There’s yet another left-wing witch hunt, against hedge fund principal Peter Thiel, who may or may not have given $1 million (wow!) to our friends at NumbersUSA (see here and here). What gets me about this is that NumbersUSA is actually a boringly bland Beltway operation, shrinking from any mention of immigration’s impact on racial balance, always ready to settle for half a loaf (or a whole Huckabee). As I write, its webpage is dominated by a handwringing headline Horrendous Murder of Ecuadorian Man on Long Island Reminds Why We Say NO TO IMMIGRANT-BASHING Language. This is not quite the line we take here at VDARE.COM.

Don’t get me wrong - no doubt this type of grovelling gets you into the game in Washington. But the point is that, out here in America, NumbersUSA is still denounced as an “anti-immigrant” group guilty of “nativism”, which the loonies obviously confuse with naziism. (For our view of “nativism”, see here.) The Wages of Moderation turn out to be worthless. Peter Thiel could not have gotten into more trouble if he’d given to us.

While I was editing last night’s letter, it struck me that a growing and extremely frightening trend is upon us–loss of Freedom of Speech that, if left unchecked, could morph into a more aggressive campaign under the Barack Obama administration of robbing us of our Constitutional rights.

In his op-ed piece, Michael Meyers, former assistant director of the NAACP, warned against denying Suffolk County executive Steve Levy his right to hold and express an immigration view different from his own and ethnic identity groups like the New York-based Hispanic Across America. [Don’t Rush to Judgment, By Michael Meyers, Newsday, November 14, 2008] 

But the case is growing more out of control. According to Newsday, Hispanics Across America may sue the parents of the accused killers of citing lack of

“moral responsibility.”

“Parents that teach their children hate are just as responsible as the kids who commit the crimes,”

said Fernando Mateo, president of Hispanics Across America. [Latino Group May Sue Parents of Hate Crime Suspects, by Sophia Chang, Newsday, November 11, 2008]

Even a shred of success in such a lawsuit would further squash free speech–you’ll have to rear your children according to the Hispanic Across America guidelines.

Forget that the “suspects” haven’t been convicted of anything. In fact, they haven’t even gone to trail.

And it is, at this moment at least, totally unknown to anyone involved in the case what parental role anyone may have played in bring up the children.

What’s alarming is this incident comes on top of the item in James Fulford’s blog of two days ago pointing out that a  University of Texas football player was suspended for what were deemed inappropriate comments.

It’s maddening to see how the police and criminal justice system have completely forgotten their mission to protect the public from dangerous people. Even men who rape children are released with no punishment.

Bayron Orlando Euceda, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, did not serve a day in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old Houston girl.

Instead, a Harris County judge sentenced the 21-year-old to eight years deferred adjudication, a form of probation. A sticky note on his plea agreement reads, “Best interest of victim.”

“That’s incredible,” said Andy Kahan, director of the Houston Mayor’s Crime Victims Office and a former probation officer, after thumbing through Euceda’s court paperwork. “The best interest of the victim would have been to have that guy locked up.” [Probation, instead of deportation, By Susan Carroll, Houston Chronicle, November 18, 2008]

Juan Quintero, the convicted killer of Houston PD Officer Rodney Johnson, also got treated with kid gloves.

The twin photos show the killer at an early court appearance and later when he was cleaned up for trial.

The practice of sentencing illegal immigrants to probation attracted sharp criticism after an illegal immigrant from Mexico killed Houston police officer Rodney Johnson.

Juan Quintero, who is serving a life sentence for the murder, had several DWI convictions and was sentenced to deferred adjudication for indecency with a 12-year-old girl in 1999. Quintero was deported but returned to Houston illegally and shot Johnson on Sept. 21, 2006.

Johnson’s widow, Houston police Sgt. Joslyn Johnson, said she hopes for a policy change that would stop illegal immigrants from ending up on probation, saying prison time would be more of a deterrent to coming back to the U.S. illegally.

“They broke the law when they came into the country illegally, and if they’ve committed another crime on top of that, I think they should be automatically deported,” she said. “They should not be allowed to stay in the country on probation.”

One bit of good news: Cornyn wants investigation into immigrant inmates: Lawmaker’s call for action follows Chronicle’s series on the release of violent criminals who admitted to jailers they were in the U.S. illegally

The Texas Republican said on Monday that the Chronicle’s investigation “raised some very serious concerns.” He said he requested information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and was particularly concerned about the finding that suspected illegal immigrants had posted bail and absconded on criminal charges, including murder, aggravated sexual assault of a child and drug trafficking.

In addition, the Texas Governor was also displeased to to learn the extent of immigration crime anarchy detailed in the Houston Chronicle series: Perry outraged that criminal immigrants aren’t being deported.

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry demanded Tuesday that the federal government take steps to help state and local officials ensure that unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes in Texas remain in custody until they are deported.

In a strongly worded letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Perry said he was “outraged” to learn that many convicted immigrants in Texas jails were released after they completed their jail sentences instead of being deported.

“Texas has spent the last four years investing unprecedented amounts of state resources to secure our border with Mexico. To now learn that criminal aliens who have been jailed are being released back into our communities by federal authorities who have neglected to secure our border is infuriating and unconscionable,” he said.

Spokeswoman Allison Castle said the governor was reacting, in part, to a series of stories in the Houston Chronicle, reporting how federal immigration officials have allowed scores of violent criminals to be freed despite the inmates’ admission to jailers that they were in the United States illegally.

“We knew there was a problem, but we didn’t know the scope and magnitude of it,” Castle said. In his letter, Perry noted that some of the released immigrants were later charged with felonies, including capital murder, rape, robbery and child molestation. [Emphasis added]

I would assume that Sarah Palin about as smart as her erstwhile opponent, Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, a man who has gone through life with a giant chip on his shoulder about his IQ. Whether that’s smart enough to be President, I’ll leave up to you.

On the other hand, I’m sure Biden would beat Palin if they took a current events quiz on foreign affairs.

Why?

The chief answer is obvious, which means that the mainstream discourse is oblivious to it. Governor Palin is a lady. Specifically, she’s a mom, a mom with a whole bunch of kids. If you aren’t a mom, it’s hard to grasp just how much more interesting your family, and the community they live in, is than the Law of the Sea Conference or the Tbilisi pipeline. In contrast, Mr. Biden, who isn’t a mom, has time on his hands for paying attention to stuff like that because Mrs. Biden worries about the important things for him.

We recently noted the disgraceful attack by administrators at Baltimore’s Loyola College on libertarian economist Walter Block, who had dared to mention IQ and race in a Q&A after a lecture he gave there. Walter, whom I have known for 30 years, has now posted a long and careful analysis of this scandal on LewRockwell.com. It’s a disgusting insight into the soft totalitarianism now apparently endemic in academe, which will unquestionably now be spreading throughout American life under the Obama Administration. (Thanks a lot, Establishment Right.)