As previously discussed, after Musk decided to buy Twitter, Hillary Clinton called upon European countries to force social media companies to censor Americans. The European Union quickly responded by threatening Musk and other executives. Now, Technology and Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has announced plans to jail social media executives if they fail to censor so-called “harmful” content on their websites. The government, of course, will determine what is deemed too harmful for citizens to see or hear.
Donelan is seeking speech arrests under the UK’s Online Safety Bill, a draconian censorship bill that would effectively ban end-to-end encryption for private internet users.
The bill uses Britain’s broadcasting regulator Ofcom to censor “all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred” based on various progressive characteristics, including transgenderism. So the government can censor anyone who it views as promoting or justifying hatred against virtually any group. Those who do not censor can now be rounded up by Donelan and her minions.
According to a report by The Telegraph, companies will also face fines of up to 10 per cent of their global revenue should they dare to ignore Britain’s demands to preemptively delete or obscure posts violating its coming censorship regime.
The decline of free speech in the United Kingdom has long been a concern for free speech advocates. A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”
Recently we discussed the arrest of a woman who was praying to herself near an abortion clinic. English courts have seen criminalized “toxic ideologies” as part of this crackdown on free speech.
Donelan is only the latest voice of a rising generation of censors. These officials proudly parade their intent to silence or jail those with dissenting views. Yet, they do so in the name of tolerance. This is why free speech is in a free fall in Europe and why we must remain vigilant in this country to resist figures like Clinton who want to bring European censorship to our shores.
OT but related: This is a disgusting example of how groupthink censorship and deletion metastasizes:
“Retired neurosurgeon and former Housing & Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson [Black Trump appointee] reacted Monday to news his name is being removed from a high school in his hometown of Detroit…
“According to a Fox News column by former HUD chief of staff Andrew Hughes, the Detroit School Board voted to change the name of the Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine despite an administrative recommendation and student poll to keep the name as-is….”…[Board members] voiced concerns Carson’s political positions and decisions in government “did not reflect Detroiters” and that therefore the school should not have been renamed in his honor…”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ben-carson-reacts-to-name-being-removed-from-detroit-high-school-ideology-trumping-purpose-of-institutions/ar-AA15dAy1
The systematic and continuous attempt to discredit an destruct the professional reputation of established and honorable professionals, -merely for their association with the Trump administration-, is truly despicable.
Those who seek to cancel Carson are not 1/10th the person he is.
JohnSay: I agree. A true professional with a distinguished career and a true gentleman who never retaliated in kind.
I do not follow alot of Carlson. I often disagree with him.
But unlike most of his critics – he is not an idiot, and even when I think he is wrong he argues his position well.
John B: I was talking about Dr. Ben Carson, are you talking about Tucker Carlson?
Sorry, Ben Carson is Brilliant. He is an incredible self made man. His accomplishments are remarkable.
He has succeeded in multiple different domains.
He is an amazing role model.
Of course those on the left want to destroy him.
I beleive I was him speak in person once.
John Say: I agree with everything you say here, about both Carson and Carlson, so all is well!
C’mon: They recycle their plastic water bottles. The only thing Carson does is fix the brains of babies.
Progressive clowns have a deep authoritarian streak.
Why doesn’t the EU and all those elite progressive Europeans just dig up another Torquemada and send him and his team of “persuaders” to just get with the program – or else.
OT,
Ex-top spy admits Hunter Biden laptop letter designed to influence 2020 election, Blinken involved
“Extraordinary admission by career intelligence officer Michael J. Morell provides stunning evidence that the now-infamous letter from 51 security officials in October 2021 was not an organic intelligence community event but rather a political dirty trick.”
https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/ex-top-spy-admits-hunter-biden-laptop-letter-designed-influence
It’s legal for private citizens to try to influence the election.
“was inspired to do so by a call from current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was then a top Biden campaign official. ”
I noticed you left out that fact.
I noticed you left out that fact.
Well now that he admitted the true motive for that group of people who signed the letter was to influence the election, all that remains to the debate is whether they were acting as private citizens, or not. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting 51 random private citizens who would sign a statement like that. But, if those 51 were all recognized by private citizens and declared on national TV (during a debate) by candidate Biden, as “former top Intelligence officials,” then those 51 were not acting as private citizens trying to influence an election. They were acting in their unique capacity as government intel officials whose opinion on intelligence assessments would be perceived as something to respect. Only the truly demoralized would attempt to defend this.
OLLY,
Well, to add,
“Morell says he also coordinated with the Biden campaign on strategy for the letter’s release.”
Again, now we know the truth.
Farmer,
The truth was always something “we” knew. What’s tragic is truth has no meaning to the brainwashed masses. This country was founded on principles rooted in objective truth. Our constitutional system of government, rule of law, natural rights, economics, justice, borders, etc., all have a specific meaning, but only for those who can identify objective truth. So it would seem that erasing objective truth has been the primary goal for the fundamental transformation of our culture. It’s actually a brilliant strategy; evil yes, but far easier than doing so within the constitutional framework. This is reverse-enlightenment and things will have to get much, much worse before they start to get better.
Nope.
When a government employee leaves government employ, they’re a private citizen, no matter their former government position. Trump is now a private citizen. Kushner is now a private citizen. Etc.
