impose tighter restrictions on the sale of alcoholic drinks on Sundays.
I have to admit I like the car one. It gives people one day to lot shop without being hectored by a salesperson.
I’ll go toe to toe with you if want to discuss solely what Jesus Christ teaches. Maybe we can share “an interchange of encouragement.”
Marx is quoted as writing ‘religion is the opiate of the masses’. For whatever case was his purpose, it’s certainly clear in yours. Across the panorama of history every culture and civilization has proselytized its religious mythology as the one truth and absolute. It will be interesting to be able to look back 5000 years from now to see what the opinions are of ours considering the millions who were put to the sword in the name of a so-called god. You need to get down from your pontificating altar in that the advocates of yours, by no means possible ,have earned the rights to cast any stones. The historical body count is reprehensible.
Millions were put to the sword because of financial interests and control of resources God gave us all. Resources stolen by empires and sold back to us for a price. False religious leaders preached on behalf of those powerful interests. It’s how they got their status. Despite their misleading the masses into unrighteous wars and theft of our divine inheritance, The Word of God remains true and unchanged.
Marx is quoted as writing ‘religion is the opiate of the masses’. For whatever case was his purpose, it’s certainly clear in yours. Across the panorama of history every culture and civilization has proselytized its religious mythology as the one truth and absolute. It will be interesting to be able to look back 5000 years from now to see what the opinions are of ours considering the millions who were put to the sword in the name of a so-called god. You need to get down from your pontificating altar in that the advocates of yours, by no means possible ,have earned the rights to cast any stones. The historical body count is reprehensible.
Humans are intrinsically religious. You will not stop the humans from creating religion. Nor is the creation and adherence to religion specific to religions with gods. The left creates religions all the time – marxism, socialism, progressivism, climate are all modern left wing religions and far more destructive that christianity or Islam.
No set of beleifs in human history has resulted in even close tot he bloodshed of socialsim.
RE:’No set of beleifs in human history has resulted in even close tot he bloodshed of socialism.” I understand where you’re coming from with that statement. However, as you’ve constructed it you’ll have to show me the comparative statistics of 5+ millenia to support it, otherwise it remains nothing more than conjecture without the numbers.
I do not need data from 5 Millennia. The worlds population did not reach 1B prior to 1850.
The Khmer Rouge alone – the Killing Fields resulted int he death of 3M people.
There are only a few events prior to the 20th century that killed more people
Nearly all epidemics.
Yet in the pantheon of deaths due to socialism – the Killing fields is barely in the top 5.
That’s why I don’t affiliate with any kind of sect, religious or secular. I only associate myself to The Bible. It is why my comments so often respond to other believers who were co-opted for purposes similar to those you mentioned. They have been misled by many man-made authorities into dismissing the authority of God’s Word in favor of the sayings of self-appointed preachers. As soon as you align yourself with any church’s sayings you have replaced the Word of God as the only mediator between God and men. Wake up! And don’t let yourself be caught in another’s yoke again. For this freedom is why Christ set us free. (Galatians 5:1; 2nd Peter 2:19)
RE:”That’s why……………I only associate myself to The Bible. Even more of a mythology
Democrats are not in control of the world, they are however in control of their own acts and the consequences of those acts.
You have a delusional view of the power of wall street. Increasingly politically the entirety of wall street, business and finance leans left, not right.
Your problems is no matter what their politics, the laws of economics are immutable. Those on Wall street can be budhist – so long as they act in their own self interest the outcome will be the same – and if they do not, they will be replaced by people who will – regardless of their religion or politics.
An example – Biden is pleading with the oil industry to accept lower profits.
Lets presume they do. Gas prices will drop, demand will bring the prices back up to where they were.
The current price of anything is very close to the dynamic equalibrium price determined by the laws of supply and demand.
You can only change the price by changing supply or demand. Actually reducing the price – without changing supply or demand will work for a day or two at most.
Wall Street does not control the world, it just responds to the laws of economics – primarily supply and demand.
Your railing at the wind.
