Tagged: nuclear weapon
Droit 41 Quand règne l’arbitraire
Mars-Juin 2024 FR-EN
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FR
Quand règne l’arbitraire
La distinction entre (1) brocarder les adeptes d’une religion et (2) brocarder une religion n’a strictement aucun sens. La loi française n’a aucun sens et les jugements sur ces questions sont arbitraires.
Rappel (éléments publiés sur ce blog le 15/2/2020 Twit28) : « Il est possible de critiquer fermement, même avec des propos très virulents ou injurieux, une religion, alors que les croyants sont protégés par les infractions listées. » (Note juridique de 2016 publiée sur le site internet du Sénat) Prenons un exemple. « Le babisme est une religion imbécile » : est-ce licite ? Le propos se borne à critiquer une religion, même avec des propos injurieux. « Le babisme est une religion d’imbéciles » : est-ce illicite ? Il est nommément question des croyants. Cette interprétation reprise par le Sénat est évidemment fautive car elle rend impossible « la protection des croyants » par la loi qui vise à les protéger. Mon exemple le montre pleinement : de deux propos strictement équivalents en termes de virulence injurieuse, l’un serait condamné, l’autre non. Tracer une frontière entre les deux types de propos ne peut être qu’arbitraire. De deux choses l’une : ou bien vous supprimez ces lois (parce qu’elles sont liberticides) ou bien vous les appliquez. Car les interpréter de manière sournoise, équivoque et arbitraire, tue le droit. Or cette interprétation reprise par le Sénat, qui empêche de protéger les croyants (puisqu’un simple ajustement verbal sans aucune conséquence sémantique permettrait d’échapper à toutes sanctions pénales), est, dans le contexte actuel, un moyen de soustraire l’islamophobie à l’application de la loi.
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Faux-cols et « Apologie du terrorisme »
L’approbation simple du terrorisme est légale en France (cf. l’article du 27 octobre 2023 « Jean-Luc Mélenchon se trompe sur l’apologie du terrorisme » sur le site Actu juridique). L’apologie est interdite et passible de cinq ans de prison. Applaudir dix secondes : approbation licite. Applaudir onze secondes : apologie, cinq ans de prison. Voilà. Une distinction là encore bien arbitraire pour faire croire que nos lois respectent les libertés.
Sur la question du Proche-Orient, Mathilde Panot sera condamnée, après le syndicaliste Jean-Paul Delescaut, à de la prison avec sursis. Si elle s’exprime de nouveau sur le sujet, elle sera condamnée à de la prison ferme, comme récidiviste. Elle ne parlera donc plus que des CROUS… Et l’autre, disant : « Si le jugement n’est pas une condamnation, vous pourrez vous en prévaloir. » C’est un service qu’on leur rend, en fait, ah là là.
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Si quelque chose est « peut-être » de l’apologie du terrorisme, c’est que l’affaire doit être close. La loi pénale (c’est un principe fondamental) doit être claire : il ne doit pas y avoir de doute, par conséquent, sur le fait que des agissements sont illicites. Dans une affaire pénale en général, la question est de savoir si telle ou telle personne a fait ou n’a pas fait ce qu’on lui reproche. Ici, la question est de savoir si ce qu’ont dit telle et telle personne est ou n’est pas un délit. Ce n’est pas comme ça que le droit fonctionne ! Or, avec les délits d’opinion, c’est comme cela, et c’est justement pour cette raison que les délits d’opinion ne sont pas acceptables en droit, ce qui veut dire : pas de lois contre l’expression d’idées, quelles qu’elles soient. La classe politique française a méconnu et méconnaît ce principe, tout en prétendant le défendre. Mais dès que ces politiciens s’expriment sur le sujet, ils disent, forcément, des monstruosités juridiques, du type : « C’est peut-être de l’apologie du terrorisme : à la justice de trancher. » Non, les citoyens d’un État de droit n’ont pas à se demander si ce qu’ils disent est « peut-être » un délit pour duchmol ou tartempion pouvant saisir le juge.
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« ’On a été bien reçus’, dit [la militante pro-palestinienne] Rima Hassan à la sortie des locaux de la police judiciaire [où elle était entendue pour des faits d’apologie du terrorisme en raison de propos tenus après le 7 octobre]. (AFP)
Pourquoi faire un titre sur « J’ai été bien reçue » ? Le journaliste pensait-il qu’elle serait torturée, en raison des condamnations de la France par la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme pour tortures policières ? Ou bien est-il hors sujet ? Le journaliste de l’AFP qui a fait ce titre doit être la seule personne en France à penser que le sujet est celui de l’accueil des personnes par la police…
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Les plaintes fantaisistes ne doivent pas être reçues. C’est cela, la procédure.
