[caveat]Dear Mr NSA, I am merely hypothesizing here, and nothing I say in this thread should be construed to mean that I would support such illegal activity.[/caveat]
MaduroBU wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 6:50 pm
I would also add that having "consequences" of a legal nature for what you say is NOT free speech.
I strongly disagree; the goal of speech meriting protection by the law is to produce consequences. No law is needed to protect conversation about the color of the sky or what the weather looks like. Controversial speech does require such protections, but that takes the form of prohibiting prior restraint. The government cannot legally prevent you from saying or disseminating your thoughts. Private individuals are more than welcome to refuse to help you amplify your thoughts, a distinction which has new import now that public discourse is online (and thus, due to atrocious planning at all levels of government, private). None of that changes how consequences of speech, legal, illegal, desirable, undesirable, intended and unintended play out.
The standard for prosecution for holding or sharing thoughts, even thoughts which are intensely and widely unpopular, is EXTREMELY high. It's legal to be a racist, a nazi, a communist, or whatever so long as one does not actively incite people to illegal action. Other people may respond very negatively to your public beliefs, but the government cannot prevent you from sharing them or prosecute you for doing so. The fact that one holds such beliefs could legally be used in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. If a black family has a cross burned in their yard, locals who are known to publicly espouse racist views are going to merit increased suspicion and, if other evidence suggests involvement, inadvertently aid in their own prosecution. If three white guys run down a black guy and then kill him based upon essentially no evidence of wrongdoing, their prior admissions of gross racial bias are absolutely germane to the prosecution. That's not suppression of free speech.
MaduroBU, it occurs to me that your standard here actually
potentially threatens to crossover into unconstitutional suppression of free speech. Maybe not. Here is a speculative example of what I mean, and maybe you could address it to parse your previous statement......
On Twitter—a cesspool for which I confess an affinity—I have seen call after call by plainly crackpot individuals for Trump's removal from office BEFORE 01/20/2021, without any
specifically stated limitation on means, for the "crime" of refusing to concede the election until all the cases of voting fraud currently under investigation have been investigated and adjudicated. Suppose, hypothetically, that an unsuccessful attempted assassination of Trump occurs between now and then, and the investigation into it reveals that, prior to the attempted assassination, some of the suspected conspirators had posted their belief on Twitter that Trump should be "removed from office" prior to the inauguration.
Barring any other evidence, should those tweets be enough to deny them bail?
From a
personal perspective, I have publicly stated that Biden will never be
my president. He may become THE president, but everything that he stands for is so diametrically opposed to anything that
I stand for, that on his very best day, he can never represent ANY of my interests, and will never defend them against those who would trample them. He is nothing more than a symbol of a dying republic. I have publicly stated that he deserves nothing less than the
exact same levels of respect and cooperation that his supporters gave Trump for the past 4 years. I have publicly stated that I will resist him in every way that I can lawfully do so as an individual, and I have repeatedly (and deliberately ironically) used the #resist hashtag in online posts stating my opposition to a possible Biden administration. If, once he has been inaugurated, some feckless boneheads unknown to me attempt to kill him, do my words constitutionally justify rounding me up as well and denying me bail? What if it turns out that I “follow” one of them on Twitter? I don’t advocate for murder and would never be party to such a conspiracy, but the main reason I pray for Biden's good health is Kamala Harris.....who may in fact be a greater threat to Biden than
anyone who voted Republican.....and I have stated those sentiments publicly.
Please tell me that I am hyperventilating here, and reading into your words something that you did not mean.
I haven’t been a member of the GOP since 2012, but I praise Jesus that Trump gave us three good SCOTUS justices, who will hopefully stand as a bulwark against a tyrannical presidency......from ANY party.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT