Monthly Archives: August 2017

SMU Student Groups: Moving The 9/11 Memorial Restricts Freedom of Speech – Texas Monthly

Posted: August 9, 2017 at 4:57 am

By Doyin OyeniyiAugust 8, 2017

On August 1, the Southern Methodist University student group Young Americans for Freedom posted an open letter to their Facebook page. The letter, addressed to the universitys president, Robert Gerald Turner, criticized SMU for its response to the groups request to display a 9/11 memorial on Dallas Hall lawn, the same spot where the campus gathered after the attack in 2001. The memorial, a display of 2,977 American flags to represent the lives lost on 9/11, has been constructed on the lawn for the past two years.

This year, however, the memorial is barred from Dallas Hall lawn. The new location, designated for all lawn displays, is Morrison-McGinnis Park, or MoMac Park, which the YAF describes as far less prominent than the iconic Dallas Hall lawn, adding that thousands of students, faculty and local residents pass by [Dallas Hall lawn] every day and serves as the heart of our campus. But in addition to the location change, the organization particularly had a problem with the language used in the policy, which they received in July as a response to their request. The policy, titled Memorial Lawn Displays, read:

The University respects the right of all members of the SMU community to express their opinions. The University also respects the right of all members of the community to avoid messages that are triggering, harmful, or harassing. It is the policy of the University to protect the exercise of these rights. These rights come with the responsibility not to abuse or violate civil and property rights of others, or to interfere in the conduct of University business.

YAF criticized that language as an attack on freedom of speech and warned that the university was headed in the direction of indoctrination, not education if they continued to limit students right to share and express their beliefs. The open letter is signed by the chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, the president of College Republicans, the co-presidents of College Democrats, the president of Mustangs for Life, and the president of Feminist Equality Movement. The idea that a 9/11 memorial could be triggering, harmful, or harassing has drawn criticism online and even from Governor Greg Abbott.

In response to the backlash, SMU released a statement explaining that YAFs requests for displays have been approved in previous years, and SMU as a community has held 9/11 memorial events every five years since 2001, including a notable event last year in collaboration with area first responders. The university also apologized for the inappropriate wording in the policy sent to the students, explaining that the policy had not gone through the appropriate approval process. The updated policy, now titled Lawn Displays, reads:

The University respects the right of SMU community members to express their opinions as individuals with varying points of view and interests. The university also respects the right of all members of the academic community to be free from coercion and harassment. Reasonable limitations may be placed on the time, place and manner of such expression activities in order to serve the interest of health and safety, prevent interference in the conduct of University business, and protect against the infringement of the rights of others. Because we seek truth, we encourage the expression of ideas, accept challenges to our assumptions, and treat those whom we question as colleagues sharing a common purpose.

Kent Best, a spokesperson for SMU, said that the wording on triggering or harassing lawn displays was only to explain why certain requests might not be approved, but that the restriction would never have applied to the 9/11 memorial.The policy change was made in the July, Best said, just a few days before YAFs request was received.I can assure you 100 percent that their display was going to be approved, Best said.

What didnt change between the two versions of the policy was the new location. Best said that there were no specific incidents that led to no longer allowing displays at Dallas Hall lawn, but rather a need to keep that area available for students use and other university activities. Referencing a map of SMUs campus, Best explained that MoMac Park was more centrally located on campus and that though Dallas Hall lawn was bigger, displays had never been allowed to use the entire space on the lawn.

When asked if there were events that would have conflicted with this years 9/11 memorial, Best explained that a football game tailgate on September 9 would take place on the lawn. Since YAF might need to put up the flags for the memorial the day before 9/11, tents from the tailgate might not be removed in time, Best said, but he added that the decision to move lawn displays to MoMac Park was made before the were aware of any scheduling conflict. On the YAFs Facebook page, the group posted a screenshot of a tweet from SMU in 2015, which includes a picture with the flags from their memorial next to tailgating tents.

SMU cant hide the fact that they celebrated and supported our 9/11 Memorial on Dallas Hall lawn, despite it being surrounded by remnants of tailgating tents from the weekend before, the photo caption reads. This isnt a logistical problem. This is a freedom problem. Our pressure will continue until this policy is changed.

