Wiley: Posthumanism – Pramod K. Nayar

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This timely book examines the rise of posthumanism as both a material condition and a developing philosophical-ethical project in the age of cloning, gene engineering, organ transplants and implants.

Nayar first maps the political and philosophical critiques of traditional humanism, revealing its exclusionary and speciesist politics that position the human as a distinctive and dominant life form. He then contextualizes the posthumanist vision which, drawing upon biomedical, engineering and techno-scientific studies, concludes that human consciousness is shaped by its co-evolution with other life forms, and our human form inescapably influenced by tools and technology. Finally the book explores posthumanisms roots in disability studies, animal studies and bioethics to underscore the constructed nature of normalcy in bodies, and the singularity of species and life itself.

As this book powerfully demonstrates, posthumanism marks a radical reassessment of the human as constituted by symbiosis, assimilation, difference and dependence upon and with other species. Mapping the terrain of these far-reaching debates, Posthumanism will be an invaluable companion to students of cultural studies and modern and contemporary literature.

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Wiley: Posthumanism - Pramod K. Nayar

The Occult Roots of Modernism – The New Yorker

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In the Paris of the early eighteen-nineties, at the height of the Decadence, the man of the moment was the novelist, art critic, and would-be guru Josphin Pladan, who named himself Le Sr, after the ancient Akkadian word for king. He went about in a flowing white cloak, an azure jacket, a lace ruff, and an Astrakhan hat, which, in conjunction with his bushy head of hair and double-pointed beard, gave him the aspect of a Middle Eastern potentate. He was in the midst of writing a twenty-one-volume cycle of novels, titled La Dcadence Latine, which follows the fantastical adventures of various enchanters, adepts, femmes fatales, androgynes, and other enemies of the ordinary. His bibliography also includes literary tracts, explications of Wagnerian mythology, and a self-help tome called How One Becomes a Magus. He let it be known that he had completed the syllabus. He informed Flix Faure, the President of the Republic, that he had the gift of seeing and hearing at the greatest distances, useful in controlling enemy councils and suppressing espionage. He began one lecture by saying, People of Nmes, I have only to pronounce a certain formula for the earth to open and swallow you all. In 1890, he established the Order of the Catholic Rose + Croix of the Temple and the Grail, one of a number of end-of-century sects that purported to revive lost arts of magic. The peak of his fame arrived in 1892, when he launched an annual art exhibition called the Salon de la Rose + Croix, which embraced the Symbolist movement, with an emphasis on its more eldritch guises. Thousands of visitors passed through, uncertain whether they were witnessing a colossal breakthrough or a monumental joke.

The spell wore off quickly. At the time of Pladans death, in 1918, he was already seen as an absurd relic of a receding age. He is now known mainly to scholars of Symbolism, connoisseurs of the occult, and devotees of the music of Erik Satie. (I first encountered Pladan in connection with Saties unearthly 1891 score Le Fils des toiles, or The Son of the Stars; it was written for Pladans play of that title, which is set in Chaldea in 3500 B.C.) His contemporary Joris-Karl Huysmans remains a cult figureAgainst the Grain, Huysmanss 1884 novel, is still read as a primer of the Decadent aestheticbut none of Pladans novels have been translated into English. So when an exhibition entitled Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose + Croix in Paris, 1892-1897 opens at the Guggenheim Museum, on June 30th, most visitors will be entering unknown territory. The show occupies one of the tower galleries, in rooms painted oxblood red, with furniture of midnight-blue velvet. On the walls, the Holy Grail glows, demonic angels hover, women radiate saintliness or lust. The dark kitsch of the fin de sicle beckons.

For all the faded creepiness, the moment is worth revisiting, because mystics like Pladan prepared the ground for the modernist revolution of the early twentieth century. John Bramble, in his 2015 book, Modernism and the Occult, writes that the Salon de la Rose + Croix was the first attempt at a (semi-)internationalist religion of modern artan aesthetic order with Pladan as high priest. In the years that followed, radical artistic thinking and obscure spiritual strivings intersected in everything from Kandinskys abstractions to Eliots The Waste Land and the atonal music of Schoenberg. In Yeatss The Second Coming, the rough beast that slouches toward Bethlehem, half man and half lion, is no metaphor. Classic accounts of modernism tended to repress such influences, often out of intellectual discomfort. In recent decades, though, fin-de-sicle mysticism has returned to scholarly vogue. In 1917, Max Weber said that the rationalization of Western society had brought about the disenchantment of the world. Pladan, and those who took up his mantle, wished to enchant it once again.

The occult mania that crested in the decades before the First World War had been intensifying throughout the nineteenth century. Its manifestations included Theosophy, Spiritism, Swedenborgianism, Mesmerism, Martinism, and Kabbalismelaborations of arcane rituals that had been cast aside in a secular, materialist age. Reinventions or fabrications of medieval sects proliferated: the Knights Templar, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (the habitat of Yeats), and various Rosicrucian orders. Pladan belonged to the Rosicrucians, who, following sixteenth-century tracts of dubious authenticity, believed in alchemy, necromancy, and other dark arts. The more lite these groups became, the more they were prone to furious doctrinal disputes. In 1887, a feud broke out in Paris between Stanislas de Guata, of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose + Croix, and Joseph Boullan, a defrocked priest who was rumored to have sacrificed his own child during a Black Mass. When Boullan died, in 1893, Huysmans accused Guata and Pladan of having killed him with black magic. In Huysmanss 1891 novel, L-bas, a character observes, From exalted mysticism to raging Satanism is but a step.

Pladan was born in Lyon, in 1858, into a family steeped in esoteric tendencies. His father, Louis-Adrien, was a conservative Catholic writer who tried to start a Cult of the Wound of the Left Shoulder of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Pladans older brother, Adrien, was the author of a medical text proposing that the brain subsists on unused sperm that takes the form of vital fluid. When Adrien died prematurely, of accidental strychnine poisoning, his brother perpetuated his ideas, suggesting that the intellect can thrive only when the sexual impulse is suppressed. The political views of the Pladans were thoroughly reactionary; they disdained democracy and called for the restoration of the monarchy. Pladan differed from many other occultists in insisting that his Rosicrucian rhetoric was an extension of authentic Catholic doctrine, which Church institutions had neglected.

He made his name first as an art critic, railing against naturalism and Impressionism, both of which he considered banal. I believe in the Ideal, in Tradition, in Hierarchy, he declared. His model artist was Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, who rendered neoclassical subjects in a self-consciously archaic style, flattening perspectives and whitening colors. What he paints has neither place nor time, Pladan wrote. It is from everywhere and always. Yet he also had a taste for lurid, graphic imagery: the eerily glittering Salom pictures of Gustave Moreau, the diabolical caricatures of Flicien Rops. Pladan singled out for praise Ropss Les Sataniques, a series of etchings depicting visibly aroused demons penetrating and killing women. Pladans pendulum swings between piety and depravity were characteristic of his milieu, although in his case the oscillation was particularly extreme.

Rops provided frontispieces for several of the Dcadence Latine novels, which began appearing in 1884. The Victory of the Husband, from 1889, is typical of the cycle, alternating between the lascivious and the ludicrous. The novel recounts the love of Izel and Adar: she, the adopted daughter of a wealthy Avignon priest; he, a young genius who defies the stupidity of the age. They are married, and honeymoon at the Wagner festival in Bayreuth. (Pladan had gone there in 1888, and was overwhelmed.) At a performance of Tristan und Isolde, Izel and Adar cannot restrain themselves and begin making lovea feat that will impress anyone who has endured Bayreuths hard-backed seats. Tristan! Isolde! the lovers cry onstage. Adar! Izel! the lovers murmur in the audience, possibly to the irritation of their neighbors. But they clash on the question of Parsifal, Wagners final opera. For Izel, it is too chaste, sweet, and calm; for Adar, it opens the door to a new mystic consciousness, to the realm of the Holy Grail. He goes to study with a sinister Nuremberg sorcerer named Doctor Sexthental, and drifts away from his bride. Sexthental, sensing an opportunity, projects himself astrally into Izels chambers, in the form of an incubus. The initiate defeats this incursion, but marital strife persists. Adar must renounce his powersI resign the august pentacle of the macrocosmto regain Izels love.

That tale is tame next to The Androgyne and The Gynander, both from 1891, in which Pladan delves into the world of same-sex love. The first depicts the coming-of-age of a feminine boy who seems destined to be gaymale classmates vie for himbut who escapes those desires by engaging in bouts of mutual exhibitionism with a mannish maiden. In the second novel, another androgyne, Tammuz, explores the lesbian underworld. He converts dozens of gynandersPladans preferred term for lesbiansto heterosexuality after he magically generates replicas of himself. As an orchestra plays Wagner, the women fall to worshipping a giant phallus. Even as gender roles are subverted, the dominance of the male is maintained: like so many male artists of his day, Pladan was profoundly misogynist. Man puppet of woman, woman puppet of the devil was one of his most widely quoted slogans.

In any other society, such material would have been unpublishable, but Pladan sparked little outrage in an environment that had assimilated Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Huysmans. Among impressionable youth, he had an appeal somewhat comparable to that of H. P. Lovecraft. Writers as various as Paul Valry, Andr Gide, Andr Breton, and Louis-Ferdinand Cline read him with fascination, as did Le Corbusier. Verlaine generously summarized him as a man of considerable talent, eloquent, often profound... bizarre but of great distinction. Max Nordau, in his 1892 book, Degeneration, a mocking survey of fin-de-sicle culture, shows a soft spot for Pladan, declaring that the conscious factor in him knows that [mysticism] is all nonsense, but it finds artistic pleasure in it, and permits the unconscious life to do as it pleases. This is probably as strong a defense of Pladans writing as can be mounted.

The catalogue for the Guggenheims Mystical Symbolism show, which was curated by Vivien Greene, spends little time on Pladans literary career, focussing instead on his activities as an impresario. In the lead essay, Greene argues that Pladans flamboyant manifestos and mixed-media happenings anticipated avant-garde trends of the following centurynotably, the conception of the exhibition venue as a space for multidisciplinary performance and as an immersive aesthetic environment. The Salons de la Rose + Croix, which unfolded in various galleries and halls around Paris, were designed less to present a coherent group of artists than to demonstrate arts ability to transform the daily world. What Pladan took from Wagner, above all, was the idea that art could assume the functions of religion. The artist is a priest, a king, a magus, he proclaimed.

Pladan complicated his task by freighting the salons with often nonsensical regulations. He forbade history paintings, still-lifes, seascapes, all humorous things, and all representations of contemporary life, private or public. (Lest anyone miss the ban on naturalism, one poster for the salons showed a Perseus-like hero holding up the severed head of Zola.) Female artists were ostensibly excluded, following Magical law, although at least five women exhibited under pseudonymsamong them the poet and novelist Judith Gautier, who contributed a relief sculpture entitled Kundry, Rose of Hell. Furthermore, Pladan alienated several leading figures, including Puvis de Chavannes, by prematurely announcing their participation.

Still, a number of significant Symbolists joined Pladans solemn circus, because many of his principles accorded with their own. Back in the mid-eighteen-eighties, the Greek-born poet Jean Moras, who coined the term Symbolism, had renounced the depiction of concrete phenomena; Symbolist writers, he declared, gestured instead toward a primordial Idea, which could be conjured by pure sounds, densely convoluted sentences, and knowingly organized disorder. Michelle Facos and Thor Mednick, in their recent anthology The Symbolist Roots of Modern Art, observe that the Symbolists undermined conventional modes of representation in an effort to access the divine directly.

The most renowned member of the Rose + Croix group was the Belgian painter Fernand Khnopff, whom Pladan hailed as the great argument of my thesis, in defense of the ideal. Khnopff was an artist of exacting technique who emulated the severity of the old Flemish masters and the cool sensualism of the Pre-Raphaelites. In the eighties, he fell under Pladans sway and gravitated toward Symbolist fantasy. His best-known work, The Caresses, is inspired by Pladans play Oedipus and the Sphinx: a lithe, androgynous lad snuggles with a creature who has a Pre-Raphaelite head and a cheetahs body. The Sphinx clearly is in control, yet her domination is gentle: femme-fatale imagery is edging into a more nuanced mode.

The Guggenheim is displaying Khnopffs I Lock My Door Upon Myself, which takes its title from Christina Rossettis poem Who Shall Deliver Me? A pale, auburn-haired woman gazes fixedly at the viewer, surrounded by a proto-Surrealist array of objects: stalks of orange daylilies in the foreground; an arrow resting on a draped table; a bust of Hypnos on a shelf; a window giving a view of a black-shrouded figure on an empty streetan image that could itself be mistaken for a painting. At first glance, the work gives a feeling of confinement: the woman appears to be trapped in the artists cluster of symbols. But Khnopff seems more sympathetic to his female subject than is usually the case in Symbolist art. This cryptic space may be a room of her own, a private world of the imagination.

Pladan also deserves credit for giving early attention to the great Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler. The Disappointed Souls, a Hodler canvas included in the Guggenheim show, is a study in male dejection: five weathered, barefoot men stare downward, two with their heads buried in their hands, the middle one with his emaciated upper body exposed. The hieratic manner and pale color scheme recall Puvis de Chavannes, yet the imagery is rougher and starker, hinting at the interior desolation of Expressionism.

Perhaps the ultimate Rose + Croix painter is another Belgian, Jean Delville, who shared the diseased opulence of Pladans aesthetic. A drawing titled The Idol of Perversity offers a narrow-eyed Medusa-like woman with a snake writhing out of her breasts. In The Death of Orpheus, the musicians severed head rests on his lyre, floating down a greenish river in which the twinkling of stars is reflected. When I first saw this canvas, on a visit to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, in Brussels, it sent me into an uncomfortable trance: the serenity of the painted surface pulled me in as the horror of the subject pushed me away. Precisely because so much Symbolist art seems dated at first glance, it retains its capacity to shock.

Music was integral to the multimedia conception of the Rose + Croix, although several performances that Pladan planned in conjunction with the inaugural salon ran into difficulties. The opening ceremonies were to have included a Solemn Mass of the Holy Spirit, at St.-Germain lAuxerrois, with excerpts from Parsifal on the organ. Wary clerics withheld permission, on the ground that Wagner was Protestant. A later Wagner concert fell victim to a fracas between Pladan and his former financial supporter, Antoine de La Rochefoucauld. While an orchestra was playing the Siegfried Idyll, an ally of Pladans, ineffectively disguised by a fake beard, shouted that La Rochefoucauld was a felon, a coward, a thief. The heckler was ejected, causing a glass door to shatter and the musicians to fall silent.

Pladans collaboration with Satie, who was then in his twenties, was rooted in the bohemia of Montmartre, where both men cut vivid profiles. Satie was best known as a pianist at the Chat Noir and the Auberge de Clou cabarets; in 1888, he composed his trio of pensively dancing Gymnopdies. He heralded a new simplicitymusic without sauerkrautin defiance of Wagnerian grandeur. He was also an incorrigible ironist who festooned his scores with unperformable instructions. (Arm yourself with clairvoyance, Open your head.) Such exquisite pranks seem far removed from the dark-velvet world of Pladan, yet Satie, too, shared in the mystical preoccupations of his generation. His unadorned sonic textures, often based on Greek modes and Gregorian chant, can have the quality of cryptic icons.

