Common Sense with Paul Jacob

Today

Drake’s Voyage

British pirate and subject of Queen Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, finished his circumnavigation of the globe when he returned to Plymouth, England, on September 26, 1580.

Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition (1519–1522) is often credited as the first circumnavigation of the globe, but Magellan himself died in 1521 in the Philippines, with Juan Sebastián Elcano completing the journey as captain. There are no well-documented cases of a captain completing a full circumnavigation before Drake, making the pirate’s circumnavigation (1577–1580) the first where the initial captain, Drake himself — survived to complete the entire journey.

Drake began his circumnavigation in 1577 with five ships: the Pelican (later renamed Golden Hind), Elizabeth, Marigold, Swan, and Christopher. By the time he returned to England in 1580, only one ship, the Golden Hind, completed the journey. The others were either lost, scuttled, or abandoned due to damage, crew issues, or strategic decisions during the voyage.

Nevertheless, the expedition was dubbed a success, for during his voyage, Drake raided Spanish ships and settlements, capturing vast amounts of gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables, particularly from Spanish colonies in the Americas and the treasure ship Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (known as the Cacafuego). The haul was so substantial that it reportedly filled the Golden Hind to capacity. Upon his return to England, Drake’s plunder was estimated to be worth around £600,000, an immense fortune at the time.

Such was “exploration” in the 16th century.

Google Confesses All

Google, Youtube, censorship, free speech, Covid, 2020 election, fraud

Google is no longer silent about whether the Biden administration pushed Google to censor customers for their viewpoints.

Under Biden, Google censored YouTube content creators under federal pressure, specifically about COVID-19. But Google did muzzle discourse on other matters, such as disputes about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, as a result of its own policies that it now says are “sunsetted” along with policies resulting from its submission to a rogue administration.

Its own role is important because we know that a tech giant can effectively resist federal pressure to censor on the basis of the principles of the company’s leaders.

The proof is how Twitter changed course while Biden or his autopen was still the president. Twitter revamped its policies after Elon Musk ascended to the helm, starting to welcome back those who had been censored under the previous owners.

Yes, Elon Musk found himself under assault from every direction from a variety of federal agencies; which, it seemed, were acting as if in concert with and at the behest of a foiled Biden administration. Musk’s opposition to censorship and documentation of administration pressure to censor was not risk-free.

Now Google is following suit. When restoring freedom of speech is lots less risky.

Let’s hope Google’s words now decrying censorship, and its still-in-progress efforts to make things right — inviting the return of former YouTubers whose channels it had censored, for example — will render the company less eager to cooperate when the next pro-censorship administration takes power.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration created with Krea and Firefly

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts

Tags 2020 election, censorship, covid, free speech, Google, YouTube

Thought

Delmore Schwartz

Even paranoids have real enemies.
Delmore Schwartz, as quoted in Jon Winokur’s collection of aphorisms, The Portable Curmudgeon (1987).

Today

Rome’s Last

For the final time in Roman history, Rome’s Senate chose an emperor, electing 75-year-old Marcus Claudius Tacitus on September 25th, A.D. 275. This is yet another milestone on the road to the collapse of republicanism in the much-discussed “decline and fall of the Roman Empire.”

First Amendment rights national politics & policies partisanship

Who Is the Lawfare King?

Last Sunday on Meet the Press, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) addressed two areas where President Trump has stumbled in recent days, losing many conservatives and civil libertarians: censorship and lawfare.

“Senator,” Kristen Welker asked, “do you believe that President Trump is sending the message that he only supports free speech when it’s speech that he agrees with?”

“Well, I can’t control everything the president says. And I don’t think that having the FCC weigh in on licenses is right. I will fight that,” the junior senator from Kentucky declared. “But I can tell you that throughout government, the censorship apparatus that Biden had put in place is gone.”

Under President Biden, the senator explained, employees and ex-employees of both the FBI and Department of Homeland Security set up offices inside Twitter, while “Facebook was told to take down information concerning the origins of the Covid virus” under threat of “being broken up by antitrust. So we have had official censorship going on for many years now, and everybody on the left just looked the other way.

“They actually had an office, an office of censorship.”

Welker then inquired if he thought it was “appropriate for the president to direct the attorney general to go after his political opponents”?

“I think lawfare in all forms is bad,” Rand Paul replied. “What they did to Donald Trump was an abomination. But yes, it is not right for the Trump administration to do the same thing.

“We need to get politics out of the judicial system as much as we can. But we can’t do it without acknowledging that the king of lawfare was Biden.”

True enough, with the full title: Marionette Censor Joe, King of Lawfare, First of His Name If Not of His Kind.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration created with Krea and Firefly

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts

Tags honor, Rand Paul, Senate

Thought

Samuel Johnson

Of all the noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.
Samuel Johnson, as quoted in Jon Winokur’s compilation of aphorisms, The Quotable Curmudgeon (1987).

Today

Dirigible

Western civilization’s first passenger-carrying airship, the Giffard dirigible, traveled under its own power 17 miles, from Paris to Trappes, on September 24, 1852.

The image is of a model on exhibit in the London Science Museum.

First Amendment rights national politics & policies too much government

Free Jimmy

Donald Trump, Jimmy Kimmel, free speech, censorship, comedy and tragedy

Last Friday (and Saturday), we supported the right of ABC’s corporate leaders to ignore bullying comments by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr and produce the late-night show, “Jimmy Kimmel Love!” to their heart’s content.

I’m happy to hear that ABC will bring Kimmel back tonight.

Not glad because I like him or will watch his show. I don’t. I won’t. I’d cancel him were it up to me. But freedom’s tops, so I get especially jazzed when people stand up to demand it.

And concerned when those in power attempt to take it away.

The very potent public backlash against the idea that ABC was muscled by the Trump administration into suspending Kimmel’s show is why it has returned. That’s a healthy sign of our political culture. Plus, take note that this pushback against the FCC chairman and President Trump hasn’t come just from the Left but also, as The Wrap reports, from many prominent conservatives including “Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz.”

What Kimmel alleged — that the murderer of Charlie Kirk was somehow MAGA — was not only “without evidence” but clearly contradicted by the evidence. As well as being asinine on its face. And more than a bit callous.

Still, freedom of speech means the freedom to say what you think, no matter how boneheaded, whether those in power like it or not.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of the largest chain of ABC affiliates, has already announced that its stations will not be airing Kimmel’s program. As is their right.

Stick with freedom of speech, Mr. President. For all.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration created with Krea and Firefly

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts

Tags censorship, Donald Trump, free speech, Jimmy Kimmel

Thought

George Santayana

Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament.
George Santayana, as quoted in Jon Winokur’s compilation, The Portable Curmudgeon (1987).

Today

Sweden minus Norway

On September 23, 1905, Norway and Sweden signed the “Karlstad treaty,” peacefully dissolving the union between the two countries.