Australia inquires into effect of digital platforms, including Facebook & Google

ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) commences inquiry into digital platforms

4 December 2017

The Federal Government has today formally directed the ACCC to commence an inquiry into digital platform providers such as Facebook and Google.

The ACCC’s inquiry will look at the effect that digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content aggregation platforms are having on competition in media and advertising services markets.

“The ACCC goes into this inquiry with an open mind to and will study how digital platforms such as Facebook and Google operate to fully understand their influence in Australia,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

“We will examine whether platforms are exercising market power in commercial dealings to the detriment of consumers, media content creators and advertisers.”

“The ACCC will look closely at longer-term trends and the effect of technological change on competition in media and advertising,” Mr Sims said.

“We will also consider the impact of information asymmetry between digital platform providers and advertisers and consumers.”

Advertising expenditure in print newspapers has been in decline for a number of years. Recent ACCC merger reviews have shown that most advertisers are spending less on print newspapers and finding alternative ways of reaching target audiences, including through digital media.

“As the media sector evolves, there are growing concerns that digital platforms are affecting traditional media’s ability to fund the development of content,” Mr Sims said.

“Through our inquiry, the ACCC will look closely at the impact of digital platforms on the level of choice and quality of news and content being produced by Australian journalists.”

By holding an inquiry under Part VIIA of the Competition and Consumer Act (2010), the ACCC can use compulsory information gathering powers and hold hearings to assess the level of competition in a market.

“We are keen to hear the views of content creators, mainstream media outlets and smaller media operators, platform providers, advertisers, journalists, consumers and small business interest groups,” Mr Sims said.

The ACCC is expected to produce a preliminary report early December 2018, with a final report due early June 2019. Further information, including the terms of reference, is at www.accc.gov.au/digital-inquiry

Background

The ACCC will soon distribute an issues paper outlining matters relevant to the inquiry, and will be calling for public submissions. The ACCC will conduct public and private hearings next year and details will be released in due course.

The ACCC is currently undertaking inquiries into the supply of retail electricity, the supply of and demand for wholesale gas in Australia, the supply of insurance in Northern Australia, residential mortgage products, and the dairy industry. The ACCC has also recently completed a  market study into cattle and beef markets, and market studies into the new car retailing industry and the communications sector are underway.

MormonLeaks™ Releases the Posthumous Temple Records for Parents & Grandparents of Donald J. Trump

In 2009, ABC News confirmed a story circulating in the news that someone in the Mormon Church has posthumously baptized then Senator Obama’s mother as the presidential election approached.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/06/mormons-baptized-obamas-m_n_197707.html

Today, the website Mormon Leaks issued a press release stating that President Donald Trump’s parents and grandparents have shown up in posthumous temple records:

MormonLeaks™ Releases the Posthumous Temple Records for the Parents and Grandparents of Donald J. Trump

The Mormon Church believes everyone will have the chance to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ whether on earth or in the after life. They also believe in order to make it to the highest level of heaven after accepting the Gospel, one must receive certain ordinances such as baptism, Mormon temple sealing, etc. These are administered to the dead posthumously in Mormon temples throughout the world on a persistent basis. Mormons believe that the dead will have the opportunity to accept or reject said ordinances after they have been performed and believe they need to be performed for everyone. More information around these beliefs can be found here.

MormonLeaks™ has released the ordinance records for Donald J. Trump’s parents, Frederick Christ Trump and Mary Ann MacLeod, and grandparents, Friedrich Trump and Elisabeth Marie Christ.

These records are only available to members of the Mormon Church whose name is still active on the records of the Church. For reference and verification, links have been provided with each record.

Frederick Christ Trump

All ordinances for Frederick Christ Trump are listed as “Not Available”. According to a FamilySearch help article — only available to Mormons, screenshot here — this could be for a number of reasons. However, according to MormonLeaks™ sources the records of the relatives of well known public figures are often not made available for privacy reasons.

