I just returned from Berlin this morning and wanted to share a few pictures and recommendations for those on the blog who may want to visit this extraordinary city. This is a city that has something for everyone from food to music to art to history.
Speaking at the World Forum on free speech was hardly an inviting prospect. As expected, many of the leading anti-free speech figures, including Hillary Clinton, gathered with their European allies in Berlin. I heard other Americans fueling the common narrative that democracy is dying in the United States and that we are now an autocracy. However, I had one key ally here, my friend and great civil libertarian Nadine Strossen. We both spoke on the need for Europe to increase protections for free speech:
Former President Bill Clinton received the top award at the World Forum. Ironically, at the dinner, I was seated virtually next to the Clintons at the adjoining table. It was a curious spot since I testified in favor of his impeachment and have been arguably the most vocal critic of Hillary Clinton over her pronounced anti-free speech views. Surrounded by world leaders who praised his record as president, Clinton gave a short but very personal speech in accepting the award.
Once the business end of the trip was satisfied, I was able to explore this extraordinary and vibrant city. I have found Germans to be unfailingly friendly and helpful. It is also easy to be an American tourist in Berlin. Many Germans speak English, and you will find it easy to navigate. If there was one disappointing aspect, it was the level of graffiti throughout the city. No site or surface seems spared anywhere in the city.
One of the highlights was visiting the Berlin Cathedral on the famed Museum Island. Initially built in 1894 by order of Emperor William II, the cathedral was heavily damaged in World War II but lovingly restored. It is magnificent.
The pipe organ, built by Wilhelm Sauer, towers above the space with its massive dome.
It also contains the dynastic tomb (House of Hohenzollern).
I then ventured to the top of the dome. This may be a challenge for many of our viewers and you should not start if you have doubts (they emphasize that you can only go forward on the hundreds of steps on the narrowing series of stone and wooden steps:
However, if you can manage it, the payoff is considerable with a panoramic view of this lovely city:
That view is a great start to any exploration of the city. What you find is a city with large parks, public art, and beautiful buildings along its gentle rivers:
One nice thing about Berlin is that you always have a reference point in the Fernsehturm next to the Alexanderplatz. The tallest structure in the city, the television tower offers an instant locational point:
As you walk through the city, you will see an abundance of pubs and restaurants, including many cafes. The food in Berlin is wonderful from the traditional goulash (like the deer goulash below) to the Schnitzel. However, it is the beer that is a particular joy. Every restaurant has different beers, and you cannot go wrong. While I am a bit wimpy in preferring the lighter beer, it was fun to try a range of options.
You can visit World War II and Cold War sites. One popular start is the iconic Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point between East and West Berlin featured in every spy movie of the period. I am afraid that the visit may prove underwhelming. All that remains is the famous guard house, though an assortment of American fast-food restaurants now guards the checkpoint:
A visit to the Berlin Wall Memorial is more substantive and memorable. A display shows the hundreds of those killed trying to escape communism, including jumping from windows to land in West Berlin. You can ascend a nearby tower to oversee the wall area. Portions of the wall are preserved as is a guard tower:
Some of these victims jumped from homes that bordered the line. These homes were largely in East Berlin, but they extended a few feet into West Berlin. Before the East Germans tore down the homes, they were an irresistible temptation. Indeed, the first victim was an older woman who followed the practice of attaching a note to a rock and dropping it out the window. The idea was for the local firefighters to wait below to catch you, but on this occasion, an actual fire had to be put out.
As the police came knocking as part of the sweep of the area on her apartment building at Bernauer Strasse 48 , nurse Ida Siekmann decided that there was no turning back. She threw a mattress out the window and tried to land on it. She suffered broken bones and died on the way to the Lazarus Hospital.
This exhibit shows how these buildings extended beyond the wall line (shown by the rectangular sign):
One can also visit World War II sites including the Soviet monument to the thousands of Soviet soldiers who died in the battle for Berlin. Ironically, Stalin’s obsession with capturing Berlin led to a vastly increased number of casualties. Indeed, some historians believe that the Soviets killed more of their own soldiers than did the collapsing Wehrmacht. For many Berliners, the memorial must have brought painful memories, particularly in light of the systemic raping of German women by Soviet troops as retaliation for the German atrocities committed in Russia.
The memorial is guarded by T-32 tanks and the famed Russian ML-20 152mm gun-howitzer artillery pieces:
Of course, the iconic image of Berlin remains the 18th Century Brandenburg Gate.
In day or dusk or night, it is an inspiring sight:
Berlin is a truly unique city and well worth an extended visit. Berlin’s history is inextricably linked to our own from the defeat of the Nazis to the Berlin airlift to the Cold War to fall of the Berlin Wall.
From the people to the food to the history, Berlin is wundervoll.
Thank you, Professor, for taking the time to send the glorious photographs, food reviews, lovely descriptions, and important history lessons from Berlin. Maybe we should all have to sit next to the Clintons at dinner, if these are the happy results! 🙂
I thought Germany was the cleanest country with the friendliest people, I had ever visited. That was back during the summer of 1965 when I was touring with a symphony orchestra… We were there to participate in the Wagnerian Festival in Bayreuth. When we performed at that gorgeous, fabulous Margrave Opera House in Bayreuth, it was magical, and surreal, as the German audience applauded, stomped their feet, and threw roses onto the stage! We were just teenagers who had raised money on our own to accept their invitation and make it to Bayreuth. (our sheet music, which we borrowed, had “Houston Symphony” stamped on it………so these were difficult “adult” pieces and we practiced tirelessly)
We became hooked by the Germans’ incredible kindness, enthusiasm and support for us middle-class, young, Texas musicians…….. and just 20 years after the war. Wundervoll, indeed.
