Alan Dershowitz Defense Argument Transcript: Trump Impeachment Trial January 27
Mr. Chief Justice, distinguished members of the Senate, our friends, lawyers, fellow lawyers it’s a great honor for me to stand before you today to present a constitutional argument against the impeachment and removal not only of this president, but of all and any future presidents who may be charged with the unconstitutional grounds of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. I stand before you today as I stood in 1973 and 1974 for the protection of the constitutional and procedural rights of Richard Nixon, who I personally abhorred and whose impeachment I personally favored, and as I stood for the rights of Bill Clinton, who I admired and whose impeachment I strongly opposed.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Monday, November 11, 2019
Shakespeare and the Geneva Bible - Re-Blog
Shakespeare and the Geneva Bible
ARTICLE BY LELAND RYKEN JULY 2009
Shakespeare's indebtedness to the Bible is a subject of neglect in mainstream Shakespeare scholarship. This is surprising, inasmuch as the relevant data has been compiled by a coterie of Shakespeare scholars, most notably Naseeb Shaheen in his book Biblical References in Shakespeare's Plays. [1] The story of Shakespeare and the Bible is partly the story of Protestant English Bible translation in the sixteenth century. Shakespeare was the beneficiary of a movement in which English Reformers poured their energies into translating the Bible. In fact, English Bible translation in the sixteenth century galvanized a society in a manner that invites comparison with the building of cathedrals in the Catholic Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation also created an edifice--an edifice of the Word.
ARTICLE BY LELAND RYKEN JULY 2009
Shakespeare's indebtedness to the Bible is a subject of neglect in mainstream Shakespeare scholarship. This is surprising, inasmuch as the relevant data has been compiled by a coterie of Shakespeare scholars, most notably Naseeb Shaheen in his book Biblical References in Shakespeare's Plays. [1] The story of Shakespeare and the Bible is partly the story of Protestant English Bible translation in the sixteenth century. Shakespeare was the beneficiary of a movement in which English Reformers poured their energies into translating the Bible. In fact, English Bible translation in the sixteenth century galvanized a society in a manner that invites comparison with the building of cathedrals in the Catholic Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation also created an edifice--an edifice of the Word.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Registration: The Nazi Paradigm - Re-Blog
Registration: The Nazi Paradigm
By Stephen P. Halbrook, Ph.D., J.D.
It would be instructive at this time to recall why the American citizenry and Congress have historically opposed the registration of firearms. The reason is plain. Registration makes it easy for a tyrannical government to confiscate firearms and to make prey of its subjects. Denying this historical fact is no more justified than denying that the Holocaust occurred or that the Nazis murdered millions of unarmed people.
I am writing a book on Nazi policies and practices which sought to repress civilian gun ownership and to eradicate gun owners in Germany and in occupied Europe. The following sampling of my findings should give pause to the suggestion that draconian punishment of citizens for keeping firearms necessarily is a social good.
By Stephen P. Halbrook, Ph.D., J.D.
It would be instructive at this time to recall why the American citizenry and Congress have historically opposed the registration of firearms. The reason is plain. Registration makes it easy for a tyrannical government to confiscate firearms and to make prey of its subjects. Denying this historical fact is no more justified than denying that the Holocaust occurred or that the Nazis murdered millions of unarmed people.
I am writing a book on Nazi policies and practices which sought to repress civilian gun ownership and to eradicate gun owners in Germany and in occupied Europe. The following sampling of my findings should give pause to the suggestion that draconian punishment of citizens for keeping firearms necessarily is a social good.
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
#specificallyTHIS is Shibboleth
A shibboleth is a kind of linguistic password: A way of speaking (a pronunciation, or the use of a particular expression) that is used by one set of people to identify another person as a member, or a non-member, of a particular group. The group making the identfication has some kind of social power to set the standards for who belongs to their group: who is "in" and who is "out".
The purpose of a shibboleth is exclusionary as much as inclusionary: A person whose way of speaking violates a shibboleth is identified as an outsider and thereby excluded by the group. This phenomenon is part of the universal use of language for distinguishing social groups. It is also one example of a general phenomenon of observing a superficial characteristic of members of a group, such as a way of speaking, and judging that characteristic as 'good' or 'bad', depending on how much the observers like the people who have that characteristic.
