Posts Tagged ‘free speech’

To imagine what hell the United States would be without the First Amendment we just need to examine the rest of the world

Posted: March 21, 2024 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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What completely boggles the mind is how rabidly the political left despises freedom of speech.  Sadly, the United States was the only nation who’s founding fathers sought to protect that most fundamental God-given Natural Right.  The genius of the First Amendment has been abundantly evident for over two centuries.  Unfortunately, no other nation sought to emulate it completely.  Tragically the Marxists who call themselves Democrats have been chipping away at the First Amendment for over a century.  Most tragically they have very nearly succeeded at completely obliterating it.

I encountered two articles this past week that lay bare just how appalling life here in the United States would be if the political left succeeded in erasing the First Amendment. 

As you can see this first article is from Scotland: ‘Target Comics’: Scotland’s New Hate Crime Law Makes Us Grateful for the First Amendment – Twitchy

Police officers in Scotland are being given training to target social media posts, including re-tweets, of material deemed “threatening and abusive.” Under the county’s new hate crime law, actors and comedians are not given a free pass to make jokes about sensitive subjects that offend people, either.

The new training provided to officers, which was leaked to The Herald, requires police officers to go after anyone who produces material deemed “threatening and abusive,” which can also be communicated through “public performance of a play.” 

Under the new hate crime law, people who make fun of or misgender trans people, make racial jokes or criticisms of certain religions, or criticize migrants can be prosecuted. 

In Scotland no one will dare to say or share anything that is remotely controversial or that contradicts progressive orthodoxy in any way.

The different ways in which a person may communicate material to another person are by: displaying, publishing or distributing the material, for example on a sign, on the internet through websites, blogs, podcasts, social media etc., either directly, or by forwarding or repeating material that originates from a third party, through printed media such as magazine publications or leaflets.” 

The hate crime law goes on to state that “giving, sending, showing, or playing the material to another person” listing examples such as “through online streaming, by email, playing a video, through public performance of a play.” 

So repeat a joke you heard online, or show someone a spicy meme or commentary of a transgender person or mass migration on your livestream, and, and you too will be arrested. 

Canada is now as hostile to freedom of speech as the old Soviet Union: Trudeau’s Canada: Law May Allow Life Imprisonment for Speech ‘Crimes’ (breitbart.com)

A proposed law in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Canada will reportedly allow judges to throw adults in jail for life if they advocate for genocide online.

The Biden regime has worked tirelessly to annihilate the First Amendment, going as far as to deputies social media companies.  The regime’s efforts are now being challenged in front of the Supreme Court.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is proving exactly why she was nominated by the Biden Regime and just how much she despises the First Amendment. Justice Jackson Tells GOP Officials: Your View of First Amendment Is ‘Hamstringing the Government’ (westernjournal.com)

“So not every situation in which the government engages in conduct that ultimately has some effect on free speech necessarily becomes a First Amendment violation, correct?” Jackson queried.

“My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods,” Jackson said.

Busting Some Freedom of Speech Myths

Posted: March 14, 2024 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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It is excruciatingly obvious that very few individuals living in the United States truly understand freedom of speech.  Those on the political left are not only clueless about this most fundamental right, they openly despise the very concept of it.  Thanks to our criminally atrocious educational system the younger generations are also clueless and also openly hostile to the concept of freedom of speech.  Unfortunately, those of us on the political right sometimes demonstrate a lack of understanding when it comes to freedom of speech.  It is now time to dispel the most common misconceptions about freedom of speech that I’ve encountered.

There is no hate speech exception to freedom of speech.

Someone asked me if I support the right of the KKK to hold rallies in public. My answer is: Even though I find the KKK absolutely reprehensible and I am completely disgusted by everything they stand for I support their right to say it in public. If I found out there was a KKK rally planned in my area I would work tirelessly to organize a PEACEFUL protest and I would make sure my protest would completely dwarf the KKK rally. That is the essence of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. No one has a right to silence others, no matter how much they disagree with what others have to say. No one has a right to prevent another person, or group, from holding an event, or to interfere with that event in any way. Everyone has a right to peacefully protest anytime they want.

Even the most reprehensible individuals have a right to say the most reprehensible things. 

Far too often those on the political left label speech that contradicts leftist orthodoxy as hate speech.  They then use the declaration of hate speech as a weapon to silence that speech they disagree with.

There is no misinformation exception to freedom of speech.

Each and every individual has a right to spread whatever lies they wish to spread, on whatever medium they wish to use.  Outright spreading of misinformation and disinformation is most definitely protected by freedom of speech. 

Labeling speech that contradicts the progressive narrative as misinformation, and then censoring that speech is a favorite tactic of the Marxists who masquerade as Democrats.

The First Amendment specifically prohibits the federal government from policing speech.

Each and every attempt at regulating speech by the federal government is a direct violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.  That includes so called hate speech and misinformation.  The federal government has zero authority to define those concepts, and zero authority to classify speech according to those criteria.  The federal government has absolutely no authority to ban any speech at all.

Every state has a Bill of Rights that protects the rights of those living there from the tyranny of the state government and the local governments.  That includes freedom of speech.

The Bill of Rights does not grant rights.

All rights are granted to each and every individual directly by God.  The Bill of Rights is merely a restraining order that prohibits the federal government from infringing on, or regulating, our most fundamental rights in any way.  There is no such thing as a First Amendment Right, only God-given Natural Rights.

Governments most definitely do not grant rights.

The United States is now a full fledged Police State

Posted: September 28, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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Without a doubt the founding fathers of this great nation are now spinning in their graves.  They pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to create a Constitutional Republic where each and every individual was meant to be free.  What we have now is the exact polar opposite of the free society they hoped to create.  As you can see from this Patriot Project article, conditions here in the United States have deteriorated to the point where the people have finally noticed.

Almost three-quarters of Americans are worried that the United States is devolving into a tyrannical police state that conducts mass surveillance, ideological indoctrination, censorship and the partisan targeting of political opponents, according to a new poll.

The latest survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 72 percent of likely voters are concerned that America is becoming a police state, with 46 percent saying they’re “very concerned.” Only 23 percent say they are not concerned.

In another indication of the public’s growing distrust of the U.S. intelligence community, half the respondents strongly agree that “the FBI is a danger to the freedom and security of law-abiding Americans.”

I was most surprised by this poll for a couple reasons.  Most Americans still seemed to be asleep to the fact that their freedoms have been all but stripped away.  To get that high percentage of positive responses, a significant percentage of those on the left would have agreed.

That last point most surprised me because Democrats have an abysmal record when it comes to freedom.  Guess what? An alarming number of Democrats think YOU have too much freedom as an American – Louder With Crowder

47% of Democrats say speech should only be legal “under certain circumstances.”

52% of Democrats support the government censoring social media under the guise of “national security.”

34% of Democrats say Americans have TOO MUCH freedom,

75% of Democrats support government censoring what they define as “hate speech.”

Both political parties are responsible for the transformation of the United States into a police state, thanks to the war on terror.  This transformation has greatly accelerated under the Biden Regime, ‘Used for political speech …’ FOIA shows Biden’s DHS censoring Americans was ABSOLUTELY political – Twitchy

New documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests show that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that the agency could regulate speech related to “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine” as well as “irregular immigration.”

Those subjects stretch across much of the “space” used for political speech in the last few years.

So DHS asserted the authority to target viewpoints on racial justice, Ukraine, and other political subjects, including views based on fact but viewed as misleading in context.

It is most foolish to expect that the youth of America will fix this, Students’ Lack of Basic Knowledge of US History and Civics Remains a National Embarrassment | American Enterprise Institute – AEI

Only 13 percent, in one survey, knew when the US Constitution was ratified, for example. Most couldn’t say which countries the US fought in World War II; only one in four could even say why American colonists fought a war against Great Britain. Unsurprisingly, older Americans have the easiest time of it, with 74 percent answering at least six in 10 questions correctly. Among those under the age of 45, only one in five pass, which says a lot about the debased standards of common knowledge expected of students in US schools, whose founding purpose was to prepare ordinary people for self-government.

A well armed American citizenry is the only force that can roll back our police state, that is why Biden Pledges to ‘Centralize, Accelerate, and Intensify’ Gun Control Push (breitbart.com).

While announcing the launch of the executive Office of Gun Violence Prevention, President Joe Biden pledged to use the office to “centralize, accelerate, and intensify” his administration’s gun control push.

Biden noted that he has chosen Vice President Kamala Harris to oversee the office.

