I previously wrote a column about the rising calls by Democratic leaders and activists for different forms of public and private censorship. Indeed, the recent extreme demands and controversy at the New York Times shows how speech controls have been a virtual article of faith for many. Twitter’s actions against Trump tweets are another example of the inconsistent use of such controls. Now GoFundMe has taken it upon itself to censor causes that it views as offensive in closing down a fundraiser by conservative political commentator Candace Owens in support of an Alabama cafe whose co-owner criticized the George Floyd protests. The question again is not whether we agree with such sentiments but the free speech implications of these forms of private censorship. Rather than respond to such controversial statements, critics today focus on silencing the speakers or barring their views or causes to be heard by others. What is interesting is that, by abandoning neutrality, GoFundMe is now affirming that it does regulate content and will face demands for more such action. That could undermine the position of these companies against the loss of immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Birmingham’s Parkside Cafe, whose co-owner Michael Dykes said Floyd was a “thug” and protesters were “idiots” in a text message to a co-worker that was posted online. The comments in my view were offensive and inflammatory but they are not my views. Dykes was expressing his personal view and the result is that he was given death threats and the cafe boycotted.
Owens, who is African American, shared the views of Dykes. She has also been criticized for statement like this one:
“The fact that he has been held up as a martyr sickens me. George Floyd was not a good person, I don’t care who wants to spin that. I don’t care how CNN wants to make you think he changed his life around, He was just after his sixth or fifth stint in prison.”
On Sunday, Owens disclosed that her campaign to support Dykes’ cafe was suspended by GoFundMe after the company found her fundraiser “to be in support of hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind.”
Candace Owens
✔@RealCandaceO
After raising $205,000 in a few hours @gofundme decided to halt my campaign for the Parkside Cafe in Alabama. At their discretion, they deemed that funds raised for a conservative business constitutes “intolerance”
They WILL however give the funds raised thus far to the cafe…
Owens ironically wrote on Twitter:
“Guess my message to little kids would be for them not to idolize men that: Get high on fentanyl, get high on meth, use counterfeit bills, shove guns into the stomaches of pregnant women while robbing them, go to prison 5 times. What a truly horrible message I carry.”
Candace Owens
✔@RealCandaceO
Guess my message to little kids would be for them not to idolize men that:
Get high on fentanyl
Get high on meth
Use counterfeit bills
Shove guns into the stomaches of pregnant women while robbing them
Go to prison 5 timesWhat a truly horrible message I carry. https://twitter.com/comediantmoney/status/1269664318833885185 …
Tarrell Wright
✔@ComedianTmoney
Replying to @RealCandaceOFuck 2016 what are you teaching little kids who have to listen to you bring up a dead man’s past. Are you teaching them to not care about people who have less them they do? Fuck 2016 fix your slip its showing. You should flip flop again because you look really bad.
Very much enjoying the goings on in the People’s Republic of CHAZ formerly Seattle. After initially being established by vandals from BLM and ANTIFA, the six-block area ceded by the Dims has now come under the protectorate of Warlord Raz Simone who, along with his gun toting thug posse, has declared himself to be the “police” with the power to stop and frisk suspicious folks he doesn’t like, collect street taxes, build border walls, practice misogyny and mete justice. He’s meted quite a bit of justice on BLM and ANTIFA members with some well-timed beat downs. Yeah, that IS funny. His first major case is finding all the soy food stolen by the homeless that ANTIFA took in.
The revolution is eating its own and at breakneck speed. Here’s hoping Bidenesque Washington Gov. Inslee hears about the problem (he said it’s news to him with a dull chuckle) and that Trump delays sending in the Guard to reclaim the City at least a day or two after they set up the guillotine. History doesn’t repeat, it recycles.
In South Afrika whites were pushed off of their farms and the blacks that took over the farms just lived there. They did not work the farms, they just moved in and lived there. So where’s the food?
Same thing in Zimbabwe. Food basket of Africa before white farmers were murdered. Now they are dependent on white farmers in America and Europe for food aid.
Mespo– Make it a month after they set up the guillotine before order is restored. There are a lot of little Robespierres among them who would be less vicious without their heads.
Is there video of the thug beatdowns of the Antifa and BLM thugs? I would like to watch.
The progression of any revolution based on egalitarianism is consistent throughout history. From the french revolution to Venezuela it always fails in much the same way.
Take a look at Turley’s recent tweets- you can see it on the left hand side of the front page. He’s not mincing words regarding Judge Sullivan’s response to the superior court.
JT: “It would allow courts to become a self-contained and self-mandating system merging the roles of the prosecutor and the court.”
Seems obvious.
oops…meant right-hand side.
I would like to start a you fund me fund to sue you fund me for discrimination and conservative censoring. What a sh!tsite this has become.
Then why are you here? You do know that there are other blogs on the internet, right?
There will be no thought outside of the hive in the Great Leap Forward.
There won’t be any private property either and no need for the police.
