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I watched with mixed emotions as my elected representatives rushed to the aid of immigrants and refugees whose rights had been violated by the Trump administration.

They were right to speak out. President Trumps temporary ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries was unconstitutional. Thats why it was no surprise when thousands of ordinary citizens joined with city, state and federal officials to protest at airports where immigrants were being detained.

But even as an African-American who supports the rights of those who legally come to this country, it was hard for me to watch the same politicians who are silent on the shootings of unarmed blacks run breathlessly to the aid of foreigners.

Ive heard from many African-Americans who share that same frustration. Not only because our politicians stand up for immigrants and fail to do so for us, but also because weve all encountered immigrants who look down on the black community while at the same time seeking our help.

Those dynamics create tensions that are real, and Id be lying if I failed to acknowledge them. But I need black people to hear me when I say this: Joining this fight is not only about protecting immigrants. It is about protecting the Constitution, because the same Fifth Amendment that grants due process and equal protection to immigrants grants those same rights to us.

And in the age of Donald Trump, were going to need those rights.

If the feds instituted a national stop-and-frisk policy, that would be a Fifth Amendment claim, Mary Catherine Roper of the American Civil Liberties Union told me. Can they single out people they dont like and exclude them from due process? What if they said a cop on site can take your drivers license? Thats the equivalent of this. He starts with the most vulnerable group, but not to put too fine a point on it you arent too far behind.

I agree with Ropers assessment. Trumps strategy seems to involve casting vulnerable groups as the enemy. After he targets immigrants and religious minorities, blacks and other people of color likely will be next.

If those groups can be turned against one another, we are all weakened, and that makes us easier targets.

Thats why its dangerous for African-Americans to say the immigration battle is not our fight. Especially since some of those immigrants are black.

A lot of people affected by the order are people who would be coming from Africa, Ajmel Quereshi, of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, told me in an interview. And a lot of those people would say they are African-American. The executive order applies to Sudan and Somalia. There are large communities in the U.S. from those countries, and they consider themselves part of the African American community.

Second, in a more metaphorical sense, the executive order discriminates against people based on national origin. The 14th Amendments equal protection clause protects against that, and the 14th Amendment has been an essential protection for African-Americans throughout the 20th century. If we were to cut away from that, whos to say we wouldnt see a cutting away (of rights) in the African-American community in the United States?

For me, thats the key question facing the black community. Are we willing to sacrifice our own rights by refusing to stand up for the rights of others?

I hope not, because blacks fought in every American war to secure those rights. And if we rest on the fact that the 14th Amendment granted full citizenship to formerly enslaved people following the Civil War, if we think the battle is over because that amendment granted due process and equal treatment to all persons, then our fight has been for nothing. Complacency has won the day.

The battle over immigration is a fight for the Constitution a document thats been paid for with the blood of many Americans. We honor their sacrifice when we stand for the rights of others. And when we stand for the rights of others, we stand up for ourselves.

If there are tensions between blacks and immigrants, we should resolve them while fighting side by side for the Constitution that protects us all; we should quell them while remembering that prejudice is our enemy; we should face them with the knowledge that were stronger when were unified.

Because after this battle is over, there will be others.

Trumps false claim that millions voted illegally is most likely a precursor to voting-rights restrictions. His attacks on federal employees will expand to other workers. His rants against Black Lives Matter are the first steps to curtailing protests.

So, yes, fighting Donald Trumps travel ban is absolutely a black issue.

We arent fighting only for immigrants. Were fighting for our very lives.

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Solomon Jones is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may email him at sj@solomonjones.com.

Original post:
The Lima News | Solomon Jones: Dangerous for African-Americans ... - Lima Ohio

This is the second in a series of articles based in part on eyewitness accounts about the rapidly deteriorating socio-political conditions in Turkey and what the future may hold for the country. The first article is available here.

Much has been written on the endemic corruption in Turkey which involves virtually every social strataincluding political, judicial, government administration, private sector, civil society, business, and militaryand which stands in total contrast to President Erdogans grandiose vision to make Turkey a significant player on the global stage. After fifteen years in power, Erdogan now presides over a state deeply entrenched in corruption, conspiracy theories, and intrigue. He uses every lever of power to cover up the pervasive corruption consuming the nation and overshadowing the remarkable socio-political progress and economic growth that he made during his first nine years in power.

To consolidate his reign, he intimidated his political opponents, emasculated the military, silenced the press, and enfeebled the judiciary; most recently, he pressed the parliament to amend the constitution to grant him essentially absolute powers.

