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July 2025

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There’ll Always Be an England—But Will It Be Free? In modern Britain, you can be flagged by police for a joke, banned from pubs for banter, and blacklisted for thoughts deemed hostile—even when no crime occurred. By Roger Kimball

By on July 20th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/07/20/therell-always-be-an-england-but-will-it-be-free/

Sitting here in London, I wonder what Ross Parker and Hughie Charles would think if they could join me for a pint. I suspect that the authors of the famous 1939 song “There’ll Always Be An England” would be puzzled, not to say alarmed, over some recent developments in this green and pleasant land.

“There’ll always be an England,” these songsters wrote, “and England shall be free/if England means as much to you/as England means to me.”

But the question is, does it? Does England mean as much to the ruling establishment as it once did? The words “free” and “freedom” are repeated several times in “There’ll Always Be An England.” That’s the theme, the hope, the conviction: that Britain would triumph because of its native love of freedom.

How do things look now? Let me introduce you to two recent developments that would have astonished Messrs. Parker and Charles—police tracking of “non-crime hate incidents” and a so-called “banter ban” that is on the threshold of becoming the law of the land.

The practice of recording “non-crime hate incidents” by the police became law in June 2023. Ponder this:

Where there is no criminal offence, but the person reporting perceives that the incident was motivated wholly or partially by hostility, the incident will be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. Police officers may also identify a non-crime hate incident, even where no victim or witness has done so.

I added the italics to underscore the surreal, Orwellian nature of the practice. If you say something mean about somebody, prepare to have your remarks—or even just your “whole or partial” hostility recorded and put into an official database that might then be scrutinized by prospective employers.

Who or what oversees this database? The College of Policing, a private company that provides guidance for the police forces of England and Wales. Recording such incidents is not required by Parliament. Rather, it is part of the increasingly vast, quasi-governmental surveillance apparatus that has grown up in formerly free countries, such as the UK.

The College of Policing defines “hostility” as the expression of “ill-will,” “ill-feeling,” and “dislike.” This means, a paper for the Free Speech Union notes, “that certain thoughts are now being policed.”

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Artificial Intelligence Breeds Mindless Humanity Bruce Abramson

By on July 20th, 2025

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2025/07/15/artificial_intelligence_breeds_mindless_inhumanity_1122667.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

I began studying AI in the mid-1980s. Unusually for a computer scientist of that era, my interest was entirely in information, not in machines. I became obsessed with understanding what it meant to live during the transition from the late Industrial Age to the early Information Age.  

What I learned is that computers fundamentally alter the economics of information. We now have inexpensive access to more information, and to higher quality information, than ever before. In theory, that should help individuals reach better decisions, organizations devise improved strategies, and governments craft superior policies. But that’s just a theory. Does it? 

The answer is “sometimes.” Unfortunately, the “sometimes not” part of the equation is now poised to unleash devastating consequences. 

Consider the altered economics of information: Scarcity creates value. That’s been true in all times, in all cultures, and for all resources. If there’s not enough of a resource to meet demand, its value increases. If demand is met and a surplus remains, value plummets.  

Historically, information was scarce. Spies, lawyers, doctors, priests, scientists, scholars, accountants, teachers, and others spent years acquiring knowledge, then commanded a premium for their services.  

Today, information is overabundant. No one need know anything because the trusty phones that never leave our sides can answer any question that might come our way. Why waste your time learning, studying, or internalizing information when you can just look it up on demand? 

Having spent the past couple of years working in higher education reform and in conversation with college students, I’ve come to appreciate the power—and the danger—of this question. Today’s students have weaker general backgrounds than we’ve seen for many generations because when information ceased being scarce, it lost all value. 