P.S. Parts of Texas, especially Central Texas and the Hill Country, have deep German roots and traditions and have had for almost 200 years…..to wit: Oktoberfest is huge in Central Texas, and many “saengerrunde halls” scattered about the area.
Thank you, as always, Professor, for an engaging post, and for encouraging freedom of speech in our comments.
Thank you Professor for sharing with us you delight at seeing the various sights of Berlin. Your travelogue makes me want to travel there as well. At the world forum, were you able to engage in some debate on free speech and the messiness of democracy? It might be interesting for you followers to learn about the German and more European perspectives. The messiness of democracy, particularly as practiced by President Trump, is probably distasteful to the German sense of orderliness.
How long do we have to endure the derelictions of a mental delusion that we are so privileged to live on borrowed capital. What was the saying during the 2008 crisis (too big to fail), ha, throughout history debt has wrecked havoc on societies and rendered waste to the people. The American Left: tyrannical, spendthrifts, devious and gluttonous!
Henry M. Paulson, Jr. [On the Brink] “…Complexity is the enemy of transparency—whether in financial products, organizational structure, or business models. We need regulation and capital requirements that lead to greater simplicity, standardization, and consistency…”
Comrade General Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
“Great Recession”
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
“Too big to fail”
“Too big to fail” (TBTF) is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the greater economic system, and therefore should be supported by government when they face potential failure.[1]
– Wiki
_________
Congress has absolutely no power to operate a private free market enterprise or to assist, fund, or otherwise facilitate such.
Congress has absolutely no power to regulate or manipulate free individuals, free enterprises, or free markets.
Congress has absolutely no power to “bailout” or redistribute wealth to corporations or any other entity, for that matter.
Judges and Justices made no attempt to enforce the law when “too big to fail” corporate welfare was being unconstitutionally redistributed.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
Franklin Raines head of Freddie Mac, circa 2008 collapse…real estate never goes down in value… fking idiots.
Reply to Anonymous
First let me state I’m no fan of either Herbert or Walker: one was president during the S&L fiasco, the other Fannie&Freddie causing great harm. Regarding Paulson, he was dealt a crappy hand with an inept President and a failed Legislature, but, I’ll say no matter my opinion of him is, it does not discount the statement I used. The United States Government is at dire risk of failure if we do nothing but continue the current course. Our enemies are transparency, financial products (Bonds or other instruments you wish), organizational structure (the bureaucracies federal/state/local), regulating capital requirement of the organization (no continuing resolutions, an agreed upon cap debt), greater simplicity (less regulations), standardization (equalization of the statues to all citizens) and consistency (standardization of voting regulations) are just a few examples of how to interpret his statement.
Paulson is the idiot who triggered the stock market collapse by banning short sellors.
He is also the idiot who agreed to the Basil II mark to Market regulation that was also a major contributor to the collapse.
Paulson was also the idiot who presided over 8 years of policies inflating the realestate bubble.
The Housing bubble and the financial crisis were creations of govenrment – not free markets.
The fed held interest rates too low for too long
That absolutely assure an asset bubble that would eventually burst
the administration and congress fell over themselves with policies pushing rapidly rising levels of home ownership and extending credit to people with poor credit without properly pricing that credit.
The Fed keeping rates too low for too long – absolutely guaranteed an asset bubble.
This is the same FED error that resulted in the great depression.
but the Fed’s conduct did not dictate WHERE that asset bubble would occur. The Same FED policy caused the 2000 tech bubble but bursting that did not tank the economy – because bubbles in the prices of assets that are held by “sophisticated investors” do not take out the economy
Just as it was not mostly the stock market collapse that caused the great depression. It was the over investment in factories (and homes).
The collapse in the value of stocks is a reflection of the fact that the assets underwriting the stocks – the factories were overvalued as a result of the asset bubble.
George W
Agreed, the Bush’s are slime. However, remember that Bill Clinton and a Congressman Bush were the ones that repealed the Glass-Stegall Act. This allowed investment bankers and hedge fund managers to trade mortgages like a commodity. It took them about two years to destroy the market along with their Democrat mandates on home loans to UNQUALIFIED people. American taxpayers are paying the price still.
So we go with the communist “dictatorship of the proletariat” rather than the freedom of the Constitution.
Americans are either free to succeed and free to fail, or they are subjugated by the “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
It’s not complex.
It’s not your mommy.
George – I would suggest that you might want to read “I. Pencil” or watch videos of it on Youtube or permutations like I, Whiskey or I, Toaster.
The fundimental rules of free market economic are for the most part quite simple.
But despite that markets themselves are incredibly complex, and will only grow more so as prosperity grows.
Complexity is at right angles to transparency – they are different attributes on different dimensions.
Further these are both values – not principles. Truly free markets will give as as much transparency of simplicity as we want.
If you are given a choice where one of the many options is too complex for you – then pick a simpler one.
The free market automatically responds to your choice and that of everyone else.
We will get transparency if we want it. We will get simplicity if we want ti.
Markets provide us with whatever we want – proportionate to our providing others with what they want.
Paulson is incorrect – it is Government that needs regulation. The role of government in free markets is to adjudicate contracts, to adjudicate claims of harm and to punish the use of force or fraud. That is it. Everything else a free market performs better than govenrment.
