Crime and Response

For John, BLUF:  Reaching back in history 60 years we see a New York City indifferent to violent crime.  Now we have New York City prosecutivng someone for not showing indifference.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector

From The Old Gray Lady, 27 March 1964.

Here is the lede plus one:

For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law‐abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.

Twice the sound of their voices and the sudden glow of their bedroom Iights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned ‐ the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead.

And today someone is on trial for not showing apathy.  Former Active Duty Marine Daniel Penny is on trial for the outcome of his coming between subway passangers and a deranged man.  The outcome ended up being the death of the man threatening passangers, Mr Jordan Neely.

Jurors Set to Weigh Penny’s Fate in Choking Case That Divided New York Prosecutors in Daniel Penny’s manslaughter trial finished closing arguments Tuesday.

The trial has touched on fears about crime and the city’s failure to help its most troubled residents.

It turns out that Mr Neely was not only having emotional problems, but he was physically in poor shape.  As a result, he died from being restrained by Mr Penny.

Unlike the neighbors of Ms Kitty Genovese, who ignored her murder while it was in progress,♠ Mr Penny acted like a stand-up guy.  The outcome of the jury decision may determine if we have more stand-up guys, or gals, or not.

In the mean time, the real culprit is the City and State of New York for not having the needed mental health facilities and the laws that would allow people like Mr Neely to be hospitalized and treated.  This was an unnecessaqrry death.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Subsequent reporting suggests the origiinal headline is an exageration of the indifference of the neighbors, but the fact is that there was no Daniel Penny to stand betwee Ms Kitty Genovese and her attacker.

Justice for All

For John, BLUF:  In this new world that is evovling out of Western Civilization the criminals are gaining more rights than the People.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The charging of Jose Alba and the war on self-defense

From The New Neo, by Herself, 8 July 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The war on self-defense continues, in New York City this time.

You know how it goes with these Soros-backed leftist DAs such as New York’s Alvin Bragg.  When Bragg was elected in January, I wrote this post about his plans and what to expect.  They’re the same sort of things we’ve become familiar with from the now-recalled Chesa Boudin of San Franisco, and from the hopefully-soon-to-be-recalled George Gascon of Los Angeles.  In that post I mentioned that this was one of Bragg’s awful guidelines:

Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone.  Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine…

This story writes itself.

Without the police the Citizens bring justice themselves.  The police exist to protect the criminals from the Citizens.  The job of these Prosecutors is to keep the Citizens down so they do not rise up against the criminals and the Government.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Citizen Journalism

For John, BLUF:  The story is summed up in these two sentences:  "Captain Lorenzo [Die Hard 2] understood this.  The officers in Laredo should have, too….".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Right to Ask Government Officials Questions

Here is the sub-headline:

The Die Hard 2 Principle makes a special appearance

From Reason, by Lawyer Eugene Volokh, 3 November 2021, 2:39 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

From Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho's Monday opinion, joined by Judge James Graves, in Villarreal v. City of Laredo (Chief Judge Priscilla Owen dissented and stated she "will file a forthcoming dissenting opinion"):

If the First Amendment means anything, it surely means that a citizen journalist has the right to ask a public official a question, without fear of being imprisoned.  Yet that is exactly what happened here:  Priscilla Villarreal was put in jail for asking a police officer a question.

If that is not an obvious violation of the Constitution, it's hard to imagine what would be.  And as the Supreme Court has repeatedly held, public officials are not entitled to qualified immunity for obvious violations of the Constitution….

Priscilla Villarreal is a journalist in Laredo, Texas. She regularly reports on local crime, missing persons, community events, traffic, and local government.  But Villarreal is not a traditional journalist.  Instead of publishing her stories in the newspaper, she posts them on her Facebook page.  Instead of using a tape recorder to conduct interviews, she uses her cell phone to live-stream video footage of crime scenes and traffic accidents.  Her reporting frequently includes colorful—and often unfiltered—commentary.  Perhaps because of this, she is one of Laredo's most popular news sources, with more than 120,000 Facebook followers. See, e.g., Simon Romero, La Gordiloca:  The Swearing Muckraker Upending Border Journalism, N.Y. Times (Mar. 10, 2019) ("[Villarreal] is arguably the most influential journalist in Laredo, a border city of 260,000.")….  [But] local law enforcement officials [have been] less than enthused with Villarreal's reporting….