Est-ce la même organisation qui a déposé plainte contre plus de 600 militants et acteurs politiques français au lendemain du 7 octobre ? Quel est le financement de cette organisation ? Comment ce phénomène de plaintes de masse n’est-il pas un abus de procédure et du spam juridictionnel ? La justice dit qu’elle est surchargée mais elle accepte 650 plaintes en masse de la part d’une seule entité ? Et ce sous le gouvernement qui a répondu par une circulaire illégale de déni après l’arrêt Baldassi de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme sur le droit au boycott de l’État sioniste.
On me dit qu’une association a déposé plus de 600 plaintes pour apologie du terrorisme. C’est une attaque DoS contre la justice française. Que les pouvoirs publics réagissent !
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Peut-on rire de tout, Guillaume Meurice ?
Classement sans suite concernant les propos de l’humoriste Guillaume Meurice sur le Premier ministre israélien : « un nazi mais sans prépuce ».
Un classement sans suite, ce n’est pas « la justice a dit que… », comme on a pu l’entendre. Le procureur qui classe sans suite n’est pas, la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme l’a rappelé à plusieurs reprises, une autorité judiciaire mais une autorité administrative, comme la police. Le plaignant qui voudrait insister pour faire aboutir sa plainte et obtenir un jugement le pourrait. En l’occurrence, le procureur a estimé que la plainte était sans fondement et n’avait aucune chance d’aboutir à une condamnation.
Or, quand on voit que les quelques centaines de plaintes (par une même organisation, semble-t-il) pour apologie de terrorisme ne sont pas classées sans suite, alors même que « l’approbation simple » du terrorisme est légale en France (cf. l’article du 27 octobre 2023 « Jean-Luc Mélenchon se trompe sur l’apologie du terrorisme » sur le site Actu juridique), que l’apologie illicite est quelque chose de complètement distinct en principe et en droit de l’approbation (qui relève de l’opinion), on a bien du mal à comprendre, et ces difficultés sont évidemment elles-mêmes une façon de geler le débat. Puisque les plaintes contre Rima Hassan, Mathilde Panot et bien d’autres ne sont pas classées sans suite, tout le monde aurait pu s’attendre à ce que Meurice passât lui aussi devant un tribunal. Mais personne ne sait à quoi s’attendre et c’est bien le problème de ces lois que l’on voudrait entendre dénoncer par nos partis politiques mais qui restent en dehors de toute discussion. Nos politiciens sont tous contre la censure mais personne ne pointe du doigt les lois de censure.
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Les lois scélérates se portent bien, merci
Les « lois scélérates » françaises servent à nuire à l’opposition au gouvernement, comme le rappelle l’avocate Elsa Marcel. Ces lois existent depuis plus d’un siècle. Pourquoi dire – on l’entend beaucoup – que la France devient tout à coup fasciste ? Ces lois existaient même avant le fascisme.
Léon Blum fait partie des quelques noms qu’on cite de gens qui se sont opposés aux lois scélérates. Quand il a dirigé le Front Populaire, qu’a fait Léon Blum contre les lois scélérates ? Rien. Lui savoir gré de son opposition aux lois scélérates est donc de la niaiserie chez les uns, de l’escroquerie intellectuelle chez les autres.
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Statistiques ethniques
Si la réponse pénale au racisme consiste à prononcer des rappels à la loi pour les injures contre telle minorité et des peines de prison pour les injures contre telle autre, c’est du racisme. Montrez-nous donc les statistiques. Comment ça « il n’y en a pas » ?!
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Pourquoi les gens vont-ils voter ? On leur propose des programmes électoraux, puis, après les élections, les partis entrent dans des négociations à huis clos d’où sort un pacte de coalition sur lequel aucun électeur n’a voté. Ce type de pacte peut hypothétiquement conduire au pouvoir un parti qui renonce à tous les points de son programme électoral.
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Les Pays-Bas ont des lois criminalisant les discours haineux envers des groupes, notamment à raison de leur religion (article 137 du code pénal†), mais Geert Wilders, condamné une fois pour des propos qu’il répète continuellement, ce qui devrait lui valoir de faire de la prison comme multirécidiviste, va diriger le pays. On a rarement vu une telle gangrène de l’État de droit. Les institutions corrompues de ce pays s’assoient sur leurs lois quand les victimes sont les musulmans. La trajectoire de l’individu en question n’est possible que par cette gangrène.