And leaving your position does not negate any expertise that you developed while you were in it.
Which means that these 51 former intelligence officials, acting as private citizens with expert knowledge, we’re engaging in disinformation. Or is it misinformation? I’ve lost track.
Aren’t we all supposed to fear for the future of democracy when mal-, dis-, and misinformation rule the day?
“these 51 former intelligence officials, acting as private citizens with expert knowledge, we’re engaging in disinformation”
You’ve presented no evidence of that. Start by quoting what they wrote that you assert is false, and then providing evidence that it was false.
The evidence is in Jordan’s report and their communications. One need not say more. You will deny everything.
The Defense of Man to Infidelity.
The wife comes home and sees the man in bed with another woman. While the woman gets dressed the husband states no one is there, hoping the woman will believe not what she sees but what she wants to believe. That is how ATS functions. Anyone who falls into that type of logic should immediately be dismissed and recognized as dishonest, immoral, and unethical.
Good analogy – but you should go further.
The response of those on the left more accurately is
“No one was there, and if they were – there was no infidelity, and if there was it was legal, and if it was not, no one was there.”
.John, I think I said that elsewhere.
ATS has a problem. In earlier days, lies would appear, and then the press would confirm them knowingly promoting lies.
Today proof is coming out demonstrating people like ATS are liars and tricksters. The press wants to forget it, but the evidence is too strong.
ATS cannot hide behind anyone else’s lies, so he is left alone, embarrassed that his lies don’t hold up. That is why he is relying on things that are old and meaningless.
The recent stories indicate FURTHER involvement of those in Government in either supressing speech, or covering up the misconduct of the Biden’s or both.
We know that just about every government agency is and was actively working to suppress stories that the left does not like – that this was started by Obama and went on through the Trump administration and continues into the Biden admin. While the FBI clearly took the lead in this – with I beleive 80 agents monitorying social media and funnelling censorship requests to Social media companies. This also occured in other agencies, and separately the Government paid private contractors to do this.
More Recently an IRS whistleblower – a carreer IRS agent has come forward reporting that DOJ is actively thwarting the Hunter Biden investigation and that AG Garland lied to congress about that.
Now we have Anthony Blinken lobbying the CIA to participate in the coverup of the Hunter Biden laptop.
Blinken’s conduct is revoltion – but he was a private citizen at the time. But those in the IRS has was lobbying were NOT.
This is likely a crime and a violation of the hatch act. Government can not participate in political campaigns.
Blinken is now Secretary of State. While his conduct as apart of the Biden campaign is PROBABLY not a crime.
It should have disqualified him from future public service. No one would make Paul Manafort Secretary of State.
Further all those involved in this should have their security clearances revoked.
We already know that the Biden Campaign – as well as later the Biden WH participated in the efforts to censor true information on social media.
We can debate whether the conduct referenced is legal – it appear that alot of it is not. But some likely is.
There is no debate that it is immoral, and corrupt.
That it is the conduct of people who should not be trusted.
And these are the same people who are telling us all that Trump is a criminal, or liar, that the election was legal and fraud free.
People who have been caught in big bold possibly illegal and certainly immoral and corrupt lies should not be trusted – by anyone about anything.
They certainly should not have anything to do with an election and should not be beleived about elections or anything else.
The evidence is that pretty much everyone with a brain knows for MANY reasons the laptop is not “russian disinformation”.
We also know that these ” experts” knew that at the time.
“who signed the letter was to influence the election”
They invoked the name of the CIA to influence the election based on a request from Blinkin, the Secretary of State. Whether one can charge anyone is a different story yet to be revealed, but this proves how corrupt this administration is and how little they care about America.
Does this stop ATS and other anonymous posters? No, they don’t even blink because that is their nature. How can anyone consider a person who says that as moral or ethical? Who does that on a large scale other than dishonest and immoral people? Take note of how members on the list blithely discard what happened as if that is normal behavior.
“It’s legal for private citizens to try to influence the election.”
Murder is ‘legal’ if you don’t get caught or if people lie on your behalf.
Seth,
Imagine if 51 former intel officials (citizens) signed a letter falsely asserting Saddam Hussein had WMD’s to get us into a war with Iraq. Would they defend that letter as an exercise in free speech? Not a chance. Now fast forward to today. The result of this exercise in free speech has given us Biden. He, along with the Leftists in the public and private sector have launched a war against our own country. And they are defending those ex-intel officials. It’s been said before, the Leftists in this country are a suicide cult. I’ve called them enemies of the state. Either fits.
“Imagine if 51 former intel officials (citizens) signed a letter falsely asserting Saddam Hussein had WMD’s to get us into a war with Iraq. Would they defend that letter as an exercise in free speech? Not a chance.”
Of course it would be free speech.
But you’re also pretending that they said the laptop story WAS Russian disinfo. They didn’t. They said things like “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement — just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”
The intent was to deceive the American public just like you are doing now.