I think you miss my point, I’m not speaking of industry or private markets but government and specifically the Federal Government, with that in mind lets first look at Complexity. How many regulations impact an individual or business? Having personal experience dealing with federal/state/local agencies it’s a lot, and the complexities are costly. A personal example, in order get permission to build a critical infrastructure project on Federal Land I had to produce an extensive EO and a Plan of Development for a parcel that measured 100’x100’, the end result of the total application was over 100 pages, and mind you this was in a remote location, the nearest town was 30 miles away, total cost 20% of project budget. This same project ventured into transparency when the bureaucrats injected their own interpretations of the regulations and made new district mandates that were counter to CFR. Now the topper it took 5 years to get the right to proceed.
I gave my children and grandchildren a copy of “I Pencil” years ago. The government of the United States I believe could not withstand a run or our outstanding debt without spiraling inflation or just the opposite deflation, who would buy my stuff oh so many examples through history. Further I did not place an opinion of Paulson, he along with others didn’t do well for the public, and I’ll in addition put blame on Obama, look what he did to GM bond and shareholders.
What in the world do you think “private property” means? The freedom and rights of Americans has been stolen. The Juristocracy decided that private property actually means public property. The American Founders stated clearly that private property is absolute – “No person shall…be deprived of…property…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation” – and that private property is not public property and never the twain shall meet. Congress has no power to regulate private property and ONLY the owners have the power to “claim and exercise” dominion over private property.
To wit,
“[Private property is] that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”
– James Madison
Hear, hear
#74. The LA fires are held up by calif red tape? DJT went there and announced to the mayor and the public the feds were cutting all red tape and he had contractors ready to begin that day.
They’ll still be in ashes in 5 years.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
“Too big to fail” bailouts by Congress are unconstitutional.
GM must have processed through bankruptcy and its assets sold to the highest bidder.
#74. A hungry belly is a mighty force . It can be exploited.
Turley, as usual, throws out the MAGA blather–Hillary Clinton is “anti free speech”. Really? Is she anti-free speech or anti disinformation, like the kind of manure put out by MAGA media of which Turley chooses to support because he is well-paid to do so. The lies and disinformation MAGA media constantly spews is picked up and broadcast via social media, which is how things like vaccine disinformation gets spread. The vaccine lie is among the tamest of the lies that are spread via social media–but at least one child has died as a result. The sad thing is, way too many people in this country are stupid enough to believe these lies, and Turley is there to defend the lies as falling under “free speech”–until, of course, someone like Mahmoud Khalil comes along and gets arrested for speech on behalf of the Palestinian people that Trump and the wealthy Jews who donated hundreds of millions to get him “elected” don’t like. Then, he becomes a “terrorist” and they try to revoke his green card. Sorry, Turley–nothing you try to sell sticks with me. And, if you hate the Clintons so much, why didn’t you either move or just leave?
And, Hillary is right–Trump is killing democracy in this country–he rules by Executive Order because it’s all he has–he is incapable of getting any bipartisan bills passed because he can never be wrong and he will never give in, which he thinks makes him a master dealmaker. He thinks by opening his big, fat mouth he can just take over the Panama Canal, Greenland and make Canada a state. He IS implementing Project 2025–something else he lied about, and untold billions will be spent fighting it in Court. But, America will win in the end because Trump simply can’t close down agencies established and funded by Congress, and can’t simply fire everyone in the federal government in an effort to privatize it to reward his campaign donors. And, after court after court strikes down these illegal Orders, what does MAGA media do? Claim the judges are the ones engaging in authoritarianism instead of Trump, claim that federal judges lack the jurisdiction to issue nationwide injunctions, claim that Trump has more power than the judiciary, and his loser AG–Bottle Jo Blondie–insults judges and refuses to comply with Court Orders, making up one lie after another about the law, citing statutes that apply in war time, and today, claiming that telling the truth about when deportation flights took off and landed and who was aboard would violate national security. How rich is that—the government posted videos of these arrests and flights, but now disclosing the details would violate “national security”? Just today, Musk, who is unelected and has NO security clearance, is being given access to highly classified information about a US war with China. Does Turley have anything to say about these things? No. He just accuses Hillary Clinton of being “anti free speech”.
p.s. your hillary clinton is a “bottle-blondie” too. you are really a sick little girl.
Psssst, GooGoo, horse face Chelsea Clinton is married to a Soros. He’s one of those rich Jews that give millions to elect their servants to influence OUR nation that you’re talking about. Do you suppose he’s given Clinton millions of dollars for her BS self enriching causes? Clinton’s are treasonous corrupt criminals that should be held accountable for the crimes they have committed. Go away!
Clinton and the progressive left are anti-free speech.
Please read the seminal work on Free speech – John Stuart Mill’s “On Libety”
You can get a copy “translated to modern english” From Heterodox academy.
https://heterodoxacademy.org/resources/all-minus-one/
There are few forms of speech that are not protected speech.
Incitement to violence – and there is a clear and difficult to meet standard for that
Speech that is conduct – such as a mafia boss ordering a murder.
A very tiny portion of the domain of obscenity snuff films and child pornography
More broadly the distribution of adult sexual content to minors.
That is pretty much the only restrictions on speech that Government can engage in.
Government can not restrict speech outside those domains – it can not encourage, fund, or coerce private restrictions on speech outside that domain.
Myriads of other forms of speech are SOLELY punished privately – you are free to boycott people who say things you do not like.
Clinton Openly seeks to have governemtn violate those first amendment constraints – she is anti-speech.
Further she has participated in government efforts to supress free speech.
Clinton is responsible for jailing the coptic film producer who she claims triggered the murder of the US libyan ambassador.
When she KNEW at the time that his murder was part of a long planned terrorist operation.