Les institutions ont un devoir constitutionnel qui est de garantir le fonctionnement de l’État de droit (the rule of law), et quand elles sont défaillantes sur ce point on peut et doit parler de gangrène d’un système.
† « He who publicly, orally, in writing or graphically, intentionally expresses himself insultingly regarding a group of people because of their race, their religion or their life philosophy, their heterosexual or homosexual orientation or their physical, psychological or mental disability, shall be punished by imprisonment of no more than a year » (Art. 137c traduit en anglais)
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Comment être légalement polygame en France
La polygamie est passible d’un an de prison en France (article 433-20 du code pénal). Seulement, les mariages religieux ou coutumiers n’y étant pas reconnus, certaines personnes polygames ne sont pas considérées comme polygames par la loi.
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La sueur du chien
L’argument de Manon Aubry sur le nombre comparé d’amendements déposés par elle et par Jordan Bardella au Parlement européen n’est ni percutant ni pertinent, parce que ce nombre n’est pas important, la vraie question étant : pour quel résultat ? Si la réponse est la même pour celui qui a déposé des milliers d’amendements et celui qui en a déposé trois – par exemple que cela n’a eu aucun résultat ni dans un cas ni dans l’autre –, le bilan est en faveur du second. Des dépôts compulsifs d’amendements sans résultats sont une étrange conception de la politique.
La « productivité » d’un député ne se mesure pas au nombre d’amendements déposés mais au nombre d’amendements retenus, et cela ne dépend pas du nombre déposé. Un amendement déposé sans résultat a un impact négatif sur la productivité du député. Si l’on nous répond que la productivité d’un député se mesure à son temps de parole plutôt qu’au résultat de ses prises de parole, je réponds, surtout au Parlement européen, encore plus éloigné du public qu’un Parlement national, que ces débats ont un côté « entre soi » inutile et même irritant pour le public : les députés sont des politiciens professionnels et un professionnel de la politique ne se laisse pas convaincre par les arguments d’un adversaire politique, il est justement payé pour ne pas se laisser convaincre. En vérité, un député sert mieux son parti en dehors du Parlement qu’au dedans, en optant pour une stratégie locale et nationale de communication. Qu’un député pense se former en politique en étant assidu au travail parlementaire, c’est son droit, mais qu’il présente cette formation individuelle comme une nécessité du travail productif, c’est faux. De sorte que, non, les 7.780 euros nets de rémunération mensuelle d’un député européen ne se justifient pas, mais dire que parce qu’on est payé ce montant élevé on doit déposer des quantités d’amendements qui resteront sans résultat, c’est de la niaiserie. Comme dit un proverbe sessouto, « la sueur du chien ne fait que mouiller ses poils » (tiré de l’Anthologie n*gre – je ne peux écrire le mot, sous peine de disparaître d’internet – par Blaise Cendrars).
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Présomption d’innocence
et Garantie du mobile haineux du crime
« Antisémitisme : une jeune fille de 12 ans violée par des adolescents à Courbevoie. » (Europe 1, 19 juin 2024)
Qu’une victime appartienne à telle ou telle minorité ne suffit pas pour que l’infraction soit motivée par la haine. Sauf erreur, Europe 1 ne dit rien, dans cette vidéo, des raisons qui font que la police retient un caractère aggravant pour l’infraction, comme si l’appartenance de la victime à telle ou telle minorité était en soi une raison suffisante pour une telle aggravation. Ce qui est de nature à déformer la compréhension du droit par le public.
N’est-il pas regrettable qu’un média qui titre une vidéo « Antisémitisme : une jeune fille etc. » ne dise pas en quoi il s’agit d’antisémitisme, ce qui, je le répète, laisse penser que l’appartenance d’une victime à telle ou telle communauté est suffisante en droit pour que le caractère aggravant d’une infraction soit retenu, ce qui n’est évidemment pas le cas ?
Les gens sont présumés innocents jusqu’à leur condamnation par un tribunal indépendant mais le mobile haineux est garanti sans attendre, au terme d’une enquête sommaire des services de l’exécutif, pour nos médias et notre classe politique.