The play Le Fils des toiles, which elicited Saties most striking Rosicrucian score, follows a young shepherd-poet as he is initiated as a magus. The prelude to Act I begins with an astonishing sequence of six-note chords, consisting of stacked intervals of the fourth, with a tritone thrown in for good measure. Although these chords are built on a simple chantlike melody, they are essentially atonal. Saties score, written more than fifteen years in advance of Schoenbergs first atonal works, subsequently reverts to a more conventional language, but the fabric of harmony has been rent. This time, the composer gives no sign that he is joking: the opening is marked white and motionless.

The Dawn of Labor (LAurore du Travail), by Charles Maurin, circa 1891.

After the first salon, Satie broke with Pladan and, in the schismatic fashion of the day, established a private cult, the Metropolitan Church of the Art of Jsus Conducteur, from whose pulpit he issued edicts and anathemas in an apparent parody of Pladans style. (I must raise My hand to overthrow the oppressors of the Church and the Art.) The reasons for the split are unknown; perhaps Saties score for Le Fils des toiles was too peculiar even for Pladans recondite taste, or, possibly, Satie decided that his reputation would be better served if he suspended ties with such a controversial figure. Whatever Saties calculations, he soon sank back into obscurity; only in the second decade of the twentieth century would Maurice Ravel spark a Satie revival by hailing him as a model of anti-Romantic style.

In the mid-twentieth century, Saties music mesmerized John Cage, who saw it as a challenge not merely to extant harmony but to the very idea of musical form. Cage took a special liking to a short, gnomic, harmonically directionless 1893 piece called Vexations, at the beginning of which Satie wrote, To play this motif eight hundred forty times in a row, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, through serious immobilities. In 1963, Cage took that instruction at face value, organizing an epic performance in which a rotating team of pianists repeated Vexations for nearly nineteen hours. Because Vexations belongs to Saties Rosicrucian period, the Guggenheim will stage its own daylong marathon, in September. Having attended a Vexations event some years back, I can advise prospective listeners that they may experience hallucinations of the Sphinx before the performance is done.

Before Pladan vanished from cultural memory, he received a couple of respectful nods from rising giants of modernism. In 1906, Ezra Pound embraced Pladans idea that the medieval troubadour tradition was a repository of hermetic wisdom. And in 1910 Vasily Kandinsky cited Pladan in his manifesto On the Spiritual in Art: The artist is a king, as Pladan says, not only because he has great power, but also because his responsibility is great. That sentence, oddly prophetic of the Spider-Man comic books, is evidence of occultisms lingering reverberations. Kenneth Silver expands on the connection in a thought-provoking essay in the Mystical Symbolism catalogue, entitled Afterlife: The Important and Sometimes Embarrassing Links between Occultism and the Development of Abstract Art, ca. 1909-13. The word embarrassing is taken from the art theorist Rosalind Krauss, who wrote, in 1979, that now we find it indescribably embarrassing to mention art and spirit in the same sentence. Yet in the early twentieth century Kandinsky, Pound, and other modernists absorbed what Silver calls an amalgam of spiritual sourcesChristian, Hindu, Buddhist, kabbalistic, alchemical, and just plain wacky. Assuming the pose of a sorcerer or guru emboldened more than a few artists and writers in their quest to explode tradition and create a new order.

Pladan had little direct impact on early modernism: instead, the dominant force was Theosophy, the half-visionary, half-spurious movement that Helena Blavatsky and others launched in New York in 1875. Blavatsky devoured Rosicrucian texts and related Christian esoterica, and combined their ideas with influences from the East. She notoriously claimed to be communicating with eternal Indian Masters. Such hocus-pocus did not prevent the likes of Kandinsky from appreciating the vigor of Theosophys assault on materialism in the name of higher truth. Kandinskys controlled explosions of color bear a striking resemblance to images that appear in Thought-Forms, a standard Theosophical text. His paintings can be viewed as opaque sacred emblems, conduits of spiritual revolution. Silver sees similar tendencies in the work of Marcel Duchamp, Kazimir Malevich, Hilma af Klint, and Piet Mondrian. I got everything from the Secret Doctrine (Blavatsky), Mondrian wrote, in 1918.

Although Yeats is the exemplary case among occult-oriented modernist writers, T. S. Eliot also deserves a glance. After Eliot converted to Anglo-Catholicism, in the late twenties, he chastised Yeats for having resorted to a highly sophisticated lower mythology of supernatural lore. Yet The Waste Land begins with a clutter of Decadent elements: quotations from Tristan und Isolde, allusions to Verlaine and Mallarm, chatter about tarot cards and sances, intimations of vegetation cults. The poem ends with an Easternized version of a Grail Quest, culminating in a final chant of shantih shantih shantih . Latter-day readings of the poem tend to see Eliots intent as satirical, but, as Leon Surette has suggested, the poem has the feeling of an initiation ritual, in the course of which the poet attains mastery of all religious traditions.

Fin-de-sicle spiritualism also had a radicalizing effect on music: Le Fils des toiles was only the beginning. In the first decade of the century, Alexander Scriabin reached the border of atonality under the influence of Theosophy; he devised an ear-burning, six-note mystic chord that voices a hitherto ineffable divine presence. Jean Delville supplied an image of a sun deity for the cover of Scriabins sumptuously dissonant score Prometheus, Poem of Fire. As for Schoenberg, he was immersed in mystical texts at the time of his atonal leap: in terminology reminiscent of Pladan, he explained that whereas conventional major and minor chords resembled the opposition of the two genders his new chords could be compared to androgynous angels. Even the cool intellect of Igor Stravinsky was touched by theurgic energies: the neo-pagan scenario of The Rite of Spring was co-created by the Russian Symbolist painter Nicholas Roerich, who went on to have a spectacularly strange career as a Theosophical sage.

In the wake of two catastrophic world wars, mysticism lost its lustre. The ecstatic liturgies of the fin de sicle rang false, and a rite of objectivity took hold. The supernatural was all but expunged from modernisms origin story: the great Irish-literature scholar Richard Ellmann insisted that Yeats employed arcane symbols for their artistic, not their occult, utility. In the narrative that so many of us learned in school, the upheavals of the modernist epoch were, above all, formal developments, autonomous events within each discipline. Clement Greenberg spoke of paintings progressive surrender to the resistance of its medium; Theodor W. Adorno, of the inherent tendency of the musical material. Such sober formulas fail to capture the roiling transcendental longings of a Kandinsky or a Schoenberg.

Hence the disreputable allure of Pladan, who dared to speak aloud what usually remains implicit in the aesthetic sphere: belief in the artists alchemical power, in the godlike nature of creation, in the oracular quality of genius. (Think of how often prewar Expressionism is said to have anticipated the horrors to come, as if artists were clairvoyant.) The question we want to ask a figure like Pladan is whether or not he meant what he saidwhether, in essence, he was a lunatic or a charlatan. Robert Duncan wrote a poem about the relationship between Satie and the silly old man Pladan, in which he imagines the composer asking:

Is there a place for such posing

to be containd? for even

fakes of God to touch

some youthful trembling at the edge of God?

Such questions presuppose a clean line of demarcation between the real and the fake, and in matters of the spirit that line can never be fixed. In a sublimely daft portrait by Delville, Pladan hovers before us in priestly white garb, his eyes rolled back, his index finger pointing heavenward. He is the failed prophet of a nonexistent faith. Nonetheless, his conviction is unnerving. Entire religions, entire empires, have been founded on much less.

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The Occult Roots of Modernism - The New Yorker

Ten years in jail and 1000 lashes: why we must defend Saudi blogger Raif Badawi – The Guardian

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Amnesty International protesters in front of the Saudi Embassy in London. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

It was the fifth anniversary yesterday of the arrest of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, whose supposed crime was to argue for secularism, democracy and human rights. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes a punishment that amounts to death by torture although only 50 lashes were inflicted on him in the one session. Medical opinion was that he would not survive the remainder of that part of his sentence.

His cause has been taken up by humanist organisations, as well as by Amnesty International. He has been honoured with the EUs Sakharov prize. Even Prince Charles raised his case on a visit to Saudi Arabia. We may be sure that neither Theresa May nor Donald Trump would do so. It is one thing to coat huge arms deals in the rhetoric of defending western freedoms, but quite another to risk any of the profits for the sake of a Saudi man who wished to enjoy those same freedoms.

The Badawi case is illuminating about the nature of the Saudi regime and the ideas that it understands as an existential threat. These include Badawis brisk dismissal of the role of Islam in public life: No religion at all has any connection to mankinds civic progress the codes governing the administration of the state can hardly be derived from religion. Such ideas are obviously incompatible with the practice of theocracy. And perhaps they are so strange to the Saudi authorities that they cant be taken seriously after all, those convicted of sorcery in the kingdom are beheaded, whereas Badawi may survive his sentence, given enough attention and support from the outside world.

It is, of course, the Saudi regime that is chiefly responsible for his suffering, and that has the power to release him, but the case also suggests how hollow are western commitments to so-called western values. Badawi believes in democracy, rationalism and freedom of speech. These are all ideas we are supposed to promote and applaud, but in places where their exercise is costly we are mostly silent.

I suppose the Saudis might defend their repressive state by pointing to the horrors that have engulfed Iraq and Syria to their north and even Yemen to their south. But in all those cases, and especially in Yemen, the repressive Saudi state has itself been a destabilising factor for its neighbours.

There isnt a clean or simple answer to the appalling horrors of the Middle East. If the Saudi theocracy falls, as it eventually must, what comes after wont be a tranquil, secular democracy. Nonetheless, we owe it to Badawi to support and honour his courage with as little self-righteousness as we can possibly manage. At its root, the idea of human rights means that there are some things that it is wrong to do to any human being, and the punishment to which he was unjustly sentenced is one of them.

The rest is here:

Ten years in jail and 1000 lashes: why we must defend Saudi blogger Raif Badawi - The Guardian

Osman Samiuddin: Pakistan, the Improbables – ESPN – ESPN

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Improbability, like Rome, isn't built in a day. You don't suddenly up and arrive at a situation of no hope, thinking: "Well, no hope here." No, if an achievement that was once probable has now become improbable, then it stands to reason that there was a journey, and it must, by definition, have been a dispiriting one. To understand that something is now improbable is to acknowledge that each moment on that road would have sapped the soul a little. This could be done. Now, no way. With each step forward, eyes would have opened wider. The destination would have begun to take clearer shape. And anger would have grown as it approached.

Why are things so bad? Why are we coming here? Why is nobody stopping this? And then, when the destination is clear, the anger would have bubbled over, not burning like fire but flowing like lava. That point, at the end of the road, represents the final defeat of the spirit: from there, very little is probable. Almost everything is improbable and the only difference is in the degree.

The improbability of Pakistan's Champions Trophy triumph (I watched it, slept and woke up, and it still happened) began, in earnest, two years ago. Actually it began many years ago, but right after the 2015 World Cup was when it escalated. In that tournament, Pakistan were showing clear signs of lagging. After it, as the game went boldly forth, Pakistan meekly retreated. They made Azhar Ali the captain, and though it wasn't on him entirely, they looked like a side that didn't know the 1990s were over.

At first, the batting appeared to be the issue. Good sides were making 350 for fun, and Pakistan were happy with 300. In England last year, they made 260, 251, 275, 247 and 304; in Australia this year they made 176, 221, 263, 267 and 312. Too many dot balls, 270-degree batting, and no power-hitters; in the time of Tinder, Pakistan were a bricks-and-mortar marriage bureau.

The real kicker was that their bowling became outdated. Once every four games, they were taken for over 300, and usually it wasn't just over but well past it: in the last two years Pakistan conceded 329, 334, 368, 355, 444, 353, 369 and 319. There was no diversity, no personality. The spinners were not Saeed Ajmal. The fast bowlers were not express. They did little with the new ball, less through the middle, and the less said about the death the better.

You don't need to be told about the fielding.

When they dumped Azhar as captain and put Sarfraz Ahmed in his place, it was two series too late and two years too late. They came into the Champions Trophy ranked eighth, thanks mostly to a bit of manipulative scheduling. And the ranking flattered them. It had taken two years - or 20 - but anything beyond a group-stage exit was highly improbable, if not out of the question.

****

Six years ago, jolted by an improbable Pakistan victory against Sri Lanka in Sharjah, I determined to write a bigger piece on the nature of the win. Sri Lanka were 155 for 3, coasting to a target of 201, until suddenly they weren't. Pakistan, I felt that night, had done this too many times for it not to mean something. Of course it meant something, and what's more, it warranted deeper study.

I went wide rather than deep, though, drawing on Sufism, pop culture, sports psychology, Qawwali, reverse swing, and politics to produce a kind of loose thesis: what happened in these moments in matches, on days and even over entire tournaments when Pakistan did the improbable, was the appearance of Haal - the ecstatic state of being in which, as Idries Shah explained in his book Oriental Magic, "Sufis are believed to be able to overcome all barriers of time, space and thought. They are able to cause apparently impossible things to happen merely because they are no longer confined by the barriers which exist for more ordinary people." This Haal - it created something special, a synchronicity between the team, the spectacle in that state, and the observer, also within the trance.

Truth be told, as the years have passed I have become a little embarrassed by the article. Partly it is because I can see holes in it I wish I had filled. But as Pakistan struggled to regularly produce such moments, I have seen it as, at best, a jinx, and at worst an absolute fantasy. One commenter on the piece said it was, "Orientalism at its best", and it still stings because, you know what, there is truth to it. I justified it by saying it was an exploration of a very personal sensation.

But I can't deny that the further I have got from it, the greater the sense of guilt that I overlooked a more rational, analytical way of understanding Pakistan. One of the ways of growing older is to cede to rationalism: resigning to the truth that there is, sadly, reason behind everything. It just needs to be found. This happens because that happened, and we can measure and explain - and not just feel - this as well as that. One of the best things to have happened to cricket in recent years is that it has been opened up to rigorous analytical and data-based scrutiny. That has peeled off a layer, allowing a changed understanding of each game, contest, even each ball.

I haven't fully embraced it, but I don't deny it. I understand it underpins everything and for explanations, it must be the first recourse. If it hasn't already, science, reason and data will one day render Haal redundant as theory.

****

Pakistan have deserved better than to be further enshrouded inside mysteries and riddles, bouncing between states of Haal and otherwise, to be the subject of lazy stereotyping. They are not magicians or Sufis. They are professional athletes.

One of the truest joys of the Misbah-ul-Haq era was that on the occasions Pakistan did pull off the improbable, Misbah was there to tell you exactly why it happened. And he would tell you that some inexplicable, elemental force had not seized the day, but that his side had planned this, off and on the field.

So I'm here to tell you, and myself, that there is a reason for this Pakistan win, the mightiest of which is that they bowled their way to it. Break it down to how they have fought off a modern trend by attacking it and exposing it for what it is. The middle overs are no longer the stretch where batting takes stock and sets itself up for a final ten-over tilt. The middle is the tilt, especially between overs 30 and 40, where power-hitters have begun to take games away.

Pakistan called this bluff. What happens if we attack, with our lengths, fields and skills? If we get wickets, will you blink first? They have been happy to bowl softer overs up front, and then attack when batsmen are set to attack. This ten-over stretch is where Pakistan cut sides off: taking eight wickets while conceding just 3.53 per over. That rate is nearly a run better than all other sides. Other than a few overs from Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan used their fast bowlers and legspinner: Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan.

