Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

Portland Mayor Demands Feds Bar Conservative Group From Speaking

Ted Wheeler, mayor of Portland, Oregon, has joined a growing list of liberals curtailing free speech and seeking exceptions for speech that they deem to be hateful or offensive.  We saw recently Howard Dean espousing the false premise that there is a hate speech exception to the First Amendment.  We also saw politicians in California seeking to curtail anything that they deem to be “fake news.”  Now Wheeler is espousing the same anti-speech nonsense in seeking to ban a conservative demonstration by a group called Patriot Prayer.

I have no idea what the Patriot Prayer group is but I truly do not care. It is a citizen group seeking to hold a public event.

Wheeler wants the event canceled due to the double murder committed by white supremacist Jeremy Christian.  He asked the federal government to revoke the permit of the group based on what he said was the expected hateful content of their speech. In doing so, Wheeler combines an unconstitutional denial of speech based on content with an unconstitutional act of prior restraint.

When confronted by his breathtaking lack of knowledge of (or respect for) the first amendment, Wheeler insisted that the group could be denied a permit based on his view anything that they said would be hateful.

Organizer Joey Gibson denied any connection to Christian and said that the group previously expelled him.

 

Once again, the content of the speech is less important than their right to speak.  Wheeler is advocating the type of speech regulation that has destroyed free speech in Europe. His views on free speech are far more threatening than anything that this small group might say.  Indeed, it is discomforting that a major city would be headed by someone with this type of dismissive attitude toward the core defining right of free speech in the United States.

159 thoughts on “Portland Mayor Demands Feds Bar Conservative Group From Speaking”

  1. Pingback: This year’s string of brutal hate crimes is intrinsically connected to the rise of Trump. | NineTwoSix
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  3. Please do not insult Neanderthals. They were, after all, some of our very remote ancestors.

  5. Liberal fascism combined with no respect for individual Constitutional rights.

    They want to control speech, and they want the right to define what speech is OK and what is not.

  6. OMG!! The ACLU has arisen — or at least the reflexive ones after months and months of dead silence in the face of oppression of free speech on the Left Coast. How about this blurted-out statement (in the cited article) made by the Oregon chapter obviously before more Maoist heads of the organization could stop it:

    “The ACLU of Oregon has responded on Twitter, saying in part, “The government cannot revoke or deny a permit based on the viewpoint of the demonstrators. Period.”

    Damn anachronism!!

    1. mespo – oh, crap, someone got to the head of the ACLU in Oregon. They are actually following the Constitution. That is a new approach for them. 😉

        1. David Benson – I know exactly how the ACLU works, which is why I no longer contribute to them.

  7. I totally understand why the mayor wants to do this, even though it is a free speech problem. A disgusting thuggish white supremacist just murdered and injured three of his citizens who were defending two women from his verbal assaults. I’m sure the mayor is understandably concerned about public safety.

    I wish he would allow the protests to go on with lots of police presence. And encourage every decent person of Portland to NOT go to these rallies to counter, but rather to have a separate peaceful protest as a counterweight in another part of town. Let the vile, nasty, racist, violent white supremacists [seems to be mostly men] have their space. But we should do nothing to feed their primitive instincts. And create another rally that is motivated by love, kindness, decency and a determination to better our society. A certain type of man is deluded by the notion that being “manly” means being violent, large and in charge, a tough guy, and we must help them evolve to a better place than that.

    Every day, it is increasingly clear to me, a white woman, that the term white supremacist is a contradiction in terms.

    1. You said, “Every day, it is increasingly clear to me, a white woman, that the term white supremacist is a contradiction in terms.”

      Hmmm. Then I guess self-reflection has worked out well for you. . . 🙄

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

      1. Yes, I am very self reflective. I am speaking specifically of these white neanderthal types who are racist bigots. There is nothing whatsoever supreme about them.

        1. Oh. And how about the Neanderthal thuggish types of white people, both men and women, who do vile things like shut down Trump Rallies, or speeches by Ann Coulter, or Milo???