This is the glorious golden man made utopia that has been in the works since the 1960s.
The Shangri-La is going up in the people’s republic of Seattle.
Everything is free and Starbucks is on the house…for now.
Germany in the early 1930’s.
China in the late 1960’s.
Free Squeeky!
mespo – do we even know Squeeky needs to be freed or is she just have Wordmess problems?
Paul:
She hasn’t posted since last night so I’m operating on the banning premise. Don’t know why as I’ve been busy and not on the blog as much.
mespo – hope it is a minor hand spanking, if at all. 🙂
I hear she’s not banned just WordPressed!
mespo – if she is wordpressed she is SOL. She will have to change her name.
What do we want? Squeeky!
When do we want her? NOW!
(Chant and repeat for 6 blocks)
Cindy– Squeeky NOW! Either Squeeky returns on ban BytheBook, Seth, Commit and the other trolls.
Young👍
Hi Everybody! I am using Penelope’s login to comment. She is back at her house and crashed. Thank you all for caring so much!!! I did as she suggested and emailed Prof. Turley, but I got no answer.
Sooo, who knows what my status is???
I will still check in every few days. In the meantime, I am keeping up my spirits and still giving you all “Likes”. If I could just figure out how to do them in Morse Code or something.
Anyway, please do not forget about me. And thank you all sooo much again! That means a lot to me. Plus, I really wanted to publish my 2.0 of the One Act Play I did the other night. I added some kewl stuff!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeks!!! So great to hear your “voice”! Can’t wait for the One Act Play!
Are you getting enough to eat? Here’ are some snacks: 🍕🍟🍿🍺!
Penelope/Squeeky – I would love to read your play. If you click on Honestlawyers icon, it has his email and he will send you mine. 😉 Keep up the spirits.
Judge Gleeson amicus curiae brief:on US vs Flynn
https://www.kaplanhecker.com/sites/default/files/U.S.%20v.%20Flynn%20amicus%20filing.pdf
Didn’t the supreme court quite recently rule that federal judges CAN NOT appoint amicus Currie ?
I guess sullivan did not read that opinion.
regardless, Gleeson goes off the rails at the start, this is not pretextual.
Further, such a claim is not likely in the purview of the court.
The primary reason rule 48(a) exists is to preclude the government from torturing a defendant by filing and withdrawing a complaint repeatedly.
DOJ is withdrawing with prejudice – which is the norm, and probably the only way they can.
Further Gleeson perjury is lunatic. I have never heard of anyone ever being charged with perjury for withdrawing a guilty plea.
There are people who have been exonerated for crimes they were proven not to have committed who have plead guilty and no sane court or prosecutor would seek such a charge.
Further to find Flynn in contempt, Sullivan would have to find he was innocent of the charges – which would end the prosecution.
Further, Sullivan remains confused about this – but he is not the prosecutor, nor is gleeson.
He can not charge Flynn, he can not prosecute Flynn,
He can not compel DOJ to prosecute Flynn,
He is already on the wrong side appointing Gleeson, as Gleeson is not an Amicus Curie – which Sulivan has not authority to appoint, he is essentialy a special counsel – which Sulivan has no authority to appoint.
Sullivan had a very narrow time window from the point Flynn withdrew his plea until DOJ withdrew the case, that he could have accepted Flynn’s withdraw.
Sullivan is now in trouble on multiple fronts.
We are likely to hear from the Appeals court shortly.
It would be unusual for them to Grant Mandeamus, But this is very unusual.
Sullivan is on the wrong side of recent supreme court decisions. on the wrong side of centuries of law.
He has serious problems because his own remarks likely require his recusal – he has accuse Flynn of Treason – which is legally impossible, and not infront of the court.
Sulivan had an easy way out of this – accept the withdrawl.
Now his is burning whatever reputation he ever had.
John Say – if Gleeson wants to feel Flynn has been punished, surely Flynn has lost a boatload of funds defending himself. That is punishment enough.
Flynn has a defense fund which I suspect is doing quite well.
Contra the left the longer this continues the better for Trump and the right.
The more batshit crazy stuff from Gleeson, Sulivan, …
Irdinarily i would not bet on releif from the court of appeals – but theis is an embarrassment for the courts.
Anyone who thinks Flynn is ultimately going to be convicted of anything in the long run is nuts.
Personally I would prefer to see a trial. Powell demands for discover get far more teeth then, and she will have fun putting the Obama DOJ, Mueller and Co, and FBI on trial.
And i would like to watch. Further Durham must act reasonably quickly, it is frowned on to act on politically charged cases too close to the election. Like indicting Weinberg 5 days before the election on nonsense that got quickly tossed.
But Powell could run the Flynn case through the election.
But sadly that is not happening.
John Say – Atty Robert Barnes thinks Sullivan is dumber than a box of rocks which is why he keeps doing stupid stuff. He says that he is the kind of judge you do all you motions orally because the guy goes of the rails and you get the win on appeal.