Turkey ranks 75th in the world in transparency on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Indexfalling nine places since 2015along with Bulgaria, Kuwait, and Tunisia. More than 40% of Turkish households perceive public officials to be corrupt.

The economy: Given the pervasiveness of corruption, economic progress in Turkey has slowed down. In Erdogans initial years, the economy grew by 5-7 percent because he made it a priority while focusing on the poor and less educated, who subsequently became his core supporters.

When the global economy was strong Turkey registered significant economic growth, but the recent economic slowdown revealed the fault line in Turkeys economy. An inflated and corrupt bureaucracy made it extremely difficult to be granted licenses for development, making it ever harder for foreign and local investors to accelerate the process without bribing government officials.

During a corruption investigation in 2013, $17.5 million in cash was discovered in homes of various officials, including the director of state-owned Halkbank. Fifty-two people connected to the ruling AK Party were detainedin one day, but subsequently released due to lack of evidence.

Given this grim reality, as long as the government continues to deny the existence of pandemic corruption, Erdogans ambition to make Turkeys economy among the ten largest economies by 2023 (the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic) has become nothing but a pipe dream.

Suppressing the press: Erdogan has shown zero tolerance for criticism and has worked to stifle the press. Any media outlet that exposed corruption cases became an enemy of the state.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 81 journalists are currently imprisoned, all of whom have been charged with anti-state offenses, and over 100 news outlets have been ordered closed by the government. In total, between July 20 and December 31, 2016, 178 broadcasters, websites, and newspapers were shuttered.

Whereas in a democracy the media is considered central to keeping the government honest, in Turkey investigative journalism has become taboo as the Erdogan government is terrified of the potential exposure of corruption cases where government officials are directly involved.

The implications of this are far and wide as other countries, especially democracies, become suspicious of Turkeys positions. The lack of transparency severely erodes its credibility and international standing.

Political: Two-thirds of Turks in a survey revealed they perceive political parties to be corrupt. Turkey lacks an entity that monitors the financing of parties, which are required to submit their financial tables to the Constitutional Court, an institution ill-equipped to handle audits.

Additionally, according to the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, Turkey does not have a specific regulatory process to eliminate possible conflicts of interest for parliamentarians who transition to the private sector after their terms are complete.

Commenting on former Prime Minister Davutoglus transparency package, Erdogan shamelessly stated that If it [requiring party officials to reveal wealth] goes on like this, you cant find anyone to chair even [the AKPs] provincial and district branches.

Several of Erdogans ministers (Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Interior Minister Muammer Guler, and Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar) resigned after their sons were arrested on allegations of bribery. Following their resignation, Erdogan proceeded to dismiss thousands of police officers, prosecutors, and judges and accused the Gulen movement of a coup attempt.

The arrest and indictment in US courts of Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab poses a significant threat to Erdogans authority, as top AK officials are wrapped up in the indictmentincluding some of Erdogans family members. Pro-government media quickly leveled accusations against the American prosecutor and judge involved in the case of being instruments of the Gulen movement.

The ramifications of the wide-spread political corruption also have major adverse impacts on Turkeys relations with foreign governments who interact with Ankara out of necessity rather than by free choiceparticularly the EUwhich makes Turkeys foreign relations tenuous and puts its long-term security at risk.

Judiciary: According to the 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, 13% of households reported having to pay a bribe after coming into contact with the judiciary, which has increased in the past three years. The flaws of the Turkish judiciary have undermined the acceptance of the ruling by all segments of Turkish society and tainted it with allegations of political score-settling.

An even-handed judiciary is necessary to have a healthy and sustainable democracy. But when it becomes corrupted, as it has in Turkey, it is not just the cases before a court that become compromisedthere is a ripple effect that occurs, impacting on behavior of officials engaged in criminal activity and who feel they can continue to act in such a manner with impunity.

Military: According to the EU Progress Report 2016, extensive legal protection is given to counter-terrorism personnel and the military and intelligence services continue to lack sufficient accountability in Parliament. The same report states that Access to audit reports by the Turkish Court of Accounts on the security, defense and intelligence agencies remains restricted.

Erdogan has replaced hundreds of generals, which led to a reduction in strategic planning and overall quality of military effectiveness. His purge of the military high brass three years ago on charges of conspiring to topple the government has eroded Turkeys position in NATO.

Similarly, the purge of the top echelon of the military following the July 2016 coup further weakened military preparedness, which raises serious questions about Turkeys military prowess and its effectiveness as a member of NATO.