Once in a while the Courts protect the rights of the Citizens against the Government.

I am hoping that this Court decision holds up.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Draft Back in the News

For John, BLUF:  If you wish for equal rights, the first place to look is Selective Service, where men solely bear the burden.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Senate Democrats propose requiring women to register for military draft

Here is the sub-headline:

Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed has proposed changing draft registration requirements to include all Americans.

From Politico, by reporters Burgess Everett and Connor O'Brien, 19 July 2021, 01:51 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus one:

Senate Democrats are proposing a sweeping rewrite of the military draft laws aimed at requiring women to register for the Selective Service System, according to a draft authored by Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed and obtained by POLITICO.

The changes to Selective Service could be attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, a defense policy bill that’s one of the few pieces of legislation considered a “must-pass” by Congress. The move would reignite a contentious debate over whether women should be required to register for the draft, a move the House and Senate have each considered in recent years, though the change has never become law.

My vote is to do this, but with exemptions for pregnancy.

The InstaPundit says that to redress the inequity we should exempt men for a number of years.  I don't agree, but it is time to include the women.  And, the Militia Act of 1903 (Dick Act) provides for all males up to age 45 to be considered as in the Militia.  It needs to be amended to all Citizens.♠

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Should it be all Citizens or all people resident in the United States?

Protecting Your Civil Rights

For John, BLUF:  Protecting my rights as an ordinary Citizen means protecting everyone's rights.  Once some person or sub-group is identified as not being in a position to enforce his or its civil right those civil rights are like smoke.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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As the Left Trashes Due Process, Black Men Speak Up in its Defense

Here is the sub-headline:

The defenders of Western Civ are much more diverse than its enemies.

From The Stream, by Mr Mark Judge, 15 April 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

For the past year I’ve been writing a series for The Stream about my experience in 2018.  That’s when my high school friend Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court.  To sink his nomination, the left used oppo research, bad acting, witness tampering, lies, and lapdog media.  Liberals peddled the false charge that Brett sexually assaulted a girl then named Christine Blasey when we were all in high school.  Journalists and operatives tried to bully and extort me into testifying against my friend, who was innocent.  (The story is going to be a book.)

After it was all over in October 2018, liberal Atlantic writer Jemel Hill went to Ozy Media’s “Take On America” town hall series in Baltimore.  The gathering featured over 100 black men in the audience.  Coming on the heels of the Kavanaugh battle, Hill was positive she was going to hear a lot of anguish over the Republican victory.

Instead, she heard support for Kavanaugh.  Hill reported:

On Tuesday night, I was in an auditorium with 100 black men in the city of Baltimore, when the subject pivoted to Brett Kavanaugh.  I expected to hear frustration that the sexual-assault allegations against him had failed to derail his Supreme Court appointment.  Instead, I encountered sympathy.  One man stood up and asked, passionately, “What happened to due process?”  He was met with a smattering of applause, and an array of head nods.

Perhaps there is a Brotherhood of the falsely accused.

Perhaps there are Black Citizens who wish to have their Civil Rights protected.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Forgotten

For John, BLUF:  There is no doubt there are problems at the US Southern Border.  Large numbers of people are fleeing problems in their home nations and seeking asylum in the United States.  One wonders why they don't seek asylum in Meico?  In the mean time, millions are trying to do it the regular way, the legal way.  What of them?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden and the Blame Game at the Border

Here is the sub-headline:

The issues involved are nearly impossible to settle as long as policymakers regard decency as a political weakness rather than as a moral strength.

From The New Yorker, by Writer Jonathan Blitzer, March 28, 2021 (For the 5 April Print Edition).