The return of Hafeez as bowler has been a safety net, but they've been smart about that. He bowled 18 overs against South Africa and England, but just six against India and Sri Lanka. And Shadab, with turn both ways, has been a game-changing find: the wicket-taking option that coach Mickey Arthur so dearly wanted in the middle overs.

Then in two matches, against Sri Lanka and England, Pakistan got used pitches, slower and lower, which they would have been familiar with. Still, familiarity doesn't mean adeptness - in the UAE, on similar tracks, they have lost six of their last eight bilateral series.

They also got to bowl first in four games out of five, and by getting sides out cheaply in three, their batting orders made sense. No Pakistan batsman has worked harder to expand and develop his game than Azhar Ali, in Tests but especially in ODIs. He may still not be the ODI opener for this age, but he was perfect for Pakistan's plans: if you bowl sides out cheaply, Azhar is exactly the kind of opener Pakistan - as nervy, awkward and neurotic at chases as Woody Allen, without any of the intelligence - need. An unlikely hero of this campaign sure, but not an inexplicable one.

So far, so reasonable, which is about as far as I can take it.

Here's a list, on the other hand, of things I'm having trouble explaining in full, or at all.

1. If it was the bowling that won it, then how? Because by no metric has it been good since the 2015 World Cup. In matches where they bowled first, Pakistan's average between overs 11-40 was the worst (53.68) of all teams, including Zimbabwe, and their economy fourth worst. They took the fewest wickets per innings. Between overs 30 and 40, their average put them ahead of only Ireland, Scotland and Papua New Guinea, and economy ahead of Sri Lanka and Scotland. In two weeks they have gone from being among the worst for two years to being the best. Light switches take more time.

Wahab Riaz was their first-choice third seamer. Junaid didn't start because in the six matches since he returned in January, he'd gone at 6.45 an over and averaged 42. Rumman Raees, palpably the kind of bowler Pakistan have needed in limited-overs cricket, was not even in the squad.

Wahab's injury, unforeseen, set into motion a chain of events that led to Junaid ending as the Champions Trophy's third highest wicket-taker, and Raees' ice-cool and incisive debut in the semi-final.

2. I can partially explain Fakhar Zaman, in that nobody in Pakistan said abracadabra and out he came (no one ever does, not even Waqar Younis or Wasim Akram). He has been prominent in domestic cricket for a couple of seasons, as well as in the 2017 PSL.

But he was not their first-choice opener, because of Ahmed Shehzad. Pakistan went to Zaman only in desperation, having convinced themselves for the umpteenth - and probably not last - time that they were done with Shehzad. And he was debuting, so yeah, go figure, 252 runs - sixth-highest in the tournament - and runs against three of the world's best sides.

While there, let me know how it is that a domestic limited-overs set-up as archaic as Pakistan's produced a batsman with the highest strike rate in this global tournament (of the top 20 run-scorers)? Higher than Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Virat Kohli, David Warner, Aaron Finch, David Miller, Martin Guptill, Quinton de Kock: true LOLs for the irrationals.

3. Three players debuted for Pakistan in this tournament. No other side had even one debutant. Imagine thrusting one into the world's sharpest tournament. Three? And each of the three contributed a defining moment. I can stretch reason to its tether, and offer the PSL as some kind of explanation for the readiness of Raees and Zaman. Faheem Ashraf has never played the PSL. You may never hear of him again, yet try and erase his imprint - that Dinesh Chandimal wicket.

4. I find no rationale for the two chances in six Lasith Malinga balls granted to Sarfraz. I can try - the dolly to Thisara Perera may have swerved a touch (I could be totally wrong, imagining a light breeze of destiny). And the Seekkuge Prasanna drop happens, especially to a side fielding as poorly as Sri Lanka. To be granted luck twice is no big deal. To be granted it twice in such quick succession is about credible too. For it to arrive when it mattered most, when this was literally the wicket that would have ended the game and Pakistan's tournament? I'll leave it there.

And then, in chronological order, events of the final, which means Jasprit Bumrah's no-ball first, off his ninth ball of the day. There is a reasonable explanation. Bumrah is not a surprising culprit. He has 11 no-balls in 16 ODIs, which in the age of free hits is like pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. It is a commitment to waste. In this tournament he had bowled just one until then. But it was Zaman, the one man more than any other Pakistan would have wanted to be the beneficiary of such fortune (just as later he was the more important partner who wasn't run out).

Then, 338. Casually they strolled to their highest 50-over total since the 2015 World Cup (excluding games against Zimbabwe). In the final of a global event, against India, who even if they did have a bad day, have only needed to be inked down by the ICC as an opponent for Pakistan to have already lost. I'll take no recourse to reason here, none whatsoever.

Especially because the innings formed in such a way it meant demoting Hafeez and delaying his entry until the 40th over. Neither Pakistan nor Hafeez like that. And yet, in a small sample since 2010, of 14 innings, his strike rate in the death overs (before the final) was 8.63 per over. Out he came in the 40th, and did exactly what those numbers suggest he could. It was exactly the right thing to do and there's no suggestion Pakistan had planned it. It was the first time since January 2013 that Hafeez had batted outside the top four.

And where to seek reason in the mini-opera of Amir-Kohli? Amir's little skip of anticipation at the edge, cut short by Azhar's slow tumble and spill; the look on Amir's face, of instant death upon Azhar; Azhar flinging his cap. Buried. Gone. And then again, and Shadab Khan, of such conviction, at point, a little skip to his right and in. Alive. No, not alive, soaring.

Targeting Kohli's fourth stump is a tactic and the left-arm angle makes it more legit, but the world's best batsman, the most fearsome slayer of chases, twice in two balls, on this stage? Give me relief in numbers.

There is some. If the general feeling around Amir has been that he is somewhat dimmed from how we remember him, know that since his return, with a minimum cut-off of ten wickets, he has the joint-most wickets, the third-best average and best economy of bowlers in the first ten overs.

****

You could analyse and reason each of the above. I try, but I'm not even including Pakistan dropping at least six catches in five games and Ahmed Shehzad actually running someone out. And for all of this to have come together over the course of five games, four knockouts, in 14 days, I can't.

This may not be Haal and there may not be any such thing on a cricket field. If at all there is something from that article that remains striking, it is Waqar Younis talking about Pakistan locating a surge and then riding it for all its worth.

There is one other thing. I ended then by arguing that Pakistan make you - opponents and observers - submit to the world they create in these moments. I'm not saying this happened. But look around of what's left of this tournament. Look at how Pakistan took teams back to the 1990s and beat them. Look at the strength of feeling it has aroused around the world. Look at the incredulity that the improbability of it has borne. Listen over and over to Nasser Hussain's voice as he calls the Kohli dismissal.

I don't know what more to tell you.

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Osman Samiuddin: Pakistan, the Improbables - ESPN - ESPN

‘The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord’ now at Lantern Theater – Daily Local News

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The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens & Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord runs through July 9 at Lantern Theater, 10th and Ludlow streets in Philadelphia. For tickets call 215-829-0395 or go to http://www.lanterntheater.org

So youve worked closely with Americas most famous atheist for two decades and decide to write a play. What would you choose to dramatize?

Well, how about imagining three other equally famous men a deist, a Christian anarchist and a skeptic who leaned strongly towards Unitarianism who are locked in a room thats not Hell but is definitely on the Other Side and have them try to figure out why theyre there? Oh, and make the title really long so people will remember it!

After a life-threatening illness, Scott Carter (longtime producer and writer for the acerbic Bill Maher) started working on a play about spirituality and chose these men: Declaration of Independence author and former President Thomas Jefferson, Victorian literary superstar Charles Dickens and the passionate, irascible author of War and Peace Leo Tolstoy. In The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord (hereafter referred to as The Gospel) we are treated to a delightful character study of three extraordinary men thinly disguised as a philosophical debate about faith.

The play begins as the three men are thrust into a white walled room with a door that locks behind them, a table, three chairs and a mirror (the audience) as the fourth wall, a room that could easily be in the same neighborhood as the purgatorial bus stop C.S. Lewis created in his novel The Great Divorce. In Lewis book the recently deceased jostle and snarl at each other waiting for a celestial bus to take them to Heaven.

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But in this room, where Leo (Dont call me Count) Tolstoy says the free thinkers are trapped like three Jonahs in a whales belly the disputes are mostly intellectual. Naturally, they dont like being locked up and want to find a way out and on. As the three captives exchange their stories it becomes clear they all were drawn to the original teachings of Jesus, to the point where each man developed his own version of the Gospel.

In the table drawer they find blank journals and pens Someone obviously wants them to use. So they get to work creating a new Gospel and quickly discover that they cant agree on much of anything.

Jefferson was the rational deist who famously wrote, it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error. He believed in a Supreme Being but not in the Trinity. Dickens was a publicly devout skeptic who often criticized what he saw as religious extremism in Britain. Tolstoy in his later years became an unorthodox Christian who based his beliefs in Christs message of nonviolence.

Can the three geniuses work together to get out of their impasse? Remember that they are all writers. Carter ensures its great fun to watch them try by having each man reveal contradictions in his spirituality. Jefferson was the defender of rationalism and moral sense who couldnt give up the six hundred slaves that ran his beloved home Monticello, even after death. Dickens and Tolstoys ambivalence about the class system in their countries was reflected in their own shaky marriages.

Gregory Isaacs cool veneer of self-confidence and unquestioned leadership as Jefferson keeps the more emotional outbursts of Dickens (Brian McCann) and Tolstoy (Andrew Criss) in check (at least for a while). McCann, who was the conniving Roman tribune Menenius in Lanterns splendid production of Coriolanus this season pushes hard on Carters view of Dickens as a clever, conceited self-promoter. Hes the spark of the production and fun to watch but Dickens was surely a more complex character than this preening egomaniac who spends much of his time trying to get a reaction from the tightly wound and self-righteous Tolstoy.

Director James Ljames, ubiquitous on the local theater scene as playwright, director and actor has the latters appreciation for giving each character a chance for big and small moments that resonate. Despite the seemingly cramped conditions of this small room packed with so much self-regard, Ljames has choreographed the actors well and they parade around and onto the table and chairs in a small but boisterous ballet of braggadocio and big ideas.

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'The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord' now at Lantern Theater - Daily Local News

‘The Mummy’ Reminds Us To Step Back From The Abyss – The Federalist

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Tom Cruise is back with a summer blockbuster. The last of the Hollywood stars is trying hard to navigate a world in which franchises and sequels have replaced the Romanticism and elegance of yesteryear. The Mummy is nowhere near as good Jack Reacher was, nor Edge of tomorrow. But compared to its summer or blockbuster competition, it fares quite well. Its certainly far more thoughtful.

Blockbusters are what they are in our generation because they severed their connection with comedy. Instead, they are always circling the problem of evil and what could justify suffering and what redemption there might be for people in a cruel or indifferent world. Like it or not, entertainment is far more moralistic than it used to be and it only rarely achieves any moral depth or any insight into what might be evil about being who we are.

Mummy does have something to contribute to this, and its ancients vs. moderns structure and Americans vs. monsters plot are reliable allies. Director Alex Kurtzmann, with a fairly impressive resume for success, is unfortunately rampantly mediocre. Writer Chris McQuarrie is the real asset on the movie-making side. He once enjoyed Oscar prestige for The Usual Suspects, a film both overrated and misunderstood.

In the last decade, hes written for, directed, and produced five Tom Cruise movies including this one, with another one upcoming. Their partnership is about the only thing there is to be said for the serious claims of popular movies. A cinematic style, something almost forbidden in Hollywood, they certainly have going for them.

But they also find ways to work out strange insights that start from banal observations. First, The Mummy deals with a story caught somewhere in-between ancient mystery and horror. Well, this time, the mummy is a woman who murdered her royal family. What that is supposed to teach is that a certain kind of lovea desire to be approved and to be admiredcan turn against the very people who stir it.

The mummy in this sense is sterile individualism, which is derivative without knowing itself to be so. The very principle of giving birth is destroyed in this ancient mystery. The kind of love discussed turns out to be a death cult, really. In trying to move from the possible perpetuation of the species to the immortality of the individual, in trying to turn a beautiful image into a being powerful enough to be eternal, monsters are created.

This Mummy is like the Greek story about the man on whom eternal life is bestowed without the powers of youth. But it is far more than a warning story. The Mummy forces a comparison of modern scientific politics with the ancient science of Egypt. It explicitly compares the realism by which science rules our politicswho really believes the health imperative and the fear of death will be stopped when it comes to cloning human beings, for example?with human sacrifices in ancient politics.

It makes sense to sacrifice people when youre looking for power over life and death. But we tell ourselves our hands are clean both individually and as political communities. And if you think mummies gone for millennia are somehow a joke, well, how many tech-scientific prodigies in Silicon Valley, the princes of America, are freezing their own bodies cryogenically in hope of a future life? Not so funny when you think how much the two situations have in common Maybe abandoning Christianity is a bad idea, you see

The ground of our modernity is really Christianity. This is always rehearsed in movies about sacrificial salvation, redemptive acts, and attempts to put an end to the cycle of violence in nature and politics. Life has to be understood providentially to be anything but tragic. Hence the continuous competition in this story, and so many others, between a Christian and a pre-Christian view of immortality or divinity. In that sense, this kind of blockbuster does well to remind people of the moral stakes in heroism, which is not mere fun for Americansjust like it was not merely a good story for the Greeks thousands of years ago.

One element of the story is all-American. Everyone learns young from blockbusters what Tocqueville taught: In America, the head may fail, but the heart wont falter. When reason would surrender to chaos, faith will carry Americans forward, even if seemingly against their better judgment. Tom Cruise is a star in part because of his rare ability to speak up for democracy and inspire ithes always telling sidekicks its going to be okay, and he tries his hardest. His action movies are a model of stylish striving thats not barbaric or insane.

The problem here is political. The story starts with a view of the overriding principles of the American military in Iraq. Looting on the one hand, saving a culture on the other. These are standings for realism and idealism and about as stuck in caricature as American foreign policy debates. But they do show a failure to think about America beyond an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances. Giving a good account of striving at the national level is simply beyond Hollywood in our times.

The solution to this problem, this failure of political imagination, is the other element of the story: its romanticism. Tom Cruise is handsome enough to evoke that, even at 50. Whereas his democratic insistence on acting together with the other actors, as I mentioned above, tends to move the discussion from idolizing to idealizing, his beautiful face tends to distract people from the crisis of the action.

For the same reason, people become invested in his suffering and travails in an unusual way. He is a star in part because he is the only action movie guy who has a nearly inexhaustible attraction for the audience. He is a beloved, not a lover. The resolution of the plot is almost always going to be a turning around of the character from receiving love to offering lovein saving the day, hes returning the love of the audience. It goes without saying, this is remarkably rare in Hollywood, where beauty is more flattery than anything else.

Romanticism is supposed to offer a halfway house between the modern rationalism of the beginning, which has a counterpart in the monstrous rationalism of Dr. Jekyllevil is a disease to be cured scientificallyand the irrationalism of ancient splendor, which hides horrors like politics by human sacrifice. A mythology of sacrificial love will justify individuality while giving scope to powers simply dormant, if not endangered in the scientific-bureaucratic world we live in, which is incredibly safe and so incredibly boring that audiences flock to shows of chaos and destruction.

We need Tom Cruise, really, for that reason. We are tempted as audiences to turn to fascination with evil as a reaction to the world-hospital in which we, at some level, live. He helps audiences back away from the temptation to turn love into a death cult or dissatisfaction with our world into political paranoia. Love and war are still possible and make sense morally in this kind of story.