Although the university has not confirmed it, Daniel Rosa, president of Mustangs for Life, and Matthew Lucci, co-president of College Democrats, believe that the policy change was a response to a Mustangs for Life display. Rosa said that for the past four years, during the spring semester, the organization has displayed a Memorial for Innocents to signify the number of abortions that happen per day in America. For the past three years, the display has been about 2,000 crosses spread on the lawn.In recent years, there have been counter-protests and displays by pro-choice organizations such as Feminist Equality Movement and Mustangs for Unity (an organization created in response to Mustangs for Life). Rosa says people have sometimes kicked over crosses in his organizations display, and this year, a student responded to the display by raising money for Planned Parenthood. But the representatives from the groups, who might publicly disagree on many things, both want Dallas Hall lawn available for displays again.

Of the three displays that occur every single year, the 9/11 display has never been controversial, whereas the other two have, Lucci said. And the text of the original policy change hints at that.Lucci doesnt believe that SMU had malicious intent toward the 9/11 memorial, but he still considers the restriction of lawn displays to MoMac Park as a limitation. Because the park is mostly surrounded by dorms and receives less foot traffic than Dallas Hall lawn, which he describes as the academic center of the university, relegating them to an area where lawn displays are not likely to receive the attention and response theyve received in the past, Lucci believes the university is in a way restricting their freedom of speech.

Best could not confirm any plans to change the lawn display policy, but students are holding out hope. On Monday, student leaders who signed the open letter met with Kenechukwu Mmeje, SMUs new vice president for student affairs, to discuss the policy changes. Although details of the meeting, which included representatives from SMUs development and legal departments, were scarce, Lucci seemed hopeful. Student and administrative leaders are working together on a solution to the problem at hand, the details of which are still under consideration at this time, he said after the meeting. I am confident that the administration of Southern Methodist University and the students in attendance will be able to reach an agreement in the near future.

Tags: Dallas, Education, Higher Ed, smu, southern methodist university

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The War on Free Speech Turns Further Left – Capital Research Center – Capital Research Center

Posted: at 4:57 am

Anti-free speech demonstrators protesting in the name of social justice could cost The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington$3.8 million in legal payments.

In late May, fifty Evergreen students barragedlong-time biology professor Bret Weinstein for refusing to comply with radical Left-wing activists calls for a Day of Absence for white faculty and students. The leftist protesters, convinced Weinsteinis a white supremacist for daring to show up to work on their own racist segregation day, hurled vitriolic insults and demanded the college terminate the professors employment contract.Videos of Evergreen students verbally assailing the professor and school officials quickly went viral.

After being told by the college chief of police that he was not safe on campus, Weinstein wisely had his family live in hiding. In response, the beleaguered Weinstein has fileda $3.8 million tort claim against the college.

Weinstein himself is no card-carrying conservative, however.Weinstein,a self-professed liberal, has taught biology for fourteen years, is an outspoken Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter, and by all accounts is the kind of teacher that students at one of the most left-wing colleges in the country would admire, as the New York Timesglowingly put it in its June 1 article, When the Left Turns on Its Own.

Shutting down conservatives has become de rigueur. But now anti-free-speech activists are increasingly turning their ire on free-thinking progressives. Liberals shouldnt cede responsibility to defend free speech on college campuses to conservatives. After all, without free speech, whats liberalism about?

Ironically, when Weinstein was a student he penned anOctober 6, 1987 opinion piece to the Daily Pennsylvaniandecrying a fraternity for hiring strippers during a fraternity rush partyas sexist and abhorrent. Weinstein chose to voice his opinions peacefully; his students chose wanton chaos. In an op-ed tothe Wall Street Journal,Weinstein notes that the Evergreen faculty administrationhas donelittle to preserve order, free speech, and diversity of thought as the school has slipped into madness:

Equality of outcome is a discredited concept, failing on both logical and historical grounds, as anyone knows who has studied the misery of the 20th century.

[The college administrationsnew race-based hiring plan would] shift the college from a diversity agenda to an equity agenda by, among other things, requiring an equity justification for every faculty hire.

This presented traditional independent academic minds with a choice: Accept the plan and let the intellectual descendants of Critical Race Theory dictate the bounds of permissible thought to the sciences and the rest of the college, or insist on discussing the plans shortcomings and be branded as racists. Most of my colleagues chose the former, and the protesters are in the process of articulating the terms. I dissented and ended up teaching in the park.

The Day of Absence that led to the incident stems from a tradition at Evergreen in which black students and faculty leave campus to display the importance of their roles at the school, following the theme of Douglas Turner Wards play, Day of Absence.