Turkey defies the NATO charter that requires its members to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. By not adhering to these principles, Turkey risks being potentially expelled, especially now that Erdogan appears to be increasingly gravitating toward Moscow.

Civil society: The EU Progress Report 2016 notes: Participation by civil society in the budgetary process is poorand independent civil society organizations are rarely involved in law- and policy-making processes.

Corruption creates fear in societyindividuals who might otherwise wish to expose acts of corruption are now afraid to be implicated. According to Transparency Internationals Oya Ozarslan, Today you cant offer people neither a good nor a bad example because corruption trials have become impossible in Turkey. This in turn legitimates the notion that [the corrupt] get away with it anyway.

The AK Party pledged [to wage a] most intensive struggle [against corruption], and fully ensure transparency and accountability prevail in every area of public life [to prevent] the pollution of politics, but then Erdogan himself rejected any practical measures to tackle corruption, fearing damaging exposure.

Sadly, much of what Erdogan aspired for could have been realized had he continued the reforms he initiated and brought Turkey to the international status he desired without resorting to authoritarianism.

After 15 years in power, Erdogan provides a classic example of how power corrupts. It is time for the public and the opposition parties to demand that he leaves the political scene and allow the formation of a democratically-elected government to begin the process of stemming corruption.

Otherwise, Turkey will forfeit its huge potential of becoming a significant player on the international stage.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

Original post:
Turkey's President Erdogan: A Classic Case of How Power Corrupts - Center for Research on Globalization

Internet censorship in Pakistan is government control of information sent and received using the Internet in Pakistan.

Pakistan made global headlines in 2010 for blocking Facebook and other Web sites in response to a contest popularized on the social networking site to draw images of the Prophet Mohammad. In general, Internet filtering in Pakistan remains both inconsistent and intermittent, with filtering primarily targeted at content deemed to be a threat to national security and at religious content considered blasphemous.

In mid-2012 Pakistanis had relatively free access to a wide range of content, including most sexual, political, social, and religious sites on the Internet. The OpenNet Initiative listed Internet filtering in Pakistan as substantial in the conflict/security area, and as selective in the political, social, and Internet tools areas in August 2012.[1] Additionally, Freedom House rated Pakistan's "Freedom on the Net Status" as "Not Free" in its Freedom on the Net 2013 report.[2] This is still true as of 2016.[3]

Internet filtering in Pakistan is regulated by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under the direction of the government, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT). Although the majority of filtering in Pakistan is intermittentsuch as the occasional block on a major Web site like Blogspot or YouTubethe PTA continues to block sites containing content it considers to be blasphemous, anti-Islamic, or threatening to internal security. Online civil society activism that began in order to protect free expression in the country continues to expand as citizens utilize new media to disseminate information and organize.[1]

Pakistan has blocked access to websites critical of the government or the military.[1] Blocking of websites is often carried out under the rubric of restricting access to blasphemous content, pornography, or religious immorality.[4] At the end of 2011, the PTA had officially banned more than 1,000 porn websites in Pakistan.[4][5]

The Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE), operated by the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), was created to facilitate the exchange of Internet traffic between ISPs within and outside of Pakistan.[6] Because the majority of Pakistan's Internet traffic is routed through the PIE (98% of Pakistani ISPs used the PIE in 2004), it provides a means to monitor and possibly block incoming and outgoing Internet traffic as the government deems fit.[7]

Internet surveillance in Pakistan is primarily conducted by the PIE under the auspices of the PTA. The PIE monitors all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic from Pakistan, as well as e-mail and keywords, and stores data for a specified amount of time. Law enforcement agencies such as the FIA can be asked by the government to conduct surveillance and monitor content. Under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO), ISPs are required to retain traffic data for a minimum of 90 days and may also be required to collect real-time data and record information while keeping their involvement with the government confidential. The ordinance does not specify what kinds of actions constitute grounds for data collection and surveillance.[1]

In April 2003, the PTCL announced that it would be stepping up monitoring of pornographic websites. "Anti-Islamic" and "blasphemous" sites were also monitored.[8] In early March 2004, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) to monitor access to all pornographic content. The ISPs, however, lacked the technical know-how, and felt that the PTCL was in a better position to carry out FIA's order. A Malaysian firm was then hired to provide a filtering system, but failed to deliver a working system.