This is not to say The Mummy is not as much of a failure as more or less any blockbuster these days. People find it almost unacceptable to produce expensive movies with intelligent plotting, in fear that audiences wouldnt tolerate it. It sometimes seems that the way audiences declare their love for bad writing and thinking is a defiance of better stuffwhen audiences throw billions at rampant mediocrity, is there anyone who dares risk good writing and bet lots of money on it? But that does not do away with the insights into the audience of the blockbusters, and the fairly healthy pleasures this movie has to offer.

One hopes that the kind of talent one sees in front and behind the camera will see better use in their next collaboration on yet another Mission Impossible movie. Thats a series which attempts to bring a kind of reasonableness to political intrigueas this movie attempts to make mysteries a bit more reasonable. But thats a discussion for next year.

Titus Techera is a graduate student in political science and liberal arts, a Publius fellow, and a roving writer for Ricochet and National Review Online.

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'The Mummy' Reminds Us To Step Back From The Abyss - The Federalist

Megyn Kelly’s Interview with Infowars Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Shows Her Attempting a Near-Impossible Task – Newsweek

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The most devastating segment of Megyn Kellys interview with Alex Jones came at the end of Sunday nights episode of her new show. It involved neither the former Fox News host, nor the Infowars conspiracy theorist who was her guest, but rather the former newscaster Tom Brokaw.

Speaking with passion in a segment about hate on the internet, Brokaw savaged Jones (and others like him) as a singularly malicious presence on the Internet. He alluded to Joness longstanding claim that the 2012 murder of 20 children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was a hoax, one of several paranoid concoctions Jones has loudly hawked on his website, right alongside testosterone boosters and survival kits.

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Brokaw railed against the poisonous hate infecting the nation, an apparent reference to an alt-right ecosystem that has disseminated utterly unfounded rumors: that Hillary Clintons campaign was part of a pedophilic network (the loathsome Pizzagate ); that former President Barack Obama isnt a citizen of the United States. Trumpism, at its heart, may be no more than the mixture of revulsion and paranoia engendered by sites like Infowars.

Read more: InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones says Megyn Kelly is "obsessed with him"

It is time to step up, Brokaw urged Americans. The meaning of that injunction was left somewhat vague, though it seemed to involve more responsible consumption of media and greater civic engagement rooted in a topsoil of rationalism and respect.

Jones had other ideas about Sunday nights affair. He broadcast his own review of Kellys show on the Infowars YouTube channel, which made for an odd but enthralling meta-viewing experience: Jones commenting live on a taped interview with Jones. The broadcast lasted four hours. It started, and finished, in the same place as all of Joness reporting: incoherent rage.

Oh, they want the guns, Jones growled when Brokaw invoked Sandy Hook.

What a dork, said Mike Cernovich, an alt-right figure who watched the Kelly interview with Jones in the Infowars studio. Their anger-fueled viewing party involved, for the most part, the suggestion that Kelly had tricked Jones into giving her an interview. Jones had recorded a telephone conversation with Kelly, and she had told him that the interview was not going to be some gotcha hit piece. As far as Jones was concerned, that had turned out to be a lie.

How did he know? Kelly now worked for the MSMshorthand for the mainstream mediaand that was enough. Were she still toiling in anonymity for the obscure truth-telling outfit known as Fox News, maybe things would be different. Now she was the enemy, no better than liberal billionaire George Soros.

But other than the fact that their conversation was editedas any other interview would beJones could point to no concrete example of Kelly misleading her viewers. Somewhat less substantively, he also complained about a heat lamp trained on him (presumably, a klieg light), which he said made him look like a walrus.

Am I that ugly? Jones wondered.

To many Americans, yes, and in a way that had nothing to do with his looks. Fury had been building for days that Kelly was giving a national platform to a man who, in earlier days, would have been spouting his delusions under the overpass of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. For all that, Kelly showed herself to be a responsible and assiduous interrogator even ifas with her earlier interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putinshe had little to show for it in the end.

That wasnt for lack of trying. Using his own words against him, Kelly pressed Jones on his allegations about Sandy Hook, as well as his smear of yogurt company Chobani, which hired refugees and in so doing became the target of his ire. She began the show with a segment of Jones responding to the bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. Hed labeled the victims, many of them young girls, liberal trendies.

Asked by a quietly indignant Kelly about that description of slain innocents, Jones retreated into defensive sarcasm: Im sorry I didnt blow em up, he said with distasteful self-righteousness. I did something bad, though? He had no conception of how heartless his response had been, or how deceptive. The hit was of his own making.

It was the same with Sandy Hook: Kelly calmly read Joness words back to him, while he responded with unconvincing bluster, as if being confronted with his own lies amounted to some shocking breach of journalistic ethics. On the school tragedy, he said he was merely playing devils advocate, a preposterous position for someone whod spent years promulgating stunningly ugly untruths.

I tend to believe that children probably did die there, Jones said, before alluding to all the other evidence on the other side. The very need to hedge that statementtend to believe, all the other evidenceon national television, no less, reveals the depths of Joness pathology.

Of course, there is no evidence on the other side, Kelly said.

She didnt need to.

And although he has had to retract his accusations about Chobani, that was only to end a lawsuit. His conspiratorial beliefs more or less remain intact, as Kelly noted in the midst of Joness ranting about how the media had represented what he said about the yogurt company.

You dont sound very sorry, she said.

Lets just say Chobani was real happy to get out of that lawsuit, Jones said, widening his eyes like a comic-book villain. The insinuation was supposed to be an apparent dig at Hamdi Ulukaya, the Chobani founder. Butit only made Jones look more deranged.

Like the president he is said to have helped elect, Jones showed himself to be petty, vindictive, unpleasant, chauvinistic, transparently insecure and hopelessly vain.

On his InfoWars viewing party that ran concurrently with Kellys show, he ranted as he usually does, sounding like an addled tent-revival preacher who sees demons in every shadow and stops every so often to remind you to put a little something into the collection jar.

He mocked Kelly, including in ways that seemed related to her gender; he called the media a pack of bloodthirsty liars.

They want race wars, they want riots, added Cernovich, whose contribution included a tirade tying mass shootings to the use of anti-depressants.

The two men, and another guest (Andrew Torba of Gab, a social media network beloved by the alt-right), had spent much of their live show mocking Brokaw, whose appearance they awaited almost with glee. Broke spoke as if he knew they were watching, spewing hate at him like rabies-laced spittle.

We cannot allow the agents of hate to go unchallenged and become the imprint of our time, Brokaw said, offering a powerful coda to this third episode of Megyn Kellys show.

Kelly may not yet be the first-class interviewer she is plainly striving to become. But those who charged that she was giving Alex Jones too large a stage need not worry, either. She gave his deceptions no quarter.

He came off like a sweaty paranoiac. Nothing condemned him as thoroughly as his own words.

Continued here:

Megyn Kelly's Interview with Infowars Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Shows Her Attempting a Near-Impossible Task - Newsweek

China – Wikitravel

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119 for fire 120 for medical

China (; Zhnggu), officially known as the People's Republic of China ( Zhnghu Rnmn Gnghgu) is a huge country in Eastern Asia (about the same size as the United States of America) with the world's largest population.

With coasts on the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, in total it borders 14 nations. It borders Afghanistan, Pakistan (through the disputed territory of Kashmir), India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam to the south; Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to the west; Russia and Mongolia to the north and North Korea to the east. This number of neighbouring states is equalled only by China's vast neighbour to the north, Russia.

This article only covers mainland China. For Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, please see separate articles.

The roughly 5000-year old Chinese civilization has endured through millennia of tumultuous upheaval and revolutions, periods of golden ages and anarchy alike. Through the recent economic boom initiated by the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, China is once again one of the leading nations in the world, buoyed by its large, industrious population and abundant natural resources. The depth and complexity of the Chinese civilization, with its rich heritage, has fascinated Westerners such as Marco Polo and Gottfried Leibniz through the Great Silk Road and more ways of culture exchange in centuries past, and will continue to excite - and bewilder - the traveler today.

The recorded history of Chinese civilization can be traced to the Yellow River valley, said to be the 'cradle of Chinese civilization'. The Xia Dynasty was the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical chronicles, though to date, no concrete proof of its existence has been found. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence has shown that at the very least, an early bronze age Chinese civilization had developed by the period described.

The Shang Dynasty, China's first historically confirmed dynasty, and the Zhou Dynasty ruled across the Yellow River basin. The Zhou adopted a decentralized system of government, in which the feudal lords ruled over their respective territories with a high degree of autonomy, even maintaining their own armies, while at the same time paying tribute to the king and recognizing him as the symbolic ruler of China. It was also the longest ruling dynasty in Chinese history, lasting about 800 years. Despite this longevity, during the second half of the Zhou period, China descended into centuries of political turmoil, with the feudal lords of numerous small fiefdoms vying for power during the Spring and Autumn Period, and later stabilized into seven large states in the Warring States period. This tumultuous period gave birth to China's greatest thinkers including Confucius, Mencius and Laozi, who made substantial contributions to Chinese thought and culture.

China was eventually unified in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, the 'First Emperor', and the Qin Dynasty instituted a centralized system of government for all of China, and standardized weights and measures, Chinese characters and currency in order to create unity. Until today, the ideal of a unified and strong centralized system is still strong in Chinese thought. However, due to despotic and harsh rule, the Qin dynasty lasted for only 15 years as the Han Dynasty took over in 206BC after a period of revolt. With the invention of paper and extensive trade with the West along the Silk Road, along with relatively benevolent imperial rule, the Han was the first golden age of Chinese civilization. Ethnic Chinese consider themselves to be part of the 'Han' race till this day.

The collapse of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE led to a period of political turmoil and war known as the Three Kingdoms Period, which saw China split into the three separate states of Wei, Shu and Wu. Despite lasting for only about 60 years, it is a highly romanticised period of Chinese history. China was then briefly reunified under the Jin Dynasty, before descending into a period of division and anarchy once again. The era of division culminated with the Sui which reunified China in 581. The Sui were famous for major public works projects, such as the engineering feat of the Grand Canal, which linked Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south. Certain sections of the canal are still navigable today.

Bankrupted by war and excess government spending, the Sui were supplanted by the Tang Dynasty, ushering in the second golden age of Chinese civilization, marked by a flowering of Chinese poetry, Buddhism and statecraft, and also saw the development of the Imperial Examination system which attempted to select court officials by ability rather than family background. Chinatowns overseas are often known as "Street of the Tang People" ( Tngrn ji) in Chinese. The collapse of the Tang Dynasty then saw China divided once again, until it was reunified by the Song Dynasty, this collapse was preceded by the secession and independence of Vietnam in 938 CE. The Song ruled over most of China for over 150 years before being driven south of the Huai river by the Jurchens, were they continued to rule as the Southern Song, and although militarily weak, attained a level of commercial and economic development unmatched until the West's Industrial Revolution. The Yuan (Mongol) dynasty first defeated the Jurchens, then proceeded to conquer the Song in 1279, and ruled their vast Eurasian empire from modern-day Beijing.

After defeating the Mongols, the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) re-instituted rule by ethnic Han. The Ming period was noted for trade and exploration, with Zheng He's numerous voyages to Southeast Asia, India and the Arab world. Initial contact with European traders meant China gradually reaped the fruits of the Colombian exchange, with silver pouring in by the galleon through trade with the Portuguese and Spanish. Famous buildings in Beijing, such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, were built in this period. The last dynasty of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644-1911), saw the Chinese empire grow to its current size, incorporating the western regions of Xinjiang and Tibet. The Qing dynasty fell into decay in its final years to become the 'sick man of Asia', where it was nibbled apart by Western powers. The Westerners established their own treaty ports in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin. China lost several territories to foreign powers; Hong Kong and Weihai were ceded to Britain, Taiwan and Liaodong were to Japan, parts of the North East including Dalian and parts of Outer Manchuria to Russia, while Qingdao was ceded to Germany. Shanghai was divided among China and eight different countries. In addition, China lost control of its tributaties, with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands ceded to Japan.

The two thousand-year old imperial system collapsed in 1911, where Sun Yat-Sen (, Sn Zhngshn) founded the Republic of China ( Zhnghu Mngu). Central rule collapsed in 1916 after Yuan Shih-kai, the second president of the Republic and self-declared emperor, passed away; China descended into anarchy, with various self-serving warlords ruling over different regions of China. In 1919, student protests in Beijing gave birth to the "May Fourth Movement" ( W S Yndng), which espoused various reforms to Chinese society, such as the use of the vernacular in writing, as well as the development of science and democracy. The intellectual ferment of the May Fourth Movement gave birth to the reorganized Kuomintang (KMT) in 1919 and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the French Concession in Shanghai, 1921.

After uniting much of eastern China under KMT rule in 1928, the CCP and the KMT turned on each other, with the CCP fleeing to Yan'an in Shaanxi in the epic Long March. During the period from 1922 to 1937, The eastern provinces of China grew economically under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government, with marked economic expansion, industrialization and urbanization. Shanghai became a truly cosmopolitan city, as one of the world's busiest ports, and the most prosperous city in East Asia, home to millions of Chinese and 60,000 foreigners from all corners of the globe. However, underlying problems throughout the vast country side, particularly the more inland parts of the country, such as civil unrest, famines and warlord conflict, still remained.

Japan established a puppet state under the name Manchukuo in Manchuria in 1931, and launched a full-scale invasion of China's heartland in 1937. The Japanese initiated a brutal system of rule in Eastern China, culminating in the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. After fleeing west to Chongqing, the KMT realized the urgency of the situation signed a tenuous agreement with the CCP to form a second united front against the Japanese. With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the KMT and CCP armies maneuvered for positions in north China, setting the stage for the civil war in the years to come. The civil war lasted from 1946 to 1949 and ended with the Kuomintang defeated and sent packing to Taiwan where they hoped to re-establish themselves and recapture the mainland some day.

Mao Zedong officially declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1 Oct 1949. The new Communist government implemented strong measures to restore law and order and revive industrial, agricultural and commercial institutions reeling from more than a decade of war. By 1955, China's economy had returned to pre-war levels of output as factories, farms, labor unions, civil society and governance were brought under Party control. After an initial period closely hewing to the Soviet model of heavy industrialization and comprehensive central economic planning, China began to experiment with adapting Marxism to a largely agrarian society.

Massive social experiments such as the Hundred Flowers Campaign ( bihu yndng), the Great Leap Forward ( dyujn), intended to collectivize and industrialize China quickly, and the Cultural Revolution ( wchn jij wnhu d gmng), aimed at changing everything by discipline, destruction of the "Four Olds," and total dedication to Mao Zedong Thought, rocked China from 1957 to 1976. The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution are generally considered disastrous failures in China. During the Cultural Revolution in particular, China's cultural heritage, including monuments, temples, historical artifacts, and works of literature sustained catastrophic damage at the hands of Red Guard factions. It was only due to the intervention of Zhou Enlai and the PLA that major sites, such as the Potala Palace, the Mogao Caves, and the Forbidden City escaped destruction during the Cultural Revolution.