After Biden announced the launch of the new office on Friday, he then called for an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, and universal background checks. He also called for Congress to take action for more gun restrictions then he pledged to use the office to “centralize, accelerate, and intensify” his administration’s gun control push.

As Michigan’s “pronouns” bill advances, free speech is threatened

Posted: July 9, 2023 by John Ruberry in culture, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

“Most times you can’t hear ’em talk, other times you can
 All the same old clichés, is it woman, is it man?
 And you always seem outnumbered, so you don’t dare make a stand.”
 Bob Seger, “Turn the Page.” 

Those lyrics, from legendary Michigan rocker Bob Seger, may turn out to be prescient, because the Michigan House of Representatives, which has a Democrat majority, passed a bill in June that, among other things, will impose a hefty fine or imprisonment, if a person maliciously refuses to use another person’s preferred pronoun. 

The bill, HB 4474, expands on a Michigan law that covers religion, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Newsweek noted that Dylan Mulvaney, a man who claims to be woman, said in a video a while back about people like me who misgender him, “I feel like that should be illegal, I don’t know. That’s just bad journalism.”

No, it’s not. Mulaney, an internet influencer who has done to Bud Light what Eric Idle’s S. Frog character did to Monty Python’s fictional Conquistador Coffee, is wrong, as he is on so many things, What I wrote in the previous paragraph is good journalism because it’s the truth. Sorry, wokesters, but men who “transition” into women do not have ovaries, do not have menstrual periods, and do not undergo menopause. Women who do the opposite do not have testicles, a prostate gland, or Y chromosomes. I could go on, but I don’t have to.

Some people need to simply follow the science. 

Except, maybe soon in Michigan, if its Senate passes HB 4474 and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signs it into law, following the science and speaking out about it might get someone like me fined or worse. 

In her Senate confirmation hearing, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson could not–or in my opinion, would not–define what a woman is. But according to HealthyChildren.org, at around age two, toddlers know the difference between the two genders. Again, follow the science.

The headline of this blog post is colored red. How do I know? Because when I was at the age when I figured out what males and females are, my mother probably said something along these lines to me, “That color is red.” And that information was confirmed to me when I attended kindergarten.

Some things are that simple.

Well, it should be that simple. Transgendered people complain about being bullied. Well, bullying is wrong. I suppose Mulvaney considers it bullying when internet trolls visit his Instagram page and comments, “You’re a man.” Oh, a word for you trolls. Don’t you have anything better to do? Surely there is trash on a roadside near your home that needs to be collected.

On the flip side, in regard to gender, we are at a stage in America when someone says, “Dylan Mulvaney is a man” in mixed company–especially at work–it has to be spoken in whispered tones, sotto voce as the French say. 

Being labeled a transphobe–phobe, by the way means irrational fear–can get many people in trouble on the job. Or maybe soon in Michigan, getting fined or being imprisoned. And it’s not an irrational fear to lose out on a promotion or getting fired for being deemed a transphobe.

I call that bullying. 

As regular readers know, my wife was born in the Soviet Union, in Latvia. At school a number of decades ago, repeatedly, her teachers told her that Latvia, along with Estonia and Lithuania, voluntarily joined the USSR in 1940. Of course, that was a lie. Her parents knew it–and so did every adult in the Baltic States at that time. Yes, that includes the teachers. But my wife didn’t discover what really happened in 1940, beginning with learning of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, until she reached adulthood.

During my wife’s childhood, adults in the Soviet Union were afraid of the repercussions of telling the truth. So my wife’s parents never discussed the USSR seizing the Baltic States with her until Mikhael Gorbachev was the Soviet leader.

In the New York Sun, Dean Karayanis, reminded me that Soviet citizens faced prison if they were caught spilling coffee on a picture of Joseph Stalin. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the author of the Gulag Archipelago, spent eight years in the Gulags for criticizing Stalin in private letters, even though he took the precaution of using a codename for the dictator.

American society isn’t at that more frightening point yet. But Michigan just took a baby step in that direction. 

Or maybe we are there. Remember that Seger song? “And you always seem outnumbered, so you don’t dare make a stand.” Well, I’m making one. Is anyone else with me?

Fortunately, the new Michigan “pronouns” bill will almost certainly be challenged in court on First Amendment grounds. 

Which is another reason why I’m grateful for the 6-3 conservative majority on the US Supreme Court.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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