Here is the lede plus three:

During the past decade, three U.S. Presidents have each faced a humanitarian emergency at the southern border.  Barack Obama did in 2014, when tens of thousands of children from Central America arrived, without their parents, to seek asylum.  Five years later, under Donald Trump—and the harshest border-enforcement regime in more than half a century—record numbers of children and families overwhelmed federal authorities.  Now, two months into Joe Biden’s Presidency, it’s his turn. Last Thursday, the topic dominated the first press conference he has given since taking office.  “What we’re doing right now is attempting to rebuild the system that can accommodate what is happening today,” he said.  “It’s going to take time.”

There are currently some eighteen thousand unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. custody, including more than five thousand who remain in holding cells, as the government scrambles to find space to house them.  Republicans who were silent when Trump was separating migrant children from their parents and eviscerating the asylum system are now denouncing “Biden’s border crisis.”  The messaging appears to be effective; it’s causing all sorts of confusion.  Biden is turning away forty per cent of asylum-seeking families and virtually all single adults arriving at the border, under a controversial Trump policy known as Title 42, which he has left in place.  Even so, everyone from TV news anchors to the President of Mexico is blaming Biden for encouraging more migrants to travel north, because he vowed to stop Trump’s heedless cruelty.  Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, tweeted that Biden has “emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.” He meant it as a criticism.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, has predicted that the United States will encounter more migrants by the end of 2021 than it has at any point in the past two decades. He has also, like the rest of the Administration, avoided labelling the situation a crisis.  “This is not new,” he said.  “We have experienced migration surges before.”  What is new, though, is the pace:  for most of March, about five hundred and fifty children have been arriving at the border every day.  Both Mayorkas and Biden have gone on television to announce that the border is closed; at a White House press briefing, Roberta Jacobson, from the National Security Council, made the announcement in Spanish.  But it was directed more at critics in Congress than at people in Honduras and Guatemala, the countries from which most of the families and children are coming.

The word “crisis” is both an overstatement and an understatement of the situation.  There were more families and children seeking asylum at the border under Trump in 2019 than there are now. And the current numbers, if higher than Biden anticipated, are not unexpected.  The pandemic has led to renewed desperation in Central America, as have two hurricanes that devastated the region last fall, displacing tens of thousands of people.  Yet, in another sense, the situation is worse than much of the public understands, because the issues involved are genuinely complex and nearly impossible to settle as long as policymakers in Washington continue to regard decency as a sign of political weakness rather than of moral strength.

The Author is correct, it is a mess at the Southern Border.  And later on he mentions that it is the plan of the Biden Adminisration to help fix problems in Central America, and bypassing oppressive regimes in the process.  Something we should have been doing since the 1950s.

The author tells us of the inequity of it all.  He pulls out the word "Decency" and asks that our political masters show some.  Perhaps because of some word limit, he avoids talking about doing the right thing for the rest of those seeking to come to the United States and become citizens.  There are millions out there who have done the paperwork properly and have had the prerequisite medical examinations, only to be waiting on line for a chance to legally enter this nation.  This extract is from the Migration Policy Institute:

Because of the numerical caps and per-country caps on certain green-card categories, there are significant waits for some categories, with sharper effects on a few countries.  For example, as of April 2019, the wait for U.S. citizens to sponsor adult, unmarried children was more than seven years for most parts of the world, but was 12 years for relatives from the Philippines—and more than 21 years for those from Mexico.  As of November 2018, there were 3.7 million people waiting in line abroad for a family-sponsored green card, and 121,000 awaiting an employment-sponsored green card.

What does decency say we owe those who follow the rules?  What does Mr Blitzer say?

I predict that nothing will be accomplished this Congressional Term, sort of the abolition of the Filibuster, and even then I have my doubts.

Regards  —  Cliff

New US Attorney for the Rest of New York

For John, BLUF:  .The stories coming out of New York State with regard to COVID-19 have been conflicting and confusing and often not believable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Prosecutor noted for white-collar work named U.S. attorney in Albany

Here is the sub-headline:

Antoinette Bacon expected to take Albany post as predecessor is sworn in as judge

From the Albany, New York, newspaper The Times Union, by Reporter Brendan J. Lyons, 2 September 2020.