Mao Zedong died in 1976, and in 1978, Deng Xiaoping became China's paramount leader. Deng and his lieutenants gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Economic output quadrupled by 2000 and continues to grow by 8-10% per year, but huge problems remain bouts of serious inflation, regional income inequality, human rights abuses, ethnic unrest, massive pollution, rural poverty and corruption. While the larger cities near the coast like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have grown to become rich and modern, many of the more inland and rural parts of the country remain poor and underdeveloped. The former General Secretary of the Communist Party, Hu Jintao, has proclaimed a policy for a "Harmonious Society" ( hxi shhu) which promises to restore balanced economic growth and channel investment and prosperity into China's central and western provinces, which have been largely left behind in the post-1978 economic boom. The current General Secretary of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, have pursued an ambitious policy of social reform, particularly income redistribution, poverty relief, and environmental improvements. Furthermore, a highly ambitious crackdown on corruption started by the previous administration has only been expanded. Growth in China has finally slowed down in recent years and seems to be leveling off.

China is a single-party socialist state ruled by the Communist Party of China. China has actually only experienced one open nation-wide election, in 1912. The government consists of an executive branch known as the State Council ( Gu W Yun), as well as a unicameral legislature known as the National People's Congress ( Qungu Rnmn Dibio Dhu). The nominal Head of State is the President ( zhx, lit chairman) which is a largely ceremonial office with limited powers and the Head of Government is the Premier ( zngl). In practice, while neither one holds absolute power, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China holds the most power, while the Premier of the State Council is the second most powerful person in the country.

The country is administratively divided into 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions and 4 directly-controlled municipalities. Each of the provincial governments is given power over the internal, often economic, affairs of their provinces. Autonomous regions are given more freedom than regular provinces, one example of which is the right to declare additional official languages in the region besides Mandarin. In addition, there are the Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of Hong Kong and Macau. Both Hong Kong and Macau have separate legal systems and immigration departments from the mainland, and are given the freedom to enact laws separately from the mainland. Their political systems are more open and directly electoral in nature. Taiwan is also claimed by the PRC as a province, though no part of Taiwan is currently under the control of the PRC. Both governments support re-unification in principle and recently signed a trade pact to closer link their economies, essentially removing the danger of war.

China is a very diverse place with large variations in culture, language, customs and economic levels. The economic landscape is particularly diverse. The major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai are modern and comparatively wealthy. However, about 50% of Chinese still live in rural areas even though only 10% of China's land is arable. Hundreds of millions of rural residents still farm with manual labour or draft animals. Some 200 to 300 million former peasants have migrated to townships and cities in search of work. Government estimates for 2005 reported that 90 million people lived on less than 924 a year and 26 million were under the official poverty line of 668 a year. Generally the southern and eastern coastal regions are more wealthy while inland areas, the far west and north, and the southwest are much much less developed.

The cultural landscape is unsurprisingly very diverse given the sheer size of the country. China has 56 officially recognized ethnic groups; the largest by far is the Han which comprise over 90% of the population. The other 55 groups enjoy affirmative action for university admission and exemption from the one-child policy. The Han, however, are far from homogeneous and speak a wide variety of mutually unintelligible local "dialects"; which most linguists actually classify as different languages using more or less the same set of Chinese characters. Many of the minority ethnic groups have their own languages as well. Contrary to popular belief, there is no single unified Han Chinese culture, and while they share certain common elements such as Confucian and Taoist beliefs, the regional variations in culture among the Han ethnic group are actually very diverse. Many customs and deities are specific to individual regions and even villages. Celebrations for the lunar new year and other national festivals vary drastically from region to region. Specific customs related to the celebration of important occasions such as weddings, funerals and births also vary widely. In general contemporary urban Chinese society is rather secular and traditional culture is more of an underlying current in every day life. Among ethnic minorities, the Zhuang, Manchu, Hui and Miao are the largest in size. Other notable ethnic minorities include: Koreans, Tibetans, Mongols, Uighurs, Kirghiz and even Russians. In fact, China is home to the largest Korean population outside Korea and is also home to more ethnic Mongols than the Republic of Mongolia itself. Many minorities have been assimilated to various degrees with the loss of language and customs or a fusing with Han traditions. An exception to this trend is the current situation of the Tibetans and Uighurs in China who remain fiercely defensive of their cultures.

Some behaviours that are quite normal in China may be somewhat jarring and vulgar for foreigners:

Some long-time foreign residents say such behaviours are getting worse; others say the opposite. The cause is usually attributed to the influx of millions of migrants from the countryside who are unfamiliar with big city life. Some department stores place attendants at the foot of each escalator to keep folks from stopping to have a look-see as soon as they get off - when the escalator behind them is fully packed.

On the whole, however, the Chinese love a good laugh and because there are so many ethnic groups and outsiders from other regions, they are used to different ways of doing things and are quite okay with that (in tier one and tier two cities at least). Indeed the Chinese often make conversation with strangers by discussing differences in accent or dialect. They are very used to sign language and quick to see a non-verbal joke or pun wherever they can spot one. Note that a laugh doesn't necessarily mean scorn, just amusement. The Chinese like a "collective good laugh" often at times or circumstances that westerners might consider rude. Finally, the Chinese love and adore children, allow them a great deal of freedom, and heap attention upon them. If you have children, bring them!

In general, 3, 6, 8, and 9 are lucky numbers for most of the Chinese. Three means high above shine the three stars while the three stars include gods of fortune, prosperity and longevity. Six represents smoothness or success. Many young people choose the dates with six as their wedding days, such as the 6th, 16th and 26th. Eight sounds so close to the word for wealth that many people believe eight is a number that is linked to prosperity. So it is no surprise that the opening ceremony for the Olympics started at 8:08:08 on 08/08/2008. Nine is also regarded as a lucky number with the meaning of everlasting.

Four is a taboo for most Chinese because the pronunciation in Mandarin is close to death. Some hotels will have their floor numbers go straight from three to five much like some American hotels have their floor numbers go from twelve to fourteen, skipping the "unlucky" number 13.

Given the country's size the climate is extremely diverse, from tropical regions in the south to subarctic in the north. Hainan Island is roughly at the same latitude as Jamaica, while Harbin, one of the largest cities in the north, is at roughly the latitude of Montreal and has the climate to match. North China has four distinct seasons with intensely hot summers and bitterly cold winters. Southern China tends to be milder and wetter. The further north and west you travel, the drier the climate. Once you leave eastern China and enter the majestic Tibetan highlands or the vast steppes and deserts of Gansu and Xinjiang, distances are vast and the land is very harsh.

Back in the days of the planned economy, the rules stated that buildings in areas north of the Yangtze River got heat in the winter, but anything south of it did not this meant unheated buildings in places like Shanghai and Nanjing, which routinely see temperatures below freezing in winter. The rule has long since been relaxed, but the effects are still visible. In general, Chinese use less heating, less building insulation, and wear more warm clothing than Westerners in comparable climates. In a schools or apartments and office buildings, even if the rooms are heated, the corridors are not. Double glazing is quite rare. Students wear winter jackets in class, along with their teachers and long underwear is very common. Air conditioning is increasingly common but is similarly not used in corridors and is often used with the windows and doors open.

There is a wide range of terrain to be found in China with many inland mountain ranges, high plateaus, and deserts in center and the far west. Plains, deltas, and hills dominate the east. The Pearl River Delta region around Guangzhou and Hong Kong and the Yangtze delta around Shanghai are major global economic powerhouses, as is the North China plain around Beijing and the Yellow River. On the border between Tibet, (the Tibet Autonomous Region) and the nation of Nepal lies Mount Everest, at 8,850 m, the highest point on earth. The Turpan depression, in northwest China's Xinjiang is the lowest point in the country, at 154 m below sea level. This is also the second lowest point on land in the world after the Dead Sea.

China is a huge country with endless and affordable travel opportunities. During holidays, however, hundreds of millions of migrant workers return home and millions of other Chinese travel within the country (but many in the service sector stay behind, enjoying extra pay). Travelers may want to seriously consider scheduling to avoid being on the road, on the rails, or in the air during the major holidays. At the very least, travel should be planned well well in advance. Every mode of transport is extremely crowded; tickets of any kind are hard to come by, and will cost you a lot more, so it may be necessary to book well in advance (especially for those travelling from remote western China to the east coast or in the opposite direction). Train and bus tickets are usually quite easy to buy in China, (during the non-holiday season), but difficulties arising from crowded conditions at these times cannot be overstated. Travellers who are stranded at these times, unable to buy tickets, can sometimes manage to get air tickets, which tend to sell out more slowly because of the higher but still affordable (by western standards) prices. For the most comfortable mode of transportation, air travel is the obvious choice. There is an emerging ultra-modern bullet train network which is also very nice, but you may still have to potentially deal with many insanely overcrowded, smoke-filled, cold, loud and disorganized train depots to get on-board. The spring festival (Chinese New Year) is the largest annual migration of people on earth.

Lunar New Year dates The year of the Horse started on 31 Jan 2014

China has five major annual holidays:

The Chinese New Year and National Day are not one-day holidays; nearly all workers get at least a week for Chinese New Year, some get two or three, and students get four to six weeks. For National Day, a week is typical.

The Chinese New Year is especially busy. Not only is it the longest holiday, it is also a traditional time to visit family. The entire country is pretty much shut down during the period. More or less all the migrant workers who have left their farms and villages for better pay in the cities go home. This is often the only chance they have. Everyone wants to go home, and China has a lot of "everyone"! Around the Chinese New Year, many stores and other businesses will close for several days, a week, or even longer, so unless you have close friends or relatives in China, it is not ideal to visit during this period.

Also, during early July university students (twenty-odd million of them!) go home and in late August they return to school, jamming transportation options especially between the east coast and the western regions of Sichuan, Gansu, Tibet, and Xinjiang.

A complete list of Chinese festivals would be very long since many areas or ethnic groups have their own local ones. See listings for individual towns for details. Here is a list of some of the nationally important festivals not mentioned above:

In addition to these, some Western festivals are noticeable, at least in major cities. Around Christmas, one hears carols mostly English, a few in Latin, plus Chinese versions of "Jingle Bells", "Amazing Grace", and for some reason "Oh Susana". Some stores are decorated and one sees many shop assistants in red and white elf hats. For Valentine's Day, many restaurants offer special meals. Chinese Christians celebrate services and masses at officially sanctioned Protestant and Catholic churches as well.

Non-guidebooks, either about China, or by Chinese writers.

Travel:

Literature:

History:

For a complete list of provinces and an explanation of China's political geography, see: List of Chinese provinces and regions.

We cover Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in separate articles. From the practical traveller's point of view, they are distinct as each issues its own visas, currency and so on.

Politically, Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions, part of China but with capitalist economies and distinct political systems. The slogan is "One country, two systems".

Taiwan is a special case. At the end of the civil war in 1949, the Communists held most of China and the defeated Nationalists held only Taiwan and a few islands off the Fujian coast. That situation continues to this day; Taiwan has had a separate government for more than 60 years and as such, is governed "de-facto" independently. However, most world bodies do not recognize it as a sovereign state - amongst other factors, this may be attributed to the strong influence of the PRC government in this matter. Both governments in theory support eventual reunification of these "two Chinas", but there is also a significant pro-independence movement within Taiwan.

China has many large and famous cities. Below is a top ten list of some of those most important to travellers in mainland China. Other cities are listed under their specific regional section. See the Dynasties and capitals section for a detailed list of China's many previous capitals.

You can travel to many of these cities using the new fast trains. In particular, the Hangzhou - Shanghai - Suzhou - Nanjing line is a convenient way to see these historic areas.

Citizens of the following countries do not need a visa to travel to Mainland China;

For 15 days

For 30 days

For 90 days

Residents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cuba, Georgia, Guyana, Laos, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, North Korea, Pakistan, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam must have their passported endorced as "For public affairs" by the Chinese government in order to enter visa free.

For citizens of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States/American Samoa, you are allowed a 144-hour visa-free stopover in Shanghai/Hangzhou/Nanjing or a 72-hour visa-free stopover in Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Guilin, Harbin, Kunming, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi'an or Xiamen provided you meet several conditions including:

More details can be found here: [5]. There is also a dedicated discussion and wiki-style summary on China's visa-free stopover policies in the FlyerTalk forum.

If you do not qualify for the 144 or 72 hour visa-free stopover (for example, if you are not flying into or out of one of the qualifying airports, or if you are not a citizen of one of the qualifying countries), you may be able to avail of the 24 hour visa-free stopover instead. This is available at all airports in China served by international flights (except for Fuzhou, Mudanjiang, Shenzhen and Yanji airports, and available at Urumqi airport only if you spend no more than 2 hours in Urumqi). The 24 hour period begins from your scheduled flight arrival time, until your scheduled flight departure time. For the 24 hour visa-free stopover, there are no territorial restrictions on your movement within mainland China (except Tibet) during your stopover, and you are not required to fly out of the same airport as the one you flew into. For example, if you arrive in Beijing at 06:00, you can travel to another city and fly out of another airport as long as your scheduled departure time is before 06:00 the following day.

Those visiting Hong Kong and Macau are able to visit the Pearl River Delta visa-free only under certain conditions.

Citizens of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Turkmenistan can visit visa-free for 30 days, if traveling with a tour group that is accompanied by a representative of a tour operator registered in both countries.

The special economic zone province of Hainan allows visa-free access to Mainland China (Only Hainan though) for 15 days for nationals of the following countries; Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. As long as they are visiting as part of a Chinese government controlled agency in Hainan with 5 people or more. Nationals of Germany, Russia, and South Korea can enter visa-free for 21 days with a tourist group of 2 people or more.

Citizens of Russia can visit the city of Suifenhe visa-free for up to 15 days. As long as you are accompanied by someone. Residents of the Amur oblast can visit the city of Heihe visa-free for 24 hours.

Residents of the East Kazakhstan Region in Kazakhstan can visit the city of Tacheng without a visa for 72 hours, which is about 3 days.

Most travellers will need a visa ( qinzhng) to visit mainland China. In most cases, this should be obtained from a Chinese embassy or consulate before departure. Visas for Hong Kong and Macau can be obtained through a Chinese embassy or consulate, but must be applied for separately from the mainland Chinese visa. However, citizens from most Western countries do not need visas to visit Hong Kong and Macau. Visitors from most western countries can stay in Hong Kong with free visa for 7 to 90 day. The time duration should depend on which country you are from. However, people from Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba and Ethiopia have to apply for a visa for Hong Kong before they travel to HK.

The most notable exception to this rule is transit through certain airports. Most airports allow a 12- to 24-hour stay without a visa so long as you do do not pass through immigration and customs (stay airside) and are en-route to a different country.

To visit mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau residents of Chinese nationality need to apply at the China Travel Service, the sole authorized issuing agent, to obtain a Home Return Permit (), a credit card sized ID allowing multiple entries and unlimited stay for 10 years with no restrictions including on employment. Taiwan residents may obtain an entry permit (valid for 3 months) at airports in Dalian, Fuhzou, Haikou, Qingdao, Sanya, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xiamen and China Travel Services in Hong Kong and Macau. Visitors must hold a Republic of China passport, Taiwanese Identity Card and Taiwan Compatriot Pass ( tibozhng). The Compatriot Pass may be obtained for single use at airports in Fuzhou, Haikou, Qingdao, Sanya, Wuhan and Xiamen. The entry permit fee is 100 plus 50 for issuing a single-use Taiwan Compatriot Pass. Travellers should check the most up-to-date information before traveling.