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Karoline Preisler: Germany’s Bravest Protester and a Singular Voice of Conscience — A Profile in Courage

By on July 20th, 2025

https://tjvnews.com/news/international/karoline-preisler-germanys-bravest-protester-and-a-singular-voice-of-conscience-a-profile-in-courage/

In a time when standing with Israel in the heart of Europe can invite hostility and even personal danger, Karoline Preisler has emerged as a singular and fearless voice of moral clarity. A German lawyer, politician, and unwavering advocate for truth, Preisler has distinguished herself on the streets of Berlin — not merely as a public figure, but as a conscience in action. Her steadfast support for Israel and her unrelenting stand against antisemitism have made her a symbol of integrity and fortitude, as documented by numerous observers, including the Tagesspiegel and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

What sets Preisler apart — and renders her exceptionally praiseworthy — is that she undertakes this courageous stand not as a member of the Jewish community nor as an Israeli citizen, but as a German woman acting on principle alone. Her advocacy is a testament to the highest ideals of moral responsibility: the conviction that injustice must be confronted, and that silence in the face of hatred is complicity.

Karoline Preisler’s career began in the legal and political arenas. Having studied law at the University of Potsdam, she joined Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP) in 2013, becoming active in local politics and civic engagement. From 2014 until 2023, Preisler served as chairwoman of the Arno Esch Foundation, affiliated with the FDP of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Her tenure reflected her commitment to democratic values, civic responsibility, and the rule of law.

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‘Blaming The Jews’ – Again by Nils A. Haug

By on July 20th, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21757/blaming-the-jews-again

The ways to avoid arrest in London these days, according to British author Douglas Murray, are: “[W]hen first being questioned by a police officer, he should promptly shout ‘Jihad, jihad, jihad’. Next he should whip out a sign saying ‘Slay the infidel’ before rounding it all off with a few cries of ‘Intifada’… Had [Montgomery Toms] followed my advice, the first officer would doubtless have said: ‘Very well, sir, please carry on and have a nice day.'”

It is not complicated: If you do not want your people killed, do not start a war, especially with Israel.

It is concerning that in the foreseeable future, radical Islamists might, demographically, have the political power to use Britain’s nuclear weapons.

In simple terms, for career expediency, as a way of gaining political power, the Jews are to be blamed as the main instigator of Islamophobia in France and elsewhere. In this view, dating in France at least back to the Dreyfus Affair and the Vichy government during World War II, the Jews are to blame for France’s social woes, but not the consistently violent conduct of radical Islamists in their midst.

That bloodthirsty assault [of October 7, 2023] revealed to the Israelis definitively that if they allow an openly murderous terrorist state along Israel’s border, it would be about the dumbest thing they could ever do.

The world has moved on. If the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians want to be any acceptable part of it, they would be wise to hurry and join the other nations in a constructive way or risk being left behind.

If Muslims do not like Islamophobia, all they need to stop threatening, attacking, raping and murdering, and the “temperature” could drop overnight.

Historically, Jews generally have not been racist, at least not more than anyone else. They have lived amicably among foreign cultures for centuries, and are certainly not “genocidal.” On the contrary, Israel is home to virtually all cultures and all ethnicities…. Modern Israel has never initiated a war against its neighbors. It is not an imperialist or expansionist nation — in fact, it fought British imperialism. Israel is a country that, for decades, has simply sought a secure peace.

Added to claims by many in the West that Israel’s land does not belong to Jews and that they are therefore “settler-colonialists,” a fresh strategy of these individuals, seeming to project their own racism, is to label Jews and Israelis as “racist,” then couple that defamation with accusations of genocide, just to make their point got across.

These labels are, of course, simply a deceptive tactic to conceal the deep underlying contest over which facts should be allowed to survive much deliberate fog, and probably have their roots in Muslim and Christian religion beliefs. Israel’s existence, as the home of Judaism, undoubtedly frustrates the jihadist agenda to establish a caliphate under strict Islamist Sharia law in the region. The long-term Christian calumny against the Jews still seems to exist on many fronts, supposedly for the Jews’ refusal to accept Jesus as their messiah and for not having done more to protect him.

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