She did this as a government actor – jailing him to make him and his film a public scape goat for he false and self serving political narrative.
Who knows whether Obama would have defeated Romney in 2012 had the truth that Clinton had failed to stop a terrorist attack on a US ambassador that was trivially predictable, and instead tried to blame an innocent thrid party for triggering things that had nothing to do with that attack.
Hillaryu Clinton is absolutely every vile thing that you claim regarding Trump – and THEN SOME.
” Is she anti-free speech or anti disinformation”
Using the government to supress purported disinformation is ANTI-FREE SPEECH.
You touch on the Vaccine – a vaccine developed in record time because of Trump proved to have about 1000 times the adverse reactions of normal vaccines and sufficiently low effectiveness to not be useful as a means of thwarting the spread of Covid and only useful as a propholactic for a small portion of the population.
Those are the established FACTS – they are set in concrete today.
Yet Government and YOUR experts under the unmbrella of fighting disinformation sought to supress the TRUTH
If disinformation is a legitimate grounds for censoring speech – then Progressives former govenrment experts and YOU are NOT FREE TO SPEAK.
But you are – because Hillary Clinton is NOT president and views at odds with government experts are free to be expressed.
“but at least one child has died as a result.”
ROFL
More children died from the vaccine than from Covid.
“the wealthy Jews who donated hundreds of millions to get him “elected” don’t like. ”
I am not aware that George Sorros contributed to the Trump campaign.
There are two major issues with respect to Khalil.
The first is did he lie on his visa or green card application.
These are potentially major problems. Material false statements allow even citizenship to be revoked.
The US does not grant visa’s to people who support HAMAS a terrorist organization – even if US citizens have a first amendment right to speak in favor of HAMAS.
The next is as the founder, leader and negotiator representing CUAD did Khalil participate in or threaten violence during the riots at CU.
Those are the issues.
Trump is nopt ruling the country by EO.
Executive Orders are directives to the members of the executive branch of the federal government regarding the execution of constitutional executive actions as well as the execution of actions delegated to the executive by congress.
No president can By executive order make law that ordinary citizens must obey.
There is not a single Trump EO that can infringe on your actual rights as a citizen.
The left as an example constantly talks about implimenting gun control by EO – but you can not,
Because that would be using an EO to make law that infringes on the rights of citizens.
This is also why Trump’s birthright citizenship EO will fail. It goes beyond directing the executive and infirnges on the individual rights of citizens.
It is an attempt to make law or amend the constitution by EO.
It is still a political win for Trump. It is popular with some of his base. It will be struck down and even that will make him look good with his base – he atleast is fighting for them.
But it is still unconstitutional.
No other Trump EO expands the power of government – most of them REDUCE the power of government.
No other Trump EO infringes on the rights of citizens.
Trump is clearly NOT ruling by EO
But the US Federal Government executive branch is absolutely under new management,
and just like a change in management at the local grocery store – the New Boss is changing the way the store operates.
#74. He may win his birth right citizenship, John.
Trump is self evidently a “master deal maker” – He is still responsible for the first Mideast Peace deal since Carter and the largest one ever.
There are many other examples of Trump’s skill as a negotiator. Including many in the 60 days of this term.
———————
“Guys, can we cut it out? Donald Trump is not an idiot. Let me just be very clear. Donald Trump is smarter than me, you, and all of his critics,” Mr. Jones told CNN reporter Chris Cilizza in an interview on Mr. Cilizza’s YouTube channel.
“You know how I know? Because he has the White House, the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, the popular vote,” Mr. Jones said.
There’s just no arguing with his success, winning a presidential election in the face of overt mainstream media hostility and other huge headwinds, he said.
“He has a massive media ecosystem, bigger than the mainstream, built around him, and for him, and a religious fervor in a political movement around him. And his best buddy is the richest person in the history of the world, and the most relevant Kennedy is with him,” Mr. Jones added.
’The Democrats’ strategy of hostility toward Mr. Trump and contempt for his supporters is just a losing formula, Mr. Jones said.
Can we cut the Bipartisanship crap.
BiPartisanship has historically been a lie democrats tell republicans to screw them over.
Obama got a bipartisan deal passed early on and then renigged on his committments.
Biden promised bipartisanship and then completely ignored republicans.
In my state a bipartisan election law was passed in 2019 and then the Democrat governor and sec state ignored the aspects of the new law that the negotiated with republicans and just implimented what they wanted.
This has faux bipartisanship has eviscerated any trust on the part of republicans.
So No, I think it is unlikely that Trump is going to reach out accross the aisles to Minority leader Jefferies.
On the other hand Trump has 3 prominent Democrats in cabinet positions. Two of which were former Democrat candidates for President.
Trump is perfectly capable of reaching accross the aisle to honest people willing to find common ground.
If there is a military conflict with China – the US under ANY president will cease control of the panama canal instantly.
If Panama resists there will be bloodshed.
Shortly thereafter the US will significantly increase its presence in Greeneland – regardless of what Denmark may have to say.
This is no different from Britians “invasion” of Norway early in WWII.
Trump is implimenting Agenda 47
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47
do portions of that match Project 2025 ? Possibly.
Regardless, what he is doing is exactly what he promissed voters he would do.
Agenda 47 is Public, and Trump has taken public ownership of it – it is his agenda.
It is backed up by his campaign speeches.
It is what people voted for.
If it makes you feel better to call it project 2025 – that is your issue.
There is no secret agenda.
Trump is not doing anything that does not flow directly from his campaign promises.
People are getting what they expected.
