First Amendment Protected

For John, BLUF:  On the 4th of July a Federal Jusge told the Biden Administrstion to stip colluding with social media companies to suppress free speech.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Poetic Justice for the Biden ‘Ministry of Truth’

From American Greatness, by Opinionator Roger Kimball, 9 July 2023.

Here is the lede plus fourteen:

At some point in this column, I have probably had occasion to quote these famous lines from Walter Scott’s poem “Marmion”:

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive.”

In another, better world, I like to think, the Bidens and their protectors and puppet masters would ruefully be contemplating Scott’s admonitory observation.

In this world, however, I suspect that—until quite recently, anyway—they had smugly sided with J.R. Pope’s sly amendment to Scott’s moralizing couplet:

“But when we’ve practiced for a while

How vastly we improve our style.”

I note that Pope’s amusing title for his observation is “A Word of Encouragement.”

Many of us feel a great contradiction at the heart of the Biden phenomenon.

On the one hand, he—“Big Guy” Joe—and his entire Snopes-like family—coke-head Hunter, “Dr.” Jill, the litter of grasping, on-the-make siblings—all seem like ciphers, the veritable incarnation of Gertrude Stein’s description of Oakland, CA: “there’s no there there.”

Indeed, from this point of view, Joe’s painful mental and, increasingly, physical vacancy seems to be the objective correlative for the entire Biden enterprise. It’s as if the nasty brother of the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz suddenly came to life and occupied the White House. “If I only had a brain,” he snarls softly to himself, frightening everyone around him.

And that “as if” brings me to the extraordinary “other hand.” Joe Biden is President of the United States, still, if just barely, the most important political office in the world. Amazing. How could that be? Talk about going from zero to one!

Of course, history is littered with the spectacle of destructive lunatics and incompetents in high office, as such names as Caligula, Nero, Commodus, and Elagabalus remind us. (As an aside, I hereby note that Elagabalus is poised for a rerun, so perfectly does that epicene, “gender fluid” freak epitomize some of the central pathologies of our time).

The Bidens have yet to achieve the notoriety of such grimly illustrious predecessors. Nevertheless, these past months have not been kind to the Biden conglomerate.

And here is a seven page summary of the Court Order:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
MONROE DIVISION

STATE OF MISSOURI, ET AL.		CASE NO. 3:22-CV-01213
VERSUS		JUDGE TERRY A. DOUGHTY
JOSEPH R BIDEN JR., ET AL.		MAG. JUDGE KAYLA D. MCCLUSKY

This is important work.  Important in terms of our right to free speech and important in terms of having a fair and open debate on things that matter to us as Citizens.  Think of the suppressing of the Great Barrington Declaration,  Wikipedia notwithstanding, the Great Barrington Declaration, shunned by the Bureaucracy, turned out to have important points.

If we can't handle free and open debate then we can't claim to have a democracy.  We will have lost our Republic.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Being a Good Citizen

For John, BLUF:  It is easy to complain about our Government, but we, as citizens, have obligations to keeping the ship of state in the proper channel, and doing an ever better job of looking out for the crew and passangers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens
Author:  Richard Haass
Kindle Version:  237 Pages
Publisher:  Penguin Press
Language:  English
ASIN:  B0B8R2HJVJ
Publication Date:  January 24, 2023

the author of this little handbook on Democrcy, Doctor Richard Haass, is the outgoing President of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He has made a career in foreign relations, including being Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, a position once held by Mr X, George F. Kennan.

As Mr Haass tells us, his answer to the question, "What keeps you up at night" is:

The most urgent and significant threat to American security and stability stems not from abroad but from within, from political divisions that for only the second time in U.S. history have raised questions about the future of American democracy and even the United States itself.

He is one of those who subscribes to the theory that the 6 January 2021 riot on Capitol Hill is the result of scheming by Members of Congress and the President, claiming there is "overwhelming evidence".  If there is such evidence, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept it well hidden.

Calling on his background in Government the author has framed ten obligations of citizenship, things that should happen but that the law cannot require.  The reason for these obligations is the fact that the promises of the Declaration of Independence has not been fully delivered.  Only by all of us communicating with each other can we move beyond the issues in society toward the full promise of the Declaration.  The Author points to slavery, the status of women and the treatment of Native Americans, with the discrimination based on race, gender, religion or nation of origin or some other characteristic.  Progress has come in these United States slowly, but it has come through people learning more and then taking political action.

It is that learning and political action that Author Hass has incorporated in his ten obligations:

1. Be informed
2. Get involved
3. Stay open to compromise
4. Remain civil
5. Reject violence
6. Value norms
7. Promote the common good
8. Respect government service
9. Support the teaching of civics
10. Put country first

At first I was disappointed that voting was not his number one obligation.  However, voting without being informaed can do as much harm as good.  As I worked through the list I saw the wisdom in the choices and order.

Voting is very important.  It is one of the big hammers in a democracy, another being campaign contributions.  Elected officials respond to Voters.  If the voting numbers fall off, the politicians feel free to proceed as they will.  If voters increase in number, the local politicians pay attention.  I encourage people I meet to vote.nbsp; I try to do it with humor.  But, I want my fellow Citizens to vote.

Voting is very important, but it should be informed voting.  We gather what we know from our family and our friends.  In the past we bought newspapers and news magazines.  Today not so much.  There is the Internet, with news available from original sources and from collections of articles, such as Drudge and memorandum.  The key is the reader and his or her choices of sources.  Some searh to reinforcee their existing beliefs and some search out opposing views, to test their views.  I favor the second.

The rest of the list is the mechanics of making a diverse society work as the various members and groups compromise for the greater good.

I highly recommend this book.  The author has just retired and he can use the royalties.  The rest of us can use the book as a civics booster shot.  That booster is important as we go into an election campaign that seems more fraught than normal..

Regards  —  Cliff

Investigating the Federal Government v the Citizens

For John, BLUF:  One's view on this is probably influenced by the degree to which one believes the federal Government is being "weaponized" agaist the Citizenry.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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McCarthy Reveals Who Will Be Investigating Biden's Weaponization of the Federal Government

From PJ Media, by Reporter Stephen Kruier, 25 January 2023, 10:56 PM.

Here is the lede plus four:

Part of the package of “concessions” made by Kevin McCarthy in his bid to become speaker of the House of Representatives was that he promised to launch a formal investigation into Joe Biden’s egregious weaponization of federal law enforcement for his own political gains.  He wasted little time in fulfilling that promise, announcing on Tuesday which Republicans would be involved.

The Hill:

McCarthy said in a letter to his Republican colleagues that the subcommittee will expose the “weaponization of government against our citizenry, writ large.”

The subcommittee will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who was a close supporter of McCarthy during his Speaker bid and who serves as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. McCarthy said earlier this month that Jordan would chair the subcommittee.

The other GOP members of the committee will be Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Chris Stewart (Utah), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Mike Johnson (La.), Chip Roy (Texas), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Kat Cammack (Fla.) and Harriet Hageman (Wyo.).

Yes, Rep Jim Jordan is a good choice for Chairman.

I am interested in seeing the outcome of these committee hearings.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff