Louise Mensch Quotes
We'd all survive if Twitter shut down for a short while during major riots. Social media isn't any more important than a train station, a road or a bus service. We don't worry about police temporarily closing those. Common sense. If riot info and fear is spreading by Facebook and Twitter, shut them off for an hour or two, then restore.
Mensch, Louise (@LouiseMensch). "We'd all survive if Twitter shut down for a short while during major riots. Social media isn't any more important than a train station, a road or a bus service. We don't worry about police temporarily closing those. Common sense. If riot info and fear is spreading by Facebook and Twitter, shut them off for an hour or two, then restore." Twitter, 11 Aug. 2011.
In the 2004 Iraq war, some accused the United States and Britain of failing to perform this obligation. However, in those instances where they did, others claimed the right of resistance including bombing their own co-religionists and fellow citizens. Likewise, many of the same forces that castigated the allies for not ensuring public order and safety often also castigated Israel for enforcing public order and safety in the West Bank and Gaza.
A Molotov cocktail is a glass bottle filled with gasoline and a cloth wick stuffed in the mouth of the bottle. Lighting the wick on fire and throwing the bottle at a target is a deadly weapon. Daley’s instruction if followed would have itself been a felony under Illinois law. Deadly force may only be used to preserve the life or safety of the public. If someone was making and holding Molotov cocktails in the middle of an open field and there were no people around, there would be no imminent danger and the police have many other ways of disarming and arresting the potential rioter or arsonist.
The incident to which he referred was Islamic extremist terrorists attacking with assault weapons a group of unarmed tourists killing over 30. Tunisia, although it has a large majority Muslim population, became a secular republic after its Arab Spring revolution. Tunisia's economy is dependent on tourism, which is diminished by the fear of more terrorist attacks.
This general perception led the Founding Fathers to place profound restrictions on the allowable role of the military in national law enforcement—a condition that exists to this day.
Wilson, a history and government professor and college president before politics, was has been accused of being one of the most racist Presidents since Reconstruction. Prior to his Presidency, the Federal Government had been making steady progress in hiring African Americans. Under Wilson there was a wholesale firing of a large proportion of them. Some apologists argue that his League of Nations and other major aspirations required the votes and cooperation of Southern Senators who insisted that many of the blacks be terminated. At the same time, the KKK was near the zenith of its membership and political power and was an intimidating force. Wilson’s home state of New Jersey not only had a large KKK membership but there were lynching of Blacks in his own state and when Governor and President he never asked for any anti-lynching legislation.
This proclamation was obviously unconstitutional, but at the time no one challenged it in the courts. It is yet another example, where in an emergency, executive officers of government tend to over-reach and expand their power and authority using the necessity of the emergency as the justification. This case was particularly ironic in that the mayor, so concerned with law and order that he would summarily kill people suspected of looting, was indicted and convicted for corruption the following year. His jail time was limited by a successful court appeal, and he then lost as a mayoralty candidate, but did finally get elected to the San Francisco City Council. Of course, had he been shot when first suspected of his crime—as he proscribed for others--he would never have had the opportunity to appeal and be acquitted.
J. Edgar Hoover, the racist FBI Director, and the Chief of Police of the all white Washington DC Police Force, had made phone calls and sent memos to as many important people they could reach, warning that there was bound to be violence if 100,00 militant Blacks tried to march on Washington. There were twice that number planned for by Bayard Rustin, the man in charge of the March planning, but 250,000 showed up. There were very few incidents and no injuries and deaths as a result of some brilliant planning by Rustin and the cooperation of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy—the President’s brother—with Rustin. However, the fear spread by Hoover and others caused the major league baseball games to be cancelled, liquor stores to be closed, stores and offices throughout the city were intimidated and closed. But it was one of the best organized and peaceful social/political demonstrations in history.
Louise Daphne Mensch is a British blogger, novelist, and former Conservative Member of Parliament. In the 1990s she became known as a writer of chick lit novels under her maiden name Louise Bagshawe. She was elected Conservative MP for Corby at the 2010 UK general election.