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Le procès
Adrien Quatennens n’a pas eu droit à un procès serein, impartial. C’était un procès devant l’opinion, un lynchage. Adrien Quatennens n’a même pas pu présenter la moindre défense car ç’aurait été « justifier l’injustifiable » devant l’opinion manipulée et il aurait aggravé son cas devant cette foule qui demandait sa tête et qui a été en réalité son seul juge dans cette affaire. Or, en droit, donner une gifle à quelqu’un qui vous couvre d’injures blessantes et humiliantes par ses paroles ou sa conduite n’est pas la même chose que donner une gifle à quelqu’un qui se montre respectueux envers vous, et la défense avait donc le droit de poser la question de l’attitude de la femme d’Adrien Quatennens, ce qui évidemment n’a jamais été ne serait-ce que suggéré devant l’opinion, bien excitée par les partis politiques et même des membres du gouvernement, et qui a tout préjugé jusqu’au (pré)jugement final. Or, comme personne, dans la classe politique, y compris parmi les « amis » de Quatennens, n’a jamais, que je sache, rappelé le moins du monde ces évidences ainsi que les principes du droit, il est impossible qu’une telle classe politique soit capable de produire de bonnes lois.
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Abortion and the Principle
“No Taxation Without Representation”
“[Senatrix] Mazie Hirono: ‘If You Don’t Support Abortion, Don’t Get One; Leave The Rest Of Us Alone’” (Forbes Breaking News)
Why should I pay for others’ abortions? Leave the taxpayer alone! This “leave women alone” argument is deceptive and insulting, everywhere taxpayers support the costs. This senatrix is a deceptive woman. You milk the taxpayer and then: “It’s none of your business.” It isn’t even sure she knows the situation, she seems so clueless. The idea is plain wrong in a system where the least bit of health expenses is the least bit socialized, because then the issue is that of a taxation and, as all Americans except this Democratic woman know, from the beginning of the Republic the principle has been “No taxation without representation.”
The mistakes I have a right to point are those whose consequences fall upon me in one way or another, which is the case with abortion where health expenses are socialized. Through socialization the issue becomes that of a taxation and the principle is “no taxation without representation.” Rape is the only case where an abortion would not be the result of a mistake, as sex is forced on the woman by her rapist. For that reason, several legislations around the world prohibit abortion except in case of rape. On this particular point, I would like to ask data from said legislations. If rape is made an exception, women who want to abort may falsely claim having been raped and accuse innocent men.
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“A Scotsman’s home will no longer be his castle.” (George Galloway MP) [reacting on a new bill further stifling Scotsmen’s speech]
The model is France, where private speech has always been punishable, only the punishment is not as severe as for public speech, namely you can go to jail for public speech, not for private speech.
I am not quite sure this law is as much a change as its opponents believe or make believe it is, that is, I am not sure Scotland goes from free to unfree. I should think it is a small increment in speech repression. A few years ago, a new bill was passed in Canada, opponents claimed Canada was becoming a repressive state, but the truth is the bill’s authors were right: It was not a big change, the repression apparatus had already been there for decades. If you defend free speech, you should not simply oppose the newest of many repressive bills but call for the total abolition of the existing repression apparatus.
If the law criminalizes private speech where only public speech was criminalized before, and if this and this only is the problem, then I might think you don’t really care about free speech, for in fact it is not as much a problem to criminalize private speech as to criminalize public speech. Is a Scotsman’s speech for the walls of his castle and a few people there, or does the Scotsman legitimately want to be heard beyond his castle’s walls? If he may legitimately want to he heard, then repression of private speech where only public speech was repressed before is not as heinous a legislative deed as repression of public speech where public speech was free.
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Australia can legally prevent Australian users from watching content, not users from other countries, who have no say on Australian laws, have not elected these people to make laws in their name. Therefore, any injunction on X (formerly Twitter) by Australian authorities to ban content for all X users is illegal power grab. X can only be, by Australia, compelled to deny content access for users connecting from Australia.
At this stage, Australia’s request is an administrative gag order, by the way; the Australian authorities are not even asking for a judicial decision.