Never Forget
Mike Hayden, former CIA director, now analyst for CNN
Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence, now CNN pundit
Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary
John Brennan, former CIA director, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC
Thomas Fingar, former National Intelligence Council chair, now teaches at Stanford University
Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank
John McLaughlin, former CIA acting director, now teaches at Johns Hopkins University
Michael Morell, former CIA acting director, now at George Mason University
Mike Vickers, former defense undersecretary for intelligence, now on board of BAE Systems
Doug Wise, former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, teaches at University of New Mexico
Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, now executive director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism
Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center acting director
Andy Liepman, former National Counterterrorism Center deputy director
John Moseman, former CIA chief of staf
Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff, now senior advisor to The Chertoff Group
Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC
Rodney Snyder, former CIA chief of staff
Glenn Gerstell, former National Security Agency general counsel
David Priess, former CIA analyst and manager
Pam Purcilly, former CIA deputy director of analysis
Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior operations officer
Chris Savos, former CIA senior operations officer
John Tullius, former CIA senior intelligence officer
David A. Vanell, former CIA senior operations officer
Kristin Wood, former CIA senior intelligence officer, now non-resident fellow, Harvard
David Buckley, former CIA inspector general
Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst and targeting officer, now senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Patty Brandmaier, former CIA senior intelligence officer
James B. Bruce, former CIA senior intelligence office
David Cariens, former CIA intelligence analyst
Janice Cariens, former CIA operational support officer
Paul Kolbe, former CIA senior operations officer
Peter Corsell, former CIA analyst
Brett Davis, former CIA senior intelligence officer
Roger Zane George, former national intelligence officer:
Steven L. Hall, former CIA senior intelligence officer
Kent Harrington, former national intelligence officer
Don Hepburn, former national security executive, now president of Boanerges Solutions LLC
Timothy D. Kilbourn, former dean of CIA’s Kent School of Intelligence Analysis
Ron Marks, former CIA officer
Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, now on board of the International Spy Museum
Emile Nakhleh, former director of CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, now at University of New Mexico
Gerald A. O’Shea, former CIA senior operations officer
Nick Shapiro, former CIA deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director
John Sipher, former CIA senior operations officer
Stephen Slick, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs
Cynthia Strand, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues
Greg Tarbell, former CIA deputy executive director
David Terry, former National Intelligence Collection Board chairman
Greg Treverton, former National Intelligence Council chair, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Winston Wiley, former CIA director of analysis
Former Attorney General William Barr, asked by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade why 51 intelligence officials published a letter just weeks before the 2020 election claiming that the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop “has the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” answered bluntly, “Because they’re political whores.”
Wise intellengence officials who DO NOT KNOW, and DO NOT HAVE EVIDENCE, would be wise to say nothing.
Regardless, YOU, the LEFT, the MSM, Biden Campaign used this to CENSOR.
Further YOU, the LEFT, the MSM, Biden Campaign spraqyed this all over as it it was biblical truth.
Candidate Biden – who KNEW otherwise not merely lied to the american people, usinjg this which he KNEW to be false as the basis.
But he also Lied about P{resident Trump.
So which is it ? Were you lying then, or are you lying now.
Regardless, ONCE AGAIN – Trump was Right, and YOU were wrong.
we have listened to a-holes like you rant that claims the election was stolen are False – lies.
How is it that we can Trust you – we still do not know, there has not been sufficient inquiry – because YOU thwarted that, to actually know the trust of the 2020 election, there there is more than enough evidence of lawlessness, dishonesty, and election rigging by YOU, that if actual ballot fraud did not occur, it is the ONLY election malfeasance that you did not engage in.
Personally I think those that would do all the Other immoral acts that YOU have done to win an election AND have gone to enormous lengths to fight any inquiry, would also commit election fraud.
Why should I beleive otherwise ?
You are clearly not honest people.
What is self evident is that the desire to Get Trump resulted in big tech, big business, the MSM, Social Media, the Deep State, the DNC, myriads of democrats, the Biden campaign all conspiring together to win the election for Biden – by any means necescary – by Lying, by Censoring, by lawfare, by lawlessness,
By Government influence.
Worse still YOU are the party that Claims to be democratic – CLEARLY you are completely unwilling to trust the people with the truth.
“then a top Biden campaign official” = private citizen at the time, and not only that, a private citizen whose job was to help the Biden campaign.
Again, it’s legal for private citizens to try to influence the election.
Watching you try to spin these facts away tells me I am spot on.
And you are immoral.
Just don’t confuse your opinion with a fact.
When it comes to you, Upstates opinions are fact.
“It’s legal for private citizens to try to influence the election.”
Ever notice how those who lack a moral compass use the “law” as a divining rod?
An intriguing argument given Stormy Daniels and the Donald.
And what is the Daniels/Trump argument ?
Fox killed the story before the election to help their favored candidate. Legal, sure. Moral, surely not. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house
Seems pretty similar to me.
Fox did not “kill” the Daniels story before the Election – Cohen did – sort of Daniels came to Trump looking for money to withold her story – and she got it.
A different Outlet – NewsMax I beleive bought the story of a playboy model and then did not run it.
But that was NOT Fox and NOT Daniels.
BTW Both legal and moral.
The moral issue – if there is one – is Trump’s CONDUCT with these women.
You don’t even get your facts straight. Stormy was engaged in blackmail. Is that how you function, blackmail? You are a sorry excuse for a human. You support blackmailers. You make all anonymous posters look bad, including Bug and ATS. Then again, we know which one you are.