In March 2012, the Pakistan government took the unusual step of touting for firms that could help build it a nationwide content-filtering service.[9] The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority published a request for proposals for the deployment and operation of a national level URL Filtering and Blocking System which would operate on similar lines to China's Golden Shield, or "Great Firewall".[9] Academic and research institutions as well as private commercial entities had until 16 March to submit their proposals, according to the request's detailed 35-point system requirements list. Key among these is the following: "Each box should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs (concurrent unidirectional filtering capacity) with processing delay of not more than 1 milliseconds".[9]

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with instances of firing on crowds of protestors, resulting in more than 100 reported deaths,[10] and included the bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan, setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming of European buildings, and the burning of the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, French, and German flags in Gaza City.[11][12] The posting of the cartoons online added to the controversy.

On 1 March 2006 the Supreme Court of Pakistan directed the government to keep tabs on Internet sites displaying the cartoons and called for an explanation from authorities as to why these sites had not been blocked earlier.[13] On 2 March 2006, pursuant to a petition filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Supreme Court sitting en banc ordered the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and other government departments to adopt measures for blocking websites showing blasphemous content. The Court also ordered Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan to explore laws which would enable blocking of objectionable websites. In announcing the decision, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said, "We will not accept any excuse or technical objection on this issue because it relates to the sentiments of the entire Muslim world. All authorities concerned will have to appear in the Court on the next hearing with reports of concrete measures taken to implement our order".

Consequently, the government kept tabs on a number of websites hosting the cartoons deemed to be sacrilegious. This ban included all the weblogs hosted at the popular blogging service blogger.com, as some bloggers had put up copies of the cartoons particularly many non-Pakistani blogs.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Chaudhry, summoned the country's Attorney General as well as senior communication ministry officials to give a report of "concrete measures for implementation of the court's order". At the hearing on 14 March 2006, the PTA informed the Supreme Court that all websites displaying the Muhammad cartoons had been blocked. The bench issued directions to the Attorney General of Pakistan, Makhdoom Ali Khan, to assist the court on how it could exercise jurisdiction to prevent the availability of blasphemous material on websites the world over.[14]

The blanket ban on the blogspot.com blogs was lifted on 2 May 2006.[15] Shortly thereafter the blanket ban was reimposed and extended to Typepad blogs. The blanket ban on the blogspot.com blogs was later lifted again.

Allegations of suppressing vote-rigging videos by the Musharraf administration were also leveled by Pakistani bloggers, newspapers, media, and Pakistani anti-Musharraf opposition parties. The ban was lifted on 26 February 2008.[16][17]

In 2006 the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority blocked five websites for "providing misleading informations".[18] Some allege that the websites' real crime was reporting on the Balochistan separatist conflict.[19]

YouTube was blocked in Pakistan following a decision taken by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on 22 February 2008 because of the number of "non-Islamic objectionable videos."[17][20] One report specifically named Fitna, a controversial Dutch film, as the basis for the block.[21] Pakistan, an Islamic republic, ordered its ISPs to block access to YouTube "for containing blasphemous web content/movies."[22] The action effectively blocked YouTube access worldwide for several hours on 24 February.[23] Defaming Muhammad under 295-C of the Blasphemy law in Pakistan requires a death sentence.[24] This followed increasing unrest in Pakistan by over the reprinting of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons which depict satirical criticism of Islam.[22] Router misconfiguration by one Pakistani ISP on 24 February 2008 effectively blocked YouTube access worldwide for several hours.[23] On 26 February 2008, the ban was lifted after the website had removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government.[16]

On 19 and 20 May 2010, Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority (PTA) imposed a ban on Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook in response to a competition entitled Everybody Draw Mohammed Day on Facebook, in a bid to contain "blasphemous" material[25][26] The ban imposed on Facebook was the result of a ruling by the Lahore High Court, while the ban on the other websites was imposed arbitrarily by the PTA on the grounds of "objectionable content", a different response from earlier requests, such as pages created to promote peaceful demonstrations in Pakistani cities being removed because they were "inciting violence". The ban was lifted on 27 May 2010, after the website removed the objectionable content from its servers at the request of the government. However, individual videos deemed offensive to Muslims that are posted on YouTube will continue to be blocked.[27][28]

In September 2012, the PTA blocked the video-sharing website YouTube for not removing an anti-Islamic film made in the United States, Innocence of Muslims, which mocks Mohammed. The website would remain suspended, it was stated, until the film was removed.[29][30] In a related move, the PTA announced that it had blocked about 20,000 websites due to "objectionable" content.[31]

On 25 July 2013, the government announced that it is mulling over reopening YouTube during the second week of August. A special 12-member committee was working under the Minister of IT and Telecommunication, Anusha Rahman, to see if objectionable content can be removed. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, the telecom watchdog in the country, has already expressed its inability to filter out select content.[32]