FamilySearch link here

Screenshot here

Mary Ann MacLeod

All ordinances for Mary Ann MacLeod are listed as “Not Available”. According to a FamilySearch help article — only available to Mormons, screenshot here— this could be for a number of reasons. However, according to MormonLeaks™ sources the records of the relatives of well known public figures are often not made available for privacy reasons.

FamilySearch link here

Screenshot here

Friedrich Trump

Baptism: May 27, 2015 — Cebu Philippines Temple

Confirmation: June 9, 2015 — Las Vegas Nevada Temple

Initiatory: August 5, 2015 — Las Vegas Nevada Temple

Endowment: February 4, 2016 — Las Vegas Nevada Temple

Sealing to Parents: October 27, 2017 — Las Vegas Nevada Temple

Sealing to Spouse: April 27, 2016 — Atlanta Georgia Temple

FamilySearch link here

Screenshot here

Elisabeth Marie Christ

Baptism: April 27, 2016 — Atlanta Georgia Temple

Confirmation: April 27, 2016 — Atlanta Georgia Temple

Initiatory: May 6, 2017 — Atlanta Georgia Temple

Endowment: In Progress

Sealing to Parents: In Progress

Sealing to Spouse: April 27, 2016 — Atlanta Georgia Temple

FamilySearch link here

Screenshot here

MormonLeaks™ is managed and organized by the Truth and Transparency Foundation (TTF).

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: THE LAST INTERVIEW & OTHER CONVERSATIONS

“He’s one of the most terrifying rhetoricians that the world has yet seen.” —Martin Amis

“His unworldly fluency never deserted him, his commitment was passionate, and he never deserted his trade. He was the consummate writer, the brilliant friend. In Walter Pater’s famous phrase, he burned ‘with this hard gem-like flame.’ Right to the end.” —Ian McEwan

“He was an intellectual with the instincts of a street brawler, never happier than when engaged in moral or political fisticuffs.” —Salman Rushdie

“There was nothing that Hitch liked to do more than talk— and all the better if talking meant arguing.” —Anna Wintour

Oklahoma preacher caught running house of prostitution; HIV warning issued as well

 

The State of Oklahoma filed the following felony charges on November 29, 2017.

Count # 1. Count as Filed: PAN, PROCURING FOR PROSTITUTION, in violation of 21 O.S. 1081

Date of Offense: 11/07/2017

Party Name        BRAZINGTON, WALTER EUGENE JR

Count # 2. Count as Filed: WE6, POSSESSION OF A FIREARM WHILE IN THE COMMISSION OF A FELONY, in violation of 21 O.S. 12287

Date of Offense: 11/07/2017

Party Name        BRAZINGTON, WALTER EUGENE JR

Count # 3. Count as Filed: PUBSFT, EXPOSING OTHERS TO AIDS, in violation of 21 O.S. 1192.1

Date of Offense: 11/07/2017

Party Name        ROACH, TIFFANY ANN

Acting on a tip of unusual activity at a strip mall in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, police began monitoring a business that only had a neon “open” sign in the window and an unusual amount of activity noted by neighboring businesses.

The investigation started in September when investigators identified classified ads with women offering massages. A phone number connected to the ads was linked to All Nations Evangelistic Team.

The All Nations Evangelistic Team website https://allnations-walt.weebly.com/ refers to Walter Brazington Jr. (age 55) as an apostle/prophet of the ministry who went to heaven after a heart attack and was directed to preach about the second coming of Christ during this visit to heaven: “I was in the spirit on the Lords Day at 5:AM in the Spring of 2009, when in a vision the Lord showed me the rapture and the 30 days on earth just after the catching away of the church. Over the years in ministry I have had many visions and had recently visited heaven four months earlier on Christmas Day 2008, 2 days after having a sudden massive heart attack.”

Once officers served a search warrant, they found that employee Tiffany Roach (age 40) was servicing customers while knowingly infected with the HIV virus.

Roach remains in the Tulsa County Jail while Brazington has since bonded out.