I would note – YOU promised a Nazi Pascist dictatorship that was the end of democracy.
All we have seen is the left fighting tooth and nail to prevent Trump doing what voters voted him in office to do.
“untold billions will be spent fighting it in Court.”
Yes, YOU will spend untold billions of leftwing billionaires money as well as public funds fighting to stop what voters voted for.
It is 2025. The Left must now pay for its own Lawfare. It no longer has the public credit card to charge it to.
“Trump simply can’t close down agencies established and funded by Congress,”
Correct, but he can audit their spending., cut waste and fraud, and cut any spending not explicitly authorized by congress.
Pretty sure Trans Opera in Columbia is not in the budget.
“can’t simply fire everyone in the federal government”
He has not fired everyone – if every single position that has has eliminated is ultimately upheld he will have cut the federal government about 5%. That is far less than Biden increased it in the past 3 years.
Trump is not privatizing things, he is eliminating them entirely.
“court after court strikes down these illegal Orders,”
The orders are not being stuck down they are being temporarily enjoined.
Those TROs or preliminary injuctions are usually time limited, and do not reflect the outcome of a hearing – which will eventually take place.
So far Trump has been winning and TROs fail as time expires, or are removed when a hearing proves they have no foundation or authority. pr they lose on appeal.
We are now seeing democrats file the same cases in multiple jurisdictions but separated in time to allow them to daisey chain TRO’s as the first TRO expires a new one is issued by a new judge in a new case that is just the same case that was previously lost all over.
the judges are way out over their skis. Read the constitution – judges are limited to the cases brought to them by legitimate plantiffs.
and confined to the law and constitution.
‘
The can not determine if something is a good idea or a bad idea, only if it is lawful and constitutional.
Regardless PLEASE keep this nonsense up. You are pissing off the electorate – Democrats approval is less than 1/2 trumps – and dropping.
If you want to be completely wiped out in 2026 – keep it up.
Yes left wing nut authoritarian judges are being insulted.
2024 is SO OVER. Trump is president – these left wing nut judges no longer have power over him.
I would love to see one of them try to issue a gag order on the president or on the US AG.
These judges are being insulted – because their behavior is repugnant.
Trump has completely complied with the letter of all court orders thus far.
Trump is not complying with the “spirit” of the court orders.
That is how the law works – it is the responsibility of the judge to craft an order that is clear and specific and that works.
The Judge in the RI case had to rewrite his TRO 3 separate times before he gave up and grasp he could not construct and order that did not cause the government to fail that accomplished his goals. Which is evidence the judge was way out over his skis.
As a rule judges do not have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions. Every president in my lifetime has aregued that.
The supreme court has repeatedly held that valid nationwide injuctions are only rarely legitimate.
It is these judges violating legal NORMS not Trump.
“claim that Trump has more power than the judiciary”
He does – Trump is president, he is commander in cheif, and the cheif eexcutive
Judges have no actual power, and their authority is limited to the law and constitution on cases legitimate before them.
That is it.
Courts do not decide public policy. Congress does., the president does, elections do.
“citing statutes that apply in war time”
Been through that – there was no WAr when Pres. Adam’s used he AEA, there was no War when pres. Trump used the AEA.
“claiming that telling the truth about when deportation flights took off and landed and who was aboard would violate national security.”
The FAA documents the departure time of flights – that is a matter of public record.
OBVIOUSLY the rest of the details of a military or other government flight are a national security issue.
Regardless there were 3 flights – two took off and were minutes from landing in El Salvador before the judge issued his order.
The third had MS-13 members with final deportation orders and were outside this case and the judges jurisdiction.
The FACT that you do not grasp that no federal judge can order all deportations stop indicates how badly you are off.
I do not think the AEA is a reach, but it would be limited to Tren De Argua as it does require complicit action by a foreign power and to my knowledge only Venezuela meets that criteria. Venezuela clearly committed an act of war against the US.
“the government posted videos of these arrests and flights, but now disclosing the details would violate “national security”?”
Correct – the president alone gets to decide what is and is not classified.
“Just today, Musk, who is unelected and has NO security clearance,”
ROFL
Musk has a TS/SCI – that is the highest clearance you can get without being president.
Do you honestly think that you can launch spy satellites for DOD without the highest security clearance ?
Regardless the president can just tap Musk on the shoulder and give him whatever clearance he wishes.
Security clearances are government purely by EO – there is no law on this – national security is the exclusive constitutional domain of the president.
“being given access to highly classified information about a US war with China.”
Right so the guy responsible for putting 50% of all satellites in orbit should be kept in the dark about what might be required from his company in a war with china ? Again Musk has a TS/SCI – all you are doing is proving why – regardless of who is president Musk would have that clearance.
It has separately been confirmed by the press – but you pay no attention.
Having read the professor’s book The Indispensable Right, I think he has started a valuable debate that needs to take place. It’s not the final word on this subject. It made me think more critically about constructive dialog, and how complex problems can only be solved through posing well-formed questions, focussed listening, non-defensive response and genuine, authentic feedback, and most importantly — avoiding ad-hominem attack.
The Age of Rage is not a problem-solving culture. Why? As soon as disagreement on a policy issue slides into defensive personal attacks, it’s almost impossible to recover the calm atmospherics necessary for progress. Decisionmaking becomes impulsively driven by negative emotions. Sen. Mark Kelly deciding he doesn’t like his Tesla anymore is a perfect example of the reflexive stupidity that awaits when critical thinking skills yield to dark emotions.