Here is the lede plus four:

Antoinette T. Bacon, an associate deputy attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, has been named acting U.S. attorney for New York's Northern District, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter.

Bacon will become the first female U.S. attorney in the district, which encompasses 32 counties stretching from Kingston to the Canadian border and west to Syracuse.

She was at the federal courthouse in Albany on Wednesday afternoon as her predecessor in the position, Grant C. Jaquith, was sworn into his new post as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims. U.S. District Chief Judge Glenn T. Suddaby swore in Jaquith during the brief ceremony.

Jaquith, who led the Northern District office beginning in July 2017, will serve a 15-year term as one of the seven judges on the veterans' court. President Donald J. Trump nominated Jaquith, a former Army colonel, for the judgeship a year ago.

According to her professional biography, Bacon, who is from Cleveland, Ohio, is the Justice Department's national elder justice coordinator and previously served as the national white collar crime coordinator at the executive office for U.S. attorneys.

And here is the DOJ Press Announcement.  The Press Release, from Thursday, 3 September 2020, was titled "ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM P. BARR ANNOUNCES THE DESIGNATION OF ANTOINETTE T. BACON AS ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK".

Here are the first three paragraphs of the Press Release:

Attorney General William P. Barr announced today that Antoinette T. Bacon has been designated as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(3).  Bacon will replace U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, who announced his resignation upon his appointment as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. “I am pleased that the President has designated Toni Bacon as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York,” said Attorney General William P. Barr.  “Her contributions to the initiatives she oversaw while working for the Office of the Deputy Attorney General are a testament to her relentless commitment to protect and serve all Americans.  I know the Northern District will find Toni to be an exceptional prosecutor and dedicated leader.”

The area Ms Antoinette Bacon worked previously was, as noted, elder abuse.  Notwithstanding the fact that the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is a blowhard on the issue of the elderly, it is an area that badly needs to be looked into in New York, particularly with regard to Winnie the Flu.  I am not expecting revelations to come flowing out, but rather, the kind of slow, careful, investigations the Barr Department of Justice is known for.

Good luck to the ordinary Citizens of New York.

Regards  —  Cliff

Screw Up and Move Up

For John, BLUF:  We are in the middle of a never-ending story of bureaucrats abusing the rights of Citizens, and getting away with it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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MSNBC And NBC News Hire Lisa Page As A Legal Analyst

From Hot Air, by Mr John Sexton, 5 June 2020.

Here is the lede sentence:

Today, MSNBC announced it had hired Lisa Page as a legal analyst.

Don't remember her?  She is the potty mouth Department of Justice lawyer who exchanged EMails with FBI Agent Peter Strzok, during the period when the FBI was abusing the civil rights of Trump Campaign workers.  Because:  Trump.

But, in its own way it makes sense.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Vote Tomorrow!

For John, BLUF:  Voting is part of Citizenship.  Nothing to see here; just move along to your polling place, with a smile.

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Here is a Voter Guide—From Lowell Votes

OK, it is the Preliminary for slimming down the list of City Councilor Candidates.  But, it is a way to ensure the candidates you favor are on the ballot in November.

Please vote.

Regards  —  Cliff

Thomas More, Saint

For John, BLUF:  True heroes are hard to find.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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As Law Professor Gail Hariot points out today, at InstaPundet, today would have been Writer Robert Bolt's 95th Birthday.  She links tothis post at The Volokh Conspiracy, "Today Is the 95th Anniversary of Playwright Robert Bolt's Birth", which she also authored.

Thus this article at the Wanderer, "St. Thomas More Didn’t Die For This — Did He?”, seemed appropriate. 

More exemplified two very distinct Catholic virtues, ones that Americans instinctively embrace and totalitarians of any stripe — Elizabethan, socialist, or fascist, for example — instinctively reject.

First and foremost is the role of conscience in public life.  Not the sort of gnostic conscience that embraces some abstract personal truth, nor the slavish devotion to rules.  Rather, conscience properly formed that understands the subjective and objective qualities of its purpose are directed toward one end — to conform to the just and to the good.