Visa overview

Getting a tourist visa is fairly easy for most passports as you don't need an invitation, which is required for business or working visas. The usual tourist single-entry visa is valid for a visit of 30 days and must be used within three months of the date of issue. A double-entry tourist visa must be used within six months of the date of issue. It is possible to secure a tourist visa for up to 90 days for citizens of some countries.

Tourist visa extensions can be applied for at the local Entry & Exit Bureaus against handing in the following documents: valid passport, visa extension application form including one 2-inch-sized picture, a copy of the Registration Form of Temporary Residence which you receive from the local police station at registration.

Some travellers will need a dual entry or multiple entry visa. For example, if you enter China on a single entry visa, then depart the mainland to Hong Kong or Macau, you need a new visa to re-enter the mainland. In Hong Kong, multiple entry visas are officially available only to HKID holders, but the authorities are willing to bend the rules somewhat and may approve three-month multiple entry visas for short-term Hong Kong qualified residents, including exchange students. It is recommended to apply directly with the Chinese government in this case, as some agents will be unwilling to submit such an application on your behalf. For holders of multiple entry visas to renew your visa you must leave China. The easist way was to go to Hong Kong, Seoul or some other country, cross the border and re-enter China. A new way is to go to Xiamen and cross to Jinmen island. Jinmen is held by Taiwan and like Hong Kong is offically considered leaving China. See details of below on boats to China.

There may be restrictions on visas for political reasons and these vary over time. For example:

A few years ago, the Z (working) visa was a long-term visa. Now a Z-visa only gets you into the country for 30 days; once you are there, the employer gets you a residence permit. This is effectively a multiple-entry visa; you can leave China and return using it. Some local visa offices will refuse to issue a residence permit if you entered China on a tourist (L) visa. In those cases, you have to enter on a Z-visa. These are only issued outside China, so obtaining one will likely require a departure from the mainland, for example to a neighbouring country. (Note that in Korea, tourists not holding an alien registration card must now travel to Busan, as the Chinese consulate in Seoul does not issue visas to non-residents in Korea.) They also usually require an invitation letter from the employer. In other cases it is possible to convert an L visa to a residence permit; it depends upon which office you are dealing with and perhaps on your employer's connections.

It is possible for most foreigners to get a visa in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. [1]. . (Dec 2010) Reservations for travel and hotel are acceptable. During busy periods, they may refuse entry after 11:00. There can be long queues so arrive early. Also be aware of major Chinese holidays, the Consular Section may be closed for several days.

Obtaining a Visa on Arrival is possible usually only for the Shenzhen or Zhuhai Special Economic Zones, and such visas are limited to those areas. When crossing from Hong Kong to Shenzhen at Lo Wu railway station, and notably not at Lok Ma Chau, a five day Shenzhen-only visa can be obtained during extended office hours on the spot for 160 (Oct 2007 price) for passport holders of many nationalities, for example Irish or New Zealand or Canadian. Americans are not eligible, while the fee for UK nationals is 450. The office accepts only Chinese yuan.

Any non-Chinese citizen must have a Tibet Travel Permit in order to enter Tibet. This permit is issued by the Tibet Tourism Bureau, and will be checked when going on board any buses, trains or airlines that bound for the TAR. However, the only way to obtain a Tibet Travel Permit is to arrange a tour operated by a Tibet travel agent which at least includes hotels and transportation. Foreigners are also not permitted to travel by public buses across Tibet and are only allowed to travel by private transportation as organised in the tour. Moreover, if entering Tibet from Nepal, one must also joined a group tour and be only allowed on a group visa. The Tibet Travel Permit has to be handed in to the tour guide upon arrival in the airport or train station, and to tour guide will keep the permit until the traveler left the TAR. The Tibet Travel Permit is also required by Taiwanese holding a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents, but it is not required for Chinese citizens from Hong Kong or Macao holding a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents.

If staying in a hotel, guest house or hostel, the staff will request to see, and often scan, your passport, visa, and entry stamps at check-in.

If you are staying in a private residence, you are in theory required to register your abode with the local police within 24 (city) to 72 (countryside) hours of arrival, though in practice the law is rarely if ever enforced so long as you don't cause any trouble. The police will ask for (1) a copy of the photograph page of your passport, (2) a copy of your visa, (3) a copy of your immigration entry stamp, (4) a photograph, (5) a copy of the tenancy agreement or other document concerning the place you are staying in. That agreement might not be in your name but it will still be requested.

The main international gateways to mainland China are Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Almost every sizable city will have an international airport, but options are usually limited to flights from Hong Kong, neighbouring countries such as South Korea and Japan, and sometimes Southeast Asia.

Transiting Hong Kong and Macau

If arriving in Hong Kong or Macau there are ferries that can shuttle passengers straight to another destination such as Shekou or Bao'an Airport in Shenzhen, Macau Airport, Zhuhai and elsewhere without actually "entering" Hong Kong or Macau. A shuttle bus takes transit passengers to the ferry terminal so their official entry point, where they clear immigration, will be the ferry destination rather than the airport. Please note that the ferries do have different hours so landing late at night may make it necessary to enter either territory to catch another bus or ferry to one's ultimate destination. For example, it would be necessary to clear immigration if going from HK Int'l Airport to Macau via the Macau Ferry Terminal. The most recent information on the ferries to Hong Kong can be found at the Hong Kong International Airport website.[7]

While many major airlines now fly to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, budget seats are often scarce. For good offers, book as early as possible. Tickets are particularly expensive or hard to come by at the beginning or end of summer when Chinese students abroad return home or fly back to their universities around the world. As with other travel in China, tickets can be difficult to get and will be expensive around Chinese New Year.

If you live in a city with a sizable overseas Chinese community, check for cheap flights with someone in that community or visit travel agencies operated by Chinese. Sometimes flights advertised only in Chinese newspapers or travel agencies cost significantly less than posted fares in English. However if you ask, you can get the same discount price.

See also: Discount airlines in Asia

Information: As a result of the H1N1-flu pandemic there are some kinds of health-checks currently in effect. These may be as simple as a customs person judging your appearance to IR-cameras checking for elevated body temperature. If there is a suspicion of flu, you will be quarantined for seven days.

Airlines and Routes

China's carriers are growing rapidly. Airbus estimates the size of Chinas passenger aircraft fleet will triple from 1,400 planes in 2009 to 4,200 planes in 2029.

Major domestic airlines include China Southern [8], China Eastern [9], Air China [10], and Hainan Airlines [11].

Fliers may prefer Asian airlines as they generally have more cabin staff and quality service. Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific [12] is an obvious possibility. Other candidates include Singapore Airlines [13], Japan Airlines [14], and Garuda Indonesia [15]. Korean Air [16] often has good prices on flights from various places in Asia such as Bangkok via Seoul to North America. Connecting flights may be cheaper than direct flights so keep this in mind. Korean Air also flies to more than a dozen Chinese cities.

Flights between Europe and China

China can be reached by train from many of its neighboring countries and even all the way from Europe.

China has land borders with 14 different countries; a number matched only by its northern neighbour, Russia. In addition, mainland China also has land borders with the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, which are for all practical purposes treated as international borders. Most of the border crossings in western China are located in remote mountain passes, which while difficult to reach and traverse, often reward travellers willing to make the effort with breathtaking, scenic views.

Relations between the two nations are frosty, but the Nathu La Pass between Sikkim in India and Southern Tibet has recently reopened for cross-border trade. Currently the crossing is not open to tourists, and special permits are required to visit from either side.

Entering China from Myanmar is possible at the Ruili (China)-Lashio (Myanmar) border crossing, but permits need to be obtained from the Burmese authorities in advance. Generally, this would require you to join a guided tour.

For most travelers Hanoi is the origin for any overland journey to China. There are currently three international crossings:

You can catch a local bus from Hanoi's eastern bus station (Ben Xe Street, Gia Lam District, tel: 04/827-1529) to Lang Son, where you have to switch transport to minibus or motorbike to reach the border at Dong Dang. Alternatively there are many offers from open-tour providers; for those in a hurry, they might be a good option if they offer a direct hotel to border crossing transfer.

You can change money with freelance money changers, but check the rate carefully beforehand.

Border formalities take about 30 minutes. On the Chinese side, walk up past the "Friendship-gate" and catch a taxi (about 20, bargain hard) to Pingxiang, Guangxi. A seat in a minibus is 5. There is a Bank of China branch right across the street from the main bus station; the ATM accepts Maestro cards. You can travel by bus or train to Nanning.

You can take a train from Hanoi to Lao Cai for about 420,000 VND (as of 11/2011) for a soft sleeper. The trip takes about 8 hours. From there, it's a long walk (or a 5 minute ride) to the Lao Cai/Hekou border. Crossing the border is simple, fill out a customs card and wait in line. They will search your belongings (in particular your books/written material). Outside the Hekou border crossing is a variety of shops, and the bus terminal is about a 10 minute ride from the border. A ticket to Kunming from Hekou costs about 140; the ride is about 7 hours.

At Dongxing, you can take a bus to Nanning, a sleeper bus to Guangzhou (approximately 180), or a sleeper bus to Shenzhen (approximately 230, 12 hours) (March 2006).

From Luang Namtha you can get a bus leaving at around 08:00 going to Boten (Chinese border) and Mengla. You need to have a Chinese visa beforehand as there is no way to get one on arrival. The border is close (about 1 hr). Customs procedures will take another hour. The trip costs about 45k Kip.

Also, there is a direct Chinese sleeper bus connection from Luang Prabang to Kunming (about 32 hours). You can get on this bus at the border, when the minibus from Luang Namtha and the sleeper meet. Don't pay more than 200.

The Karakoram Highway from northern Pakistan into Western China is one of the most spectacular roads in the world. It's closed for tourists for a few months in winter. Crossing the border is relatively quick because of few overland travelers, and friendly relations between the two countries. A bus runs between Kashgar (China) and Sust (Pakistan) across the Kunerjab pass.

Link:

China - Wikitravel

Broadcasters Promote News Freedom via "Bypass Censorship" website – PR Newswire (press release)

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BBG CEO, John F. Lansing said:"The right to seek, and impart, facts and ideas is a universal human right which many repressive governments seek to control. This website presents an incredible opportunity to provide citizens around the world with the resources they need to access a free and open internet for uncensored news and information essential to making informed decisions about their lives and communities."

The broadcasters supporting theBypass Censorshipsite are part of the DG7 group of global media organizations supportive of UN resolutions on media freedom and the safety of journalists.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international media, whose mission is to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. BBG networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti). BBG programming has a measured audience of 278 million in more than 100 countries and in 61 languages.

CONTACT: BBG Public Affairs, 202-203-4400

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadcasters-promote-news-freedom-via-bypass-censorship-website-300476174.html

SOURCE Broadcasting Board of Governors

https://www.bbg.gov/

Go here to see the original:

Broadcasters Promote News Freedom via "Bypass Censorship" website - PR Newswire (press release)

Julius Caesar, Kathy Griffin and Reverse Censorship: How US Political Discourse Has Fallen Into Violence and Hatred – PanAm Post

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We have reached a point in this country where violence has replaced metered civil discourse. (FEE)

By John Bianchi

Et tu Brute? Most of us, even those who are unfamiliar with Shakespeare have heard this famous phrase. Shakespeares play, Julius Caesar, has contributed numerous quotable lines to the modern lexicon so it is no wonder that this play was chosen by The Public Theater for this years lineup of Shakespeare in the Park.

However, a recent performance of the play has drawn harsh criticism for one simple reason. In a modern retelling of the play, the theater group chose to create a not-so-subtle reference to President Donald Trump as the protagonist

It is not surprising that this type of imagery would draw the ire of theater fans and corporate sponsors. Although the account of Caesars demise is well documented, swapping in the image of a sitting President into a play recounting political treachery and assassination borders closely on a treasonous display. If this play took place in Caesars day, Im not so sure that any of the members of the theater group would still be among the other free members of Rome.

While the media is mixed on its response, the New York Times is defending the play vigorously, this display brings up an important point and one which is not being carefully discussed at length in the media or elsewhere. We have reached a point in this country and around the world where violence has replaced metered civil discourse.

We are no longer societies of educated and interested citizens willing to listen to someone elses viewpoint without retaliating against them in violence and open displays of hatred.

Free Speech, Defamation, and Kathy Griffin

Now disgraced public figure, Milo Yiannopoulos was the recipient of such violence and suppression when he traveled to Californias Berkeley College last year. Students who took issue with Yiannopoulos views sought to silence him by attacking the building he was supposed to speak at along with burning objects and hurling debris.

This is only one in a string of incidents that have resembled war zones rather than places where public discourse is enshrined.

Our country was founded on the principles of free speech and the protections thereof. When does free speech become dangerous to society? Is all speech, especially speech designed to silence others, technically free?

Libel and defamation lawsuits have fallen out of popularity with the rise of tabloids and late night T.V. coupled with a continued acceptance for more inflammatory speech by the masses. It seems today you can effectively say anything about anyone, public or private, on any platform as long as you dont intend to act on anything you say or risk anyone taking your comments too seriously.

Lines do still seem to exist as Kathy Griffin found a few weeks ago when she posted a gruesome photo of the President decapitated in her hand. It is doubtful however that 100 years or even 50 years ago if these types of displays would have been met with almost no response from the Secret Service.

A political climate exists today that is verging dangerously toward force as a means of silencing opponents rather than a culture of engagement. In an effort to enshrine toleration, a pluralistic culture has decided that the only views that should be tolerated are its own at any given time.

This mentality is prevalent on both the left and the right in both the media and among voters. Americans are increasingly seeing government as the means to achieve their ends and are more than ever willing to employ the use of force to do so.

Reverse Censorship

This is a frightening turn of events and one which will most likely have grave political and social ramifications. President Gerald Ford said, We can disagree without being disagreeable.

Would anyone consider what Kathy Griffin did with her photo or what The Public Theater group decided to promote as part of their series anything but at the very least, disagreeable? We would do well to remember that there is a reverse type of censorship. By silencing others through civil unrest or through public displays of murder you are exercising their ability to promote censorship of these individuals and their ideals forever.

Aristotle once said, Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms. We may be nearing his third stage of despotism.

When people produce public displays of staged murder of any American citizen, we are all at risk. Anyone associating with that person has been given a message as to how they and their views are seen. 63 million people voted for Donald Trump, do Kathy Griffin and The Public Theater company want to see them dead as well?

This is the important question we should be asking. Leaders represent the views of the people who vote for them. We have a framework in this country for the peaceful transition of power and we have enshrined such civil rights as the right to peaceful protest and removal from office by vote. The founders knew there would be people of varying political sentiment living in America. Their design was not for open acts of violence to represent how opposing political viewpoints are viewed.

American and global civil discourse is at a crossroads. We can either accept that violence will rule how we interact with others both behind the protection of our computer screens or openly in the public square or we can decide to reign in intolerance in the name of tolerance.

Once these types of acts become mainstream it is not long before societies devolve into anarchy. Liberty minded individuals know the power of civil public discourse and education. That is how we spread the ideals of freedom. We must start championing these values. We need to end the violence and hatred before a despot decides to end it for us.

