[olug] Tor could be all the more important

[Thomas D. Williamson]

The poem as originally written by Martin Niemöller is:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.

He was a pastor who eventually joined the Confessing Church in Germany  
in opposition to the German Church. He spent the last seven years of  
the Nazi rule in a concentration camp.

His poem is more about complacency in the face of evil, rather than  
the Nazis in particular, they happened to be there as the actors at  
that time.

This can apply to the Stalinist era in the Soviet Union, and could  
apply to the current regime under Putin in Russia.

The beginnings could be seen in the US in the McCarthy era of the  
1950s, but when individuals challenged the immorality of the claims  
and actions that collapsed. The acting against and not being  
complacent in the face of evil can be seen in the Civil Rights  
movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Currently the issues of desiring searches for phone information came  
under the The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but this was  
changed under the Patriot Act. The move was to reduce the oversight of  
any court for gaining a warrant for searching first phone information  
and conversations to nearly any area of electronic communication. This  
has been modified later and the act discussed is another addition to  
the ability of the executive and legislative branches to act without  
oversight of the judicial branch.


Tom Williamson

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