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One is reminded of Christchurch, NZ. “New Zealand man jailed for 21 months for sharing Christchurch shooting video” (BBC News, June 2019). Making it a crime to share the video amounted to claiming that the government must be the only source of truth. The only source of truth will be at the same time the agency that restricts access to evidence. Under a constitutional regime the government can make no claim to be an exclusive authority as to what the truth is. Hence, by restricting access to evidence it overrides its constitutional function. – To the best of my knowledge, the Christchurch video was de-platformed from all internet platforms, including Twitter, now X. They complied with a NZ gag order, apparently. Therefore, I don’t know how this NZ man could even share this material if not through private emails or mails…
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Feel Good Bills
“Yet again today we had another show vote to make people [representatives] feel good about themselves by passing a bill having the word antisemitism in the title.” (U.S. Representative Chip Roy)
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Pacta Sunt Servanda
vs The Unbreakable Bond
An “unbreakable bond” is something that cannot exist between two sovereign states, given the pacta sunt servanda principle of international relationships. A statesman talking of an unbreakable bond with a foreign state talks as if he had got a mandate from this foreign state’s rather than his own state’s constituency. This is a misuse of power plain and simple, basically the rhetoric of high treason. The strange thing is that it has been every single U.S. statesman’s talk these last decades.
The “unbreakable bond” rhetoric should be left to soapbox, electoral campaign speech, if people are dumb enough to listen to such nonsense. On the institutional level it is treasonous. Sovereign states have contractual bonds: A breach of contract by one unbinds the other. A U.S. statesman cannot talk of an unbreakable bond because in case of breach of contract by the other state it will be his duty to unbind the U.S., and he is not ruling the other state but his own state so, with the constitutional powers vested on him, he cannot prevent a breach by a foreign sovereign state, his constitutional powers do not extend over two states. Talking of an unbreakable bond with a foreign state is the same as saying that under his tenure crimes will not be punished: A statesman has no right, as a constitutional power, to say such a thing.
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Religion As Private Matter:
A False Tenet of Secularism
If a country is a democracy where people vote, then the obvious result must be that the majority’s religion will have some official character, not because freedom of religion is stifled but because people vote and their vote is informed by their religion. What is a religion that does not inform one’s vote? People vote for policies, policies are based on values as these values translate in how the society works. How can it be said that religion is a merely private matter? Values are not private matters. The very fact that the U.S. is not a “Christian nationalist” country is proof that the leading forces of this country are hostile either to religion as such or to the majority’s religion, and in this hostility is included the notion that religion (or the majority’s religion) is a merely private matter, which is an emasculation of religious faith. I don’t know what you think the ballot is for but you can’t claim that people should not see it as a way to translate their religious values into policies. People vote for what they want, in theory; if they can’t, this is a flawed democracy.
Addendum. “People vote for what they want.” To be precise, they cannot vote for unconstitutional bills, that is, unconstitutional bills are not binding, not enforceable before courts of law. However, constitutional amendments can be passed (the theory of “rigid constitutions” is clearly undemocratic).
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Same as the state can discourage the consumption of drugs by criminalizing it, the state can criminalize other conducts the majority of the people, informed by their religion, deem sinful and want to discourage.
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The Scam of Therapeutic Cannabis
“Therapeutic psychedelics” is a contradiction in terms as therapeutics aims at floating individuals on mundane performance whereas psychedelics opens them to extramundane experience. U.S. Congress’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 was a sounder approach to the question.
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A medical use of cannabis was contrived as a wedge for recreational use. At Woodstock, no one said a word about medical use but they had a lot to say about recreational or existential or philosophical use. Medical use was contrived by people who had smoked weed at Woodstock and were looking for a way to make their new pastime accepted by society. That is, they perjure the Hippocratic Oath.
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Commercium liberum, free trade means that if China doesn’t buy British opium from British India, the English will attack China and with their military power open Chinese harbors to opium imports. This is called Opium War and it is real. Free trade is a völkerrechtlich (international-law) justa causa of aggression. Recently, Singapore wanted to ban chewing gum from its territory; the U.S. objected, therefore Singapore keeps importing “therapeutical” chewing gum, and this is how everything can be therapeutic if need be. As the states are on a cannabis legalizing spree, prepare for the Cannabis Wars of tomorrow.
Cannabis Wars will be American aggressions against countries that oppose flooding by medical and/or recreational cannabis, this opposition being an impediment to free trade. Hong Kong’s colonial status was a result of the Opium Wars, so it cannot be said that these “free trade” wars are not for territorial gains. They are 1/ aggression wars, 2/ possibly ending in territorial changes, and above all they are 3/ just wars, having justa causa.
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According to the French Constitution, Art. 35, 1) A declaration of war by the government must be authorized by Parliament. 2) Parliament must be informed of military interventions in foreign countries. 3) If a military intervention lasts more than four months, its continuation must be authorized by Parliament. Hence, the French Constitution organizes the modalities of military intervention without declaration of war. What a piece of trash.