John. you’re wrong on rule 48. This paper addresses the writing of the rule in the 1940s and the focus on guarding against corrupt prosecutors dismissing charges against connected defendants. Sound familiar?
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3599674
PS Gleeson argues against the contempt of court charge.
We have been through this before. I know that you – and Cleeson, and Sullivan are still trying to hang onto this Trump/Russia nonsense.
But this whole this was OVER, Mid Jan 2017. Everything after that was corrupt prosecution.
Ending a corrupt prosecution is not corrupt.
With respect to Flynn it was over Jan 4, 2017.
There is no “alright, our reasonable suspicion has died, and we must close the investigation, but we can make up a fake logan act claim and buy ourselves one more free shot to try to manufacture a crime”
That is corruption
John, you’re avoiding the discussion you started on Rule 48. I suggest you follow my link and learn something.
Your imagining my motives is irrelevant.
Your assessment of the case is the job that Sullivan has under Rule 48. Of course he should be allowed to fill his responsibility under “leave of the court”.
book, are you serious or just trolling over foregone conclusion? these are all petty details book. flynn will walk away from this. the case is abandoned and nothing sullivan can do will reverse that outcome. and he can’t tie it up for another 6 months, either.
now, if you are not trolling and sincerely believe that Sullivan is doing anything besides dragging his feet, then you have been misinformed and manipulated into pouring your energy into this black hole. surely we have something more consequential to discuss or do on a fine summer day?
Kurtz, I advocate the judge doing his job. Under Rule 48 the principle of “leave of the court” requires that and it was written specifically with cases like this one in mind: A connected defendant and a possibly corrupt prosecutor.
Have the hearing, let the judge do his job, everyone presents their position and let the chips fall where they may. What are you afraid of?
PS https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3599674
bad link
His job is simple
The case is over
Sullivan and Gleeson’s digression on Perjury notes the logical impossibility of this.
For Flynn to be guilty of perjury, he must be innocent of the alleged crime.
If Flynn is guilty of perjury, then he did not lie to the FBI and we have massive prosecutorial misconduct in bringing the charges in the first place.
Neither Sulivan nor Gleeson has a logical way out.
Your right – they should do their job, not the prosecutors.
Sullivan is actually trying thread the needle here, and JT has addressed that in another post.
Gleeson is arguing that:
Because Flynn has plead guilty
Sullivan can ignore DOJ’s withdraw of the case, and Flynn’s separate withdraw of his plea and sentence Flynn.
That in Sentencing Sullivan can consider Flynn’s decision to withdraw his guilty plea as perjury and enhance his sentence.
There are innumerable logic and law problems.
One of the huge one’s is that Flynn can only be guilty of perjury if he is innocent of the crime.
If Sullivan were to conclude Flynn was guilty of perjury, he would have to dismiss,
DOJ has not charged with Perjury and Sullivan can not hold Flynn in contempt for perjury without concluding he is innocent which ends the case and his jurisdiction.
That two federal judges are this logically inept is damning of our judiciary.
JT has already addressed Gleeson, quite well.
Frankly he was overly Kind, JT allowed for differencs of oppinion on some issues.
We are entitled to differences of oppinion. We are not entitled to different facts.
The FACT is that prior to interviewing Flynn there was no legitimate investigation.
That is fundimental and a matter of fact.
If you presume there is not something close to an objective basis for determining when an investigation can be started and when it must be ended, then you have a police state.
We just went through a nonsensical impeachment, over Trump asking for a clearly justified investigation.
You can not argue that Trump was not justified to ask for investigation of Ukraine but the FBI was justified in continuing a completely resolved investigation of Flynn,.
When have you made any argument that does not fundimentally devolve to I am right because I do not like you.
“John, you’re avoiding the discussion you started on Rule 48. I suggest you follow my link and learn something.”
Addressing something as the law provides is not “avoiding”
“Your assessment of the case is the job that Sullivan has under Rule 48”
Nope. Sullivan is the judge. His assessment is confined to the law.
And the law is clear. I was not aware as JT noted that Gleeson was already bitch slapped by the 2nd Circuit for precisely this nonsensical leaving his lane.
JT also pointed out as I missed that Gleeson also jumped lanes when claiming he could just factor the perjury, concurance with DOJ and separate motion to withdrawl into the sentence.
SCOTUS has been incredibly clear of late that all fact based sentencing enhancements have to be found at trial by a jury.
Separately while we all “know” that courts punish defendants for asserting their right to a trial, first they are not permitted to do so, and second they can not do so until after a trial.
You (and Gleeson, and Sullivan, and the left as a whole) are examples of why the rule of law requires the law as it is, and courts do not have the scope to make things up as they go. Often it is said the law must be understood narrowly, that is actually incorrect.
The law must be understood universally as broadly as possible with respect to individual rights and as narrowly as possible with respect to government powers.
There are myriads of reasons for this but one of the most critical, is that no one means is sustainable. Sullivan, Gleeson and you seek to expand the power of government, and narrow the rights of the individual.