The question is: are we still open-minded enough to sort through all the complications and contradictions implied by absolute free speech? What to do with TikTok? Parents rights to insulate their children from harmful content? Ex-CIA officers trained in PsyOps applying those skills to dupe the electorate to tilt a Presidential election? A TV actor staging a false-flag racist mugging in order to opinion-shape the public (theatric-infowarfare)?
I hope that many more serious books on speech freedom get written, and productive debate is able to fathom the subtleties. For example, we ought to think about the pro-illegal-immigration activist who originally came up with the verbal jujitsu tactic of refusing to distinguish legal vs. illegal immigrantion. This is a militant approach to speech whose intent is highly manipulative — to make productive dialog impossible. The question is a very practical one: How do we protect the public square from such inauthenticity and guile?
Anonymous 11:16AM
I could not agree with you more. You can disagree but if done in a civil and non threatening manner and not call everyone a NAZI, it is amazing what you can accomplish.
No one has all the answers no matter whether you are Conservative or Liberal but as soon as people start to scream, brains start to shut off and we drop back into our somewhat primal instincts.
It’s similar ( still very different) to telling a person they have cancer. After you say that word, the shock hits and people often will hear nothing else you have to say. You really have to stay with them, talk them through and get them out of their shock response and then you can have a conversation about what you and your patient do next.
Screaming into someone’s face can be interpreted as threatening and people may react like a fight or flight syndrome (instinctual). Since we are predators ourselves I would suspect our main response would be to fight (some may elect to flee) and there we are almost totally primal and higher brain function may be disengaged. No conducive to reasoned discussion.
Trump created the so-called “Age of Rage”. It’s not a matter of an intellectually-honest “disagreement on a policy issue” at all–Trump is sick mentally–he is a malignant narcissist and chronic, habitual liar–he will do anything to get the power and adulation his mental illness demands and he exists to dominate and push people around. He is a tool of American oligarchs to enact Project 2025–something they have been trying to do for decades–and now, they are doing it because Trump lied about groceries to get enough votes to get into office. But he still didn’t even get half of the votes cast. And, even he admits the grocery lie got him into office. He cannot accept that he lost in 2020, so he started an insurrection. Everyone in his administration MUST BE an election denier, and most of them are not even minimally qualified. They are there because of their pledge of loyalty to Trump–not due to qualifications or experience. There is no truth anymore–no truth to election results–MAGAts believe 2020 was “stolen”, and no number of recounts, audits or lawsuits can convince them otherwise. MAGA media, started by American oligarchs to shape public opinion, have found ways to pander to the resentment of non college educated whites who fear the success of educated women and minorities–they push out endless lies–“stolen election; activist judges, Trump’s criminal prosecutions were politically motivated” the lies go on and on.
You speak of “manipulative speech”–that’s exactly what MAGA media does–it’s their bread and butter. There is a “Biden Crime Family”, even though Republicans spent months trying to prove it and came up short–but MAGAts still believe it. There’s a Clinton Crime Family–again, no evidence, but MAGA media spreads lies and MAGAts believe it. Hillary Clinton “sold” uranium to Russia–didn’t happen, but that lie is still going around. Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies and was indicted for dozens more–but there’s no validity to any of his criminality because it was politically-motivated–MAGAts believe this, too. He stole from a charitable foundation and stole classified documents–MAGA media has an answer for that, too–he “mentally declassified” the documents–something that doesn’t exist. MAGAts believe that, too.
Those of us who aren’t MAGA ARE enraged–enraged that we are losing the America that our founders and ancestors fought to establish and maintain to a malignant narcissist whose candidacy was created and financed by American oligarcs to benefit them financially. We are losing America to a narcissistic sociopath who constantly lies, who rules by Executive Order because he can’t get legislation passed who handed over control of our overnment to his largest campaign donor, who doesn’t even have security clearance, who is downloading our sensitive personal data onto PCs, and who goes around firing everyone to clear the way to privatize government and put our tax dollars in their pockets. They WILL cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, school lunches, Pell grants, student loans, programs for special needs kids, food stamps, aid to poorer countries–and why? TO GIVE MASSIVE TAX BREAKS TO AMERICAN OLGARCHS and ELIMINATE GOVERNMENT REGULATION, which will increase the profits of big corporations. No more Consumer Financial Protection Bureau–they’re even threatening to shut down FEMA and the FDIC.
You keep trying to pretend there’s some “serious intellectual debate” here–there isn’t. MAGA is all about lies and manipulation to seize power, and while you aren’t looking, they are tearing down the very foundations of our government, closing agencies, cutting off funds for the neediest among us, taking away consumer and environmental protections, disappearing people without any criminal charges or due process, ignoring court orders, insulting judges. Yes, those of us who aren’t MAGAts see this, and we are pissed off. We will fight back. And, the issue here is not some “policy disagreement” either.
Trump got back into office because a slight majority felt he would pursue better policies than would Harris.
It’s just bunk that Trump won because people like his style, or to vindicate his brushes with lawbreaking after losing in 2020. He got votes despite a widespread distaste for his personality flaws. The three issues where he exceeded Harris were 1) stopping the illegal immigration onslaught, 2) support for diligent law enforcement, 3) moving away from an overspending nanny state that is headed for bankruptcy.
“It’s time to stop talkin’ and start chalkin’.”
– Chick Hearn, Lakers Sportscaster
“… Ironically, at the dinner, I was seated virtually next to the Clintons at the adjoining table. It was a curious spot since I testified in favor of his impeachment and have been arguably the most vocal critic of Hillary Clinton over her pronounced anti-free speech views. …
If it were me sitting there, I’d of reached over and pinched her in the ass …. Then give her a big smile. (Good thing I didn’t go).