That is some serious deflection you got going on there.
But, hey! Now we know the truth; The letter written by 50 some former intel yahoos did it at the behest of the Biden admin.
More context: one example shows (or is being claimed to show) an attempt to influence voters by not telling them about the non-illegal but morally lax actions (we’ve all seen the desperate flailing that has so far not convinced anyone of illegality except those who want to Get Trump BAMN) of a presidential candidate who, until that campaign, had been a private citizen.
The other example shows (if this reporting is true, it unequivocally shows) an attempt to influence the election by hiding firsthand evidence of long-ongoing corruption on the part of the Big Guy, a longtime senator and two-term VP who was then running for president. At the behest of the Big Guy himself.
Laptop deniers always claim the story is not about Joe, it’s about Hunter’s bad but private behavior. This claim is on par with the sage advice to teenagers caught breaking rules or even laws not to try to look 100% innocent – try to look guilty of a lesser offense. Then you have a better shot at getting off the hook for what you actually did.
How does the Blinken connection to a letter “hide firsthand evidence of long-ongoing corruption?”
How does release of a letter somehow taint or conceal anything?
I didn’t know free speech has such power!
“by not telling them about the non-illegal but morally lax actions”
No, actually, Michael Cohen went to prison for his part in it, and Trump has been indicted for his part.
“hiding firsthand evidence …”
The letter from the 51 people made no attempt to hide anything.
Of course the letter hid something. The letter was a blatant attempt to hide the truth of Biden’s conduct using the pretence that the laptop was no hunter Biden’s but was manufactured false information from Russian.
Cohen went to jail for illegal schemes related to Taxi medalions.
His plea deal – like many others includes allocuting to charges that serve the publicity interests of the prosecutors, but for which Cohen was not sentenced.
Further it is in cohens interest to plead guilty to anything he can, because double jephary prohibits him from being charged again.
Finally – Cohen and Trump can not actually both be guilty of campaign finance violations.
Cohen plead guilty to using his OWN funds to pay Daniels in violation of Campaign finance laws.
If Cohen is guilty of the charges he plead to – Trump is not guilty of anything.
But this is far fromt he most fatal problem for Bragg.
What does Stormy Daniels have to do with the nation. You are a prude who supports the destruction of children both medically and educationally.
The affair between Stormy Daniels and Trump was an affair between a man and a woman. Are you telling us you get your relief under the covers all alone? What type of fool are you?
Apparently somebody here is unable to distinguish between an illegal action and a “political dirty trick.”
Lin,
Like I stated above, now we all know the truth vs what we suspected.
Had this been the Trump admin, anomymouse would be screaming at the top of the rooftops.
Doublestardism is the way of leftists.
On the contrary, it’s very easy to distinguish between whether it’s legal, which is a factual matter, and whether it’s a “political dirty trick,” which is a matter of opinion.
Fact vs. opinion is something that gave my second graders fits. Apparently, it is an issue for adults, too.
Then why did you defend the claim of a “political dirty trick” by saying it was legal?
The article cited by Upstate Farmer merely calls the activity engaged in was “a political trick.” NOBODY said it was illegal, (albeit FACTUAL).
And the “private citizen” argument has nothing to do with anything. Your point, again, was?
I did NOT “defend the claim of a ‘political dirty trick’ by saying it was legal.” I said nothing about whether it was a “political dirty trick.” Whether it was or was not is a matter of opinion.
I responded to the part of the OP that said “Ex-top spy admits Hunter Biden laptop letter designed to influence 2020 election, Blinken involved.” My point is that such influence by private citizens is legal. Perhaps you bizarrely believe that I cannot make my own points?
Reply
UpstateFarmer says:
April 21, 2023 at 10:05 AM
OT,
Ex-top spy admits Hunter Biden laptop letter designed to influence 2020 election, Blinken involved
“Extraordinary admission by career intelligence officer Michael J. Morell provides stunning evidence that the now-infamous letter from 51 security officials in October 2021 was not an organic intelligence community event but rather a political dirty trick.”
https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/ex-top-spy-admits-hunter-biden-laptop-letter-designed-influence
Reply
Anonymous says:
April 21, 2023 at 10:10 AM
It’s legal for private citizens to try to influence the election.
It is not legal for current intelligence community members to influence US elections.
” Whether it was or was not is a matter of opinion.”
Whether it was criminal is a matter of opinion.
Whether it was a dirty trick is a fact. Whether it damages the nation is a fact. Whether it damaged the CIA is a fact.
You don’t know what you are talking about is a fact.
It’s legal to torture your cat as much as you want as long as know one knows. If known one might not be able to prosecute.
Do you put cats in the microwave because you won’t be prosecuted?
What type of person are you?
What? Whether a law was broken is completely independent of whether anyone is aware of the act.
If that is the case a lot of laws were broken by the left and only now are we becoming widely aware.
In any event, you prove that you support deceit and lies.
Whether something is a crime is a question of Fact and law.
What is the crime alleged ? What are the required elements of that crime ? Are those required elements proven beyond a reasonable doubt ?
While courts sometimes err – their errors are errors of fact and law not opinion.
We never want what constituttes a crime to be a matter of oppinion or the rule of law is lost.
Kung Fu Fighting? Really?