We do not even need rule 48 to decide this – the rules of procedure are just decades of effort to conform with the logical dictates of the constitution.
Gleeson is advocating sentencing Flynn for a crime he has not been charged with and separate offenses that are merely asserting his legal rights.
To conform with the presumption of innocence and to protect the rights of defendants – including as you note against corruption.
A judge can unilaterally toss a criminal case, and there is rarely if ever grounds for appeal. Conversely the prosecution can toss a criminal case and so long as that case can not be refiled, there is rarely if ever grounds for appeal.
Even in cases of actual corruption – where jurors or judges or prosecutors are bribed,
We prosecute the bribery.
The instances in which a criminal defendent can have a decision of innocence reversed even for corruption are rare – if they exist at all.
Best way to quickly clarify the situation is for the DOJ to charge the judge and Gleeson, send in a heavily armed team to arrest them on Fox News. That’s how we roll these days, isn’t it?
Qualified immunity is in the news with respect to the police.
It also applies to prosecutors and judges.
Sullivan can be impeeched – like that is going to happen.
Gleeson is in a weird position. I am not sure whether he “exists” in the legal sense.
He could be Sullivan’s private attoney. But then he can not be an Amici.
As a practical matter he can not be an amici anyway. SCOTUS ruled on that.
And there are problems with him as Sullivan’s lawyer.
Sulivan is supposed to be impartial – cough, cough.
But Gleeson has written Op Ed’s on the case. He probably can not speak for Sullivan.
Sullivan has clerks – this is what they are for.
If Sullivan is unsure about the law and can not work this out with his clerks – he should resign. It is his job, to decide these things.
I am not sure he can consult outside parties, not lawyers, not amici, not other judges.
The only way I think Sullivan can consult an outside lawyer is if he thinks he committed a crime, or has some other liability personally.
Then he needs to remove himself.
BTB may not understand it – but this is the kind of mess you get when the courts start making things up.
Free Speech Issues In The News:
Trump Campaign Threatens To Sue CNN Over Poll Showing Biden Lead
President Trump’s reelection campaign is asking CNN for an apology and demanding a retraction of a poll this week that shows presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden with a sizable lead, claiming it was designed “to manufacture an anti-Trump narrative.”
CNN said Wednesday that it stands by the poll, which showed Trump trailing the former vice president, 41 percent to 55 percent, or by 14 points, among registered voters in a November matchup.
In a letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker, representatives of the Trump campaign questioned the methodology and timing of the poll, noting that it was largely conducted before better-than-expected unemployment numbers were released Friday.
“Media polls such as these are designed to manufacture an anti-Trump narrative and misinform and mislead actual voters,” the letter, dated Tuesday, said. “It’s a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President.”
While Trump has complained about polling dating back to the 2016 election, this is the first known time that he or his campaign have threatened legal action to suppress results.
The Trump campaign asked CNN to retract the poll “by publishing a full, fair, and conspicuous retraction, apology, and clarification to correct its misleading conclusions.” The letter also puts CNN “on notice” that it should preserve documents related to the production of the poll, which was conducted for the network by SSRS and released Monday.
“Trump Campaign Seeks Apology, Retraction Of CNN Polls Showing Biden Leading”
Today’s Washington Post
Seth,
I don’t like your hollyweird friends/Anti America crap or the Chinese Commie funded Wapo,NYT,etc, but I have to ask: What Trump Campaign???
Millions of others & I, Trump Supporters, are not seeing Trump Campaign.
If this continues a few more “Days” a dead guy could beat Trump & control the other 2 branches of govt.
IE: Chicom control of outfits like gofundme, gogle, etc….
Alex Jones & his Infowars platforms were banned by Google, apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc about 2 years ago, all on about the same day… Coordinated attacks to take him & us supporters out. Since then they’ve Banned thousands of others that hate Anti American Commie/Nazi types.
And Trump has known this for most of that time & the Idiot sits on his Azz & does nothing even as they are blocking him! Sec 230 Idiot, say it’s Pulled Tonight & see them Scream for mercy.
Did you see the massive Fraud in Georgia’s primaries this week.
Is it Trump or his advisers are so ph’in stupid they felled to realize that many of these primaries are more important then the general election.
And being blocked of our free speech to help support Trump he has in effect gagged us.
Trump had better wake the hell up in the next few days & come down like a sledge hammer if he wants it to be his govt elected in 145 days.
Jesus, just look at the total sh*t show in the FBI/DOJ/Fed Courts regarding Lt Gen Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort & even Clavin Bundy/Battle of Bunkervile with a Fed court decision in his favor with prejudice. While all those that took parts of the many coups against the US still walk free.
And Trump throws his hands up & does nothing, maybe a twit.
Last post typo correction: Failed isn’t spelled felled…..
Anyway, Looks like Trump’s team is starting to hear his pissed supporters as I heard 30 minutes ago Trump is coming to Tulsa Friday 19th.