Second and perhaps less discussed is the surrender of Christian pluralism to totalitarianism, something Bolt clearly communicates in A Man for All Seasons but is somewhat lost today.  Critics of More will claim that he extended very little religious freedom to those who fought against the Catholic Church while ignoring the bloodthirsty nature of both Cromwell and the Elizabethan pogroms that followed the death of Queen Mary.  Yet More’s defense regarding his silence is what touches the Catholic heart.  We quote Bolt’s play in full:

“I am the King’s true subject, and I pray for him and all the realm.  I do none harm.  I say none harm.  I think none harm.  And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, then in good faith I long not to live.”

Considering the events of the present day, and it is becoming increasingly clear to many faithful Catholics that our silence — our willingness to live good lives, to do none harm, say none harm, and think none harm — will not be enough.

Saint Thomas more lived 500 years ago, but left us a model of how to live, and die.  His parting words were:

I die the King's good servant, and God's first.

Regards  —  Cliff

Spotlight on Our Mass Attorney General

For John, BLUF:  The US works, as a society, because we have a relatively high level of trust, amongst citizens and between citizens and government.  The coddling of illegal immigrants tends to erode that trust, which is bad for our society.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Lelling just doing his job while Healey isn't doing her job

From The [Lowell] Sun, by Columnist Peter Lucas, 7 May 2019.

Here is the lede plus five:

Attorney General Maura Healey should be happy with U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.

He is doing the job she does not want to do, enforcing the law.

And because he is picking up the slack, Healey has more time to spend suing President Donald Trump, something she loves to do.

Healey, a progressive Democrat, has filed more suits against Trump than just about any other attorney general in the country.

Many of the suits have been filed in conjunction with the Democratic Attorneys Generals Association (DAGA), a political organization that opposes just about everything Trump stands for, illegal immigration, to cutting onerous regulations.

Most of the suits go nowhere but they make headlines.

I think Mr Peter Lucas is correct.  We are getting a lot of whinging out of Mass Attorney General Maura Healey, but precious little action over the shameful act of Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph in releasing an illegal immigrant who was wanted by ICE and also the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Ms healey is a NATO kind of person—"No Action, Talk Only".

Regards  —  Cliff

Like Citizenship, But Not

For John, BLUF:  Being a "Dreamer" is apparently not a quarantee of citizenship.  That means that the US Congress has left us with an incomplete action.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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ICE frees 'Dreamer' flight attendant, a Texas A&M grad, who was locked up after Mexico flight

From The Dallas News, by Reporters Ms Jennifer Emily and Ms Sarah Sarder, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

A flight attendant who grew up in Dallas was released Friday afternoon from an immigration detention center after six weeks facing potential deportation following a trip abroad for her job.

Selene Saavedra Roman, 28, flew to Mexico in February from Houston after her employer, Mesa Airlines, told her she could safely travel abroad because she is a DACA recipient.

Saavedra, who is also married to a U.S. citizen, was detained the same day after the return flight.

On Friday afternoon, after news of her detention spread online, Saavedra was released from a Conroe lockup, her husband said.

This is one of the reasons we need comprehensive immigration reform.  The DACA Program, instituted in 2012, still does not have a path to citizenship.  This needs to be fixed and the fix needs to come from Congress, which is where legislation comes from.  Then the President needs to sign it.  What is the holdup?

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Votes in America

For John, BLUF:  The idea that non-citizens get to vote raises the question of the value of citizenship in the United States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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All But 6 Democrats Oppose Resolution Against Illegal Aliens Voting

From Hot Air, by Jazz Shaw, 9 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

In the Democrats’ rush to pass HR1, a serious snag emerged for Nancy Pelosi and the rest of her party’s leadership.  Republicans were able to force a vote on adding language to the supposed voting rights bill condemning the idea of illegal aliens voting in any elections.  It simply read, “allowing illegal immigrants the right to vote devalues the franchise and diminishes the voting power of United States citizens.”