Glad you had fun on the ABC (Another Bloody Cathedral) Tour, Museum Island does compare well to Chicago’s Museums (Field, Art, S&I, Shed, and Adler).
Never enough time to see it all.
Thank you so much!! Great article. I enjoy your articles. Very insightful.
I spent a summer in Germany almost 50 years ago. It was a wonderful experience, but I don’t want to go back. Berlin has fallen. Nadine Strossen has my profoundest admiration, but she’s tilting with windmills in my opinion. Good luck to her, all the same.
I hope our professor enjoys his stay, but if Hillary is in town, he better sleep with one eye open. She is easily the highest on the narcissistic spectrum of all the people who have run for the Whitehouse in recent memory, and that’s a pretty high bar. She was rejected twice by the American people just due to that ick factor.
Diogenes: First of all, it is part of MAGA indoctrination to convince people like you that you speak for “the American people”. You do not. Hillary Clinton WON the popular vote in 2016, but lost the Electoral College because Russian hackers helped Trump spread lies about her in certain vulnerable districts in certain swing states, based on insider polling information as to what kind of lies, spread by social media, would be effective. Since most of real Americans chose her over Trump, there is no “ick factor” that is pushed by MAGA media to people like you who resent successful educated women–and, Diogenes–they KNOW that’s what they are doing–pandering to the resentment of people like you.
“Highest on the narcissistic spectum of all the people who have run for the White House…?: What’s wrong with you–are you really that blind to reality? Did Hillary ever: command that the Gulf of Mexico be re-named the “Gulf of America”, and then refuse admssion to the AP because they wouldn’t go along with it? Did she ever claim entitlement to “grab them by the puxxy”? How about claiming that the US will “retake the Panama Canal”, which we never owned in the first place? Did she ever announce that Canada would be forced to become the 51st state, or that Greenland would be taken over? How about lying about immediately bringing down the cost of groceries, without any plan to do so–knowing how important this issue was for a large number of people, just to get power? Did she ever call leaders of other countries childish names like “little rocket man” or insult her rivals with similar insults? Did she ever suggest pushing around vulnerable people just for kicks–which is what the hog you worship enjoys doing because he is a malignant narcissist–migrants that he calls “animals, vermin, murderers, rapists and criminals”, federal employees, Volodymyr Zelenskyy–people the fat slob thinks can’t fight back against his bullying. You are a perfect example of just how America will go down the drain by believing MAGA media.
Hillary is America’s monster-in-law.
Diogenes,
You got that right! We really dodged a bullet with her losing to Trump. Democrats want to lose, again, in 2028? Go ahead and run with Hillary again. Who else do they have to run with? Tampon Tim? Harris? AOC? Newsome?
Well played, Sir.
Hillary is America’s Monster-In-Law
and
Gigenius is America’s Psycho!
Disambiguation – To tilt AT a windmill:
This metaphoric expression alludes to the hero of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605), who rides with his lance at full tilt (poised to strike) against a row of windmills, which he mistakes for evil giants.
Fine. “Futile gesture” then.
One could hardly call the adventures and machinations of Don Quixote “futile.”
If history is our guide, they are indeed right up there with Diogenes the Cynic et al.
Professor Turley fails to mention the musical institutions, esp the Berlin Phil. and the opera company, but also other performers. These are the best reasons to go there.
Amen! I always wanted to visit Germany, but never did. I took German in college, and loved it, but did not keep it up. However, I had the Time Life Beethoven collections, with contained the Von Karajan 9th!
Spot on. Cannot imagine going to Berlin without visiting the home of the Berlin Philharmonic. A great contrast to the ugly sounds emanating from the mouths of the Clintons
This thread needs some good German music!
Great pictures professor! I make my own Schnitzel with a rich onion gravy, baby Swiss cheese and cured maple syrup ham.
When is Dinner Upstate?
1730. You bring the wine. 😉
Upstate……Jawohl, baby!! (however, per my Louisiana roots, I would have to substitute sugarcane syrup for the maple)
Do y’all deliver ?
Cindy,
HAHAHA! I get the sugarcane reference but I live in Maple syrup country!
Great tour. Thanks.
So many beautiful places in Europe. So sad what is happening there. Thank you for sharing, Professor.
Good for you JT. Yell about Free speech for all these years, support the orange god and run.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
And then they came for the Liberals
And I cheered
Because I was not the craziest in the bin anymore
Thank you, Martin Niemöller, for the wise thoughts.
But if they only would come for the Democrat leftist communists/socialists. We would all celebrate with great joy as news would spread this awful disease, TDS, that has plagued American for so many years would be eradicated!
A good friend of mine is in a union, even though he says the union is more for the company than the employees. I would speak for him.
And of course I would speak and defend my good Jewish friends and the Jewish community.
Please explain how you support a person that talks like a pre K student with his names he calls people?
How is that working out for selling U.S. products in Canada?
How is cozying up to Putin helping friends we have had for centuries?
How are tariffs going to reduce prices?
How is ignoring disease going to reduce the price of eggs?
Just curious.
How is it pre-K if the words he uses is accurate?
Canada can buy US made products or not.
He is not cozying up to anyone. He is trying to end a war, the possibility of WWIII. And those friends, if they are abusing America in the relationship as they have been for decades, they just might not be friends.
Nvida announced they will be building a microchip factory here in America. Add that to the others, more well paying jobs for Americans in America.