It was written and produced back when martial arts was a craze.
This is getting just plain dumb.
Correction: It was written and produced back when martial arts MOVIES were a craze.
Their demise was due to Democrats martial arts political gymnastics without the cheesy sound effects. See the following video. Spoiler homophobic, misogynist, anti-trans alert: “You fight like my sister!”
Estovir,
Thank you for the laugh!
I do not recall which comedian it was but he said something to the effect of,
“Never have so many trained so hard to make so bad movies.”
Upstate Farmer and Estovir: (hopefully, my OT comment will not be deleted, apologies in advance). Your exchange reminds me of a young me, when we tried to make a [low-budget] comedy movie (soooo low budget that we were using three Super8 movie cameras (so we could later edit and splice the best shooting of a particular scene).
To the point, there was a scene in which I see a snake (rubber garter snake-size) dangling down next to me from a tree. I have my hair in two small ponytails on either side of my head. There is clear fishing line tied to the ends of my ponytails, so that when I see the snake, I make a face comparable to McCauley Caulkin (sp.?) in Home Alone (the shaving lotion face) (Only this was a decade or more before Home Alone.)
Anyway, simultaneous with my shock/face, the guy up in a tree above me was supposed to pull up my ponytails for effect. It was not until we later reviewed the film that we noticed, in sequence:
me smiling, snake lowered, me turn toward snake, me make shocked face, 30-second pause, my ponytails shoot up.
oops. from lin
Boy that revolution our forefathers staged back in 1776 is looking better and better all the time. They also had the sense to leave us the tools to turn on our government should it start acting the same way as the UK. We only have to to decide when is the appropriate time to use those selfsame tools. You see what happens in the UK when the legislative branch is all powerful and there is no written constitution to constrain them and then you see in Israel when a judicial branch is are all powerful and there is no written constitution to constrain them. So our choices in those states is tyranny by the majority (Legislature) in Britain and/or tyranny by self selected judges in Israel (Oligarchy). I prefer neither but still like our system, imperfect though it may be. And being a Federal Republic. It is sad to see the UK and other democracies devolve this way. They never really learned the lesson.
Happening here in SC: https://apnews.com/article/revolutionary-war-soldier-reburial-8a3c28be8f74f7c98bd3a1997e37c24b
“It is sad to see the UK and other democracies devolve this way. They never really learned the lesson.” Remember, GEB, UK, British and most, if not the rest of the entire world’s population, are taught that Rights come from government, including political speech. Students are never taught their own Rights are inalienable, that they aren’t conditional on government approval. When they reach adulthood, they simply don’t know or believe there’s another perspective about where Rights originate. The people they elect have no desire to inform them otherwise, either.
Yesterday the Texas Senate passed a bill to force every public school classroom in the state to prominently display a copy of the Ten Commandments. They also passed a bill to set prayer and bible reading times during the school day.
This is unconstitutional.
Ten Commandments bad.
Teaching 10 year olds about Blow Jobs is more important than reading.
Ironically you lie, contrary to your god’s commandment.
The Ten Commandments in public school classrooms is an unconstitutional imposition of religion, and no one suggests your sex obsession is accurate.
“The Ten Commandments in public school classrooms is an unconstitutional imposition of religion”
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
You know that was incorporated against the states via the 14th Amendment, right?
How do you incorporate a Federal Congressional action prohibition, down to a State?
Then you have to believe the 10 commandments presence, is establishing a new religion.
If you don’t know “How … you incorporate a Federal Congressional action prohibition, down to a State,” look it up for yourself instead of expecting me to tutor you.
As for your opinion about the 10 Commandments, it has no legal significance, whereas relevant SCOTUS rulings — such as https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/545/844/ — do have legal significance.
The Incorporation Doctrine applied parts of the Bill of Rights to the states through the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Sort of the basic foundation of constitutional jurisprudence in the 20th Century…
I have no idea what your second sentence is stating. If you are unsure whether the 10 Commandments are a religious text, the posting of which violates the Establishment Clause, check out Stone v. Graham, which held that the posting of the 10 Commandments amounted to state establishment of religion in Kentucky, a violation of the First Amendment as applied to Kentucky state law. “The Ten Commandments are undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths, and no legislative recitation of a supposed secular purpose can blind us to that fact.”
Back in 1980, the Court issued an unsigned opinion without waiting for full briefs and oral argument because the outcome was so obvious as a matter of law that it required no further argument.
Another poster referenced the McCreary County v. ACLU opinion in 2005, which declared as unconstitutional displays of the Ten Commandments in KY courthouses, and in doing so, it reaffirmed the validity of the Stone ruling. It also noted that the context of school classrooms required MORE care to avoid violations of the Establishment Cause than displays in other public places.
Thus, this is NOT a close issue.
Is the code of Hamurabi a religious text ?
If not, then neither is the ten commandments.
Honour thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods
I would further note those commandments that reference “god” do so in the most generic way – that has already been found so acceptable that we still have “in god we trust ” on our currency.
I would further note that The Ten Commandments and subsequent Jewish law, is the foundation of the entire concept of Law – both secular and religious.