Sounds fairly basic, right?  It’s already against the law for illegal aliens to vote in federal elections, though a few liberal municipalities have moved to allow them to cast ballots on the local level, such as in school board elections.  Surely this is one area where we can generate some bipartisan consensus, yes?  Apparently not.  Out of the Democrats’ significant majority in the House, they only managed to find six people who were willing to support the measure and it went down in flames.  (Fox News)

Illegal immigrants are causing Democrats some problems, including the issue of non-citizens voting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Immigration

For John, BLUF:  Secure borders aren't important?  How much of Central America and Northern South America should we import to the US, and if we are going to do it, shouldn't there be an organized process?  I will say the current system does reward those with grit and determination, and that is a good thing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Democrats Come Out in Support of Taking Down Existing Border Barriers

Here is the sub-headline:

“Yes, absolutely.  I’d take the wall down.”

Former Congressman from El Paso, Texas, Beto O'Rourke

Portland, Oregon, Government Abdication

For John, BLUF:  If Government isn't about helping Citizens, it is just a drain on the Rate Payers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Portland mayor stands by decision to allow Antifa to block traffic, hassle motorists

From The Washington Times, by Reporter Valerie Richardson, s14 October 2018.

Here is the lede:

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler came under fire over a viral video showing Antifa protesters blocking traffic and harassing drivers, but he says he supports the decision by police to watch from a distance without getting involved.

Commuting has enough challenges without folks deliberately disrupting the flow of traffic.

On the other hand, local police and public officials showing a lack of willingness to confront and control demonstrators without the proper paperwork is just negligence and dereliction of duty.  Replacement would seem in order.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

What is a German?

For John, BLUF:  What makes a German?  And, more important, what defines who is, and who isn't?  Where is the line drawn, and can the left describe that line?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Germany’s Return of the Repressed

Here is the sub-headline:

The country’s far-right wants to revive ethnic nationalism.  The left must come up with its own alternative.

From Foreign Policy, by Herr Yascha Mounk, 5 September 2018.

Yascha Mounk is an executive director at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the author of The People vs. Democracy:  Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It.

Here is the lede plus three:

In the years since I was at Cambridge, German students have abandoned the European Union Society, now called the European Society, en masse.  Its current committee appears to comprise an Italian, a Spaniard, a few Dutch people, and—in what is, no doubt, an unintended side effect of Brexit—a surprising number of Brits.

Meanwhile, the university now boasts a thriving German Society, with a predominantly German steering committee that presumably runs with great efficiency.  Dorn would, I imagine, be pleased by its activities.  In the past academic year, it has held serious literary readings and high-minded political discussions.  But the big event of the year is an annual Oktoberfest.  For about $50 a head, celebrants get to enjoy a “Jägermeister reception” and a variety of “German specialities directly imported from Bavaria.”  The dress code stipulates “Lederhosen and Dirndl” are “strongly encouraged.”

Learning about this “immensely successful tradition,” as the society describes it, did, I must admit, fill me with a certain degree of longing for the studiedly anti-patriotic Germany I grew up with.  The tradition in question, I noted grumpily, is completely invented—it didn’t even exist when I was at Cambridge 15 years ago!  But when I looked at photos from the event, my resistance rapidly dwindled.  Everyone seemed to be having a good time.  And what could better encapsulate inclusive patriotism than the Asian and Middle Eastern students trying to acclimate to the traditional German clothes they had faithfully donned?

Clearly the idea of Germany’s culture propagated by the students who run the Cambridge University German Society includes a number of clichés—as indeed does Dorn’s defense of cultural nationalism.  But the same is true of the Italian pasta nights and the French movie showings I remember so fondly from my days as an undergraduate.  While it will always be easy for intellectuals to gripe about nationalism, it would be silly either to embrace or to condemn all forms of it on theoretical grounds.  Instead of trying to vanquish nationalism altogether, those of us who believe in a liberal, multiethnic democracy would do well to shape its nature as best we can.

I am not sure I have an answer for Herr Mounk, and I have lived in Germany for seven and a half years, three and a half "on the economy" in a German house in a German city.

On the other hand, I would hate to see Germany, as I know it, go away.