A shibboleth is one specific phenomenon involving observing use of language of "out-group" people. It is a linguistic marker that is characteristic of members of a group, which is used by another group to identify members of the first group. Such identification typically has bad consequences for the members thus identified.
The story behind the word is recorded in the biblical Book of Judges. The word shibboleth in ancient Hebrew dialects meant 'ear of grain' (or, some say, 'stream'). Some groups pronounced it with a sh sound, but speakers of related dialects pronounced it with an s.
In the story, two Semitic tribes, the Ephraimites and the Gileadites, have a great battle. The Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites, and set up a blockade across the Jordan River to catch the fleeing Ephraimites who were trying to get back to their territory. The sentries asked each person who wanted to cross the river to say the word shibboleth. The Ephraimites, who had no sh sound in their language, pronounced the word with an s and were thereby unmasked as the enemy and slaughtered.
Here is the relevant excerpt from the Book of Judges. The full account is in Chapter 12, verses 1-15.
source:
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/shibboleth - Rice University - Prof. S. Kemmer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shibboleths
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-07/haitch-vs-aitch-its-a-class-war/9845154
The purpose of a shibboleth is exclusionary as much as inclusionary: A person whose way of speaking violates a shibboleth is identified as an outsider and thereby excluded by the group. This phenomenon is part of the universal use of language for distinguishing social groups. It is also one example of a general phenomenon of observing a superficial characteristic of members of a group, such as a way of speaking, and judging that characteristic as 'good' or 'bad', depending on how much the observers like the people who have that characteristic.
A shibboleth is one specific phenomenon involving observing use of language of "out-group" people. It is a linguistic marker that is characteristic of members of a group, which is used by another group to identify members of the first group. Such identification typically has bad consequences for the members thus identified.
The story behind the word is recorded in the biblical Book of Judges. The word shibboleth in ancient Hebrew dialects meant 'ear of grain' (or, some say, 'stream'). Some groups pronounced it with a sh sound, but speakers of related dialects pronounced it with an s.
In the story, two Semitic tribes, the Ephraimites and the Gileadites, have a great battle. The Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites, and set up a blockade across the Jordan River to catch the fleeing Ephraimites who were trying to get back to their territory. The sentries asked each person who wanted to cross the river to say the word shibboleth. The Ephraimites, who had no sh sound in their language, pronounced the word with an s and were thereby unmasked as the enemy and slaughtered.
Here is the relevant excerpt from the Book of Judges. The full account is in Chapter 12, verses 1-15.
12, 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.
5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, art thou an Ephraimite? If he say Nay;
6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
source:
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/shibboleth - Rice University - Prof. S. Kemmer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shibboleths
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-07/haitch-vs-aitch-its-a-class-war/9845154
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
#specificallyTHIS is Obama lying
President Obama
FEB. 24, 2009.“We import more oil today than ever before.” (Oil imports peaked in 2005.)
MAR. 10, 2009.“Our high school dropout rate has tripled in the past thirty years.” (It had actually declined by a third.)
JUNE 1, 2009.“If you actually took the number of Muslims [sic] Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” (Almost 60 other countries were home to more Muslims.)
JUNE 11, 2009.“No matter how we reform health care, I intend to keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor; if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan.” (Some people had to switch plans as a result of the Affordable Care Act)
SEPT. 9, 2009.“One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.” (Delayed treatment didn't cause his death.)
DEC. 3, 2009.“I mentioned that I was in Asia on this trip, thinking about the economy. When I sat down for a round of interviews, not one of them asked me about Asia. Not one of them asked me about the economy.” (Several journalists did ask.)
APRIL 21, 2010.“The vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country.” (It wasn't.)
SEPT. 20, 2010.“Keep in mind the previous administration had been helping them, giving billions of dollars and just asking nothing in return.” (The Bush administration imposed multiple conditions on auto companies.)
MAY 10, 2011.“Doubled our exports.” (Exports increased by less than half.)
JUN. 29, 2011.“What I have done – and this is unprecedented, by the way, no administration has done this before – is I’ve said to each agency, 'Don't just look at current regulations – or don't just look at future regulations, regulations that we’re proposing. Let’s go backwards and look at regulations that are already on the books, and if they don't make sense, let’s get rid of them.'” (Several previous administrations did.)
FEB. 17, 2012.“American manufacturers are hiring for the first time since 1990.” (Manufacturing employment grew at times during the 1990s.)
