“I am afraid of the police, not the protesters”

Posted on 5 August 2019 by eehines

That’s it, in a nutshell. That’s the worry of a resident of Mong Kok, a major shopping and residential neighborhood on the mainland side of Hong Kong, as she prepared to join a protest last weekend.

That worry comes against the backdrop of Hong Kong police using tear gas and truncheons in attempts to break up peaceful protests throughout Hong Kong as those protests have grown over the last several weeks, with those police using isolated incidents of protestor violence as their excuse. Keep in mind, too, that these protests originated as a response to the Hong Kong government’s attempt to pass a law demanded by People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping and his Communist Party of China, a law that would have allowed any accused Hong Kong citizen or visitor to be seized and shipped into the PRC proper for trial.

This is a preview of “I am afraid of the police, not the protesters”. Read the full post (359 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Bigotry or Cowardice

Posted on 28 July 2019 by eehines

You decide. In connection with a UEFA Europa League qualifying match between Israel’s Maccabi Haifa and RC Strasbourg, in Strasbourg, France, the French police barred the Maccabi fans from waving the Israeli flag or wearing club or Israeli paraphernalia in the area around the stadium.

Because of, claimed the police,

fears of violence following anti-Semitic actions against fans of the Israeli club.

On top of that,

Just 600 Haifa fans were allowed into the Stade de la Meinau for the match.

In other words, the Strasbourg police either restricted the Israelis out of bigotry, or they surrendered to anti-Semitic terrorist wannabes.

This is a preview of Bigotry or Cowardice. Read the full post (224 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

Warrant-Proof Encryption

Posted on 26 July 2019 by eehines

Attorney General William Barr, in front of the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University, said that

“warrant-proof” encryption was “enabling dangerous criminals to cloak their communications and activities behind an essentially impenetrable digital shield.”

Of course. And the FBI, in the aftermath of a mass-shooting in California a while back, (in)famously said that it needed Apple to crack the lock on one of the murderer’s smartphone so they could read it, insisting they were helpless without Apple’s cracking (and they demanded then, too, that Apple install encryption backdoors on its commercial cell phones). Then the FBI hired a third party, which cracked the encryption forthwith.

This is a preview of Warrant-Proof Encryption. Read the full post (308 words, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

Asylum Seekers

Posted on 26 July 2019 by eehines

The Trump administration has moved to make it harder for folks arriving on our border to claim to be seeking asylum, and the American Civil Liberties Union and American Immigration Council don’t like it. Here’s AIC’s Managing Director Royce Murray:

…the Trump administration is “throwing everything they have at asylum seekers in an effort to turn everyone humanly possible away….”

Which, of course, misrepresents the facts. The vast majority of folks arriving at our border claiming to be asylum seekers are nothing of the sort. Their presence on our border or illegally crossing it demonstrates that they’ve already rejected asylum offers, even job possibilities—offers and possibilities Mexico has offered them.

This is a preview of Asylum Seekers. Read the full post (156 words, estimated 37 secs reading time)

Gun Registration (Control)

Posted on 24 July 2019 by eehines

The New Zealand government, enthusiastically led in this by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, intends to create a law requiring New Zealanders to register with the government the gun licenses they have and the guns they have. This new…law…also is intended to make it harder to get, and keep, a gun license.

Other provisions of the thing include

establishment of new licensing for around 260 shooting clubs and ranges
expansion police authority to confiscate weapons if an individual shows (government defined) warning signs
require a separate license to purchase ammunition

This is a preview of Gun Registration (Control). Read the full post (196 words, estimated 47 secs reading time)

PRC, “Armored Weapons,” and Hong Kong

Posted on 23 July 2019 by eehines

Recall the People’s Republic of China’s use of tanks to suppress the Tiananmen Square protests that resulted in some 2,000 civilian deaths.

Here’s the PRC’s new anti-protest armor: truncheons. With the official police standing around, watching:

Media in Hong Kong have released footage of masked men in white shirts beating black-clad protesters with steel pipes and wooden poles in a subway station and on public transit. The protesters attempted to defend themselves with umbrellas.
Passengers said police did not intervene in Sunday’s attacks by the men, which left 45 people injured.

This is a preview of PRC, “Armored Weapons,” and Hong Kong. Read the full post (223 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

Guns and Homicides

Posted on 21 July 2019 by eehines

According to The Fresno Bee:

More people are licensed to carry concealed weapons in Fresno County than any other county in California, according to data from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the Fresno Police Department [17,400 licenses for a population of 994,000].

And

Orange County is next with 12,008 licenses [population 3.2 million].

And

Los Angeles County, with a population of more than 10 million, had only 424 permits as of last summer….

And

This is a preview of Guns and Homicides. Read the full post (222 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Ducking Problems

Posted on 14 July 2019 by eehines

Now the Catholic Church says it’s willing to be held accountable for its history of child abuse—but only if it can control the accountability. The Church has offered cash payoffs to its victims, but the article’s subheadline says all there is about the Church’s cynical offer:

A potential flood of lawsuits has spurred the Catholic Church to offer mediation, only if accusers agree not to sue

That’s reason enough for mediation to be rejected and the lawsuits pushed forward apace. And for many, many more lawsuits to be brought.

This is a preview of Ducking Problems. Read the full post (147 words, estimated 35 secs reading time)

Be Like Europe, Progressives Say

Posted on 13 July 2019 by eehines

Here’s another example of the Europe the Left demands we emulate.

Vincent, the 42-year-old man’s name is, had a terrible accident 11 years ago that left him a brain-damaged quadriplegic. He’s been in a French hospital, in Reims, ever since, variously rated as “semi-conscious” and “in a vegetative state.” Yet, he eats, sleeps, and responds to his mother’s conversation.

The French medical system is not the central, government-as-single-payer “medical” system that is the ideal of our own Left, but the French government does decide on euthanasia. That government has made the decision that Vincent is no longer worth the trouble of helping to live. His feeding tube is to be removed, and he’s to be killed by starvation.

This is a preview of Be Like Europe, Progressives Say. Read the full post (279 words, estimated 1:07 mins reading time)

Hypocrisy of the British Left

Posted on 12 July 2019 by eehines

Yes, ex-Prime Minister John Major claims himself a Conservative, but he’s acting more and more Left. Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister wannabe and front-runner to replace the resigned Theresa May, has said that if needs be, he’ll prorogue Parliament to block an anti-no-deal Brexit vote, if a no-deal departure is necessary.

Prorogue: a temporary suspension of Parliament following petition of the Queen by her first minister—the Prime Minister—for permission to suspend Parliament and her granting that permission. This use is unusual; prorogation is normally used for normal terminations of Parliamentary sessions; the term also describes the interval between that termination and the normal opening of the next session.

This is a preview of Hypocrisy of the British Left. Read the full post (314 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

A Plebe's Site

Quam bene vivas referre, non quam diu.

Category Archives: rights