On 21 April 2014, Pakistan's Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights requested the Federal Government remove the ban on YouTube.[33][34]

On 8 February 2015, the government announced that YouTube will remain blocked 'indefinitely' because no tool or solution had been found which can totally block offensive content.[35] As of June 2015 1,000 days on the ban was still in effect, and YouTube cannot be accessed from either desktop or mobile devices.[34]

The ban was lifted due to technical glitch on December 6, 2015 according to ISPs in Pakistan.[36] As September 2016, the ban has been lifted officially, as YouTube launched a local version for Pakistan.[37]

In June 2013, The Citizens Lab, an interdisciplinary research laboratory uncovered that Canadian internet-filtering product Netsweeper is functioning at the national level in Pakistan. The system has categorized billions of URLs and is adding 10 million new URLs every day. The lab also confirmed that ISPs in Pakistan are using methods of DNS tampering to block websites at the behest of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

According to the report published by the lab, Netsweeper technology is being implemented in Pakistan for purposes of political and social filtering, including websites of secessionist movements, sensitive religious topics, and independent media.[38]

In July 2013, Pakistani ISPs banned 6 of the top 10[39] public Torrent sites in Pakistan. These sites include Piratebay, Kickass torrents, Torrentz, Bitsnoop, Extra Torrent and Torrent Reactor.[40] They also banned the similar site Mininova.[41] However proxies for these torrent sites are still active and P2P connections are working normally.[42] This move lead to a massive public backlash, especially from the Twitter and Facebook communities of Pakistan. In the aftermath of such critique, the IT Minister of Pakistan, Anusha Rehman, deactivated her Twitter account.[43]

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Internet censorship in Pakistan - Wikipedia

Forbes

3 Steps For Mobile SEO Success Forbes The short version is that if your brand isn't presenting well on mobile devices, your SEO campaign is hobbled. This development shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone after all, over 60% of search engine queries are submitted on mobile devices.

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3 Steps For Mobile SEO Success - Forbes

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Kate Centofanti and Marc Whittington were married Oct. 8 at the Pavilion on Crystal Lake in Middletown.

Kate Centofanti and Marc Whittington were married Oct. 8 at the Pavilion on Crystal Lake in Middletown.

Newly engaged Greenwich residents Katherine Suzanne Knetzger and Dr. Mark Anthony Vitale plan a June wedding.

Newly engaged Greenwich residents Katherine Suzanne Knetzger and Dr. Mark Anthony Vitale plan a June wedding.

Celebrations: weddings, engagements

Wedding

Kate Centofanti, the daughter of Alan Centofanti and Dr. Babette Caraccio of Stamford and Cocoa Beach, Fla., married Marc Whittington, the son of Christiana and Ned Whittington of Hanover, N.H., on Oct. 8 at the Pavilion on Crystal Lake in Middletown.

Robert Powers, a friend of the couple and a Justice of the Peace, officiated at the ceremony. The bride and groom are 2014 graduates of Wesleyan University in Middletown, where they met. A small family ceremony was held the day before at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Greenwich officiated by the Rev. William Carey.

The bride is a 2010 graduate of Greenwich High School. She is an account coordinator for Jacobson Strategic Communications in Philadelphia.

The groom graduated from Hanover High School in New Hampshire before attending Wesleyan. He is an SEO strategist at Haystack Needle in Philadelphia.

Following a wedding trip to Costa Rica, the couple will continue to reside in Philadelphia.

Engagement

Diane Knetzger of New Canaan and Hugh Knetzger of Greenwich are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Katherine Suzanne Knetzger to Mark Anthony Vitale, son of Dorothy and Aldo Vitale of Brooklyn, NY.

The future bride is a graduate of New Canaan High School and received her bachelors degree in nursing at Villanova University. She went on to positions at Norwalk Hospital and the Hospital for Special Surgery before returning closer to home to work as a registered nurse in the outpatient clinic at Greenwich Hospital. She is now pursuing advanced training through a nurse practitioner degree at Fairfield University while concurrently working in the Greenwich Hospital clinic.

The future bridegroom graduated from Tufts University with a bachelors degree in biopsychology, and went on to medical school at Columbia University. After completing a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and a hand surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, he is now a board-certified hand and upper extremity surgeon working in Greenwich at Orthopaedic and Neurosurgery Specialists (ONS).

The couple resides in Greenwich, where they look forward to exchanging wedding vows in June of 2017.

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Celebrations: weddings, engagements - Greenwich Time