China, where lawyers are martyred…

China, where lawyers are martyred:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/04/chinese-lawyer-who-exposed-baby-milk-scandal-jailed-for-subversion

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pu-zhiqiang-human-rights-lawyer-china-1.3365674

http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2016/02/26/ontario-lawyers-urge-ottawa-to-raise-issue-of-jailed-chinese-colleagues-with-beijing/

Turkey, where a failed coup is being used to settle scores and silence dissent once and for all:   https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/03/free-speech-groups-condemn-turkeys-closure-of-29-publishers-after-failed-coup

and Russia, where the hand of the government is never quite seen in the bad things that seem to keep happening to Kremlin critics:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/23/violence-against-russias-web-dissidents-raises-fresh-fears-for-internet-freedoms

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/26/russia-passes-big-brother-anti-terror-laws

are modern reminders that not everyone thinks democracy is something to be cherished; and we can see that some of those who don’t value the very core of individual freedom, which must be the right to speak freely, to criticize one’s political leaders, are right here in the West, gearing up to take control of the most powerful country in the world:  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/30/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine-russia-putin-tie

As my daughter quoted to me last night:  “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”  Benjamin Franklin

‘Early Autumn,’ by Qian Xuan