John Bianchi is a marketing professional and the Chapter Leader for Americas Future Foundation in Raleigh.This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

EspaolGuatemala's most influential newspaper, Prensa Libre, published a strong criticism of the United States' recent commentsabout fighting drugs. The editorial, published this Friday, June 16, was a strongly worded critiqueof the Trump administration'scontradictory approach to fighting the "War on Drugs." Vice President Mike Pence, it said, had mentioned at the Central American Economic and Security Conference held in Miami that hisgovernment had to do everything necessary to keep thecountry safe from drug trafficking and corruption. Pence's commentmade clear reference to problems taking place in theso-called Northern Triangle Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador a region with high levels of violence and the largest populationof immigrants arriving tothe United States. The editorial said the only point of the meeting for the Vice President seemed to beto"urge Central American leaders and authorities to maintain a straight-forward fight against drug trafficking." However, the newspaper also said that Pence's speech"did not makethe slightest mention of the enormous problem that this activity entails, due to the excessive consumption bythe US market." Unlike Pence, the editorial said, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hasacknowledged that the problem is not only focused in Central America, but also at home, with the consumers of the drug. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1459522593195-0'); }); According to Prensa Libre,the Trump administration's "inconsistency is clear when it increases pressure onthese governments, but with a paradoxical reduction of economic assistance." Pence said his country's contributions to the North Triangle would be cut from US $650 million to US $460 million. He tried to argue that what the US government saves with that cut will be then invested in border security, but theGuatemalan newspaper claimed that's unrealistic. Read More: Reporters inVenezuelas Protests Face Brutal Repression from Dictatorship Read More: PC Campus Culture Run Amok: The World Needs More Bret Weinsteins "We will make sure that our borders are closed to those who seek to harm us and are insurmountable for the drugs that are ravaging our families and communities," Pence said. Washington is committed to a reduction in economic assistance, the publication claimed, and greater pressure to deal with insecurity and corruption. Source: Prensa Libre.

Link:

Julius Caesar, Kathy Griffin and Reverse Censorship: How US Political Discourse Has Fallen Into Violence and Hatred - PanAm Post

Dozens of news sites blocked as Egypt ramps up digital censorship – Amnesty International USA

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The Egyptian authorities have shifted their onslaught against media freedom to the digital sphere, blocking access to more than 40 news sites without justification in recent weeks, in an attempt to eliminate the countrys last remaining spaces for criticism and free expression, said Amnesty International.

At least 63 websites have been blocked in total since 24 May according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, including 48 news sites. Mada Masr, an independent news site which regularly published news and analysis deeply critical of the authorities was among the first to be blocked. Most recently on 11 June the Egyptian news sites Albedaiah, run by independent journalist Khaled al Balshy, Elbadil and Bawabit Yanair were blocked. Access to the global online publishing platform Medium was also cut off on 10 June.

The latest clampdown on digital media is further evidence of Egypts age-old police state tactics in motion. Even in the darkest days of the repressive Mubarak era the authorities didnt cut off access to all independent news sites, said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty Internationals North Africa Campaigns director.

With this move the Egyptian authorities seem to be targeting the few remaining spaces for free expression in the country. It shows just how determined the authorities are to prevent Egyptians from accessing independent reporting, analysis and opinion about Egypt. The authorities must immediately stop arbitrarily blocking news websites. On 24 May, state media announced that Egyptian authorities had blocked a group of websites including the prominent independent news platforms Mada Masr, Daily News Egypt, Elborsa and Masr Al Arabia. The authorities failed to provide any evidence of illegal activity or to clarify the legal basis for the decision. Instead officials made vague statements to the media saying this was in connection with publishing false information and supporting terrorism. On 25 May, Egyptian newspapers published reports citing a sovereign agency

(a term usually used to refer to Egyptian intelligence agencies) justifying the move on the grounds of combating terrorism and accusing Qatar of supporting some of the blocked websites, again without providing evidence.

Amnesty International has reviewed the list of blocked websites. The majority are news sites but the list also includes sites where VPN and TOR, which can be used to access blocked sites, can be downloaded. Amnesty International was able to identify only one website connected to groups that use or advocate violence.

Many of the sites that have been blocked had served as a refuge for Egypts remaining critical voices who no longer are allowed to appear on TV or in the print media, which have been firmly in the grip of the state since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power.

The independent news and analysis website Mada Masr is known for unflinchingly exposing human rights violations committed by the Egyptian authorities in recent years, including arbitrary detention, unfair trials, the crackdown on human rights NGOs, extrajudicial executions and the use of the death penalty.

The sites editor-in-chief, Lina Attallah, told Amnesty International that she believes the site was blocked because it publishes well-researched investigations based on verified information. We publish what authorities dont want people to read, she said.

The Egyptian government appears to be exploiting recent violent attacks by armed groups in the country to crack down on the remaining free space and silence critical voices. Once again the authorities are using national security grounds to justify outright repression, said Najia Bounaim.

Instead of attacking critical and independent voices Egypt should respect the obligations enshrined in its own constitution and in international law not to impose arbitrary restrictions on freedom of expression and to protect the right of everyone to seek, receive and share information.

The governments decision to block these websites also flouts Egypts constitution, which prohibits censorship of the media, except at times of war and military mobilization, and protects freedom of expression and press freedom both in print and digital formats. The constitution also upholds the right of all citizens to use telecommunication tools and methods.

The legal grounds and authority the government has used to block these sites is ambiguous and it remains unclear whether emergency law provisions were applied. There are, however, a number of Egyptian laws that can be used to censor the media and the internet, on the grounds of national security.

After the bombing of two churches in Tanta and Alexandria in April 2017, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency. An hour later, the authorities confiscated that days edition of Albawaba newspaper, which demanded that the Minister of Interior be held accountable for failing to prevent the bombing.

Under emergency laws, the authorities have broad powers to impose surveillance and censorship on media. On 10 April, the head of the Egyptian parliament, Dr Ali Abdelal announced that these laws will extend to social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. He added that these platforms were being used as means of communication between terrorists and warned that online offenders would face prosecution.

The vaguely worded articles of Egypts counterterrorism law also allow punishments of up to 15 years in prison for establishing a website for the purpose of promoting terrorist ideas and grant the authorities the power to block websites suspected of promoting terrorism.

Two of the blocked websites, Daily News Egypt and Elborsa, belong to the Business News Company, which is licensed by the government. In November 2016, the government froze the companys assets under the pretext that it belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood, without providing evidence to support this claim. The papers 230 staff have not received their salaries since.

Representatives of many of the websites affected have filed complaints with the Press Syndicate, the National Council for Media, the Ministry Communications and the Public Prosecutor, but so far received no response. Mada Masr has filed an appeal against the decision to block its website before an administrative court, but it has not yet heard the appeal.

Read more:

Dozens of news sites blocked as Egypt ramps up digital censorship - Amnesty International USA

Free Speech Wins (Again) at the Supreme Court – National Review

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If youre a lawyer arguing against free speech at the Supreme Court, be prepared to lose. Today the Court affirmed once again the Constitutions strong protections against governmental viewpoint discrimination, even when the viewpoint discrimination is directed against offensive speech. In Matal v. Tam, the Court considered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices refusalto register a trademark for a band called The Slants on the grounds that the name violated provisions of the Lanham Act that prohibited registering trademarks that disparage . . . or bring into contemp[t] or disrepute any persons, living or dead.

Given existing First Amendment jurisprudence, there would have been a constitutional earthquake if SCOTUShadnt ruled for Tam. The Court has long held that the Constitution protects all but the narrowest categories of speech. Yet timeand again, governments (including colleges)have tried to regulate offensive speech. Time and again, SCOTUShas defended free expression. Today was no exception.Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Alito noted that the Patent and Trademark Office was essentially arguing that the Government has an interest in preventing speech expressing ideas that offend. His response was decisive:

[A]s we have explained, that idea strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express the thought that we hate.

Quick, someone alert the snowflakes shouting down speeches on campus or rushing stages in New York. There is no constitutional exception for so-called hate speech. Indeed, governments are under an obligation to protect controversial expression. Every justice agrees.

The ruling is worth celebrating, but when law and culture diverge, culture tends to win. The law protects free speech as strongly as it ever has. The culture, however, is growing increasingly intolerant subjecting dissenters to shout-downs, reprisals, boycotts, shame campaigns, and disruptions. Some of this conductis legal (boycotts and public shaming), some isnt (shout-downs, riots, and disruptions), but all of it adds up to a society that increasingly views free speech as a dangerous threat, and not asone ofour constitutional republics most vital assets. Liberty is winning the important judicial battles, but it may well lose the all-important cultural war.

Original post:

Free Speech Wins (Again) at the Supreme Court - National Review

Michael Lewis: The Supreme Court Has Harmed the Culture of Free Speech by Deciding Too Much Stuff – Reason (blog)

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CommentaryAs mentioned here Saturday and Sunday, Commentary magazine recently published a big symposium on the question "Is Free Speech Under Threat in the United States?" I contributed a brief essay, as did a whole bunch of people who have written for Reason over the years. Here are links to their archives around these parts, in addition to some choice quotes from their Commentary commentaries:

Jonathan Rauch ("Free speech is always under threat, because it is not only the single most successful social idea in all of human history, it is also the single most counterintuitive"), Harvey Silverglate ("today's most potent attacks on speech are coming, ironically, from liberal-arts colleges"), Laura Kipnis ("Here I am, a left-wing feminist professor invited onto the pages of Commentary"), John Stossel ("On campus, the worst is over"), Richard A. Epstein, Cathy Young, Christina Hoff Sommers ("Silencing speech and forbidding debate is not an unfortunate by-product of intersectionalityit is a primary goal"), Jonah Goldberg ("God may have endowed us with a right to liberty, but he didn't give us all a taste for it"), and John McWhorter.

Additionally, many of these and other contributors to the symposium have been subject to Reason interviews, including Epstein, Silverglate, Stossel, Sommers, Goldberg, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Kipnis, and Rauch, the latter two of which are embedded at the bottom of this post.

The symposium repeats many of the same themes, as the campus-centric excerpts above indicate. Many contributors noted the paradox between our widening legal speech freedoms (unanimously reinforced by the Supreme Court twice just today) and the shrinking intellectual support for the stuff. I for one was predictably inspired by Jonathan Rauch ("Every new generation of free-speech advocates will need to get up every morning and re-explain the case for free speech and open inquirytoday, tomorrow, and forever. That is our lot in life, and we just need to be cheerful about it"), and repulsed by Islam critic Pamela Geller ("The real question isn't whether free speech is under threat in the United States, but rather, whether it's irretrievably lost. Can we get it back? Not without war, I suspect").

But the biggest surprise argument I don't recall encountering before came from mega-bestselling author Michael J. Lewis, who argued that even a proFirst Amendment Supreme Court unwittingly harms the culture of free speech by taking too many issues out of the scrum of consequential public debate. Excerpt:

If free speech today is in headlong retreateverywhere threatened by regulation, organized harassment, and even violenceit is in part because our political culture allowed the practice of persuasive oratory to atrophy. The process began in 1973, an unforeseen side effect of Roe v. Wade. Legislators were delighted to learn that by relegating this divisive matter of public policy to the Supreme Court and adopting a merely symbolic position, they could sit all the more safely in their safe seats.

Since then, one crucial question of public policy after another has been punted out of the realm of politics and into the judicial. Issues that might have been debated with all the rhetorical agility of a Lincoln and a Douglas, and then subjected to a process of negotiation, compromise, and voting, have instead been settled by decree: e.g., Chevron, Kelo, Obergefell. The consequences for speech have been pernicious....[A] legislature that relegates its authority to judges and regulators will awaken to discover its oratorical culture has been stunted. When politicians, rather than seeking to convince and win over, prefer to project a studied and pleasant vagueness, debate withers into tedious defensive performance.

I suspect Lewis is exaggerating here, but his argument is intriguing.

After the jump, some relevant Reason interviews on free speech:

Laura Kipnis, from May 2017:

And Jonathan Rauch, from November 2013:

See the rest here:

Michael Lewis: The Supreme Court Has Harmed the Culture of Free Speech by Deciding Too Much Stuff - Reason (blog)

Free Speech Wins Big at Supreme Court, Russia Threatens US over Syria, Possible Failed Terror Attack in Paris: PM … – Reason (blog)

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Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Report abuses.

Fist of Etiquette|6.19.17 @ 4:30PM|#

The Supreme Court also agreed to hear a case on gerrymandering in Wisconsin.

Gerry's not gonna like this. Neither is the GOP, I assume.

|6.19.17 @ 4:34PM|#

JFree|6.19.17 @ 5:31PM|#

If the SC made the right decision, both parties would be the losers. Since they most likely won't make that decision, only the American people will be the losers.

Lord_at_War|6.19.17 @ 7:35PM|#

"Gerrymandering" is all on Dems. We have two legally ordained "minority-majority" districts in OH that will elect any black Dem by a 75-25 margin. We also have metro Toledo and Cleveland that will also regularly elect a Dem... and Repubs win all the rest 55-45 or 53-47.

JFree|6.19.17 @ 10:59PM|#

I have no idea whether Ohio is gerrymandered - but its pretty clear you don't really understand what it actually is. Because what you are describing is called packing and cracking - and with those results it would be the R's doing it.

Mithrandir|6.19.17 @ 4:30PM|#

Two important Supreme Court decisions came down today upholding citizens' free speech rights. Good stuff from the USSC today.

Tom Bombadil|6.19.17 @ 7:51PM|#

Unfortunately, good news is bad news according to Welch in the next article.

Fist of Etiquette|6.19.17 @ 4:31PM|#

...Russia is threatening to target aircraft flown by the U.S. and its allies over Syria.

Hey! The U.S. has dibs on No Fly.

Mithrandir|6.19.17 @ 4:32PM|#

Who's fucking idea were no-fly zones?

Citizen X - #6|6.19.17 @ 4:31PM|#

Two important Supreme Court decisions came down today upholding citizens' free speech rights.

Still bracing myself for the massive nutslap the universe is surely preparing in order that balance may be restored.

Rich|6.19.17 @ 4:41PM|#

Something like "hate" language is legally a separate category from "offensive" language?

Chipper Morning, Now #1|6.19.17 @ 4:43PM|#

Like beaver alarming mate of danger with loud slap, universe smack Citizen X scrotum with police abuse story.

Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|6.19.17 @ 4:43PM|#

What is the Trumpocalypse, chopped liver?

Citizen X - #6|6.19.17 @ 4:46PM|#

That's just some trifling shit that way too many people won't stop whining about.

Crusty Juggler - Elite|6.19.17 @ 4:32PM|#

Lena Dunham's dad taught her how to use a tampon

Citizen X - #6|6.19.17 @ 4:35PM|#

What a dreadful anecdote.

|6.19.17 @ 4:36PM|#

She's all dreary banality this chick.

Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|6.19.17 @ 4:38PM|#

I should have Lena Dunham sign my trash can.

BearOdinson|6.19.17 @ 4:41PM|#

Crusty, you have finally gone too far!!

This cannot stand, man. This aggression cannot stand!

Chipper Morning, Now #1|6.19.17 @ 4:47PM|#

Crusty always offers his penis as a tampon.

Chipper Morning, Now #1|6.19.17 @ 4:46PM|#

Still better than dreaming of being abducted by aliens and then waking up to a blood-soaked bed to the arrival of your menarche. This happened to someone I know.

The Last American Hero|6.19.17 @ 6:31PM|#

The anesthesia used by the Greys often causes people to assume those were dreams.

Fist of Etiquette|6.19.17 @ 4:47PM|#

If this were true, we'd have known about it long before now. Her first period? First anecdote, for sure. Sounds like instead she finally watched Armageddon.

Juice|6.19.17 @ 4:49PM|#

Yeah, she had NO IDEA what was happening.