I would suggest that you read McCreary County v. ACLU
The ruling is NOT about the posting of the Ten Commandments – but the KY LAW requiring the 10 commandments to be posted as well as the language of that LAW itself – not the language of the Ten commandments. The Text of the KY law is a CLEAR violation of the establishment clause.
I would refer you to Van Orden v. Perry (2005) decided the Same year which found that displaying the Ten Commandments on public monuments did NOT violate the establishment clause.
In McCreary the law itself, as well as the use of the ten commandments in School, wer clear violations of the establishment clause.
KY was explicitly trying to establish a Christian foundation for state law, and as MORE than a historical antecedent.
The 10 Commandments are part of the historical tradition of more than half the worlds population.
Maybe some Progressives NEED to be taught religion. They are making us live in upside down world.
Maybe some theocrats NEED to be taught to value the Constitutional separation of church and state. They are the ones making us live in their upside down world.
Constitutional separation of church and state.
That’s not in the constitution
It’s in SCOTUS rulings.
They also passed a bill to set prayer and bible reading times during the school day.
Its OK for schools in Dearborn Michigan, but not Texas?
It’s not OK in any public schools.
2. Muslims were allowed “prayer accommodations” in 2013 in the public schools of Dearborn, Michigan. The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had negotiated an arrangement with school officials in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit.
The Dearborn school board implemented a policy that allowed a place for student prayers in all public schools and also permission to leave early on Friday for scheduled prayers, according to The Christian Post.
5 public schools making accommodation for prayer.
https://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/Muslim-Prayer-in-Schools-Religion-Students/2015/03/25/id/634403/
Thanks for telling us that you cannot tell the difference between time and place!
These schools are providing the space for students and teachers to pray. Required by the need to pray during school hours.
Not sure what you are attempting to parse, but it failed
People of all religions can pray while at school, as long as it doesn’t interrupt lessons. They weren’t establishing a time to pray. This bill would allow school districts to actively establish a period of prayer: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/SB01396E.pdf#navpanes=0
Now your turn: present the actual text of whatever agreement you’re referring to, so we can compare them in their entirety.
Your backpeddling so hard you’re going to tip over.
Muslims pray at prescribed times. The agreement was negotiated by Muslim Clerics with the School Board. So yes, the times are specific…down to the minute.
Once again, you make a claim but don’t provide evidence for it (a link to the agreement).
They still have another chamber and the governor to get by. Call us when the bill becomes law and is worthy of discussion.
It’s bad enough that one chamber passed it. That alone is newsworthy and worthy of condemnation.
“Yesterday the Texas Senate passed a bill . . .”
If the religious right is trying to prove that its detractors are correct — that it desires to establish a theocracy — then that legislation is a good start.
P.S. Thanks for the heads up.
If the religious right is trying to prove that its detractors are correct
They are attempting to establish legal precedent. Get a federal judge to rule it unconstitutional. Thus the ruling will apply to all Religions. Even the ones that cut off your head when you disagree with them.
Iowan2, that is a very interesting interpretation of what’s going on. I hope you’re right.
I highly doubt that they’re aiming to “Get a federal judge to rule it unconstitutional.” I think they want free rein to enact what they’re proposing.
Stone v. Graham held this exact law to be unconstitutional back in 1980.
According to the legislature’s official analysis, they see an opportunity to use last year’s Kennedy v. Bremerton holding to bring prayer back into schools. Not as a way “to get a judge to rule it unconstitutional” (whatever that means?)
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/analysis/html/SB01515I.htm
If they don’t actually want state sponsored prayer in schools, maybe keep the status quo? Wild idea.
Government run schools must be defunded. The money confiscated to finance them must be turned into vouchers. Parents can then decide which schools to send their children to. Normal decent parents can send their children to schools that proudly hang the Ten Commandments; that teach children the biological fact that men are not women; that abortion is killing a developing human life; and so on. Democrats can send their kids to schools like the ones we have now, that teach students to hate America; hate white people; that men can magically become women by castrating themselves; that killling a preborn human life is women’s health; that words are violence; and the rest of the lies and utter nonsense our taxes are paying to brainwash them with currently.
Government run schools must be defunded.
School choice is growing every legislative session, I now Iowa and Floridia both passed voucher laws this year. They are in phases over a 4 year period.
The Teachers unions are clueless what is happening. If they wern’t, they would have started paying attention to parents by now.
Donelan’s approach to censorship sounds a bit like the guys who ran Germany between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945. 90 years ago last month, they opened “camps” and the first “guests” were journalists who would not toe the party line.
D’accordo, Emotional Italian. Big Brother is flourishing and we’re soon to be toast.
All of You,
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK JOE BIDEN IS RUNNING THE SHOW [?]
HE’s Not!
HE’s “Out-to-Lunch”, and Kamala is out for “The Ride”.
This Admin is being ‘Run’ (Orchestrated) by ‘Something’ (Organization) else other than the two in the White House.
Back in the Day it was the Tri-Lateral-Coalition, whatever this ‘type’ of Organization is called today (The Amalgamated Network within the World Order).
They are the Puppet Masters bringing the People to their Graves.