Killing millions and millions of egg laying chickens has not worked so far. And if you have not noticed, the price of eggs is going down. So is the price of gas at the pumps. A whole lot better than anything Biden or whomever was running the country into the ground.
The price of gas at the pumps is rising from 6 months ago. I’m pretty sure trump was not president then.
Stop drinking the kool aid. it is bad for your cognitive abilities.
When has Russia ever complied with an international agreement? Never. If you think their aggression stops with the eastern quarter or Ukraine, well, Neville Chamberlain must be your hero.
The lack of MMR vaccine sure worked out well for the dead kid in west Texas. How many more will die. And yes, I saw the reaction of the parent. Oh well, we’ll just fu-k again and have another one.
Denying science is also bad for your health.
No. The price of gas is and has been going down for the past four weeks.
Stop watching and parroting MSM. They lie and gaslight you. Then, you not in possession of critical thinking or the ability to think for yourself, continues to spread those lies.
If this is how far Russia was able to advance against the Ukraine, you actually believe they could succeed elsewhere? Your lack of understanding the economics and logistics of warfare is on display.
It was not the lack of the MMR vaccine. They are Mennonites. It is their religious choice not to vaccinate.
I am not denying science. I question science when there are questionable things to ask, test, and prove. Science is a ongoing process. As it should be. Just saying “The science is settled!” is a display of a unthinking mind.
According to Texas State health officials–the measles outbreak started in the Mennonite community because it has a high number of un-vaccinated children. Texas allows people to just opt-out of childhood vaccination and Mennonites do not routinely vaccinate their children. And, no, it was not due to migrants, so stop lying.
Well look at that!
Johnson & Johnson Increases U.S. Investment to More than $55 Billion Over the Next Four Years
“Investment builds on almost 140-year legacy of improving and saving lives and supporting American jobs
Includes four planned new manufacturing facilities, with ground-breaking today in North Carolina on $2 billion+ facility
Total Company U.S. economic impact estimated to be more than $100 billion per year”
https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/johnson-johnson-increases-u-s-investment-to-more-than-55-billion-over-the-next-four-years
I visited the western part of Germany last summer; Stuttgart, Schwabisch Hall, and other places. On the train ride from Frankfurt Flughaven I too was disappointed in the amount of graffiti. But I also found the beer to be exceptional and the food outstanding. The people were friendly, and even more friendly as I speak German fairly well. My trip included stops in Belgium and Holland. The Europeans have definitely made a different set of trade offs in their societies than we have. Their lives are much more regulated than an American would permit. What they do works for them. I would not say it is superior to ours, it’s just different.
I envy the good professor for his good fortune to visit Berlin. I lived in Germany 1954-1956 in Mainz and Kaiserslautern for a short time and then Mannheim for nearly 2 years. Unfortunately Berlin was in the eastern zone at that time and you could only get there traveling by special corridors from West Germany through East Germany to West Berlin. My Father was in the Signal Corps in the US Army, Europe at the time. Because of his high security level and knowledge of all forms of Army Communications, he was specifically prohibited from traveling to Berlin. It seems the Soviets and East Germans had a predilection for kidnapping NATO military people on occasions in an attempt to penetrate our communications net. We did not suffer terribly because we got to travel over the rest of Germany , France and Northern Italy. A beautiful country even then. Mannheim still had areas of bombed out ruins even in the 1950s but they were disappearing fast with the reconstruction. Got to learn a lot of German, especially Christmas Carols. German is not necessarily a beautiful language like French but the Christmas Carols (in German ) were still beautiful. Very special memories of very wonderful people.
I am sure Turley got many good (bad for us) ideas at the German history museums.
What might that be?
“. . . ideas at the German history museums.”
Funny you should mention that.
It is American universities (starting in the late 19th century) that imported to America an alien German philosophy that caused its totalitarianism. Germany’s philosophy of collectivism, statism, virulent self-sacrifice infiltrated America via Berkeley, Hopkins, Columbia (just to name three).
Like what? Fascistism? Leftist Democrats already imported that idea here years ago.
I didn’t like the graffiti either, it does spoil the beauty. I found the same complaint in Athens. They are so fortunate to have the marvelous architecture, I hate it is spoiled. But we enjoyed our visit in Berlin also and would go back. The trains/buses make traveling easy.
If there was one disappointing aspect, it was the level of graffiti throughout the city. No site or surface seems spared anywhere in the city.
For a man whose magnus opus is on protecting the natural right of free speech; seated next to an honored globalist and his hideous wife; at a world forum on free speech; in a country within a continent where this right is under assault; and your one disappointment was the abundance of the world’s oldest expression of free speech.
Now that’s ironic.
Gee, while Turley is carousing with elites, giving speeches olly is losing his mind on Turley’s blog. Smacks of childish jealousy.
So what’s your legacy? Spends his days and nights pretending to an intellectual. Talk about irony?
How utterly insignificant you are.
You seem very confident in putting thoughts in other people’s minds. I be you’d love to be in the UK, where you can be jailed for thinking unapproved thoughts.
And yet OLLY’s comments and observations are considerably more significant than anything you have ever posted.
How utterly insignificant you are.
For someone so insignificant, you sure fancy my work enough to comment. 🤦♂️
Thank you Professor. I was there fror a week last summer and I echo all that you have said. Berlin is easy to navigate and very uncrowded. It has 10 times the area as Paris but with half the population. We loved it.
Ah… the ugly American still exists.
😁 Your self-praise is laughingly predictable.
Ah… the stupid American still exists.
… laughingly … you say?
A week? So you saw nothing of Berlin, just a couple sites and still know nothing about that city. Did you even talk with the residents?