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That countries with the nuclear weapon oppose that countries without the nuclear weapon acquire it, is old jungle rule. All countries have a right to develop nuclear armament as soon and as long as some countries possess such a weapon. This is a natural right of states.
Law 18: On the Individual Right to Own Nuclear Weapons
A military occupation of a foreign country allegedly “for the oil fields” means you want to convince people it is in order to pay top dollar for oil, when it would be much less expensive to just buy it.
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Vaccination in an Age of Opioid Crisis
DC AG subpoenas Facebook for data on ALL users that have spread “COVID-19 misinformation.”–Unmasking people for wrongthink. (Reclaim the Net)
“The subpoena is part of a previously undisclosed investigation into whether Facebook is violating consumer protection laws.”
The story is quite hazy. It isn’t clear to me on what legal grounds the subpoena is issued. Consumer protection? When someone opposes vaccination, he certainly is no consumer of vaccines. ‘’Consumer’’ protection for vax dealers from their market then?
That they still have the effrontery to tell people what information and misinformation on health issues is while in the middle of an opioid crisis that has claimed more than half a million lives is mind-blowing.
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In the middle of an opioid crisis that has claimed more than half a million lives† the ‘’administrative state’’ (John Marini) is in no position to tell citizens what information is and what misinformation (for instance on vaccines).
“The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices.’’ (FDA’s Website) No, the FDA is not responsible for that since in the middle of an opioid crisis of such magnitude no accountability claim is raised against the FDA.
†« La crise des opaciés ayant fait plus d’un demi-million de morts depuis vingt ans » (Le Figaro newspaper, June 28, 2021)
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Compulsory Love: State Rape of Consciences
Supreme Court Refuses To Decide If Floral Artist Loses Her Religious Liberty At Shop Door. (The Federalist, July 2, 2021)
Soon no one will know what to expect. “In Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority (1961), the U.S. Supreme Court noted the ‘public aspects’ of a restaurant charged with racial discrimination, primarily attributable to the fact that it was a lessee in a publicly owned building. However, the ruling made it clear that not every lease of public property would be considered a sufficient entanglement to justify a finding of state action.” (Kennedy & Schultz, American Public Service, 2011). This means there can be no charge of racial discrimination against restaurants that have no ‘public aspect’ about them (not in the sense of public accommodation but in the sense for example of being a lessee in a publicly owned building). And this while “Under U.S. federal law, public accommodations must be accessible to the disabled and may not discriminate on the basis of ‘race, color, religion, or national origin’” (since the Civil Rights Acts – the case cited above, from 1961, predates the 1964 federal act but, as you know, a federal statute does not empty out a Supreme Court’s decision and, on the contrary, if it were argued that the federal statute runs into the decision, that would mean the statute is unconstitutional.)
The case discussed by The Federalist is about derogations to antidiscrimination laws in public accommodations such as cakeshops or flower shops. Why even talk of derogations? If a restaurant with no ‘public aspect’ about it is immune from charges of discrimination under federal law, you bet a flower shop is immune from a whacky state law (unconstitutional to begin with).
The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the case because, I am sure, they know they would have had to uphold the florist’s rights against Washington state’s antidiscrimination law and… they didn’t want to.
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The Court had the clear duty to protect the florist’s right because this was expected by everyone from 1/ the Court’s case law (Masterpiece Cakeshop, 2018) and 2/ the Court’s action in the present case: “The Washington Supreme Court upheld the ban, even after SCOTUS asked the state’s court to keep the landmark Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling into account.” (The Federalist) 1+2=hear the case, not dismiss it!
One responsible for the declinal and contempt of an American citizen’s freedom is Justice Amy Coney Barrett. It seems it always works: she was so vilified and demonized as an extremist during the hearings that she might become a liberal swamp creature from now on in everything she does as Justice, if she has freaked out.
There are enough community-friendly businesses around with the little flags, leave people alone.
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Pastor Green
As Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen is currently prosecuted for hate speech in Finland after having expressed her Christian views about homosexuality (see Law 11), let us remember a case in Finland’s neighboring Sweden, where Pentecostal Pastor Åke Green was acquitted by the Swedish Supreme Court applying Articles 9 (freedom of conscience and religion) and 10 (freedom of speech) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) against the Swedish criminal code.