          Do you also consider them to be “white supremacists”??? Because if you think about it aren’t they the ones trying to forcefully and violently impose their personal wills on other people??? To impose their own personal moral code on other people, by force and by fiat if necessary? Because they think they are supreme, and better than other people, and therefore have the right to tell everybody else what thoughts are permissable???

          It looks to me like the Modern Left is the new KKK, just without the white sheets. The Modern Left is the new WCTU, only they are busting up conservative speeches instead of saloons. The Modern Left is the new Fascist Movement, subsuming every facet of life into their political agenda. Because they think they have the right, because they think they are better than everybody else, and in fact, SUPREME.

          Do you hate these people, too???

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

          1. You are a white supremacist. White supremacy oozes from nearly every word you write.

              1. You and Mike are such little snowflakes that you think anybody who says bad things about black people, even when they deserve to have bad things said about them, is a white supremacist

                And the fact that neither of you can treat black people the same way you treat white people, and hold to them to the same standards, makes you the real white supremacists, dispensing your dispensations to all the poor little black folks who just can’t help being irresponsible savages, while dissing the black conservatives who manage somehow to do stuff like get married, have kids in wedlock, and even become Republicans.

                You baizuos!

                Squeeky Fromm
                Girl Reporter

          2. “It looks to me like the Modern Left is the new KKK, just without the white sheets. ”

            But they wear masks and black uniforms.

    2. A disgusting thuggish white supremacist just murdered and injured three of his citizens who were defending two women from his verbal assaults.

      You don’t even realize that you’re contributing to more of this behavior happening by the language you use to describe the individual. This nation is rooted in the self-evident truth that everyone has equal and unalienable rights. This man violated the rights of others…period. Labeling him a white-supremacist adds no more weight to the heinous crime he committed. In fact what it does do is give other individuals with a similar disrespect for rights a motivation for retribution. We will always have differences in how we view the world, but if we cannot see we all have the same natural right to life, liberty and property, then we are only different from this individual by the degree with which we support abusing the rights of others.

      1. He spewed out hate rhetoric and deserves to be called on it. White supremacists are a disgraceful part of our nation, now and historically, We may never get rid of them but it would nice to figure out how to get them back in their basements where they belong. Or in this case with two life sentences in prison.

        1. He spewed out hate rhetoric and deserves to be called on it.

          Had he spewed nothing at all and just stabbed people to death, then what? We’ve become so polarized by what people spew that we lose all sensitivity to the rights that are violated.

            1. LOL! Olly and Desperate, the best tag team since Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher.

        2. You seem to have an interest in “disgraceful things” when white people do it. Are you similarly interested in disgraceful things when non-whites do it??? For example, the 72% black illegitimate birth rate, or the disproportionate amount of crime and violence committed by blacks?

          Because if you aren’t — if you are only interested in the bad behavior of one race, and ignore bad behavior by other races, then that kind of makes you a racist, doesn’t it???

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

        3. Liberals pour out hateful rhetoric every day. For example, Kathy Griffin. Will you call them out on it? Because if not, I will suspect that your outrage selectively runs in run direction only, from Left to Right.

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

        4. I’m not sure what the term “white supremacist” really means. If it means someone who judges anything based on race alone, that’s a “racist” and the pejorative term is not limited to any one particular race. If it means someone who takes pride in the accomplishments of — in this case — the Caucasian race, we used to call that “racial pride” which is again not limited any one particular race and was once thought of as laudable. If you mean a person who believes that one race is superior to another in some particular way, you have to define the context of the comparison. For example, it appears A-As, as a whole, may have superior current skills in athletic competitions like basketball whereas as Caucasians, as a whole, may have greater skills in ice hockey though there are plenty of counterexamples. In any event, the only time thoughts of superiority of one race over another matters is in the area of equal protection of law which the Constitution guarantees won’t happen if the issue comes before a judge. To my way of thinking, it’s really just a term to stop meaningful and honest conversation about important topics of the day by casting aspersions on the person with whom the speaker of the terms disagrees. To that extent, the term is less that worthless; it’s pernicious.