Globally Amalgamated Nihilistic Megalomaniacs (GANM)
Hillary Clinton (Dem), Liz Cheney (Rep) Queen’s of the White She-Devils
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/deep-state
Hillary Clinton asking European nations to censor Americans ? You mean Conservative Americans ? Hillary must have picked up that idea from Jack Dorsey when he was on his knees shilling for the FBI at Twitter. I have no doubt that Hillary will be doing ridealongs with the CRACK London Police Counter Terrorism Command SO-15 when they go out and arrest British citizens reading passages from the Bible. She’s a REAL crime fighter that Hillary. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
I wonder if the little leftist fascists in London will arrest the Imams preaching against homosexuality in the local Mosques? I just love watching the leftists trying to appease their trans and gay base along with their Muslim favored religion. To the left North Carolina is evil, Tehran is fine.
Hullbobby – There is a pecking order on the Left. Muslims are above gays, probably because Islam’s more extreme elements are anti-America and more generally anti-Western Civ.
https://pjmedia.com/blog/bruce-bawer-2/2017/04/05/the-new-pecking-order-muslims-over-gays-n5564
oldmanfromkansas,
You and I had a very civil, good faith exchange about abortion on another column, but here you are caricaturing those on the left. I encourage you not to do this. I’m part of the left, and there is no “pecking order” with “Muslims … above gays,” much less “probably because Islam’s more extreme elements are anti-America and more generally anti-Western Civ.”
I’m not religious. I support the rights of those who are religious to practice their religions, even when I disagree with their religious views, including the anti-LGBTQI views of many religious people. I do not favor Islam over any other religion. I am a patriotic American and value both Western and Eastern Civ.
A.N.D.
No to mention …. Islam is a Western religion stemming from the Abrahamic canon just like Christianity and Judaism.
But pesky facts be damned.
Oldman, you are correct, and your information comes from an excellent source.
Below ATS will claim offense and tell you all the things about him that he is not. Your debate with him was good. That is the one true thing he writes below, but he shouldn’t be threatening you not to say what you believe. On this blog he made his bed and now has to lie in it.
True that. The hypocrisy is mind boggling.
hullbobby, lying about the left is one of your favorite pastimes.
Another Anonymous non-reply. Jut an ugly troll.
Oldman, you are right, the pecking order is determined by who hates America the most and that is why the left attacked Saudi Arabia while never attacking Iran. Getting Saudi Arabia to separate from us harms us and that is the left’s goal. That is why they hate Israel while the left is never critical of the Palestinians. It is very odd. I believe that our enemies, like China support these idiots and they don’t even know it. In the 1980s the anti-nuke movement was going wild trying to get only us to disarm and it is because the fools were supported by the Soviets. It is the Chinese that are pushing us into a suicidal energy situation…as they build coal plants weekly. Why does the green movement NEVER attack China, the earth’s greatest polluter?
Professor could you provide a citation for your accusation that Ms. Clinton asked EUROPEANS to censor AMERICANS?
Holmes, try Google. We all heard it, we have all seen it, it is common knowledge and yet here you are….
Don’t expect much from Holmes. He is the one who thought Justice Sotomayor was a man.
See if these help regarding sins of commission and omission and selective memory.
SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas sends his best
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 2012 disclosure amended her 2011 report, which “inadvertently omitted” the sale of shares in an exchange-traded fund that she had bought earlier the same year. “The Value Code should of [sic] been L and the Gain Code should of [sic] been A,” the amendment says.
• Ginsburg amended her 2017 disclosure to reflect that she had “inadvertently omitted” a gift of an opera costume worth $4,500.
• Justice Stephen Breyer reported in an amended 2018 disclosure that he had “inadvertently omitted” two stock sales by his wife, one in 2006 and one in 2018.
• In February 2022, three days after President Biden nominated her to the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson amended her 2020 disclosure to note that in various years between 2011 and 2021 she had “inadvertently omitted” travel reimbursements for two speaking trips, a university teaching salary, four nonprofit board memberships, her husband’s consulting income and a 529 college savings plan. No senator mentioned these omissions at her confirmation hearings.
Justice Clarence Thomas and the Plague of Bad Reporting
https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-thomas-and-the-plague-of-bad-reporting-propublica-washington-post-disclosure-court-safety-def0a6a7
Of course you know the difference. The others were treasured jurists of the left. Justice Thomas is a roadblock they’ll do anything to remove.
Now calculate the total amount omitted from each. Justice Thomas has omitted millions.
Were any of those involving an individual, who sits on the Board of an organization that regularly submits amicus briefs to the Supreme Court? Crow is on the Board of the American Enterprise Institute, and the Supreme Court has cited its amicus briefs in its opinions (See for example, West Virginia v. EPA in 2022).
Finally, I think the sheer volume of violations is material. Ginsburg made 2 violations. Breyer, 2. Jackson (0 while on the Supreme Court). Thomas spent 9 days cruising around Indonesia, regular flights on a private jet (including using it for business trips!), summers at a private resort, etc.
The private jet usage, in particular, concerns me, as it clearly blurs the line between business and pleasure. How is taking Crow’s private jet (when he’s not using it) even remotely “personal hospitality”?
That was all in addition to the sale of his Savannah properties to Crow. The original article from Taranto last week tried to make the case that the disclosure was unclear from the form, but it wasn’t if you actually looked at the form. The disclosure form mirrors the Ethics in Government Act language precisely. But for Taranto, facts be damned, even when your article’s primary point is attacking the competence of other journalists.