For having in a sermon “described ‘sexual perversions’ (referencing homosexuality) as ‘abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society’ [and] said that a person cannot be a Christian and a homosexual at the same time’’ (Wikipedia), Pastor Green was prosecuted for group libel (hets mot folksgrupp, ‘’incitement against a group’’) and sentenced to one month in prison. The court of appeals overturned the sentence, leading the attorney general, unsatisfied that Pastor Green could get off scot-free for expressing his views, to bring the case before the Supreme Court.
In 2005 the Supreme Court, invoking the ECHR that applies to all party states (among them Finland too), upheld Pastor Green’s right to express his views.
Then, “[r]esponding to the sentence, Sören Andersson, the president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL), said that religious freedom could never be used as a reason to persecute people.’’ (Wikipedia) This is a testimony of this person’s blatantly muddled notions since, even though there were no separation of Church and State in Sweden (there is a national Lutheran church), expressing one’s negative views about homosexuality from outside the national church and state in no way can be construed (contrived) as persecution of homosexuals, and on the contrary it was Pastor Green’s conviction for his speech that was persecution – state persecution (endorsed by RFSL) until the Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
I ask the Finnish courts regarding Päivi Räsänen to uphold Sweden’s interpretation of the ECHR and not to make an empty nutshell of the Convention.
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On New Definitions as Hot Air
A new definition of antisemitism by the U.S. State Department is not a matter of law and can have no judicial effect on American citizens since antisemitism is nonexistent as a legal object to begin with (there is no constitutional hate speech law in the U.S. thanks to the First Amendment). As I see it, they intend the move as an international policy pressure tool: since anti-Zionism is now, by this new definition, antisemitism, they can object to anti-Zionist standpoints from other countries as antisemitic, and presumably they believe it will give the American administration more self-willfulness in their unconditional (and therefore, in my opinion, unconstitutional) alignment with Israel (aligned no matter what the latter’s policies are).
Probably mainstream media will talk a good deal about it? Governor Greg Abbott led the way by having the definition adopted already in Texas (see Law 17). I don’t know what it is in Texas, whether a statute, an executive act, or a sheet of paper signed by Abbott and flaunted to cameras. No idea, but neither this Texan nor the U.S. State Department’s definition is a normative act. They’re using their constitutional powers for non-normative activity. HOT AIR. Symbolically you might resent it, and symbolically mainstream media might make a lot of fuss about it as if it were lawmaking, but legally speaking this hot air is showing us some people at the end of their tether if anything.
(“At the end of their tether” means that if the hot air becomes too visibly pathetic they are going to resort to illegality in broad daylight.)
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To be sure, antisemitism might be considered a legal object through the dubious category of hate crime (a crime against an individual is thought more egregious when the alleged motivation is hate towards a group). I call the category dubious but so far it has not been declared unconstitutional, so I make the present qualification. However, this does not change one jot to what I wrote, as neither the State Department nor Abbott’s definition binds courts, which will continue to use their own sovereign definitions.
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Given that the new administration’s barefaced hostility to the First Amendment can only lead to their blowing hot air and never to legitimate lawmaking, the greatest threat of illegal violence at this juncture in the USA is poised against law-abiding dissenters. There is something pathetic about blowing hot air which cannot escape them (the administration, the government) long.
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On the Individual Right to Own Nuclear Weapons
“If you wanted to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.’’ (Joe Biden)
Defenders of the Second Amendment have memed about the F-15s, with pictures of jet planes displayed on private lawns and such like. The Second Amendment, I argue, allows one to own nuclear weapons. Here’s the story: “The only instance where a court has permitted the prior restraint of a newspaper was in United States v. Progressive, Inc., 467 F. Supp. 990 (W.D. Wis. 1979), where a federal court enjoined a magazine from publishing the directions on how to make a hydrogen bomb. The government feared that publishing the recipe for the bomb would threaten the United States. Eventually a federal court of appeals decision lifted the injunction on publication of the directions and the Progressive Magazine published the hydrogen bomb recipe in an article.’’ (Encyclopedia of American Law, Schultz ed., 2002: prior restraint)
The recipe for the H bomb was published in a magazine around 1979 (after the restraint on publication was lifted by a court of appeals). The prior restraint was lifted because the court of appeals did not agree with the government that publishing the recipe would threaten the United States. Therefore, as publishing the recipe for a nuclear weapon is not a threat such as prior restraint would be warranted, similarly owning a nuclear weapon is not, since publishing the recipe is only a step to making and owning the weapon, not an end in itself. As a consequence, any statute prohibiting the making and owning of nuclear weapons violates the Constitution.