BearOdinson|6.19.17 @ 4:52PM|#

Every fucking day I thank Freyr (the god of fertility) that I only have sons and no daughters!!

Fucking "misty-eyed"??

More like "Here is a piece of my shirt. Stuff it in there until we get home!"

|6.19.17 @ 5:47PM|#

More like "Here is a piece of my shirt. Stuff it in there until we get home!"

Fuck that! Shirts cost money. Unless you're going to bleed to death, rub dirt on it until it stops bleeding.

BearOdinson|6.19.17 @ 6:03PM|#

Do you have a newsletter I could subscribe to?

Unlabelable MJGreen|6.19.17 @ 5:05PM|#

Diane Reynolds (Paul.)|6.19.17 @ 5:12PM|#

Everything Lena believes or has experienced is a social construct.

Meh.|6.19.17 @ 5:17PM|#

So her dad taught her how to use a tampon, she molested her sister... I hate to ask what kind of a messed-up relationship she had with her mom, but I'm sure she'll tell us all soon!

|6.19.17 @ 5:40PM|#

Well, her dad specializes in crude "art" cartoons of naked women, mostly with really prominent hairy vaginas as the focal point.

Her mom could be totally normal, in other words, and all would still be explained.

Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|6.19.17 @ 4:32PM|#

After the United States downed a Syrian warplane, Russia is threatening to target aircraft flown by the U.S. and its allies over Syria.

Wouldn't it just be easier for Putin to call Trump's cell?

Tom Bombadil|6.19.17 @ 7:58PM|#

Not pr effective. Don't you see the ongoing conspiracy? Trump tells Putin he needs an anti-Ruskie act to boost his cred. Putin says, you're not fucking with one of our planes. They agree on Syria. Nobody likes him anyway. Trump gets a kill. Putin cries fake tears and makes some threats. Everybody wins.

Guarantee that will be mainstream libtard talking point within 24 hours.

WakaWaka|6.19.17 @ 4:32PM|#

"Well, we have all those leaks, though"

Which have mostly blown-up spectacularly

Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|6.19.17 @ 4:33PM|#

A driver crashed into a police vehicle and died in Paris in what authorities believe was an attempted terrorist attack. Nobody else was injured.

No virgins for you!

BearOdinson|6.19.17 @ 4:42PM|#

If I get to Valhalla, I am going to laugh my ass off when I see that all those Islamist terrorsists who thought they were getting 72 virgins are nothing but target practice for the Einherjar!

PurityDiluting|6.19.17 @ 6:47PM|#

Or as Robin Williams once explained, it's a typo ... 72 Virginians are waiting to pummel the terrorists

Chipper Morning, Now #1|6.19.17 @ 4:48PM|#

Haha, imagine if the Soup Nazi is the gatekeeper in Muslim heaven.

Rich|6.19.17 @ 4:33PM|#

The court ruled that the federal government cannot reject trademarks just because they use "offensive" language.

Like "Fuck you!"?

Fist of Etiquette|6.19.17 @ 4:34PM|#

A driver crashed into a police vehicle and died in Paris in what authorities believe was an attempted terrorist attack. Nobody else was injured.

Vous avez eu un seul travail!

Illocust|6.19.17 @ 4:34PM|#

Wait, does this mean the redskins are no longer in danger of losing their trademark?

Rich|6.19.17 @ 4:35PM|#

The Last American Hero|6.19.17 @ 6:32PM|#

Bubba Jones|6.19.17 @ 7:48PM|#

Ironic because they wanted to consolidate and take over the cases. This seems to have worked out well enough for them.

Tom Bombadil|6.19.17 @ 8:03PM|#

Continued here:

Free Speech Wins Big at Supreme Court, Russia Threatens US over Syria, Possible Failed Terror Attack in Paris: PM ... - Reason (blog)

Princeton Prez ‘Embarrassed’ By Students’ Hatred Of Free Speech … – Fox News

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By Dan Jackson, Campus Reform

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber both recently decried the intolerance toward free speech exhibited by liberal college students.

In a letter published in the latest edition of Princeton Alumni Weekly, Eisgruber begins by declaring that he emphatically endorses a 2015 faculty statement affirming Princetons institutional commitment to the broadest possible construction of free expression, but notes that the actual state of affairs on many campuses, including Princetons, is often hostile to that bedrock principle.

Many people worry about the state of campus speech today, and understandably so, he writes. Higher education has been embarrassed by appalling incidents such as the one at Middlebury College, where protesters shouted down Charles Murray and some physically assaulted him and his host, Professor Allison Stanger.

Princetons own Professor Peter Singer was interrupted repeatedly when he tried to speak with an audience at the University of Victoria in Canada, Eisgruber continues, but points out that instances of civility receive much less attention.

When Rick Santorum spoke at Princeton in April, for instance, he notes that students asked sharp, tough questions, and Santorum defended his position vigorously, rather than attempting to prevent the former senator and presidential candidate from speaking.

When the event ended, Eisgruber recounts, Santorum thanked Princetons students for being very polite and respectful, adding, This is what should happen on college campuses.

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Princeton Prez 'Embarrassed' By Students' Hatred Of Free Speech ... - Fox News

Trumpkins Cry ‘Free Speech’ And Stab It in The Back – Daily Beast

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Four Donald Trump supporters who claim to be hardcore free speech fundamentalists revealed themselves as opportunistic hypocrites when they repeatedly disrupted two New York City Shakespeare in the Park performances of Julius Caesar (which features an obvious Trump stand-in as the assassinated title character) over the weekend.

Adopting the very same "shutdown" tactics they claim to abhor when utilized by left-wing activists, this past Friday right-wing blogger Laura Loomer marched onto the stage during the assassination scene, screaming, Stop the normalization of political violence against the right! before being ejected from the amphitheater.

The incident was filmed by Jack Posobiec a popular right-wing Twitter personality and propagator of debunked Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy theories who also filmed his own ejection from the arena for standing up and screaming at the audience, "Goebbels would be proud!"

Posting the video to Twitter, Posobiec boasted, "BREAKING: Julius Ceaser Gets SHUTDOWN" (sic). He later tweeted that the crowd applauded the assassination of Caesar, but provided no evidence to back up that assertion. Naturally, that didn't stop the rumor from spreading throughout the #MAGA Twitterverse as evidence of the bloodthirsty perversity of "leftist" New York theatregoers.

During the final performance of the play this Sunday, two members of the self-described Western chauvinist group Proud Boys rushed the stage, one during the assassination scene, another later leaping on the stage screaming "Goebbels would be proud" and "CNN is ISIS." The irony of defenders of Western civilization trying to shut down one of Western civilization's most classic works of art was apparently lost on the Proud Boys.

Mainstream conservative media figures like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham have applauded the protesters, defending the attempted shutdown of the play on the always intellectually shaky ground of "whataboutism," as in, "what if Obama was depicted as the murdered Caesar?" One easily identifiable flaw in that argument is an Obama figure was depicted as Caesar, in a well-received 2012 production that was received positively by both The New York Times and The American Conservative. There were no instances of liberals (or anyone) storming stages, nor any public or media outrage, perhaps because anyone with an even cursory knowledge of Julius Caesar knows that it is in no way pro-assassination.

Its unlikely that this weekend's stage stormers are really offended by this staging of the playor believe the production caused the attempted assassination of Republican congressmen last week. Rather, the disruptions were staged stunts, as partially evidenced by the FreeLaura.com domain registered well before Loomer's arrest by her employer, Rebel Media boss Ezra Levant, who is using the site to solicit donations for a "legal defence fund." A separate crowdfund has already raised over $10,000 for Loomer's defense, even though the fines she faces for misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct would be closer to $1,000 (a high estimate at that). In other words, deliberately getting arrested may prove to be a smart business strategy for Loomer.

The rank hypocrisy of those who have built their media brands on no-holds- barred political rhetoric and no-feelings-spared edginess is evident enough. And while some defend the attempted "shutdown" of Shakespeare as a righteous example of the left getting a taste of its own medicine (a childish excuse to justify public tantrums while attempting to stifle others' free expression) the tyrannical instinct from these so-called "free speech fundamentalists" wasn't born this weekend. They've tried to shut down college speakers they disagree with, but insist that when their allies have their events shut down on college campuses it is evidence of a kind of thought-policing unique to the left. When the cast of Hamilton lectured then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence after a performance last year, Loomer tweeted, "Will Democrats ever let Republicans just enjoy a play?"

Loomer and the other theater disrupters may think of their actions as fearless civil disobedience, but you can't have it both ways. If disrupting a conservative's speech is wrong, then disrupting a play is wrong. If easily offended college students are snowflakes, then shrieking men's rights activists are snowflakes, too.

For those of us truly interested in defending freedom of speech from both government censorship and the heckler's veto of authoritarians on both the left and the right, the self-exposure of the #MAGA crowd is helpful, for it makes plain that they are not allies in the struggle, but rather, unprincipled opportunists bastardizing the phrase "free speech" to fluff up their inflated sense of ballsy rebellion, as well as using the First Amendment as a rhetorical shield to say obnoxious things under the guise of bold truth-telling.

These particular professional trolls don't believe in free expression for all, nor do they respect the right of their ideological opponents to express themselves provocatively. But perhaps their greatest shame lies in their unapologetic deployment of the dreaded "Saul Alinsky tactics" long decried as the embodiment of leftist mind-controlling evil as a means to bilk their followers for donations while they masquerade as wounded martyrs.

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Trumpkins Cry 'Free Speech' And Stab It in The Back - Daily Beast

The Universal Notebook: Freedom of speech is just an expression – The Forecaster

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One of the battle lines in Americas culture wars runs straight through the First Amendment.

Cultural conservatives seem to think liberals dont really believe in free speech because we are all too willing to silence what we see as hate speech and what conservatives seem to see as expressions of their core values banning Muslims, closing the southern border to Hispanics, preventing the LGBTQ community from gaining their rights, defending police violence against black people, etc.

While conservatives such as Milo Yiannapolis, a British agitator who got banned from Twitter for his racist tweets, have felt the sword of the censor fall upon them, so has liberal comedian Kathy Griffin, who lost her job as CNN New Years Eve co-host for displaying a picture of Donald Trumps severed head. Trump makes people on both sides crazy.

If you thought things were tense between right and left, conservative and progressive before, Trumps ascension has made things much worse, emboldening bigots and incensing liberals. Comedian Bill Maher, champion of all things politically incorrect, caused a recent controversy when Sen. Ben Sasse jokingly invited him to come to Nebraska to work in the fields.

Work in the fields? Maher replied. Senator, Im a house (N-word).

Maher apologized for using the N-word and invited a pair of prominent African-Americans rapper/actor Ice Cube and Georgetown University sociologist Michael Eric Dyson on his show to gently flog him for his verbal sin.

For the record, Yiannopolis, Griffin and Maher were all way out of line.

The volatility of the free speech issue is greatest on college campuses, not only because academia is seen as inherently liberal, but also because colleges and universities are laboratories that test social norms and advance culture. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes not.

Harvard University was in the news this month because it rescinded the acceptances of 10 students who posted offensive memes on a Class of 2021 Facebook chat site called Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens. Being horny and bougie were the least of these teens troubles; they got kicked out of Harvard before they even got there for being just plain stupid.

Why would any intelligent, college-bound student post things that make fun of the Holocaust, sexual assault and the deaths of children? Insensitivity? Shock value? Peer pressure? Who cares? Harvard could fill every class with valedictorians with 800 SAT scores, so it doesnt need to coddle creeps who think its cool to be crass. Harvard got it right.

Out at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, that redoubt of hippie academics and anarchists turned itself inside out over one professors objection to the colleges Day of Absence, an annual exercise in racial awareness inspired by Douglas Turner Wards play of the same name, in which all the people of color disappear from a small Southern town.

In the past, the Day of Absence had been a voluntary affair where students of color met off-campus to discuss issues of race. This year, the college asked white students to leave campus for a day because students of color felt unwelcome in the wake of the 2016 election.

There is a huge difference between a group or coalition deciding to voluntarily absent themselves from a shared space in order to highlight their vital and under-appreciated roles, wrote Bret Weinstein, a professor of evolutionary biology who describes himself as deeply progressive, and a group or coalition encouraging another group to go away.

In response, 65 Evergreen State faculty and 34 staff members signed a solidarity statement, not in support of Weinstein, but calling on him to be punished because he endangered faculty, staff, and students, making them targets of white supremacist backlash by promulgating misinformation in public emails, on national television, in news outlets, and on social media.

It did not help Weinsteins deeply progressive cause that he wrote a guest editorial in the conservative Wall Street Journal and appeared on Fox News with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. A group of 50 students confronted Weinstein and shouted him down as a racist because he objected to the authoritarian way college President George Bridges had re-ordered a Day of Absence.

Evergreen State got it wrong. Professor Mike Paros, the one Evergreen State faculty member who stood up for Weinstein, got it right.

When one is confronted with truths that contradict closely held beliefs, wrote Paros to his colleagues, the mind begins to make outlandish rationalizations. The faculty email response will someday be used in psychology textbooks as a case study in group thinking.

The First Amendment only prohibits the government from infringing on your free speech. It does not not prevent your employers, your opponents or even your colleagues from doing so.

Freelance journalist Edgar Allen Beem lives in Brunswick. The Universal Notebook is his personal, weekly look at the world around him.

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The Universal Notebook: Freedom of speech is just an expression - The Forecaster

Defuse Some Political Tension by Allowing Campus Free Speech, Says Sanders – PJ Media

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After a campaign volunteer of his shot the GOP House whip last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) stressed that toning down heated political rhetoric in America should include letting controversial guests speak on college campuses.

James Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Ill., reportedly arrived in the Beltway a few weeks before the shooting and was found to have a list with a handful of GOP congressmen's names. He opened fireWednesday on the Republicans' early-morning baseball practice across the street from the YMCA in Alexandria, Va., where he had been spending his days. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Rep. Roger Williams' (R-Texas) aide Zachary Barth, Tyson Foods lobbyist Matt Mika and two Capitol Police officers, David Bailey and Krystal Griner, were wounded.

That morning, Sanders said on the Senate floor, "I have just been informed that the alleged shooter at the Republican baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign. I am sickened by this despicable act. Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through nonviolent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values."

Sunday on CBS, Sanders agreed that efforts to stop free speech can contribute to creating a powder keg.

"Look, freedom of speech, the right to dissent, the right to protest, that is what America is about. And, politically, every leader in this country, every American has got to stand up against any form of violence. That is unacceptable," the senator said. "And I certainly hope and pray that Representative Scalise has a full recovery from the tragedy that took place."

Asked about protests on college campuses in an effort to stop controversial speakers, the senator emphasized that "people have a right to speak."

"And you have a right, if you are on a college campus not to attend. You have a right to ask hard questions about the speaker if you disagree with him or her," Sanders added. "But what -- why should we be afraid of somebody coming on a campus or anyplace else and speaking? You have a right to protest. But I don't quite understand why anybody thinks it is a good idea to deny somebody else the right to express his or her point of view."

"What is very clear is, we are in a contentious and difficult political moment in our country's history. I have very grave concerns about the Trump agenda right now."

The shooting, followed by congressional comity at the annual baseball game, spurred more lawmakers to talk about how they can set an example for the country through civility.

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Defuse Some Political Tension by Allowing Campus Free Speech, Says Sanders - PJ Media