            1. A racist or White Supremacist is someone who disagrees with a major tenant of political correctness.

          2. It’s actually a straightforward term and crisply delineated when compared to ‘racism’, which is a bit of rhetorical gamesmanship. A ‘white supremacist’ is an advocate of the political order which prevailed in the Southern United States in 1925 +/- 40 odd years. Squeaky is not that. She just knows nothing of blacks beyond caricatures in her head.

            1. What you are think are merely caricatures, are sadly a significant portion of blacks today. I suggest you read Taleeb Starkes, The Uncivil War. He puts blacks at about 25% of blacks as upwardly mobile, 25% as feral savages, and 50% as people who have feral savage tendencies. He is black, and used to be in the 50%. The book is interesting.

              You don’t get to a 72% average black illegitimate birth rate with a few step n’ fetchit caricatures here and there. Or as in Minneapolis, an 82% illegitimate black birth rate. As I have said before, blacks as a group, are living down to every racist stereotype that ever existed. I live in Louisiana, and trust me, we have more than our fair share of blacks, and I don’t have to “imagine” anything. It is pretty apparent.

              Squeeky Fromm
              Girl Reporter

              1. Squeeky

                Whites are think otherwise are in denial, have had little exposure to blacks as a group or are lying.

                Not even the most deluded white liberal would send their kid to a majority black school or live in such a neighborhood. Don’t care how much virtue signaling they do.

                Btw – most of my clients are black and I work as hard for them as anyone else. Have no history or bar discipline, etc.

                I suggest you read the “Color or Crime” from the New Century Foundation. Contains a free pdf download for reference and is an excellent source of crime statistics.

                https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/

                1. Thanks for the link! My BFF has more than a few black clients, too. We work as hard for them as we do anyone else. It is very sad to see the horrible state of so many of their lives. The girls had kids too young, and too often. The boys are often worthless. No man or husband is around, so some crazy woman is the head of the household. To make it worse, the general educational achievement level is pathetic, and there is little chance that they will ever be able to obtain a job beyond the menial. Which low paying job, they will have to compete for against Mexicans, Central Americans, and poorer Asians. Most of whom have good attitudes, and good work ethics, which too many blacks lack. Because they have been taught that everything is some undefined white persons’ fault, and are thus full of unreasonable resentment. Sooo, guess who gets hired???

                  Its a frigging mess. But it all starts with the illegitimate kids. Democrats started that with the Great Society Programs, and while people say that the Liberals had “good intentions”, I really don’t think so. I think the Democratic leadership knew exactly what it was doing when it decided to buy black votes, and didn’t care how badly they screwed up black families. All they wanted was the votes, and the power.

                  Then, when the monetary cost became too great, and the TANF type programs were passed, it was too late and the cat was already out of the bag, so to speak. Now, it is going to take more than just playing with the monetary incentives to stop the problem.

                  Squeeky Fromm
                  Girl Reporter

                  1. Squeeky, I believe you are correct that the Dems knew what they were doing. I have heard that LBJ boasted to his aides when he signed the Great Society bills that they would have the (*black*) vote for the next 50 years .

                  2. Poor white folks are the ones that are falling behind now. Opiate addiction is the cause.

                    1. Kewl! Now we can end all those affirmative action programs for blacks, and transfer them to whites! Glad you’re now with all us White Nationalists on this!

                      Squeeky Fromm
                      Girl Reporter

        5. I posted link above. He attacked HRC for NOT, I repeat NOT supporting Honduran refugee immigration to the USA.

          Please, pretty, pretty please, ‘splain to Ricky: what is consistent about “white supremacy” and promoting Honduran immigration? Are Hondurans “white?” Can you find it on a globe of the earth? Do you know what is the primary language in Honduras? HINT: it’s not English.