Tulsa weather can be very rough, a few days ago the dew point was around 65 to 80 % @ 90 something degrees. Horrible
Today was very nice, mid 70’s most of the day & low dew point.
Late June, Tulsa, better chance of nice weather going far north & saving yourself from a heat stoke. Ask the PGA about Tulsa in June.
I may go.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/us/politics/trump-rally-tulsa-oklahoma.html
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/big-pharma-criminal-influence-research-exposed-secret-recording-lancet-and-nejm-editors
What is going on in Seattle?!?!
https://medium.com/@seattleblmanon3/the-demands-of-the-collective-black-voices-at-free-capitol-hill-to-the-government-of-seattle-ddaee51d3e47
THE DEMANDS OF THE COLLECTIVE BLACK VOICES AT FREE CAPITOL HILL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
FreeCapitolHill
In credit to the people who freed Capitol Hill, this list of demands is neither brief nor simplistic. This is no simple request to end police brutality. We demand that the City Council and the Mayor, whoever that may be, implement these policy changes for the cultural and historic advancement of the City of Seattle, and to ease the struggles of its people. This document is to represent the black voices who spoke in victory at the top of 12th & Pine after 9 days of peaceful protest while under constant nightly attack from the Seattle Police Department. These are words from that night, June 8th, 2020.
“Welcome to Free Capitol Hill” — Posted 06/08/2020
For ease of consideration, we’ve broken these demands into four categories: The Justice System, Health and Human Services, Economics, and Education.
Given the historical moment, we’ll begin with our demands pertaining to the Justice System.
The Seattle Police Department and attached court system are beyond reform. We do not request reform, we demand abolition. We demand that the Seattle Council and the Mayor defund and abolish the Seattle Police Department and the attached Criminal Justice Apparatus. This means 100% of funding, including existing pensions for Seattle Police. At an equal level of priority we also demand that the city disallow the operations of ICE in the city of Seattle.
In the transitionary period between now and the dismantlement of the Seattle Police Department, we demand that the use of armed force be banned entirely. No guns, no batons, no riot shields, no chemical weapons, especially against those exercising their First Amendment right as Americans to protest.
We demand an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and the abolition of youth jails. Get kids out of prison, get cops out of schools. We also demand that the new youth prison being built in Seattle currently be repurposed.
We demand that not the City government, nor the State government, but that the Federal government launch a full-scale investigation into past and current cases of police brutality in Seattle and Washington, as well as the re-opening of all closed cases reported to the Office of Police Accountability. In particular, we demand that cases particular to Seattle and Washington be reopened where no justice has been served, namely the cases of Iosia Faletogo, Damarius Butts, Isaiah Obet, Tommy Le, Shaun Fuhr, and Charleena Lyles.
We demand reparations for victims of police brutality, in a form to be determined.
We demand that the City of Seattle make the names of officers involved in police brutality a matter of public record. Anonymity should not even be a privilege in public service.
We demand a retrial of all People in Color currently serving a prison sentence for violent crime, by a jury of their peers in their community.
We demand decriminalization of the acts of protest, and amnesty for protestors generally, but specifically those involved in what has been termed “The George Floyd Rebellion” against the terrorist cell that previously occupied this area known as the Seattle Police Department. This includes the immediate release of all protestors currently being held in prison after the arrests made at 11th and Pine on Sunday night and early Saturday morning June 7th and 8th, and any other protesters arrested in the past two weeks of the uprising, the name Evan Hreha in particular comes to mind who filmed Seattle police macing a young girl and is now in jail.
We demand that the City of Seattle and the State Government release any prisoner currently serving time for a marijuana-related offense and expunge the related conviction.
We demand the City of Seattle and State Government release any prisoner currently serving time just for resisting arrest if there are no other related charges, and that those convictions should also be expunged.
We demand that prisoners currently serving time be given the full and unrestricted right to vote, and for Washington State to pass legislation specifically breaking from Federal law that prevents felons from being able to vote.
We demand an end to prosecutorial immunity for police officers in the time between now and the dissolution of the SPD and extant justice system.
We demand the abolition of imprisonment, generally speaking, but especially the abolition of both youth prisons and privately-owned, for-profit prisons.
We demand in replacement of the current criminal justice system the creation of restorative/transformative accountability programs as a replacement for imprisonment.
We demand autonomy be given to the people to create localized anti-crime systems.
We demand that the Seattle Police Department, between now and the time of its abolition in the near future, empty its “lost and found” and return property owned by denizens of the city.
We demand justice for those who have been sexually harassed or abused by the Seattle Police Department or prison guards in the state of Washington.
We demand that between now and the abolition of the SPD that each and every SPD officer turn on their body cameras, and that the body camera video of all Seattle police should be a matter of easily accessible public record.
We demand that the funding previously used for Seattle Police be redirected into: A) Socialized Health and Medicine for the City of Seattle. B) Free public housing, because housing is a right, not a privilege. C) Public education, to decrease the average class size in city schools and increase teacher salary. D) Naturalization services for immigrants to the United States living here undocumented. (We demand they be called “undocumented” because no person is illegal.) E) General community development. Parks, etc.