Please note that when the author says "Liberal" he is not, I expect, meaning "Progressive" or "Left", but rather in contrast to European dictatorships in the last Century.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Threatening ICE

For John, BLUF:  Threatening ICE Agents has become a Progressive parlor trick, but it is not very becoming.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dem rep warns immigration officers following 'illegal' Trump orders: 'You will not be safe'

Here is the sub-headline:

From Fox News, by Reporter Alex Pappas, 30 August 2018.

Here is the tweet from Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), yesterday:

If you are a US government official and you are deporting Americans be warned. When the worm turns you will not be safe because you were just following orders. You do not have to take part in illegal acts ordered by this President's administration.

Well, yes, the Nurenberg Trials established that "just following orders" is no defense.

On the other hand, if you are a legislator you are implicated in the wrongdoing, especially if you have been there over two or more Administrations.

The other thing is, the reasonable man, The man on the Clapham omnibus.  What would he or she think if given a warrant to serve?  What would a juror think?

There is also the fact, as reported in the Fox news story, that this is a practice going back a couple of Administrations:

In a statement to Fox News on Thursday, a State Department spokesman blasted the Washington Post report, saying passport denials in these cases have actually declined under this administration.  Both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations reportedly denied passports to people delivered by midwives in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, though the practice was hindered by a court challenge years ago.

“The facts don’t back up the Washington Post’s reporting.  This is an irresponsible attempt to create division and stoke fear among American citizens while attempting to inflame tensions over immigration,” said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman.  “Under the Trump Administration, domestic passport denials for so called ‘midwife cases’ are at a 6-year low.  The reporting is a political cheap shot.”

I think Representative Gallego is just trying to stir up trouble to stir up votes in November.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Mexico Presidential Election Tomorrow

For John, BLUF:  They don'r seem much more unified than we are.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Indigenous Mexicans spurn presidential vote with blockades, bulldozers

From News Trust, by Reporter David Alire Garcia and Berengere Sim, 30 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

Mexican voters will stream to the polls this Sunday in a pivotal presidential contest, but leaders representing tens of thousands of indigenous people have vowed to block voting in their communities to protest a system they say has failed them.

Polls say Mexico is on the verge of electing its first leftist anti-establishment president in modern history, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. But the prospect of change has failed to resonate with inhabitants of small towns nestled in the lush, wooded countryside of southwestern Michoacan state.

Residents here have destroyed campaign signs and set up blockades to prevent the government from delivering ballots. Election officials have declared 16 towns here "unviable," and will not likely risk confrontation to force polling stations to open.

Among the no-go zones is the impoverished hamlet of Nahuatzen, where Purepecha indigenous locals grow avocados and eke out a living on tiny plots. On Thursday, several dozen men, some in cowboy hats, stood vigil near the town's entrance. They had laid a tree trunk across the road to stop outsiders from entering.

"The politicians haven't done anything besides enrich themselves and they've left us behind," said Antonio Arriola, a member of a recently-created indigenous council that has petitioned the Mexican government for autonomy.

After word spread on Friday that local party bosses may try to deliver ballots in their personal cars, indigenous leaders said they would use bulldozers to dig a trench in the main road to strengthen their blockade, a tactic already employed in a nearby town.

If you live in the US snd haven't already voted, it may be too late.

On the other hand, I am against dual citizenship.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Global Citizenry?

For John, BLUF:  The world is on the road to perdition.  The experts agree.  In the mean time, the People turn populist, which means they reject the policies (and styles) of their leaders.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The demise of the nation state

from The Guardian, by Mr Rana Dasgupta, 5 April 2018.

Here is the lede plus three:

After decades of globalisation, our political system has become obsolete – and spasms of resurgent nationalism are a sign of its irreversible decline. What is happening to national politics? Every day in the US, events further exceed the imaginations of absurdist novelists and comedians; politics in the UK still shows few signs of recovery after the “national nervous breakdown” of Brexit.  France “narrowly escaped a heart attack” in last year’s elections, but the country’s leading daily feels this has done little to alter the “accelerated decomposition” of the political system.  In neighbouring Spain, El País goes so far as to say that “the rule of law, the democratic system and even the market economy are in doubt”; in Italy, “the collapse of the establishment” in the March elections has even brought talk of a “barbarian arrival”, as if Rome were falling once again. In Germany, meanwhile, neo-fascists are preparing to take up their role as official opposition, introducing anxious volatility into the bastion of European stability.