      2. Olly – I have found your comments over time about individual rights to be very thought provoking, and my own opinions have clarified because of you. Thank you.

        I have formed the opinion that individual rights are critical to maintaining a just society. There is much evil that can be done to individuals “for the greater good,” especially when the government may define “good.” (Nazi Germany, eugenics, Venezuela, the CA gas tax, etc.) If we all have robust individual rights, then we may not infringe upon others’ rights and they may not infringe upon ours. Employers could not expose employees to asbestos because that was infringing upon their rights, and employees could not abuse employers. You can associate with whomever you please, speak your mind, and read whatever strikes your fancy. My own beliefs now lean more towards classic Liberalism with its emphasis on individual liberty.

        It seems to be the most intrinsically fair system.

        I do not think that modern youth have an appreciation for our Constitution because they do not understand what a miracle it was when it was born. Imagine, in a world of kings and emperors, where the lowest of the low had the right to criticize the highest. Where everyone had the right and opportunity to change their station in life. No one was permanently born to any caste or class. Where you started did not tie you to where you ended. If you erode individual liberty, you return to the time of despots and dystopia.

        The right to criticize our government, and each other, and to speak without fear is one of the most basic human rights imaginable. It is a right that billions of people long for around the globe – those living under dictators, tyrants, and gender inequality. May we never fling our hard won freedoms away.

        1. That means a lot to me Karen. Thank you! And your post is absolutely spot on.

          My observation when following this blog is I can tell by the tone of the posts who truly understands and believes in natural rights. I also believe that barring some mental incapacity, everyone feels when natural rights are violated; more of an internal right from wrong compass. Culturally we used to live by moral absolutes that tempered the extremes of abuse we see today. Historically, through trial and error, we tend to get our laws to be just. What I see happening today is we are raising a generation of people that have neither the knowledge of what rights are, nor the moral compass to give them direction. They instead rely on the direction from others, including government, media, celebrities and their peers. In this regard, Kant’s <What is Enlightment? is very instructive:

          Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large part of mankind gladly remain minors all their lives, long after nature has freed them from external guidance. They are the reasons why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as guardians. It is so comfortable to be a minor. If I have a book that thinks for me, a pastor who acts as my conscience, a physician who prescribes my diet, and so on–then I have no need to exert myself. I have no need to think, if only I can pay; others will take care of that disagreeable business for me.

          The one question that I have yet to get an answer to is why would anyone argue against the existence of natural rights?

    3. “…A disgusting thuggish white supremacist just murdered and injured three of his citizens who were defending two women from his verbal assaults. I’m sure the mayor is understandably concerned about public safety…”

      https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/05/30/tucker-carlson-says-its-unfair-call-portland-attacker-white-supremacist/216710

      Media Matters’ purpose is to correct false media reports. MM’s omission of any correction therefor confirms that MM believes the below report is accurate. What “white supremacist” promotes Honduran refugee immigration? I suggest you check your sources before passing along such false, inflammatory reports.

      “…The accused killer was not a Trump voter, he actually backed Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 race and indeed called for violent attacks on Trump supporters during the election. A video from the day before the stabbing shows him denouncing not just Muslims, but also, Jews and Christians. And in a Facebook posting from last June, he attacked Hillary Clinton for allegedly keeping Honduran refugees out of this country. Hardly the behavior of a coherent white supremacist…”

      As Tucker said elsewhere in yesterday’s show: Mayors like Portland’s have two choices. Provide police security so unwelcome opinions can be aired publicly, or banish First Amendment rights. The latter is easier, costs less, and is more politically acceptable, hence it’s their first choice.

      1. It’s likely most descriptive to call him a deranged ex-convict. Also, he once shot in the head by police-which probably caused some brain damage. So he’s a member of *two* disadvantaged communities.