Butin 2017, Reasonreports, the tradition was altered: a student group asked that their white peers and instructors take a Day of Absence from campus life to explore issues of race, equity, allyship, inclusion and privilege. A powerful tradition has been morphed into a campaign to snuff out free speech, and silence dissent. Unfortunately, Evergreen is not the only campus with such problems.

Freedom of speech on college campuses in America is under widespread attack. CRC has covered muchof the campus anti-free speech epidemicat Claremont McKenna College, where student activists weredisciplinedappropriately.

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‘Atheism is against Federal Constitution’ – New Straits Times Online

Posted: at 4:57 am

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in Prime Ministers Department Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim has urged mufti and state governments to take action against atheists in the country as their practice is against the Federal Constitution.

He suggested that authorities go after atheists and identify them, adding that they had deviated.

This is a country with religion. There are Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism and others.

The Constitution clearly states about Islam being the federal religion while other religions are also allowed to be practised in the country. There is no mention on atheism.

They (atheists) clearly lack knowledge in religion, hence they choose not to be a believer.

To all the mufti and state governments, please pay attention.even though there are not many atheists, he told a press conference at the Dewan Rakyat today.

On Monday, the government reportedly said that it would investigate alleged claims which went viral in social media that Muslims had joined the Kuala Lumpur Atheist Club.

Shahidan said the club might draw the interest of people due to its persuasive ways in spreading atheism.

You know nowadays people tend to glamourise outspoken people in social media. Keyboard warriors are always glorified.

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Malaysian atheist group under investigation over alleged Muslim … – The Independent

Posted: at 4:57 am

The Malaysian government is investigating an international atheist organisation after a picture of a meeting held by the group in Kuala Lumpur went viral.

Atheist Republic, a Canada-based non-profit organisation, often stages meet-ups in larger cities, and last week posted a picture on Facebook of people attending the Atheist Republic Consulate of Kuala Lumpur annual meeting.

The post said the gathering was such a blast! and shows a room full of people smiling with their arms in the air. Many are making hand gestures. Atheists from all walks of life came to meet one another, some for the very first time each sharing their stories and forming new friendships that hopefully last a lifetime! We rock! it read.

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country where apostasy is not a federal crime, but critics say deepening fundamentalism within the Muslim majority is threatening religious freedoms, Reuters news agency reports.

Malaysian states that have their own laws regarding Islamic affairs do now allow Muslims to formally renounce their faith,and people are instead fined, jailed or sent for counselling.

Some claimed that Muslim apostates were involved in the Malaysian chapter of Atheist Republic, which has reportedly sparked uproar among some Muslims.

Members of the atheist group are reported to have received death threats on social media.

The group is being investigated by Malaysias Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department to determine whether any Muslims were involved in the meeting.

Dr Asyraf WajdiDusuki, the countrys deputy minister who oversees religious affairs, told reporters: If it is proven that there are Muslims involved in atheist activities that could affect their faith, the state Islamic religious departments or Jawi could take action, New Straits Times reported.

I have asked for Jawi to look into this grave allegation.

Mr Wajditold Reuters that the government will determine whether any Muslims were in attendance at the atheist meeting and if they have been involved in spreading atheism, which he claimed can jeopardise the aquidah [faith] of Muslims.

We need to use the soft approach [with apostates], he added. Perhaps they are ignorant of the true Islam, so we need to engage them and educate them on the right teachings. He said ex-Muslims found to be part of the atheist gathering would be given counselling, while anyone found spreading atheist ideas could be prosecuted.

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Unbelievable?: Meet the man who puts atheists on Christian radio – ABC Online

Posted: at 4:57 am

Updated August 09, 2017 11:01:52

Justin Brierley knows a thing or two about miracles: each week, he manages to get atheists to listen to Christian radio.

But, as you probably guessed, it's not Christian radio as you'd imagine it. Already this year on his British program Unbelievable? he's given a microphone to a doctor arguing for the complete decriminalisation of abortion, a sexual freedom campaigner defending the use of pornography, and a neuroscientist who says the human quest for meaning can be explained by evolution.

Other past episodes include illusionist Derren Brown questioning the veracity of miracle accounts, given the susceptibility of the mind to be tricked, and perhaps the most famous atheist in the world Richard Dawkins laying into the "capriciously malevolent bully" God of the Old Testament.

There's no catch, either. Unbelievers aren't brought onto the show to be harangued or interrupted. They're given equal time to the Christians they're debating and Brierley acts as an impartial moderator.

If you were flicking through channels in the car, you might not guess you were listening to a station called Premier Christian Radio. So why does Brierley do it?

Well, he says his station does a "great job of talking to Christians about Christian things", but he wanted to burst the bubble.

"I'm confident that Christians have nothing to fear from hearing from sceptical people," he said.

That's why for the past 11 years, Brierley has been inviting people onto the air to hear why they don't believe, putting them into conversations with leading Christian thinkers like philosopher William Lane Craig, New Testament scholar NT Wright and Oxford mathematician John Lennox.

Originally, he had only British Christian listeners in mind, but since his show became a podcast, the audience has expanded to include nonbelievers from all over the world, including Australia.

"One of the most common emails I get is, 'You're the only Christian radio station I would ever think of listening to'," he said.

Brierley says many Christians appreciate having a show which deals with questions they themselves might have had and which helps them navigate their own interactions with nonbelievers.

But he frankly admits that not everyone liked the idea.

"I'll be honest with you, when the show first started, it got pushback from some Christian listeners who were very uncomfortable with having atheists on air," he said.

He could see their point you don't tend to tune into Christian radio to have your cherished beliefs challenged.

But he says it's not like you can avoid scepticism in a digital world.

"We might as well have that kind of a conversation in an environment where we at least know we've got a reasonable Christian on the other side," he said.

Brierley doesn't shy away from the fact that he'd love it if people converted after listening to his program. But he also says simply improving the tone of the faith debate is its own reward.

Unbelievable? was born when "new atheism" was at its peak, with Richard Dawkins and the late journalist Christopher Hitchens leading the charge against faith with their respective books The God Delusion (2006) and God Is Not Great (2007).

Brierley says he thinks the conversation has improved since then, with many atheists he encounters keen to disassociate themselves from the new atheism movement.

"I think it went through a pretty dire patch for a while," he said.

"The tone of the conversation, certainly from the new atheists side, was of a kind of condescending, dismissive attitude towards people who hold a faith."

Brierley says you have a much better chance of changing people's minds when you engage in a friendly, personable way.

He says we live in an age where "we tend to dehumanise people" who disagree with us, but just getting people of different beliefs into the same room for a chat makes them realise they're not talking to the enemy.

"The show I hope will give people who are sceptical an insight into why Christian faith is in my opinion a credible option," he said.

"And I hope it will also give Christians listening an insight into the fact that atheists by and large are nice, reasonable people they're not out to get you."

After more than a decade as the impartial moderator, Brierley decided to put his own cards on the table with his book Unbelievable? Why After 10 Years Of Talking With Atheists I'm Still A Christian.

The first point he makes is that while his show deals primarily with what objective evidence there is for Christianity, it was actually a subjective religious experience that led him to faith when he was a teenager. Simply put, he says he felt the presence and love of God.

But he was aware this subjective experience wasn't going to convince anyone else, which is why he looked towards apologetics basically, a wonky word for the rational defence of Christianity.

"What I discovered was some real, credible intellectual reasons for believing in God."

He points to the fine tuning of the universe, the existence of moral objectivity, the universal search for meaning, and the historical evidence for the life of Jesus as some of the reasons he thinks Christianity has the better case.

"In all of these arguments, I'm not trying to deride atheism. I'm just saying I don't see how that worldview makes sense of the world as I see it," he said.

Atheists have an answer for all of these arguments, of course, which is why his show will never be short of things to debate.

Topics: christianity, religion-and-beliefs, united-kingdom

First posted August 09, 2017 10:48:42

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NATO criticizes Putin visit to disputed Georgia territory – POLITICO.eu

Posted: at 4:55 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, meets with Raul Khadzhimba, the leader of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia | Alexey Druzhinin/AFP via Getty Images

Russian president visits Abkhazia on anniversary of brief war over the territory.

By David M. Herszenhorn

8/8/17, 6:39 PM CET

NATO rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for visiting the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on the ninth anniversary of a brief war over the territory and another disputed region, South Ossetia.

Russia has all but annexed the two regions, which exist only thanks to Russian economic aid and the protection of the Russian military and security services. Putin signed an agreement effectively integrating South Ossetia in 2015 and a similar treaty with Abkhazia in 2014.

Russia has been accused repeatedly by Georgia and the West of further encroaching on Georgias territorial sovereignty by surreptitiouslymoving the borders.

Putin met Tuesday with the president of Abkhazia, Raul Khadzhimba, in the Black Sea resort town of Pitsunda, and a NATO spokesman in Brussels quickly denounced the Russian leaders move.

President Putins visit to the Abkhazia region of Georgia on the ninth anniversary of the armed conflict is detrimental to international efforts to find a peaceful and negotiated settlement, the spokesman, Dylan White, said in a statement. We regret that this visit was carried out without prior consent of the Georgian authorities.

NATO is united in full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally-recognized borders, White said. We will not recognize any attempts to change the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as regions of Georgia.

At Putins meeting, the Russian and Abkhazian health ministers signed an agreement to extend Russian government health insurance to Russian citizens living in Abkhazia. Effectively, all residents of Abkhazia can obtain Russian citizenship.

Guests, from wherever they come, including from Russia, should understand and feel that they are under reliable protection, Putin said at the meeting, according to a statement by the Kremlin.

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Turkey grants German lawmakers access to soldiers as part of NATO trip – POLITICO.eu

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A German Tornado jet is pictured on the ground at the air base in Incirlik, Turkey | Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images

Members of the German parliament will visit troops stationed at an air base near Konya in September.

By Connor Murphy

8/8/17, 2:16 PM CET

The Turkish government will allow German lawmakers to visit soldiers stationed at an airbase in Turkey as part of a NATO delegation next month, local media reported Tuesday.

In a letter to the head of Germanys parliamentary defense committee, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the Turkish government agreed to a NATO proposal which allows German members of parliament to visit troops stationed at an air base near Konya on September 8.

Gabriel said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlt avuolu agreed to the proposal.

Germany withdrew its troops from Incirlik air base in southern Turkey in July after Ankara repeatedly refused to grant German lawmakers access to the base. Turkey also blocked a delegation of MPs from visiting the air base near Konya in mid-July.

Under the proposal, NATO Deputy Secretary-General Rose Gottemoeller can take up to seven members of the German parliamentary defense committee with her on a trip to Konya.

This is in our interest, said Wolfgang Hellmich, chairman of the parliamentary defense committee. This is an important step in making it clear to NATO that the right to visit is indispensable.

Hellmich added that visiting as part of a NATO delegation does not replace a Bundestag visit, but is an important step to defuse a conflict that was not at all useful to NATO.

The move comes as the diplomatic rift between Ankara and Berlin continues to worsen. On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan accused Germany of abetting terrorists. EU Budget Commissioner Gnther Oettinger told Bild on Monday it was very unlikely the EU would hand over the remainder of a promised 4.3 billion of pre-accession aid to Turkey because of the countrys recent autocratic turn.

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Georgia Shouldn’t (and Won’t) Be a NATO Member – The American Conservative

Posted: at 4:55 am

Will Ruger noticed that Pence repeated the pledge to bring Georgia into NATO during his visit there last week:

Pence stated, President Trump and the United States stand firmly behind the 2008 NATO Bucharest statement which made it clear that Georgia will, someday, become a member.

Since this week marks the ninth anniversary of the August 2008 war, it is worth remembering that the commitment made at the Bucharest summit earlier that year significantly added to the tensions between Russia and Georgia. If it had been up to George W. Bush, Georgia and Ukraine would have both received Membership Action Plans, but even the promise of future membership was dangerously provocative. Promising that Georgia would one day become a member of the alliance alarmed Moscow and gave false encouragement to the Georgian government.

Combined with other expressions of U.S. support for Georgia during the Bush years, this commitment by the alliance led then-President Saakashvili to believe that the U.S. and other Western powers would come to Georgias aid in the event of a conflict. He recklessly escalated the low-level conflict in South Ossetia and triggered a war with Russia by shelling Tskhinvali, where Russian troops were stationed in a supposed peacekeeping role. That attack provided Russia with the pretext to invade. The rhetorical support for Georgia proved to be meaningless, and the war drove home how big of a liability Georgia would be as an ally.

As a result of the war, Russia recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, thus making their reintegration into Georgia much less likely than it was before the war. If Georgias NATO aspirations were fanciful before the 2008 war, they became preposterous after it. Reviving talk of Georgias future NATO membership today is irresponsible and dangerous. It is also cruel to keep giving Georgia more false encouragement that it will be able to join the alliance at some point. It isnt going to happen, and it does no one any good to keep pretending otherwise.