We also have economic demands that must be addressed.
We demand the de-gentrification of Seattle, starting with rent control.
We demand the restoration of city funding for arts and culture to re-establish the once-rich local cultural identity of Seattle.
We demand free college for the people of the state of Washington, due to the overwhelming effect that education has on economic success, and the correlated overwhelming impact of poverty on people of color, as a form of reparations for the treatment of Black people in this state and country.
We demand that between now and the abolition of the SPD that Seattle Police be prohibited from performing “homeless sweeps” that displace and disturb our homeless neighbors, and on equal footing we demand an end to all evictions.
We demand a decentralized election process to give the citizens of Seattle a greater ability to select candidates for public office such that we are not forced to choose at the poll between equally undesirable options. There are multiple systems and policies in place which make it impractical at best for working-class people to run for public office, all of which must go, starting with any fees associated with applying to run for public office.
Related to economic demands, we also have demands pertaining to what we would formally call “Health and Human Services.”
We demand the hospitals and care facilities of Seattle employ black doctors and nurses specifically to help care for black patients.
We demand the people of Seattle seek out and proudly support Black-owned businesses. Your money is our power and sustainability.
We demand that the city create an entirely separate system staffed by mental health experts to respond to 911 calls pertaining to mental health crises, and insist that all involved in such a program be put through thorough, rigorous training in conflict de-escalation.
Finally, let us now address our demands regarding the education system in the City of Seattle and State of Washington.
We demand that the history of Black and Native Americans be given a significantly greater focus in the Washington State education curriculum.
We demand that thorough anti-bias training become a legal requirement for all jobs in the education system, as well as in the medical profession and in mass media.
We demand the City of Seattle and State of Washington remove any and all monuments dedicated to historical figures of the Confederacy, whose treasonous attempts to build an America with slavery as a permanent fixture were an affront to the human race.
Transcribed by @irie_kenya and @AustinCHowe. Special thanks to Magik for starting and facilitating the discussion to create this list, to Omari Salisbury for the idea to break the list into categories, and as well a thanks to Kshama Sawant for being the only Seattle official to discuss with the people on Free Capitol Hill the night that it was liberated.
Although we have liberated Free Capitol Hill in the name of the people of Seattle, we must not forget that we stand on land already once stolen from the Duwamish People, the first people of Seattle, and whose brother, John T. Williams of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe up north was murdered by the Seattle Police Department 10 years ago.
Black Lives Matter — All day, Every day
Anonynous – I hear the homeless stole all their food. 🙂
Black lives matter only to you if killed by a white person or a cop otherwise you don’t give a d@@n. The great majority of black crime is black on black. And the overwhelming majority of interracial crime is black on white, around 85%. When you address these matter, I will take you seriously. Won’t hold my breath for that though.
And yes, black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter! That includes me and mine which I will protect at all costs.
antonio
The BLM group should begin their sojourn into reality (a long trip) by watching this Richard Pryor routine:
Who cares?
Egalitarian idelogies like postmodern progressivism all end the same.
That is why we care.
Now take it to Chicago and Baltimore where black lives don’t matter.
western mass media w hores itself out to the CCP
https://twitter.com/billbirtles/status/1270238820961677312?s=20
that’s the Economist, a British monthly I used to read a long time ago
I have about ten links like that but i thought i would just pick that one for now
I DO hope they are sued. Again and Again. And lose and lose and lose – because they are not neutral. By their own choice. I’m sure there are GoFundMe folk who have gotten money and then gone rioting.
I would hope that all rioters are arrested and part of the investigation is their social media.
The winners of the multi-million dollar suits should be able to take over the software and internet addresses of “GoFundMe” and rededicate themselves to neutrality.
Yes to Free Speech – especially the speech we disagree with.
It was NOT speech that killed George Floyd, nor any of the thousands of blacks murdered this year. It was actions. Illegal actions.
They can not be sued – that is the problem.
NYT can be sued, WaPo can be sued, Fox Can be sued.
But SM can not
And government created that, so that does make that an unconstitutional government action.
Yes, IMO the best plan is to view these giant companies as monopolies (really too big to have real competition) and break them all up into smaller competing pieces that will give free speech a chance.
The history of anti-trust and anti-monoply action by govenrment is abysmally bad.
Let the market fix it. It eventually will.
The key issue here is the DMCA, it has created a walled garden for SM that has resulted in ViewPoint discrimination. That is arguably an as applied violation of the first amendment.
ha ha oh boy,. the free market will fix everything. insanity.
liberterians are theoreticians and meanwhile power does what it always has.
uses whatever tools are at hand. they can be market based or if that doesnt suit them then they use govenrment., but they act and they act fiercely.
this liberterian schtick is a pipe dream
the internet itself was a government funded highway all in the first place. totally subsidized by taxpayers and built by defense geeks and the universities. and here we are talking about how markets are going to fix this government created good in the first place.
the very existence of the internet and all its technological marvels is one of the biggest “case in point” refutations of false liberterian pipe dreams about how socialism doenst work etc etc
let me explain something. socialism works for those in power. and they will use it on you. and you will then starve.
the only thing that can contain socialism from adversaries, is government action from your own side.
and yet liberterians presume to always cry socialism, make us question the obvious, make us all hesitate from using government power at the very moment it is precisely the tool which must be used and used decisively. as in war.