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Health Official [Nova Scotia, Canada]: Banning Public Gatherings Stops “Misinformation” Spread.
Every piece of information about Canada should appear with a mandatory warning: ‘’Canada.’’ You can’t go on freaking people out like this.
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Libel Law and the Political Cartel
Justices Thomas and Gorsuch call for a revisiting of 1964 case that prevented public figures suing for defamation. (Reclaim the Net)
Well, public figures are not “prevented” from suing, only they must show actual malice when the statements are untrue, that is, the onus of the proof is on them. – Let these two Justices have their way and soon you’ll have nothing to envy to Canada. Of course, public figures can sue, only claimants must demonstrate defendants’ actual malice, and this is what Justices Gorsuch and Thomas disagree with. They want politicians to be censors through gag trials as politicians do in other countries like Canada.
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Reclaim the Net wrote a rather supportive paper on Justices Thomas and Gorsuch’s opinion that libel law should be changed regarding public officials (read: politicians), that is, that NYT v. Sullivan should be reversed. Therefore, they endorsed a view contrary to free speech, they defend politicians’ so-called personality rights against free speech, supporting the two Justices’ view that the line should be drawn as it is in Canada, for instance, which is to pave the way to a political class forming a protected political cartel. This betrays Reclaim the Net’s conservative militancy, that is, their alignment with party politics. As it is observed that the media environment is biased towards the Democratic party and against the Republican party, the two Justices think that aligning libel law with all other western democracies’ practice (with their political cartels) will allow Republican politicians to respond to smear campaigns (as if such campaigns were really detrimental to them, to begin with, rather than the opposite). To make a long story short: this will Canadize (Canada-ize) the USA. (But as I said already time and again hostility to free speech is universal among professional politicians: this statement is my contribution to political SCIENCE.)
(One more thing: When you will have Canadized USA through libel law, it will only be a matter a time before USA adopts hate speech laws Canada-wise and alternative social platforms will be no more.)
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Irrevocable Laws
Canada marching towards tyranny as move to criminalize dissenting speech moves closer to reality. (Natural News)
Hate speech is already a crime in Canada and has been for decades. Therefore, Canada is not “moving to criminalize dissenting speech,” as if it did not exist already in the country.
“The proposed legislation by the Justice Department of Canada would tamp down on hate speech by adding language to the Canadian Human Rights Act and Canadian criminal code to try to clarify the definition of hate speech.”
We’re talking of a mere “clarification” of the definition of hate speech. – Opponents to this “clarification” are not opposed to hate speech legislation, quite the contrary: “This bill will not target hate speech – just ensure bureaucrats in Ottawa are bogged down with frivolous complaints about tweets,” Rob Moore, the Conservative Party’s Shadow Minister for Justice and Attorney General of Canada, noted.” Canadian conservative opposition feels the clarification of the definition of hate speech will not target hate speech and therefore it is bad. For them criminalization of hate speech is GOOD. And they’re the opposition!
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Two “Western Democracies’’ Worlds Apart
Tennessee mayor powerless to remove ‘vile’ anti-Biden flag.
The flag, which says, “(expletive) Biden and (expletive) you for voting for him,” was propped up at least a month ago at a home in Munford.
Mayor Dwayne Cole said the city attorney looked into the matter and, despite the wave of complaints, determined that the homeowner is within his rights to fly the flag. (Washington Examiner, July 4, 2021)
Compare:
Une jeune femme interpellée à Toulouse pour une banderole “Macronavirus” dans son jardin. La police l’a placée en garde à vue pour « outrage », avant de la relâcher, indique son avocate. Mediapart fait état de plusieurs interventions policières en France pour des affaires de ce genre.
Les résidents ont obtempéré à la demande de décrochage, mais les policiers sont revenus le lendemain remettre une convocation à l’une d’entre eux. (Sud Ouest, April 24, 2020)
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‘’If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither the judge nor jury. Therefore, what he must be taught to fear is his victim.’’ (Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper USMC [United States Marine Corps])
« Réduire la criminalité, seule la victime potentielle peut le faire. Le criminel n’a pas peur de la police, du juge ni d’un jury. Aussi, ce dont il doit apprendre à avoir peur, c’est de sa victime. » (Lieut. col. Jeff Cooper [1920-2006])
Tout le reste est État policier.
