Hebrew Translations of Edmond Burke and John Donne

Our guest on the Inverted-A Press show today is Asi Degani, who writes original poetry in Hebrew as well as translating great English language poets such as Edmund Burke and John Donne.

 

Benedict Arnold was a traitor, but was never tried as one. He switched sides twice during the revolutionary war. 

Benedict ArnoldBy Thomas Hart -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php

Aaron Burr was never a traitor, but he was tried and acquitted. That case, the United States v. Aaron Burr, is still precedent today. It maintains the very narrow constitutional definition of treason.

The definition of a traitor cannot be changed by case law or statute. Instead, it is found directly in Article Three, Section 3 of the constitution. However, if you are not a lawyer or a newly sworn in naturalized citizen of the United States, there is a big chance that you may not know this. One of the ironies of the American experience is that those born into it are often ignorant of the history.

How a Novel Can Lead to a Movement to Found a Country

Did you know that the English novelist George Eliot was instrumental in launching Zionism? Now that right there is the power of books!

George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans, was many things: a journalist, translator and novelist. But few people think of her as the power behind Zionism.

By replica by François D’Albert Durade (1804-1886) - National Portrait Gallery: NPG 1405, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78993800

Daniel Deronda, George Eliot's final completed work, predates by twenty years the instrumental article by Theodore Herzl calling for a "Jewish State". Was Daniel Deronda intended to launch the Zionist movement? Or was it just an imaginative work of fiction? Read the book to find out:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7469

It's out of copyright and free to be read by anyone with access to the internet. But if you are strapped for time, you could also watch this miniseries on YouTube free of charge.

                                                    RELATED
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/feb/10/zionism-deronda-george-eliot

http://mystories.sweetbeariesart.com/2020/01/18/watch-and-discuss-daniel-deronda-with-us/

"Made for Kids" or "Not Made for Kids" --- complying with COPPA

Is your YouTube video "Made for Kids" or "Not Made for Kids"? Have no idea? It does not matter. You have to answer. Choose one. It is a binary choice. If the answer is "Made for Kids", you will lose many privileges. If not, all is well. Of course, we all say "Not Made for Kids." But what is this really all about? Julia and I discuss in the video embedded below.

Remembering Veterans

Today was Veterans Day. Julia Hanna told me about her two grandfathers, Grandfather Mike Hanna and Grandpa Fulkerson. They each served in World War II.

She also shared information about her great grandfather Moses Hanna who served in WWI, and who was awarded American citizenship after his service.

I spoke about Jean Laffite, who saved the United States in the Battle of New Orleans, whose ships were looted by the Navy, and who still chose to donate flints and gunpowder as well as artillery, but received no reward, not even citizenship. I also mentioned Aaron Burr who served in the Revolutionary War, but was not recognized as a veteran until very late in his life.

                                                   Related
http://mystories.sweetbeariesart.com/2019/11/11/honoring-my-veteran-relatives-on-veterans-day/

Lebanon: Current Protests & the Glorious Past

When I think of Lebanon, I cannot help but think about tall cedars and free commerce and Phoenicians and the Land of Canaan. I think of Tyre and Sidon, but also of those who left. Often when I think about the Phoenicians, I also think of Carthage. A recent discussion with Julia Hanna on a livestream brought up both the past and the present.

I had been drawing Hannibal as part of the Inktober art challenge.

I also recently dined at That Lebanese Place, a restaurant whose name is self-explanatory.

When I was looking for the menus to use in my review, I came across a Facebook video depicting the recent protests in Lebanon that was posted by the owner of the restaurant. I shared that video with Julia, and she shared a video she had found of Nassim Taleb speaking in Arabic about current events in Lebanon. Julia and I decided to share this information with our viewers.

Watching the protesters enjoying barbecue and dancing in the streets to protest taxation, centralized banking and crushing national debt, I felt suddenly hopeful. Are these people more libertarian than we are?

Lebanese Protests

Related

Is the United Kingdom more Opposed to Identity Cards than the United States?

Barrister Amanda Jones

Recently Julia Hanna and I spoke with Barrister Amanda Jones about a constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom brought about by the suspension of Parliament by the Queen upon the request of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in order to allow the secession of  the United Kingdom from the European Union to be carried out smoothly according to the Brexit plan.

Originally, it seemed as if the suspension of Parliament had been a routine practice, but later judicial review ruled that the suspension (called a "prorogation")  had been unlawful. ([2019] UKSC 41)

'
The text of Lady Hale's decision can be read in full here:  https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2019-0192.html

Relevant portions of the published opinion  explaining the rationale behind the decision read as follows:

For present purposes, the relevant limit on the power to prorogue is this: that a decision to prorogue (or advise the monarch to prorogue) will be unlawful if the prorogation has the effect offrustrating or preventing, without reasonable justification, the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions as a legislature and as the body responsible for the supervision of the executive. In judging any justification which might be put forward, the court must of course be sensitive to the responsibilities and experience of the Prime Minister and proceed with appropriate caution.

If the prorogation does have that effect, without reasonable justification, there is no need for the court to consider whether the Prime Minister’s motive or purpose was unlawful."

In other words, the court decided that since the suspension of Parliament had the effect of preventing Parliament from carrying out its legislative duties (rather than being for a special occasion or holiday)  the suspension was unlawful, regardless of  what the Prime Minister intended.

For Americans with a written constitution,  it is surprising that the British system contains so many checks and balances and all based on an unwritten framework of law. But to me, listening to Amanda Jones discuss the case, the thing that struck me as most counterintuitive, though it was just an aside, was the fact that the British have no identity cards.

Amanda Jones: The UK doesn't have an identity card, but quite a few EU countries do. But you don't need one to travel between the UK and Ireland, because it's a common travel area. But if you turn up... If you try to enter the UK from France without a passport you won't succeed.... Our passports are biometric,... but we don't have official ID cards here. We just don't have them. I suppose a driving license you can use as photographic identity, but not everybody has a driving license, if you don't drive.... ID cards here are quite unpopular as a concept. We had them during the Second World War. Everybody had an ID card... And the government quite liked it. It's very useful keeping tabs on people, but eventually ... people just refused to accept it, and refused to provide them, and refused to carry them, and they were abolished in the 1950s.. ... You don't actually need to carry your driving license, either. ...But if you are stopped by the police, they can say that within seven days you have to take it to your nearest police station..    (starting at the 0:5749 mark in the video. )

While the United States has also traditionally had a strong resistance to the idea of requiring an identity card, the social security card is used as some kind of national identity card, and the push for real ID in driver's licenses has created a number of official identity cards that most people find it impossible to live their daily lives without possessing these documents.

If citizens of the UK can drive and travel within their country without carrying an identity card or driver's license with them, and Americans cannot, does it mean that in this sense the United Kingdom is more free?