Also on today’s menu:
Another Look At Government Censorship
Henry Kissinger Dies At 100
The New Hampshire Supreme Court, in a 4-1 decision, has ruled that internal police disciplinary files are subject to disclosure under the state’s Right-To-Know law.
The American Civil Liberties Union-New Hampshire had sought the disciplinary records of former state trooper, Haden Wilber, who had been fired after illegally searching a cellular phone without a warrant and misleading investigators about the incident. State Police refused to hand over the documents, with their attorneys arguing that laws regarding criminal trials exempted police personnel files from public-records requests.
Writing for the Supreme Court majority, Associate Justice Gary Hicks said that prohibition applies only to criminal cases, not to public records requests.
Discussion: The decision is a noteworthy victory for citizens who should have access to information about criminal activity by those who are supposed to be serving the public. The Exculpatory Evidence Schedule which grew out of the Laurie List — intended to make defense attorneys aware of officers who have been disciplined for wrongdoing — remains too opaque for those who need to rely on the honesty of law enforcement personnel. Non-disclosure of officer misconduct can invalidate a conviction, as it did in the case of Carl Laurie Jr., who had murdered my uncle, Lucian Fogg, but ordinary citizens also need to have confidence in the integrity of those they encounter whose mission is to serve and to protect.
Another Look At Government Censorship
The US House of Representatives’ Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will meet again today to hear from the investigative reporters who uncovered government censorship efforts in a review of the so-called Twitter files. During their first appearance, Democrats denigrated the witnesses, calling them “so-called” journalists, and downplayed the importance of their discoveries.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, who normally focuses on the importance of following the facts wherever they lead, joins the skeptics in her Substack column, Civil Discourse, writing, “Numerous journalists and tech experts who reviewed the files were less than impressed and Twitter’s own lawyers said their internal documents didn’t support the claims that were being made.” Her focuses is on how the reporting was used by political extremists such as Committee Chair Jim Jordan to support former president Donald Trump’s claims of election interference in 2020.
The reporters delving into the Twitter files discovered that the government did, indeed, pressure social media companies to ban or downplay information that contradicted or weakened the statements coming from the White House or other government entities. The House committee is set to “examine the federal government's involvement in social media censorship, as well as the recent attacks on independent journalism and free expression,” according to Jordan.
Commentary: While, as Joyce points out, the First Amendment does not apply to decisions made by a private company like Twitter, that is not what is under review here. It is the government’s efforts to force those private companies to suppress comments by people using their platforms. Democrats rightfully condemn government censorship of certain books (although they are okay with suppressing other books with content they oppose), but they agree with government pressure that violates the First Amendment if it suppresses “misinformation” which is a term that includes facts that may weaken the government’s arguments. Jordan’s committee is correct to make an issue of it. The thing is, some of that “misinformation” raises legitimate questions that should be addressed. Lies can be refuted. That is the way democracy works, and, contrary to what Joyce says, the US Supreme Court is correct in deciding to listen to an appeal of the government’s actions.
Henry Kissinger Dies At 100
Henry Kissinger, the German-born academic who influenced American policy for decades and is the only official to have served concurrently as US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, has died at age 100.
Kissinger and Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the secret negotiations that produced the 1973 Paris agreement and ended US military participation in the Vietnam Conflict, and his “shuttle diplomacy” after the 1973 Middle East war helped to stabilize relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors. He oversaw the Nixon administration’s clandestine outreach in the early 1970s to restore full diplomatic relations between the US and the People’s Republic of China.
He also earned a reputation as a war criminal for overturning democracies and dismissing human rights. Kissinger supported military coups against democratically elected governments in Chile and Argentina, as well as the Indonesian military’s invasion of East Timor, and he orchestrated the Nixon administration’s secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam Conflict. American military operations that killed thousands of innocent Cambodians and Laotians led to the rise of the radical Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh. Kissinger refused to follow presidential orders when Nixon asked him to hand a letter to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to promote a long-term partnership between Washington DC and Moscow in order to establish peace in the region. Kissinger declared the instructions to be “unacceptable.”
Discussion: Kissinger’s Machiavellian approach to government came back to haunt him in later life, but he steadfastly maintained an unwillingness to express any remorse. He regarded himself as too intelligent to even respond to people he considered his inferiors, reacting angrily to challenges. He walked out of an event at Johns Hopkins University when a student asked whether he considered himself a war criminal and refused to speak there again for the next twenty years. He tried to avoid any public appearance where such questions might be asked. A political cartoon I once saw depicted an invisible Kissinger whose presence was shown only by a set of footprints — a phantom diplomat who was able to bend leaders’ wills to support his views.
National Gratitude Month
The News Café is among the publications that are “Reader Supported” — a revolutionary approach to publishing in response to the struggle of traditional news and magazine publishers, as well as unreliable social media. Many writers were at a loss as to how to reach their readers as their jobs and publications were eliminated. With the exception of the period of the pandemic, people read less and purchase fewer books.
Substack is a platform that aims to put readers and writers into a direct relationship that is not dependent on algorithms, advertisements, and profits. In traditional publishing, the money you pay a publisher is divided between executives and shareholders, distribution outlets like Amazon and other booksellers, editors, designers, agents, marketing and sales staff, and the cost of production. When you put down $25 for a hardcover book, the author receives between $2.50 and $4. If a successful book sells about 10,000 copies, the author may receive $25,000 for something he or she has spent years writing. Most of the authors you love are not rich. If they are lucky, they are a middle-class bunch, like artists, teachers, and preachers.
With Substack publications, instead of paying a corporation, you directly support the writers you like, who receive about 85 percent of the subscription revenue. For your $50 annual fee, the author gets about $42.50.
Since losing my full-time job during the pandemic, I’ve been a freelancer without a regular salary. Through Substack, I’ve been able to supplement the freelance work and continue my craft while thinking about upcoming projects.
That is why your support through paid subscriptions to the News Café and By The Way are so important. Although News Café posts are available to all subscribers at no charge, I appreciate the financial support for the time and resources it takes to do this work. Please consider “upsubscribing” to a paid subscription.
Either way, thank you for being here.
Also see our other Substack news site, By The Way.