First They Came for the Coptic Christians

If this photograph from the LA Times doesn't send chills down your spine as a freedom loving American, I don't know what will. Nakoula Bassely Nakoula is going "downtown to answer a few questions," for the crime of criticizing Islam. The authorities claim its to talk about possible parole violations, but everyone knows the real truth. Fortunately, this is being well publicized and dissected by far sharper minds than mine. A few tidbits follow. From Glenn Reynolds.

And sorry, claims that this was just a routine probation matter don’t pass the laugh test. They’re just pure hackery.

By sending — literally — brownshirted enforcers to engage in — literally — a midnight knock at the door of a man for the non-crime of embarrassing the President of the United States and his administration, President Obama violated that oath. You can try to pretty this up (It’s just about possible probation violations! Sure.), or make excuses or draw distinctions, but that’s what’s happened. It is a betrayal of his duties as President, and a disgrace.

Eugene Volokh on why this will lead to more American deaths.

Say that the murders in Libya lead us to pass a law banning some kinds of speech that Muslims find offensive or blasphemous, or reinterpreting our First Amendment rules to make it possible to punish such speech under some existing law.

What then will extremist Muslims see? They killed several Americans (maybe itself a plus from their view). In exchange, they’ve gotten America to submit to their will. And on top of that, they’ve gotten back at blasphemers, and deter future blasphemy. A triple victory.

Would this (a) satisfy them that now America is trying to prevent blasphemy, so there’s no reason to kill over the next offensive incident, or (b) make them want more such victories? My money would be on (b).

And this is especially so since there’ll be plenty of other excuses for such killings in the future. It’s not like Muslim extremists have a clearly defined, unvarying, and limited range of speech they are willing to kill over (e.g., desecrating Korans and nothing but). Past history has already proved that; consider the bombings and murders triggered by the publication of the Satanic Verses.

Fellow SLOB Temple of Mut's headline is also spot on: Supermassive Blackhole of Obama Incompetence Sucks in First Amendment Today, the last vestige of dignity, reason and sanity left the Obama administration, as authorities swarmed down on independent film-maker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, whose cinematic achievement is falsely being accused of spawning the horrendous outbreak of terror activities targeting Western embassies and interests. Say goodbye to the First Amendment, as it has just been sucked into the Supermassive Blackhole of Obama Incompetence!

Martin Niemoller famously said:

"When Hitler attacked the Jews
I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church --
and there was nobody left to be concerned."

I thought the making of the film Innocence of the Muslims was badly done, in poor taste, mildly offensive and something I would never do. It was not and never should be considered a crime. Nakoula's rights as an American are being abridged by a President adored by the left; the same left that is always making a big stink about free speech. Where are the defenders of free speech on the left now? The DailyKos is in full throated defense of the actions of the administration; they have totally sold out to Obama's would be totalitarianism. The claim is that this was a probation violation because Nakoula can't use a computer or the internet without permission from his probation officer. Do we have any doubt that such provisions are routine and routinely ignored, except when convenient not to? Regardless, it is only the act of mocking the story of Mohammed that has this guy in trouble; how is that not a step towards repression. From moveon.org, crickets on this subject.

If we can't defeat Obama it may take decades to undo the damage.