You overlook the fact that the market has never been free because it wasn’t created by our divine maker who, according to Genesis, gave us all things necessary to sustaining life. The only Buddhists in finance are those who left finance to find the real meaning to Life. Biden can ask the market to lower prices but they won’t do it unless he offers them more freedom to ravage the land, seas and skies. The market is controlled by those who created it. They use poverty & greed to entrap the masses to vote for moneyed interests. Money is the highest loyalty of marketers and financiers. It’s a false god. Throughout history it has misled the earth. Empires come and go, but he who controls the world’s wealth decides the worth and wages of everyone. Whoever gives it recognition will receive their payment in land and treasures. The market is a facade. Globalization was their biggest and most detrimental mistake because the world is now seeing thru it’s intentions. Finally, Americans are understanding how it is that they’ve been held back in the belief that America’s wealth made it the greatest nation ever. The gig is no longer a secret.
I should state that I don’t find the meaning of life in Buddhism and neither do those who leave finance. They just exchange material wealth as their god for feeling like they are good in themselves. “There is no man who does not sin. All fall short of the glory of god.” Being godlike was Eve’s desire. Adam chose to be with her for all eternity. Such an ideal as being godlike is the pursuit of many a rich person. The poor are content with sustenance and covering. Once government cuts deeper than that, the poor will overthrow it. It’s a story older than the written Word.
“You overlook the fact that the market has never been free because it wasn’t created by our divine maker”
Are you actually a badly informed christian ? Or some left wing nut who thinks they understand Christianity ?
I will debate Christianity with you if you actually have the slightest interest in actual christianity.
But I am not interested in your straw man.
“who, according to Genesis, gave us all things necessary to sustaining life.”
Nope. “By the sweat of thy brow you shall eat your daily bread” Genesis 3:19.
Whether you are religious or just familiar with the laws of nature – absent significant effort YOU DIE.
In science it is the law of entropy.
“The only Buddhists in finance are those who left finance to find the real meaning to Life.”
You might as well botch another religion while you are at it.
“Biden can ask the market to lower prices but they won’t do it unless he offers them more freedom to ravage the land, seas and skies.”
Top down efforts to control markets MUST end badly.
“The market is controlled by those who created it.”
You are completely ignorant of what free markets are.
“They use poverty & greed to entrap the masses to vote for moneyed interests.”
This would be why the worst off in the world have the highest standard of living ever ?
If you were correct in your premesis – which you are not – you would STILL have the most successful approach to dealing with poverty ever.
“Money is the highest loyalty of marketers and financiers. It’s a false god.”
Money is just a means of exchange.
I would suggesst reading Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. It is more than 2 centuries old and still correct in nearly every point.
If you can not cope with the original – P. J. ORourke did an excellent humours condensed modern version.
Regardless Smith found 250 years ago that the rich very quickly have far more money than they can possibly ever spend.
There is just so much you can spend on your own lifestyle.
Even Trump likely makes more in interest every day than he can spend on himself.
So what happens to the rest of rich peoples money ?
It is invested.
And who benefits from that ?
The rest of us.
Musk has more money than god. He probably spends less than a couple of million on himself each year.
The entire rest goes into investment – that creates jobs and things people want and need.
Musk and everyone in the top 1% even the top 10%
Spend nearly all their time doing things that they will never personally benefit from – but the rest of us will.
“Throughout history it has misled the earth.”
You have wierd ideas about money – it is just a comodity.
“Empires come and go, but he who controls the world’s wealth decides the worth and wages of everyone.”
Nonsense, you decide you own worth, as to your wage – work for yourself.
I have most of my life.
“The market is a facade.”
Nope, it is just two people engaged in free exchange.
“Globalization was their biggest and most detrimental mistake because the world is now seeing thru it’s intentions.”
I have no idea what you mean by globalization.
The spread of free exchange throughout the world has been incredibly net positive.
The effort of elites to control that and to control the world is entirely negative.
“Finally, Americans are understanding how it is that they’ve been held back in the belief that America’s wealth made it the greatest nation ever. The gig is no longer a secret.”
Again what does this mean ? The US has done fine – with few exceptions we are doing better than most of the world.
Regardless, we are doing well because free markets are global
Everyone is accountable to the consequences of government leaders and policy makers. That’s not limited to one Political Party or another. Just because one side refuses to see the errors in their tribe it can’t negate. But I only hear people on this blog calling the Left evil. True dat. But not seeing the evil on the Right is either willful blindness or an attempt to manipulate that blindness.
I am libertarian – not republican.
I have no problem with attacking republicans when they are wrong – which they sometimes are.
But today the actual threat is from the left.