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Help Ezra Levant Protect Our Freedom of Speech
October 17, 2013 — xanthippaFrom an email I received:
Dear Xanthippa*,
Please help: tomorrow (Thursday) in a Toronto court house, I’m being sued by Khurrum Awan, the youth president of the Canadian Islamic Congress who tried to censor Mark Steyn.
In fact, he’s suing me for writing about what he did at Steyn’s trial — five years ago!
Of course, it’s just more “lawfare” — the abuse of our western legal process, as a soft jihad against our traditional freedoms.
I won’t get into the details of the lawsuit here — you can see Awan’s Statement of Claim, and my Statement of Defence, here. I’ll make my official comments from the witness box. And you can see a column I wrote about it in the Sun, here. And the great Mark Steyn himself wrote about the trial, here.
But my point is, these radical, Islamic censors are still at it, still trying to silence their critics.
Awan himself gave away the game, in an interview he did after Steyn won his case. Awan told a reporter, “we do not plan to appeal the decision because we attained our strategic objective—to increase the cost of publishing anti-Islamic material.”
That’s what this latest lawsuit against me is: the “strategic objective” of punishing someone who criticizes radical Islam. I published the Danish cartoons of Mohammed; I supported Steyn; and now I have a TV show where I regularly report on radical Islam.
Since joining the TV station, I’ve been protected by the company’s lawyers. But this lawsuit started when I was a blogger, on my own. So I’m on the hook for all of my legal bills. And unlike Awan, I don’t have a big benefactor financing me.
Would you please consider helping me out? I am reluctant to ask, because I know you’ve helped me before. But a lot is at stake here.
This lawsuit is an attempt to undo the free speech victories of the past few years, and to send a warning to any Canadian journalist who dares to speak freely about radical Islam or censorship. It’s designed to instill a sense of fear into the national discussion, to create a “libel chill”.
It’s not just me who’s being targeted — it’s everyone who might ever want to talk about radical Islam. That’s the “strategic objective” of getting everyone to shut up.
I’ve already spent tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers, preparing for the trial. The trial is scheduled to last a week, and could go longer. The total cost will easily reach $50,000 — even if I win, I’ll lose. That’s why they’re doing it.
Can you please help me level the playing field? Can you help fill up my legal war chest, so I can keep standing on guard for our western values of freedom of speech, and the separation of mosque and state? If you can help me with my legal bills, I promise I’ll keep fighting.
You can chip in right now using my secure PayPal button here.
Whether you can donate $5 or $500, it all adds up. Let’s show them we’re as passionate about freedom as they are about censorship.
Wish me luck – I go to court at 10 a.m. tomorrow!
Yours gratefully,
Ezra Levant
P.S. Please help me level the playing field in this lawsuit, by chipping in to my defence fund, here.
P.P.S. And please visit www.StandWithEzra.ca to see the latest news about the trial, and read comments from free speech supporters across the country!
P.P.P.S. Feel free to forward this email to your friends and family who care about freedom too!
*I substituted my ‘nom-de-keyboard’, Xanthippa, for my ‘real-life-name’
Does Tenure Really Encourage Free Speech? Megan McArdle Tackles Issues in Higher Ed
October 15, 2013 — xanthippa
The wonders of technology: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started
October 11, 2013 — xanthippaFor all those Islamophobes out there, saying that Muslim countries don’t contribute sufficiently to the advances to technology – just look at Azerbaijan! With the innovative use of modern elections technology, they got their election results faster than any other country, ever!
The technology is so advanced, indeed, that the election results were announced a full day before the elections were held!!!
Thanks to Azerbaijani scientists, now, there is an app for that!
In related news, progressives in the West have shown an interest to bring this technology to Western countries.
UPDATE: Se this report on the events by The Young Turks
The latest fun conspiracy theory
October 11, 2013 — xanthippaI love conspiracy theories: true or false, there is just something fun about them.
And, I love the F1 – have ever since I was a little kid.
Plus I am a huge fan of Sebastian Vettel – after all, he looks so similar to my older son!
Red Bull with vodka – yum…
So, when all four of these things are rolled into one – entertainment ensues:
‘Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel is quick. Too quick. The three-time Formula 1 champion dominated the Singapore Grand Prix, leaving his closest competitor 32.6 seconds behind as he took his eighth win of the season.’
…
‘That’s where the engineering conspiracy theories begin.
The leading speculation, posited by Racecar Engineering, is that Red Bull has managed to link the suspension in Vettel’s RB9 to the hybrid Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) onboard. KERS has been around for a few years and gives drivers a power boost in short bursts, and because it’s an electric motor, the torque output can be tweaked on-the-fly — just like a traditional traction control system.’
Oh, the intricacies of engineering miracles…
This weekend’s race in Tokyo, I’ll be not just watching but also listening!
Daniel Hannan: Financial regulation
October 9, 2013 — xanthippa(Sort of like what the ‘Detroit’ video one post ago said: the more regulation you have, the more you strangle the goose that lays the golden eggs…)
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 