SEPT. 18, 2012. "Extremists and terrorists used [a video] as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies." (They didn't.)
SEPT. 20, 2012.“I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration.” (The program began under Obama.)
MARCH 1, 2013.“The janitor, the security guards, they just got a pay cut and they've got to figure out how to manage that.” (Their pay wasn't cut.)
MAY 3, 2013. "And we also recognize that most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States." (They don't.)
AUG. 6, 2013. "There is no spying on Americans." (There was.)
SEPT. 4, 2013.“First of all, I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line.” (He did set a red line.)
MAR. 11, 2014.“Most young Americans right now, they’re not covered.” (Most were.)
MAY 7, 2014.“Since 2007, [Republicans] have filibustered about 500 pieces of legislation that would help the middle class.” (The real number was closer to 50.)
SEPT. 7, 2014.“I wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL” (He was.)
MAR. 6, 2015. "There are neighborhoods where it’s easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable." (There aren't.)
MAR 6, 2015. "Our homicide rates are so much higher than other industrialized countries. I mean by like a mile." (They aren't. Not by a mile. Not by several feet.)
JUNE 29, 2016.“I mean, the steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was.” (Steel production peaked in 1973.)
also:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/14/opinion/sunday/trump-lies-obama-who-is-worse.html
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/365393-how-quickly-ny-times-forgets-obamas-lies-and-frauds
FEB. 24, 2009.“We import more oil today than ever before.” (Oil imports peaked in 2005.)
MAR. 10, 2009.“Our high school dropout rate has tripled in the past thirty years.” (It had actually declined by a third.)
JUNE 1, 2009.“If you actually took the number of Muslims [sic] Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” (Almost 60 other countries were home to more Muslims.)
JUNE 11, 2009.“No matter how we reform health care, I intend to keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor; if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan.” (Some people had to switch plans as a result of the Affordable Care Act)
SEPT. 9, 2009.“One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.” (Delayed treatment didn't cause his death.)
DEC. 3, 2009.“I mentioned that I was in Asia on this trip, thinking about the economy. When I sat down for a round of interviews, not one of them asked me about Asia. Not one of them asked me about the economy.” (Several journalists did ask.)
APRIL 21, 2010.“The vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country.” (It wasn't.)
SEPT. 20, 2010.“Keep in mind the previous administration had been helping them, giving billions of dollars and just asking nothing in return.” (The Bush administration imposed multiple conditions on auto companies.)
MAY 10, 2011.“Doubled our exports.” (Exports increased by less than half.)
JUN. 29, 2011.“What I have done – and this is unprecedented, by the way, no administration has done this before – is I’ve said to each agency, 'Don't just look at current regulations – or don't just look at future regulations, regulations that we’re proposing. Let’s go backwards and look at regulations that are already on the books, and if they don't make sense, let’s get rid of them.'” (Several previous administrations did.)
FEB. 17, 2012.“American manufacturers are hiring for the first time since 1990.” (Manufacturing employment grew at times during the 1990s.)
SEPT. 18, 2012. "Extremists and terrorists used [a video] as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies." (They didn't.)
SEPT. 20, 2012.“I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration.” (The program began under Obama.)
MARCH 1, 2013.“The janitor, the security guards, they just got a pay cut and they've got to figure out how to manage that.” (Their pay wasn't cut.)
MAY 3, 2013. "And we also recognize that most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States." (They don't.)
AUG. 6, 2013. "There is no spying on Americans." (There was.)
SEPT. 4, 2013.“First of all, I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line.” (He did set a red line.)
MAR. 11, 2014.“Most young Americans right now, they’re not covered.” (Most were.)
MAY 7, 2014.“Since 2007, [Republicans] have filibustered about 500 pieces of legislation that would help the middle class.” (The real number was closer to 50.)
SEPT. 7, 2014.“I wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL” (He was.)
MAR. 6, 2015. "There are neighborhoods where it’s easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable." (There aren't.)
MAR 6, 2015. "Our homicide rates are so much higher than other industrialized countries. I mean by like a mile." (They aren't. Not by a mile. Not by several feet.)
JUNE 29, 2016.“I mean, the steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was.” (Steel production peaked in 1973.)
also:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/14/opinion/sunday/trump-lies-obama-who-is-worse.html
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/365393-how-quickly-ny-times-forgets-obamas-lies-and-frauds
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