But the convulsions in national politics are not confined to the west.  Exhaustion, hopelessness, the dwindling effectiveness of old ways: these are the themes of politics all across the world.  This is why energetic authoritarian “solutions” are currently so popular: distraction by war (Russia, Turkey); ethno-religious “purification” (India, Hungary, Myanmar); the magnification of presidential powers and the corresponding abandonment of civil rights and the rule of law (China, Rwanda, Venezuela, Thailand, the Philippines and many more).

What is the relationship between these various upheavals? We tend to regard them as entirely separate – for, in political life, national solipsism is the rule.  In each country, the tendency is to blame “our” history, “our” populists, “our” media, “our” institutions, “our” lousy politicians.  And this is understandable, since the organs of modern political consciousness – public education and mass media – emerged in the 19th century from a globe-conquering ideology of unique national destinies.  When we discuss “politics”, we refer to what goes on inside sovereign states; everything else is “foreign affairs” or “international relations” – even in this era of global financial and technological integration.  We may buy the same products in every country of the world, we may all use Google and Facebook, but political life, curiously, is made of separate stuff and keeps the antique faith of borders.

Where to start?

Fortunately, the name of the source gave me a clue.  The Guardian.  Need I say more?  OK then.  Mr Dasgupta is a novelist and as a Fulbright Scholar, attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  That explains some things right there.

Is this just another anti-Brexit screed?

Sure looks like it, underneath.

At the ends, it says:

Third, and finally: we need to find new conceptions of citizenship. Citizenship is itself the primordial kind of injustice in the world. It functions as an extreme form of inherited property and, like other systems in which inherited privilege is overwhelmingly determinant, it arouses little allegiance in those who inherit nothing. Many countries have made efforts, through welfare and education policy, to neutralise the consequences of accidental advantages such as birth. But “accidental advantages” rule at the global level: 97% of citizenship is inherited, which means that the essential horizons of life on this planet are already determined at birth.

If you read Professor Amy Chua’s book, Political Tribes:  Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations, most of those European nations grant Citizenship based on birth, but the United States is a “super-group”.  You come here, follow the rules, and you are one of us. In this digital age you can be an e-Citizen of Estonia, but if you want clean water you have to either fix your own place or emigrate.  The problem is, there are certain limitations, such as carrying capacity and the ability to generate jobs.  Not everyone is a digital genius and some of us have to chop potatoes, so the rest can have dinner. And, the author loves to poke at US President Trump.  In one place he says:

It is not merely Donald Trump’s personality that causes him to act like a sociopathic CEO.

That is kind of tacky.  And, he puts President Trump on the same plane as President Erdoǧsan.  Let us have some sense of proportion here.

Several have noted the parallels in style and substance between leaders such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi, Viktor Orbán and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Ignored in all this is the fact that transnational financial dealings don’t mean we all think alike.  Yes, as Americans we believe all men are created equal, etc, but not everyone does.  Further, rather than the French Revolution having abolished God, it made room for new forms, where God, or the Party, is superior to the state.  While Islam was before the French Revolution, Communism was after it.  In both cases the Faith, and the Faith Leader (Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Kim 1, 2, 3) provides the Faith Wisdom to the secular government.  Much as happens in theocratic Islam, as in Iran.  The author is looking for trouble here.

If we can't unite Afghanistan, how are we going to unite the world?

A long analysis, but not a good analysis.

Regards  —  Cliff

Small Towns Can Be Little Miracles

For John, BLUF:  We are all in this together.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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20 Volunteers Perform CPR On Man In Grocery Store For 96 Minutes Until Paramedics Arrived

From Sunny Skyz, 18 February 2018.

The town of Goodhue, Minnesota, population 1,000.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff