11 - 2015 - Antiwar.com Blog

Why Only Free Speech Gives Safe Space to the Oppressed

Social justice protests have been roiling American universities, even causing administrative heads to roll. To a significant degree, these campus uprisings have been characterized by an impulse to restrict speech and expression for the sake of creating “safe spaces” for marginalized groups. However, speech restriction is a double-edged sword that can just as easily injure the very people campus activists seek to help.

The turmoil at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) in particular was sparked by racial incidents. And the protesters are closely aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement, which combats police brutality against black Americans. However, cops themselves have recently sought to restrict speech and expression in order to insulate that very brutality from criticism.

As William N. Grigg wrote last year:

“The NYPD has now added its name to the roster of Officially Protected Victims by filing ‘hate crimes’ charges against 36-year-old Rosella Best, who had tagged police vehicles and a public school with anti-NYPD graffiti. Among the entirely defensible sentiments inscribed by Best are ‘NYPD pick on the harmless,’ ‘NYPD pick on the innocent,’ and?—?in a display of familiar but increasingly justified hyperbole?—?‘NAZIS=NYPD.’ (Assuming that Ms. Best used only ‘public’ property as her canvas, it’s difficult to identify an actual victim in this case.)”

And earlier this year, the Fraternal Order of Police demanded that Congress extend such special protection to the federal level.

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Peter Van Buren on Stopping ISIS: Follow the Money

Wars are expensive. The recruitment and sustainment of fighters in the field, the ongoing purchases of weapons and munitions, as well as the myriad other costs of struggle, add up.

So why isn’t the United States going after Islamic State’s funding sources as a way of lessening or eliminating their strength at making war? Follow the money back, cut it off, and you strike a blow much more devastating than an airstrike. But that has not happened. Why?

Donations

Many have long held that Sunni terror groups, ISIS now and al Qaeda before them, are funded via Gulf States, such as Saudi Arabia, who are also longtime American allies. Direct links are difficult to prove, particularly if the United States chooses not to prove them. The issue is exacerbated by suggestions that the money comes from “donors,” not directly from national treasuries, and may be routed through legitimate charitable organizations or front companies.

In fact, one person concerned about Saudi funding was then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who warned in a 2009 message on WikiLeaks that donors in Saudi Arabia were the “most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”

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Justin Raimondo to speak at Students for Liberty Conference Saturday, November 21st

Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com, will be giving the keynote speech at the Students for Liberty Northern California Regional Conference in Cupertino, California this Saturday, November 21st. The conference which begins at 10am will be held at De Anza College. Please register here.

Casey Given, Students for Liberty Director of Communication, writes “Justin has a long history in the liberty movement as an early member of both the Libertarian Party and Young Americans for Freedom. A personal friend of Murray Rothbard before his death, Justin wrote the first biography of the libertarian giant in 2000. Justin rarely speaks at public events nowadays, so his confirmation is very generous. We hope you’ll seize this opportunity to hear first-hand from one of the West Coast’s preeminent libertarians.”

Justin Raimondo’s speech will be at 7pm. For details, please contact Kevin Suarez at ksuarez@studentsforliberty.org.

Who’s Making A Killing From the Paris Terror Attacks?

Terrorism is great for business if you’re in the business of growing the government leviathan. The bodies in Paris are not yet buried, while the vultures with dollar signs (and pounds and Euros, etc) in their eyes have already swooped down for a feast.

Terrorism, what is it good for?

1) The military-industrial-Congressional complex: Thanks to Glenn Greenwald for bringing to light the enormous profits that are already rolling in for the merchants of death as Paris still smolders. As Greenwald points out, the markets could hardly wait to start buying from these military suppliers:

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And France’s largest arms manufacturer:

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2) The surveillance/spy state: This morning UK prime minister David Cameron announced that, in light of the Paris attacks, an additional 2,000 spies will be hired in Britain’s MI5, MI6, and GCHQ. The British are among the most spied-upon people on the planet, and with a 15 percent increase in spy hires they can look forward to having even more of their private lives in view of government snoops, as well as their civil liberties further clipped in the name of freedom. Cameron calls ramping up the surveillance state “invest[ing] more in our national security,” but does anyone believe an even larger spy bureaucracy will keep Britain safe?

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Ron Paul on Saudi Arabia: Friend Or Foe?

Saudi Arabia’s desire to be a regional leader in the Middle East has led it to act as a primary conveyor belt of jihadists into Syria, where the Saudis seek the overthrow of the secular Assad government. When Saudi-backed al-Qaeda rebels get hurt in southern Syria, they are patched up in Israeli hospitals. But the head-chopping Saudis are facing slow-motion suicide. Assad did not melt away, and the Saudis’ brutal war on Yemen continues to empty the Saudi coffers. The oil glut has shut off the welfare tap to keep its citizens at bay. Still the US continues to coddle the Saudi tyrants, this week announcing that it would sell them $1.3 billion worth of bombs to drop on the suffering Yemenis. More on the US/Saudi dysfunctional relationship on the Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Paris: No Grave Too Warm for the Political Class to Dance On

For a columnist or pundit, there’s no greater temptation than to get something written – Quick! Now! – about the latest, greatest, deadliest catastrophe. After all, if it bleeds it leads.

I felt that urge the night of the Paris terror attacks. For once, I resisted. I wanted more information. I wanted to see how the usual suspects responded. I wanted to see whether or not my own immediate assumptions and predictions would hold up before I held forth.

Unfortunately, my assumptions and predictions turned out to be spot-on. The American and European political classes didn’t bother waiting for the bodies to cool – or, for that matter, to even be counted – before commencing their triumphant dance on the graves. The attacks may have been unexpected, but they certainly weren’t unwelcome. The political class immediately pivoted from a pro forma parody of normal peoples’ heartfelt condemnation to special pleading for more power.

Within hours, prominent War Party mouthpiece (and former US ambassador to the United Nations) John Bolton rushed out a piece on “four important lessons we must learn” from the attacks. Predictably, “never trust John Bolton with any decision more consequential than ordering pizza, and even then be watchful lest ye end up with anchovies” didn’t make the cut.

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