Monthly Archives: October 2016

Free Speech, Again

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A New Jersey high school has come under fire after holding a ceremony honoring law enforcement, military and first responders before a football game Friday night.

And

It featured State Police Pipes and Drums of the Blue and Gold, state and local mounted units, personnel from all of the branches of the military and officers from several local offices. It also honored a Linden police officer who was wounded in a shootout with Ahmad Khan Rahimi, who is accused of planting IEDs in Seaside Park, Elizabeth and New York City[.]

So far, so good, you might think.

“It’s OK to stand up for social justice, inequality, and reform,” [Middletown Deputy Police Chief Stephen] Dollinger told the [Asbury Park Press]. “It’s another thing to not stand up for the national anthem.”

Uh oh.  That’s not allowed.  It’s OK to protest.  It’s not OK to protest the protesters or the protest methods.  No, the Left insists we just shut up about that.  The ACLU, the Central Jersey Chapter of National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and the Greater Long Branch NAACP all objected to such impertinence in a letter to the high school.

According to press reports, however, the event is being used to intimidate and ostracize people who express their views about systemic racism and social just.

Law enforcement officers are sworn to protect the constitution, and it is a disservice to the students and players that an event that should focus on them, their families, and their communities is being used to send a message that people who express concerns about disparities in the criminal justice system are unwelcome, disloyal or unpatriotic.

And

One ACLU organizer, Jasmine Crenshaw, believes the event sent a “frightening message….”

Sure.  It’s frightening—to the Left, anyway—that people not under the Left’s control would speak freely.

More “Missing” Emails

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And more destruction of evidence.

From an FBI Form 302:

CENTCOM records shows approximately 1,000 work-related emails between Clinton’s personal email and General David PETRAEUS, former Commander of CENTCOM and former Director of the CIA.  Most of those 1,000 emails were not believed to be included in the 30,000 emails that IPS was reviewing. Out of the 30,000 emails, IPS [Office of Information and Programs and Services, which is responsible for State’s responses to FOIA requests] only had a few emails from or related to PETRAEUS as well as a few related to Leon PANETTA, former Secretary of Defense.

It’s nice that CENTCOM, the other end of the correspondence, had records of the emails, but the emails themselves seem to be “missing.”

Hmm….

Being Aced Out?

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Vietnam has shown interest in opening Cam Ranh Bay to our Navy’s use, and that interest has grown as the People’s Republic of China has increased its aggressiveness in occupying the South China Sea and interfering with other nations’ activities in their waters in the Sea—in particular here Vietnam’s use of its Paracel Islands, in which the PRC is building air bases for the PLA Air Force.

The Obama administration has been less interested in taking advantage of the opening while it has been responding timidly to the PRC’s occupation.

Now this.

Three Chinese navy ships will make their first port call this weekend at the Vietnam’s strategic Cam Ranh Bay, coming as the countries are locked in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Just to emphasize the matter, the PLA Navy’s visit comes on the heels of a visit to the port by two USN ships, and it comes while Vietnam and the PRC continue to dispute ownership of the Paracels.

Be Quiet

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Your Betters are working.

Elon Musk, who as CEO of Tesla Motors, which is building self-driving cars, has a personal, vested interest in the matter, says we must stop criticizing self-driving cars—they’re going to save lives.  One day.

In the meantime, we’re to keep our critiques—which would actually make the cars better, safer, and more consumer friendly—to ourselves.  He knows what he’s talking about; we don’t.  And we’ll kill people if we don’t shut up with our comments.

If, in writing some article that’s negative, you effectively dissuade people from using autonomous vehicles, you’re killing people[.]

Just be quiet.  Trust me.

As Predicted

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…by a number of folks, including politicians.

Senior Iranian officials, including the country’s president, have been floating the possibility of further payments from the United States for months. Since the White House agreed to pay Tehran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year as part of a deal bound up in the release of American hostages, Iran has captured several more US citizens.

Here’s Senator Mark Kirk (R, IL) again:

After airlifting $1.7 billion in cash ransom payments to Iran, even the US State Department ‎now warns of increased dangers that the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism will continue to illegally seize Americans and Westerners who travel or do business with Iran. Companies, banks, and American citizens would be wise to stay away from Iran[.]

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, Iran’s primary military force, and the Praetorian Guard supporting Iran’s Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei says

“We should wait and see, the US will offer … many billions of dollars to release” American businessman Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer….

Yep.  Saeed Ghasseminejad, Associate Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

Paying $1.7 billion to Iran to release the US prisoners has encouraged Iran to arrest more Americans.  Iran senses weakness in the US leadership as it constantly tests the administration through a chain of provocative actions.

We shouldn’t have to look forward to more of this after early November.