What “business” is Thomas engaged in that you claim is blurring lines ?
Regardless, with respect to Thomas or SCOTUS generally the issue is does Thomas’s other actions intersect his decisions are a Justice ?
I do not care if Thomas owns a chain of Seafood Shacks – unless and until a case invoving seafood shacks comes before him, that is irrelevant.
And Thomas’s mother continues to live at the property *rent free*.
Let us hear the details.
Did Thomas sell the house to Crow? Probably.
Did it sell for a price above market value? No.
Is Crow planning to open the home up as a museum to Clarence Thomas? Yes
Will that enhance the museum’s reputation if mom stays put? Yes.
Do people sell but give the rights for the original owner to live there rent free until death? Yes.
What is the problem?
Justice Thomas lives rent free in your head.
If you’ll search his posts, you’ll see that he already did.
@holmes
You are hilarious. Here is a citation for the blueness of thing above your head as that is the point we have arrived at with internet trolls:
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/en/
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/11/02/eu-moves-against-twitter-to-block-free-speech-protections-after-calls-from-clinton-and-other-democratic-leaders/#more-196032
Well, if the CEOs are Americans, that’s what she’s done.
“Well, if the CEOs are Americans, that’s what she’s done.”
Ditto if the users are Americans.
Governments hate uncensored social media because it exposes their lies and hampers their ability to manipulate public opinion. And the Woke population that supports censorship and propaganda will not truly awaken until the elitist professional politicians have taken complete control of all communications, and even that might not awaken them. Britain is ahead of us now in terms of censorship, but we are closing the gap.
It’s terrifying to think what a modern-day Goebbels and Mao, et al, could achieve with technology.
Why can’t this be turned around against them? Musk should censor or label anything from the English govt as propaganda and misinformation. Why aren’t transgenderism post labeled as disinformation since men aren’t women and vice versa. Seems to me, that is pretty easy to label as disinformation.
I think a principled man like Musk who values free thinking may choose not to operate under the increasingly oppressive conditions in Great Britain.
The saddest part is that Great Britain is the homeland of Locke and Mill, two men who probably did more to establish the philosophical canon around the principles of free speech than anyone since the ancient Greeks promoted a culture around parrhesia.
“. . . Great Britain is the homeland of Locke . . .”
Who twice fled GB because of its tyranny over the mind of man. They have learned nothing from their own history of oppression.
People thought I was nuts for implying years ago Britain was becoming fascist. This is our object lesson: we are headed for precisely the same place if we do not remain vigilant. Many of us have been saying the same thing about 21st century American Democrats for awhile now. Our most basic liberties are in peril. It boggles the mind how anyone can still support that party; for the most part, they are the only source of vile speech (and policy! Don’t get me started on the total scam this solar, for example) at present, and the irony is lost on every single one of them.
Love or hate Elon Musk, he really threw the monkey wrench into their just completely steamrolling us all. In American government, no one is supposed to have that level of power by design.
James, I agree, but are we now past the point of no return?
@Mary
I’d like to think we aren’t. This is all being prepetrated by a small handful of elites, relatively speaking, and the wokest of the woke are not legion, they are simply in very privileged positions that make it seem that way. I still believe, due in part to my own experiences, that your average person on the street wants no part of any of this. In a place like Britain though, people are absolutely terrified to voice anything like that publicly due to societal acquiescence. They never had free speech protections there to begin with, nor in the EU. It’s a different matter in the U.S., and but for largely the very young and foolish, I do not hear these statements echoed with enthusiasm very often. It is actually one of the things that has me convinced some of these elections are fishy. NOBODY wants this stuff, but for the aforementioned.
The US is unique in the world in its protection of speech.
That is a major part of what makes america great.
You have no standing to complain about the past flaws of this countyr if you are seeking to destroy what is both great and unique about us.
As child advocate volunteers, we are now dealing with this in an entirely new way with a 16yo’s rebellion with his parents. The things which are being indoctrinated in our kids and the tools they are told they have to deal with them is mentally damaging to them and society.
This bloke seems a tad short on his familiarity with the history of the UK between 1900 and 1950. Must be blitzed in the head.
It’s beyond scary! There is a family in our Constitution when little to nothing can be done when the other party runs amuck. So sad for humanity around the world.
when little to nothing can be done when the other party runs amuck.
SCOTUS is the problem
The federal govt has limited, enumerated power. The Feds have been ignoring those limits since FDR.
Remember, FDR was going to ‘pack’ the court, because SCOTUS rightly enforced the constitution against FDR actions, that exceeded the federal govt enumerated powers. Sadly SCOTUS slowly started to back away. The rest, as they say, is history.
Those chilling examples of arrests for “hate speech” show an increasing (and amazing) ability for the “hatees” to read the minds of the “haters”. Taking offense is something done by the listener. It may be triggered by totally inoffensive words heard nearby, or something seen and misinterpreted. At least the US Constitution does not enumerate a right “Not to be offended”, but the trend is going the wrong way. I grew up in the years when it was a compliment to be a “man of taste and discrimination” — now, I should be jailed for it.
Orwell’s ” 1984″ was not fiction. It was prophetic .Big Brother is alive and well.