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Turkey’s Drift from the EU and NATO Could Be Permanent – The Cipher Brief

Posted: at 4:55 am

Relations between Turkey and the European Union already fraught have deteriorated swiftly over the last few months. In June, the refusal of Turkish officials to allow German parliamentarians to visit their troops stationed at the Incirlik air base in southeastern Turkey, who are part of the fight against ISIS, encouraged Berlin to pull its forces surveillance aircraft out of the country and move them to Jordan.

In a resolution passed last week, the European Parliament voted to suspend Turkeys accession talks with the EU, citing Turkeys slide into authoritarianism under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And, according to reporting from Reuters, Germany is now asking the European Commission to pause its negotiations with Ankara on the EU-Turkey Customs Union.

Squabbles between the European Union and Turkey, which has been negotiating accession to the bloc since 1999, are not new. However, the escalation in rhetorical attacks between Turkey and European powers in March Erdogan called the Netherlands the capital of fascism and compared German politicians to Nazis has been unique. That war of words now threatens to undermine the NATO alliance, especially as Turkey pursues the $2.5 billion preliminary agreement it signed with Russia to buy S-400 SAM air defense systems.

What does this mean for the U.S. and the Trump Administration, which relies heavily on Turkey for support against ISIS in Iraq and Syria?

Turkish ties to several EU countries have been damaged this year, but its relations with Germany have seen the sharpest decline. Those relations also offer the clearest look at the effects of a serious deterioration of Turkeys place in both NATO and the EU accession process. On the NATO side, Germanys decision to move its troops from Incirlik air base is significant, but it is a proposed redirection of AWACS surveillance planes from the Konya air base in central Turkey that would be most damaging to NATO unity. As Karl-Heinz Kamp, Director of the German Federal Academy for Security Policy in Berlin, notes, the AWACS fleets stationing in Turkey was not on the basis of a bilateral agreement with the country, it is part of a NATO agreement.

Not only does the anti-ISIS coalition lose the capability of the AWACS while they are in transit, the move also forms a diplomatic rift within NATO. This is why NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is currently attempting to mediate negotiations between the two allies. According to Kamp, Stoltenberg is in a very tricky situation where, faced with multiple crises within NATO, he is trying to avoid escalation in any of these conflict areas.

On the EU side of the equation, it is the perceived authoritarian and anti-European bent of the Erdogan government that is driving the diplomatic crisis, and the failed military coup against Erdogan in July of last year marks the turning point from tense relations into a burgeoning crisis. Since then, the Erdogan government has purged of over 100,000 military officers, civil servants, journalists, and academics suspected of involvement in the putsch. They also succeeded in winning a Yes vote in the countrys constitutional referendum that will grant sweeping new powers to President Erdogan when enacted.

European leaders have consistently expressed worry at what they see as the consolidation of powers in Erdogans hands and the multiple alleged human rights abuses committed by the Turkish government during the purge. In response, Erdogan and his allies deny any anti-democratic practices, claim the purge has been necessary to combat pro-coup elements in the country, and maintain that they do not need the EU accession process and that threats to end it will not influence their policy.

Many analysts believed that the severity of these exchanges would die off after Erdogan won the decision he wanted in the referendum. Secure in his power at home, the theory was that he would seek to repair his countrys ties with Europe. However, says Director of the Turkish Research Project at the Washington Institute and author of The New Sultan, Soner Cagaptay, this outcome no longer looks likely.

This is partially due to a new series of provocations including the arrest of ten Amnesty International human rights workers by Turkish authorities this July. But, says Cagaptay, this runs much deeper. According to him, what we saw before the Turkish constitutional referendum in April were not episodic glitches, they actually represented the culmination of [an Erdoganist] political ideology that is driven by a very deep sense of anti-European anti-western sentiment. This means that crises like this will continue to crop up between Turkey and Europe.

Nevertheless, Turkish economic growth is heavily dependent on foreign direct investment and tourism, and the bulk of this outside money is European. For this reason, despite the public saber rattling and chest-beating against Europe, Erdogans government is simultaneously pursuing talks to upgrade its critical customs union with the EU. Germany is now threatening that economic lifeline by asking the European Commission to halt those talks with Ankara but Erdogan still has a trump card to play here: refugees. Basically, says Cagaptay, if Erdogan wants, all three million [refugees] could be in Germany tomorrow, and the rest of Europe in three months.