    4. “A disgusting thuggish ()….”, she said.
      I can’t help but think of the song lyrics ” nobody is right if everybody is wrong”.
      Yes. Thuggish and disgusting. Two murders, and a third severely injured.
      I read the Associated Press story of the attacker. His black female friend saying “He never showed any disrespect to me” and “Prison changed him” The AP story said he was thrown in prison in early 200(4?) for convenience store misbehavior while armed. He got sent back two times more for weapons violations as a felon.
      He got pushed out/yelled out of at least two rallies by Trump sympathizers, its been shown with videos on YouTube. (End part 1)

    5. One has nothing to do with the other. The Mayor is obviously not Constitutionally savvy. When we start arresting and refusing pre-event, It will be time for Tom Cruise and the thought police.

      If we keep electing these types of officials we will find ourselves a suburb of Europe.

      1. You don’t have to be ‘constitutionally savvy’. You just have to realize that you’re not the high school principal and irritated local gun dealers and mechanics are not your charges. That’s something that this supercilious twerp cannot manage, even though it’s not that difficult.

    1. Squeeky – thanks for the clip. However the disrobing was disturbing. I had to wash my eyes.

  9. In other fun news, Rachel Dolezal gets the boot from a Baltimore Book Festival!

    BALTIMORE (AP) — Organizers of the Baltimore Book Festival have disinvited Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who led others to believe she was black.

    The decision Tuesday by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts came days after defending its choice to have her there. Dolezal recently published a memoir, “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.”

    Dolezal, the former head of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP, could not be immediately reached for comment.

    Last week, the Baltimore office had justified its decision to invite Dolezal, saying the festival seeks to expand understanding of people and thinking that may be different.

    But the office said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that after hearing opinions from its constituents, it had to consider how Dolezal’s appearance would affect the audience and the other authors.

    “A top priority of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts is to listen to our constituents,” communications director Tracy Baskerville said in a statement.

    https://apnews.com/44f0c6da6692457eacd814e8b7ce218f/Baltimore-Book-Festival-boots-Rachel-Dolezal-after-backlash?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=APSouthRegion

    My GUESS is, that a lot of black women don’t appreciate her not having to wear hair weave. . .

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    2. “A top priority of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts is to listen to our constituents,”

      Listen? More likely appease. They might as well turn the festival into a good old fashioned book burning.

    3. Dolezal is a deranged kook. I have no interest at all in reading her stupid book rationalizing why she pretends to be black. But she has every right to speak and to promote her book. People who don’t want to hear her are not obligated to attend.

      It is grotesque that what sounds like a government agency is succumbing to the tyranny of the mob to disinvite her and deny her right to speak. Government can not be permitted to tell us who can speak and who can’t.

      I hope she sues.

      1. Hey, this is Baltimore where the family of a dead druggie (Freddie Gray) get six million dollars just because. Like Olly said, I think “appease” is Baltimore’s middle name.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

      2. She came from an eccentric evangelical family who lived out in the countryside, made a living from home enterprise, and adopted children from abroad.. Her older brother is a college teacher and has actually written a memoir about his personal dissatisfactions. It’s a reasonable wager the black act is a weird species of social climbing by someone who was ashamed of her upbringing.

      1. Squeeky – I am offended that Rachel parents keep claiming she is white. 😉

        1. They are just old people, who do not know that us young people can be whoever or whatever we think we are! I think I am The Queen of France, sooo I would appreciate it if people here would start referring to me, as:

          Sa Majesté la reine*

          Squeeky Fromm
          Sa Majesté la reine

          * This is French for the “Queen of the Rain”, or something like that. I guess that is because the King of France was known as “the Sun King?, and the Queen needed to offset that to cover all the weather bases???

          1. Squeeky – I think only Louis XIV was the Sun King. The rest were well-paid village idiots.

    5. Sooo……let’s see………….you are the smartest, coolest, most awesome person in the world if you were born an XY chromosome, but you now perceive and present yourself as an XX, and ditto, vice verse.

      But whoa to you who have too little African DNA and yet you wrongfully, offensively, and illegally perceive and present yourself as being of the African “race.”

      When Michael Jackson died, was he white or black?

  10. Somehow, I bet people like the Democratic Mayor of Portland, would not find Kathy Griffin’s decapitation of Trump reenactment to be either hate speech, or offensive speech. Were some Black Lives Matter idiot railing against White People, I bet that would also be well beneath Wheeler’s radar.

    Ted Wheeler is simply a modern day Nazi. If you support the Democratic Party or vote for Democrats, then you are supporting that Nazi mentality. No matter what you may call it, or how you seek to justify it, you are simply supporting Nazis.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

      1. No. That is just the reality of the situation. Don’t you think political parties study the tactics and strategies of other political parties?

        And shutting down free speech in order to control a narrative, is right out of Nazi Germany. Are you telling me that you don’t find the many instances of Democrats trying to shut down political rallies, and opposition speeches a bit weird, in America???

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

          1. Once again, you fail to answer the question. That is pretty common with you. You call names, and then scurry away when called on it. Exactly when did you lose the capacity for thought???

            Squeeky Fromm
            Girl Reporter

  11. Libtard has always been a mental disorder. It is in no way a political belief system.
    It is more like a religious cult than anything else….

    As far as free speech goes, there is very little that is worth saying or protecting that
    would not be considered “hate speech” by someone.

  12. One thing the thread reveals is that vociferous partisan Democrats cannot cope with political disputation, and think the opposition is doing something nefarious by … organizing and propagating their viewpoint.

  13. The Democratic Party is made up of people who have the mentality of judges and school administrators, who expect to be deferred to and tell the ‘disruptive’ to shut up as a matter of course in their daily work life. That’s supplemented with the mentality manifested by corporate types like Wheeler (Stanford ’85), for whom ordinary wage-earners are just pairs of hands (from whom they expect deference).

    1. Stay in your red space and leave Portland alone. We like clean air, clean water, outdoor exercise and healthy food here. Your polluter president likes chemical laced nasty food. and has to use a golf cart to move his obese body around.

      1. Healthy food? Not if they happen to be fresh burritos made by two white women.

        Portland is a joke. The poorest red state is preferable to Portland.

      2. My suggestion is that if you cannot cope with public debate, you decamp to China or Singapore where there’s less of it. This is a country founded by farmers (with a smattering of tradesmen and professionals) who built local deliberative institutions to manage their common affairs. It was not founded by warlords or apparatchiks for whom people are inputs.

      3. No one rode a golf cart the last 8 years more than Jesus Obama.

        1. In the first few months, Trump is way ahead on golf outings. I expect he’ll out golf Obama by far when he is done.

      4. Petaluma, CA is and has been exclusively blue, in an almost exclusively blue Sonoma County, in an almost exclusively blue CA State. Petaluma River is one of most polluted POS rivers on the face of the earth.

        Did you learn your debate skills working for the PRC red Army? Attacking someone’s physical traits proves you lost the argument, BTW. Also, Miss Manners says one never comments about what someone else puts in their mouth.

        Maybe you’re a new immigrant, I don’t know. In the USA free travel is (so far) allowed.

        Oregon was founded as a white state only, and banned Catholicism till the Feds intervened. IIRC the law barring blacks was not changed officially till 1922. You must feel very welcome among your narrow minded neighbors. I bet you’re big into “diversity,” as long as everyone thinks like you, right?

        Trump is POTUS, not President of Jin Wang or any other particular person. But don’t let that stop you from proving your ignorance of the law.

      5. Gee, I guess you missed all the videos of Obama in his golf cart. Aside.from that, Professor Turley failed.to inform the reader that Christian was a self proclaimed Bernie Sanders and Jill.Stein supporter. He was an “anyone.but Trump” guy. I still applaud your right to say and wrote your own version of the facts; fake news.

      6. Don’t you think that you can have both clean air and constitutional rights? I don’t believe they contradict each other. But if I have to choose, I’ll take my rights any day.

    1. Drifter, Canada is simply Europe w/o the good food, art, or architecture. Poutine..’nuff said.

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