I can’t understand how i operated under these delusions myself when i was younger. john are you like 20 some years old or what? gosh, wake up
im going to be brutal here my Republican friends. In the end the question is not socialism but rather whose socialism?
theirs or ours.
The CCP has this figured out clearly and it’s not about some vaunted “freedom”
they use banks to allocate capital because it is more efficient than using bureaucrats
they use markets to set prices not bureaucrats because markets work better
this has only to do with growing the internal national economy and nothing to do with any western fancies of “Freedom”
they do it for power and only for power and if power requires them to do differently, then they will in a heartbeat.
there is only one basic thing that liberterians say which is true, and yet they always draw the wrong conclusion. here is the truth they say: every government is on some level, the most well organized and successful criminal gang.
the wrong conclusion is ‘restrict government”
the right conclusion is MAKE SURE YOUR GANG WINS
“liberterians are theoreticians and meanwhile power does what it always has.”
Where is enron ? BlockBuster, Polariod, Kodak, Toys R US, Pan Am, Borders, Pets.com
Comaq, even GM went bankrupt.
Only 71 of the 1955 Fortune 500 still exist.
Absolutely crony capitalism exists – but it would not with the limited government that both libertarains and conservatives claim they want.
That pipe dream imperfectly applied has resulted in the greatest rise in standard of living in human history.
“the internet itself was a government funded highway all in the first place.”
Built over private railroad tracks.
Regardless the indisputable fact is the govenrment creates NOTHING.
SOMETIMES, it pays for things, always wasterfully.
But it is very very hard to spend trillions of dollars and get absolutely nothing.
But no one sane argues that government gets $1 or value for each dollar its spends.
Economist Robert Barro – IDEAS RESPEC #4 ranked in the world. determined that on average government gets between .25 and .25 of value for every $1 it spends.
Not nothing, but not so hot.
“totally subsidized by taxpayers and built by defense geeks and the universities”
Actually by the MIT model RR club.
I would further note there were myriads of competitors for the early internet, absent government the internet would still exist.
“here we are talking about how markets are going to fix this government created good in the first place.”
And what part of the internet does the government provide today ?
“the very existence of the internet and all its technological marvels is one of the biggest “case in point” refutations of false liberterian pipe dreams about how socialism doenst work etc etc”
Right, Government spent lots of money, thereby destroying all private competions, and then abandoned the internet back to the market because they were incapable of dealing with it.
And that is your idea of proof that socialism works ?
“let me explain something. socialism works for those in power. and they will use it on you. and you will then starve.”
Completely agree.
“the only thing that can contain socialism from adversaries, is government action from your own side.”
And yet that is not how things worked. We did not invade the USSR.
It fell apart. Its standard of living was actually rising – and it had risen for its entire history.
But it was increasingly obvious to those inside the USSR that those in free countries standard of living rose faster – much faster.
Free markets beat the USSR, not government.
I will cede you but one point. Government, the military was a necescity to protect the markets from being overcome from outside military force.
Libertarians are not anarchists – even if idiots to the left and the right seem to think so.
Government has legitmate functions – those were Force is the only means to solve a problem.
We can not defend a country from foreign enemies without force.
We can not punish violent criminals without force.
Ultimately the cornerstone of the free market – voluntary agreement, sometimes requires force to compel delivery on whatever was freely agreed.
“and yet liberterians presume to always cry socialism”
Did I cry socialism ?
BTW libertarieans did the theoretical work that predicted – correctly the collapse of the USSR – it is called the economic calculation problem. It is why Socialism will always significantly underperform free markets.
But it is not limited to socialism – all other economic forms will under perform free markets for the same reason.
All big government under performs smaller government (to a limit), for the same reason – inefficiency. Nothing is more efficient than markets.
“make us question the obvious, make us all hesitate from using government power at the very moment it is precisely the tool which must be used and used decisively. as in war.”
I am not aware of a single libertarian that opposes the use of force against aggression.
That does not mean we are rushing off to shed our blood or anyone else’s in syrai, or Iraq or Libya.
The Taliban committed an act of war against the US. I know few libertarains who opposed removing the taliban from power.
We did that in 90 days. We stupidly let them get away.
More stupidly we decided to get into nation building.
You can not impose good government on a people. They must chose it themselves.
“I can’t understand how i operated under these delusions myself when i was younger. john are you like 20 some years old or what? gosh, wake up”
I am 62, I get more libertarian as I grow older, as i gain knowledge of the world as it is.