The Broken Arrow Police Department sent letters to as many customers as possible based upon license tag numbers collected during surveillance. Letters urged those patrons to see a physician as soon as possible.

Neighboring business owners said Brazington told them he was running a security business, and his Facebook page shows a cover photo indicating an association with Executive Protection Services.

Roach’s Facebook page has many photos of a provocative nature as well as reference to Peckerwoods, Featherwoods and Aryan Brotherhood, all prison-related gangs associated with white supremacy.

Ms. Roach has since entered a guilty plea and received a deferred sentence. Mr. Brazington’s has entered a not guilty plea and the case is ongoing.

North Korea: U.S. & S. Korean Puppet Forces’ Projected Aerial Drill Will Be Followed by Merciless Retaliation

U.S. and S. Korean Puppet Forces’ Projected Aerial Drill Will Be Followed by Merciless Retaliation: CPRC Spokesman

Date: 03/12/2017 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) |


Pyongyang, December 3 (KCNA) — A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country of the DPRK (CPRC) released a statement on Sunday in connection with the fact that the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces are going to launch the largest-ever joint aerial drill to “totally destroy” the DPRK on Dec. 4.

The statement says:

The U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces are asserting that the planned drill will be “the largest-ever one for blowing up 700 odd primary objects of the north including nuclear facilities and missile bases” and that it will serve as “maximum pressure on the north” as it will be an “unheard-of strike action” involving formations of latest fighter jets called “the king of air battle.”

What matters is the fact that the drill simulating an actual war is to be staged at a time when insane President Trump is running wild, terming the DPRK’s ICBM test-fire “action never to be pardonable” and bluffing as if he would do “anything in response,” stunned by the DPRK’s realization of the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force and the cause of building a rocket power.

The projected war rehearsal is just a grave military provocation which will push the already acute situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.

The situation clearly proves that the U.S. and the south Korean puppet war maniacs are just aggressors and provocateurs breaking peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region and that the DPRK was entirely just when it decided to invariably take the path of simultaneously developing the two fronts in order to bolster up its war deterrent in every way.

Taking this opportunity, the DPRK cannot but remind the aggressors once again of the statement made by the chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK on Sept. 21 that the DPRK would seriously consider the taking of a highest-level hard-line countermeasure in history to cope with the U.S. and its vassal forces’ reckless moves against the state and people of the DPRK and would surely force them to pay dearly for their provocations.

The U.S. and south Korean puppet military warmongers should bear in mind that their escalating provocation and adding to crimes will only invite more terrible retaliation and precipitate their self-destruction.

In response, South Korean media issued the following statement:

S. Korea says allies’ ongoing air drill is defensive in nature

2017/12/04

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s unification ministry said Monday that a joint air force drill between Seoul and Washington is defensive in nature, rejecting North Korea’s condemnation of the exercise.

A spokesman at North Korea’s foreign ministry on Saturday denounced the exercise as a large-scale nuclear war drill against North Korea. The five-day Vigilant Ace war games kicked off Monday, days after the North fired a long-range missile.

“The air force drill is an annual joint military exercise among the allies of a defensive nature. The government will not comment on every reaction by North Korea,” Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman at the Ministry of Unification, told a press briefing.

The exercise, which involves six U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets, came as a show of force against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The North on Wednesday launched a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which it claims is capable of striking the entire territory of the U.S., declaring that it has completed its “state nuclear force.”

“The government does not accept the North’s ‘unilateral’ claim to completing its nuclear program. We are making efforts to resolve the North’s nuclear issue peacefully with the international community,” Baik said.

Seoul said Friday that it does not regard North Korea as crossing a “red line” with its latest missile test due to doubts about its technical capabilities including re-entry and terminal guidance technology.

After the North’s tests of two ICBMs in July, President Moon Jae-in said that North Korea would be crossing a red line if it creates a nuclear-tipped ICBM. Crossing that threshold could risk tougher actions from the U.S. including a military one.