This kind of exchange between economic support and curbing refugee flows may ease the current crisis with the EU, but it is hardly permanent. This presents a serious problem for the United States, especially where current and new crises intersect with NATO unity. Interestingly, questions about Turkeys place in NATO and relations with the European Union come at the same moment as similar questions about U.S. President Donald Trumps commitment to NATO and ties to key leaders in western Europe.

However, for the moment at least, the U.S. Administration needs some semblance of unity between Turkey and its European NATO allies. The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq relies on Turkish bases, particularly the air base at Incirlik, to provide timely support to its forces and allies on the ground. Any threat to that support whether it comes from intra-NATO disputes or Turkish anger at U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG and the rise of anti-western political narratives could seriously degrade U.S. efforts to fight the terror group. As Stoltenberg attempts to negotiate a deal between Turkey and Germany, the Trump Administration should consider lending its voice to the mix.

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I FOIA’d the NSA’s Recycling Mascot, and Now I Have More Questions Than Answers – New York Magazine

Posted: at 4:54 am

Move over, Pixar theres a new CGI creature in town, and he comes from the most unlikely of places, the National Security Agency. Of the federal government agencies that youd expect to have an anthropomorphic mascot dedicated to reducing environmental waste, the NSA is probably near the bottom of the list.

The mascot, Dunk, became public knowledge in 2015, thanks to a menacing NSA tweet the agency sent to publicize its green efforts.

That effort included a school initiative teaching children how to conduct awaste audit, categorize trash, and figure out how effective they were at properly disposing of trash. Yes, the NSA wanted children to go snooping through trash, which seems almost too on the nose to be true. So youre asking me, hey Dunk, what is a waste audit? Well, youre going to dig through all of the trash in your school and then youre going to analyze it, the blue beastintonedin his nasal voice. Youll need to identify the types of trash making up the waste stream of your school and the amounts of each type of trash, by weight and volume.

Upon learning of Dunk, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for any communication and documents related to the development of Dunk. More than two years later, the NSA came through with a handful of unclassified documents.

On August 22, 2008, a graphic-design coordinator sent an email with the subject line, (U) Quick Idea. Attached was a file called recycle idea.pdf, which contained preliminary sketches for two waste-disposal bins with faces and arms. One is a round, green recycling bin, for soda cans and such; the other is an orange dumpster labeled WOOD ONLY thats disposing of a pallet. The slogan: Think Before You Throw.

The initiative was put on hold until the graphic-design coordinator returned from leave in early September. The next email exchange that the NSA included begins on October 1, when a waste-and-recycling manager inquires about the Dunk program. Just wanted to know if weve made any further progress Let me know

Two days later, the Dunk we all know and love appears in a file simply titled dunk.pdf, courtesy of the same graphic-design coordinator. Hes now a blue, rectangular recycling bin, who throws trash through a hole in the top of his head, rather than eating it via his mouth. Does the trash give him energy? What happened to his dumpster friend? Why is he called Dunk when hes clearly lobbing the trash?

The final page included in the NSAs response is the final Dunk, now with fancy purple shorts. The picture is not dated, but its presumably the type of office posting that is placed right over the trash bins. Years before Dunk was telling kids to dig through the trash, he was telling NSA workers to be mindful of their waste habits.

Think before you throw! the NSA warns. I mean, thatd be crazy, right? Imagine if your stuff ended up in the wrong place, and someone you didnt intend got ahold of it and used it improperly. Thatd be so embarrassing!

Commonly held best practices for password safety are going out the window.

Nothing (rose) gold can stay.

Including sweatproof, noise-canceling, and foldable versions several under $50.

How an actual person became a bot overnight.

Weve got your John Tucker Must Die sequel right here, folks.

Think before you throw.

We finally know who wrote the infamous document.

Because what the world needs right now is obviously another way to leave your friends on read.

The one about the media wanting him in a noose is really something.

A leaked internal document called the wage gap a myth and laid out all the reasons men are treated unfairly.

Weve heard this argument before.

How to eke a few more minutes out of your battery before everything goes dark.

Its called Stamp.

Including one for $250.

We might be getting a frowning poop emoji to go with the smiling one.

Robbie Tripp is getting owned on Twitter after posting a gushing Instagram about how much he loves his wifes curvy body.

The CMS wasnt cutting it.

It was only after a drivers dashboard went up in spontaneous flames that the company decided to do something.

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I FOIA'd the NSA's Recycling Mascot, and Now I Have More Questions Than Answers - New York Magazine

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