“The CCP has this figured out clearly and it’s not about some vaunted “freedom””
The standard of living in the CCP is about 1/5 that of the US. 95% of the people there – though 3000 times better of than under Mao are still poorer than the poorest american.
An illegal imigrant does better than the average chinese.
Further China’s rise in standard of living has slowed – posibly stopped – exactly as Ronald Coase predicted – because they could not move from economic freedom to political freedom, because they have become more totalitarian recently rather than less.
“they use markets to set prices not bureaucrats because markets work better”
That would be because they are FREE markets. if you remove the free from free markets – what you have left is socialism or indistinguishable from it.
And i know you keep pretending that this is all what kind of socialism we have.
But the failure of the USSR was not the failure of a particularly flavor. It was the failure of the concept. Even westenr socialism lite – such as the UK in the 70’s or Sweden in the early 80’s – FAILED. They are still trying to get out from the problems of those failures.
“internal national economy”
And there is only one way to do that. FREE Markets. \
Socialism DID NOT WORK – in any form.
Merchantilism did not work.
“nothing to do with any western fancies of “Freedom””
Not a fancy, and though originating in the west, it has succeeded everywhere it has been tried proportionate to the extent it has been tried.
ha ha oh boy,. the free market will fix everything. insanity.
liberterians are theoreticians and meanwhile power does what it always has.
uses whatever tools are at hand. they can be market based or if that doesnt suit them then they use govenrment., but they act and they act fiercely.
this liberterian schtick is a pipe dream
the internet itself was a government funded highway all in the first place. totally subsidized by taxpayers and built by defense geeks and the universities. and here we are talking about how markets are going to fix this government created good in the first place.
the very existence of the internet and all its technological marvels is one of the biggest “case in point” refutations of false liberterian pipe dreams about how socialism doenst work etc etc
let me explain something. socialism works for those in power. and they will use it on you. and you will then starve.
the only thing that can contain socialism from adversaries, is government action from your own side.
and yet liberterians presume to always cry socialism, make us question the obvious, make us all hesitate from using government power at the very moment it is precisely the tool which must be used and used decisively. as in war.
I can’t understand how i operated under these delusions myself when i was younger. john are you like 20 some years old or what? gosh, wake up
im going to be brutal here my Republican friends. In the end the question is not socialism but rather whose socialism?
theirs or ours.
The CCP has this figured out clearly and it’s not about some vaunted “freedom”
they use banks to allocate capital because it is more efficient than using bureaucrats
they use markets to set prices not bureaucrats because markets work better
this has only to do with growing the internal national economy and nothing to do with any western fancies of “Freedom”
“the right conclusion is MAKE SURE YOUR GANG WINS”
That does not even work very well for the few members of the gang.
Post Mao, the CCP leaders visited the west, and learned that the top of the GANG in the CCP was poor compared to ordinary people in the west.
The same was basically true in the USSR.
In some instances the Chavez’s and Castro’s have been capable of doing incredibly well
they still do so by impoversihing their people.
All forms of your “Our Gang” nonsense do the same.
I will agree with you that a quasi free market controlled by a GANG, out performs other forms of GANGS.
But ultimately greater freedom outperforms less, To levels far closer to anarchy than to what we have today (not that I am advocating anarchy).
Gates Bezos, Jobs, etc. Have all to small extent played your “gang game”.
but the Gang did not make them fabulously wealthy,
giving people what they wanted – free markets did. ‘
Payoffs to “the gang” were just inneficient but necescary means to that end.
But even more Gates, etc. Did not merely make themselves wealthy – they made the rest of us more wealthy than we would have been otherwise.
One of the critical and unique aspects of free markets is that nearly every single transaction makes us more wealthy than before.
When I give you $3 and you give me a hamburger – we are both better off.
I have something I value more than $3 – or I would not have volutarily given up that $3 and you have something you value more than the hamburger.
But this only works when the transactions are free.
It’s the same old story. The best solution is for competing companies to fill the void and for the government to wield it’s antitrust powers against the monopolies/oligopolies such as Google, Facebook, etc. GoFundMe is not a monopoly as far as I’m aware. When Patreon did the same thing people switched over to SubscribeStar.
Removing the special immunity that “platform” companies receive may be appropriate if they are actually acting as “editors” or “publishers,” but it’s not my preferred solution. I would rather have people wake up to the censorship on these platforms and thereby cause new companies to emerge to satisfy their demand. That’s the last thing Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. want.
The President should move onto Twitter’s closest competitor. That would send a shockwave through Silicon Valley.
I would agree complete.
I beleive there are strong legal and constitutional arguments,
But it is best to let the market resolve this.
Should Trump move ? Absolutely. The day after he wind reelection.
That is the right moment to “send shockwaves through the industry”.
In fact he should put out an executive order that no one in the federal govenrment can use services that engage in viewpoint discrimination terms different from those the first amendment requires government to conform to.
You want to send Shocks through the industry.
I like your idea.