This file photo shows Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman at the Ministry of Unification. (Yonhap)

This file photo shows Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman at the Ministry of Unification. (Yonhap)

ARA San Juan: US Navy Transitions to Search & Recovery for Missing Submarine

US Navy Transitions to Search and Recovery in Search for ARA San Juan


Story Number: NNS171201-23Release Date: 12/1/2017

By Lt. Lyndsi Gutierrez, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) — Two U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft, the Submarine Rescue Chamber (SRC) and the Pressurized Rescue Module (PRM) from the Undersea Rescue Command that were assisting Argentina in the search for Argentine submarine, ARA San Juan, completed operations Nov 30.

MISSING SUBMARINE ARA SAN JUAN: CTBTO DATA SUGGESTS EXPLOSION MAY HAVE OCCURRED

Continuing with the transition of operations to search and recovery, the U.S. Navy deployed the Cable operated Unmanned Recovery Vehicle (CURV) 21 to support the ongoing Argentine search efforts onboard R/V Atlantis.

The CURV-21 is a 6,400-pound Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) that is designed to meet the U.S. Navy’s deep ocean salvage requirements down to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet of seawater, and is due to arrive in Argentina, Dec. 1.

CURV21 courtesy Phoenix International.

COMODORO RIVADAVIA, ARGENTINA
12.01.2017. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Lange, Commander, Submarine Squadron 11   

171201-N-HS500-031 COMODORO RIVADAVIA, Argentina (Dec. 1, 2017). The U.S. Navy cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle (CURVE-21) is offloaded at the Comodoro Rivadavia airport Dec. 1, 2017. The CURVE will be used in support of the Argentinean Navy search and rescue efforts of the ARA San Juan (S-42) (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher Lange/Released).

———-

The two P-8’s, along with sailors from the Patrol Squadron (VP) 5, VP-10, VP-45, VP-26, and Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11, arrived in Bahia Blanca, Argentina Nov 17 and Nov 19.

VP-5 will return to El Salvador’s Comalapa Air Base and resume the counter-illicit trafficking maritime patrol operations they were conducting prior to responding to Argentina’s request for help. VP-10, VP-26, VP-45, and CPRW-11 personnel will return to their home station at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida.

The URC deployed two independent rescue assets, the SRC and the PRM, Nov. 18. URC will return to their home station in San Diego, California.

For more information, visit http://www.southcom.mil/Media/Special-Coverage/US-Military-Support-to-Argentina-Submarine-Search/

Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years

 

This artist concept shows NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft, celebrating 40 years of continual operation in August and September 2017.

An artist concept depicting one of NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft. Humanity’s farthest and longest-lived spacecraft are celebrating 40 years in August and September 2017.

The Voyager spacecraft were built by JPL, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. California. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit https://www.nasa.gov/voyager and https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov.

If you tried to start a car that’s been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use.

Voyager 1, NASA’s farthest and fastest spacecraft, is the only human-made object in interstellar space, the environment between the stars. The spacecraft, which has been flying for 40 years, relies on small devices called thrusters to orient itself so it can communicate with Earth. These thrusters fire in tiny pulses, or “puffs,” lasting mere milliseconds, to subtly rotate the spacecraft so that its antenna points at our planet. Now, the Voyager team is able to use a set of four backup thrusters, dormant since 1980.

“With these thrusters that are still functional after 37 years without use, we will be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years,” said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Since 2014, engineers have noticed that the thrusters Voyager 1 has been using to orient the spacecraft, called “attitude control thrusters,” have been degrading. Over time, the thrusters require more puffs to give off the same amount of energy. At 13 billion miles from Earth, there’s no mechanic shop nearby to get a tune-up.

The Voyager team assembled a group of propulsion experts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, to study the problem. Chris Jones, Robert Shotwell, Carl Guernsey and Todd Barber analyzed options and predicted how the spacecraft would respond in different scenarios. They agreed on an unusual solution: Try giving the job of orientation to a set of thrusters that had been asleep for 37 years.

“The Voyager flight team dug up decades-old data and examined the software that was coded in an outdated assembler language, to make sure we could safely test the thrusters,” said Jones, chief engineer at JPL.

In the early days of the mission, Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter, Saturn, and important moons of each. To accurately fly by and point the spacecraft’s instruments at a smorgasbord of targets, engineers used “trajectory correction maneuver,” or TCM, thrusters that are identical in size and functionality to the attitude control thrusters, and are located on the back side of the spacecraft. But because Voyager 1’s last planetary encounter was Saturn, the Voyager team hadn’t needed to use the TCM thrusters since November 8, 1980. Back then, the TCM thrusters were used in a more continuous firing mode; they had never been used in the brief bursts necessary to orient the spacecraft.

All of Voyager’s thrusters were developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne. The same kind of thruster, called the MR-103, flew on other NASA spacecraft as well, such as Cassini and Dawn.

On Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, Voyager engineers fired up the four TCM thrusters for the first time in 37 years and tested their ability to orient the spacecraft using 10-millisecond pulses. The team waited eagerly as the test results traveled through space, taking 19 hours and 35 minutes to reach an antenna in Goldstone, California, that is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network.

Lo and behold, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, they learnedthe TCM thrusters worked perfectly — and just as well as the attitude control thrusters.

“The Voyager team got more excited each time with each milestone in the thruster test. The mood was one of relief, joy and incredulity after witnessing these well-rested thrusters pick up the baton as if no time had passed at all,” said Barber, a JPL propulsion engineer.

The plan going forward is to switch to the TCM thrusters in January. To make the change, Voyager has to turn on one heater per thruster, which requires power — a limited resource for the aging mission. When there is no longer enough power to operate the heaters, the team will switch back to the attitude control thrusters.

The thruster test went so well, the team will likely do a similar test on the TCM thrusters for Voyager 2, the twin spacecraft of Voyager 1. The attitude control thrusters currently used for Voyager 2 are not yet as degraded as Voyager 1’s, however.

Voyager 2 is also on course to enter interstellar space, likely within the next few years.

The Voyager spacecraft were built by JPL, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/voyager

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov

N.K. celebrates completion of nuke arsenal with fireworks

2017/12/02

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) — North Korea held a rally and fireworks display to celebrate what it claims to be the completion of its nuclear arsenal with its latest firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Pyongyang’s state media said Saturday.

Military servicemen and citizens gathered in Pyongyang on Friday to mark the country’s completion of the “state nuclear force” with the Wednesday test of the Hwasong-15 missile, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

During celebratory speeches, key party and military officials said that the missile test put the strategic position of North Korea on the highest level.

“Nobody can infringe on our rights to sovereignty, survival and development as we have completed the state nuclear force,” Pak Kwang-ho, a vice chairman of the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, was quoted as saying by the party’s main newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

The North launched its most advanced ICBM, which it claims is capable of striking the whole mainland of the U.S.

Seoul’s defense ministry said Friday that the North’s new missile could reach Washington, but more verification is needed on its missile technology including re-entry and terminal guidance system and warhead conditions.

The celebration is seen as intended to bolster internal solidarity as the international community is expected to toughen its sanctions on the North.

After the ICBM test, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose “additional major sanctions” on Pyongyang.

NORAD Tracks Santa: A Brief History & This Year’s Launch

 

NORAD is Ready to Track Santa’s Flight

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — 

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is celebrating the 62nd Anniversary of tracking Santa’s yuletide journey! The NORAD Tracks Santa website, www.noradsanta.org, launching Dec. 1, features Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, activities, and more. The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.

Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are also available in the Apple and Google Play stores, so parents and children can countdown the days until Santa’s launch on their smart phones and tablets! Tracking opportunities are also offered through social media on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Starting at 2:01 a.m. EST on Dec. 24, website visitors can watch Santa make preparations for his flight. NORAD’s “Santa Cams” will stream videos on the website as Santa makes his way over various locations. Then, at 6 a.m. EST, trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator to inquire as to Santa’s whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com. Any time on Dec. 24, Amazon Alexa users can ask for Santa’s location through the NORAD Tracks Santa skill for Amazon Alexa, and OnStar subscribers can press the OnStar button in their vehicles to locate Santa. Bing and Cortana users can also find Santa’s location on Dec. 24.

NORAD Tracks Santa is truly a global experience, delighting generations of families everywhere. This is due, in large part, to the efforts and services of numerous program contributors.

It all started in 1955 when a local media advertisement directed children to call Santa direct – only the number was misprinted. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to the Crew Commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center. Thus began the tradition, which NORAD carried on since it was created in 1958.

Guantanamo Bay Art Exhibit Stirs Controversy: Opportunity to Sign Petition

Muhammad Ansi, Crying Eye (Mother), 2015.

OPEN THROUGH JANUARY 26, 2018

PRESIDENT’S GALLERY, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, NEW YORK

Visit exhibit online at https://www.artfromguantanamo.com/

Detainees at the United States military prison camp known as Guantánamo Bay have made art from the time they arrived. The exhibit will display some of these evocative works, made by eight men: four who have since been cleared and released from Guantánamo, and four who remain there. They paint the sea again and again although they cannot reach it.

Free and open to all. Enter at 899 10th Avenue (at 59th Street) and proceed to the President’s Gallery, on the 6th floor of Haaren Hall. Open Monday-Friday 9-5 pm.

Abdualmalik Abud, Yemen, 2015.
Ammar Al Baluchi, Vertigo at Guantanamo.
Ghaleb Al-Bihani, Lighthouse, 2016.
Djamel Ameziane, Interior, 2010.
Khalid Qasim, Large Sailboat on the Ocean, 2017, paint over gravel mixed with glue.
Muhammad Ansi, Hand Holding Red Flowers, 2015 (color photocopy of original and reverse, showing stamps indicating approval for release from Guantánamo).
Muhammad Ansi, Hands Holding Flowers through Bars, 2016.

NCAC Condemns Government Policy Depriving Americans of Access to Art by Guantanamo Detainees

New York, NY, 11/28/2017–An art exhibition at John Jay College in New York has provoked an abrupt change to government policy regarding art created by detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon and Department of Defense have declared that all art created by detainees will henceforth become the property of the US government and may no longer be removed from the prison, even upon a detainee’s clearance and release. It has been suggested that the art will be destroyed. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) vehemently objects to the violation of the public’s right to access this work and thus fully participate in the political conversation around Guantanamo. The new directive also violates the human rights of the detainees under international norms and further destruction of the work would impermissibly suppress documents of historical importance.

Since all art that leaves Guantanamo is subject to intense scrutiny by military officials, the new directive serves no legitimate national security purpose. The only purpose it appears to serve is to block the American public’s access to detainees’ artistic expression and stifle the public’s full participation in a national conversation about the US government’s policies in Guantanamo. Recognizing that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, most of whom remain held without charge, possess human imagination may inspire an uncomfortable empathy, but Americans have a right to fully examine their government’s policies and their effects. The American public now and in the future deserves access to such documents.

NCAC and the undersigned organizations fully support the curators at John Jay College and are intervening directly with the Pentagon and Department of Defense. This baseless policy change uses art as a political football in an effort to prevent these works—and a deeper understanding of those who created them—from informing public discussion of the policies the US government makes in its citizens’ names. We condemn this attempt to obstruct the American public discourse essential to a democratic and open society.

Co-signed by:

National Coalition Against Censorship

Aica International

Association of University Presses

College Art Association

Defending Rights & Dissent

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Freemuse

Free Speech Coalition

Harvard Islamic Society’s Anti-Islamophobia Network

Media Freedom Foundation

PEN America

Project Censored

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

Woodhull Foundation

Add your name to curator Erin Thompson’s petition to stop the destruction of art at Guantanamo.