Columns, Free Speech, Media, Politics

Walzing Around Free Speech: How A Walz Interview Became a Dizzying Dance of Distraction

Below is my column in the New York Post on the recent interview of Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz defending his record on free speech. The interview with Fox host Shannon Bream only magnified concerns over what I previously described as the most anti-free speech ticket in centuries.

Here is the column:

Roughly five centuries ago, a new dance first reported in Augsburg, Germany was promptly dubbed the “waltz” after the German term for “to roll or revolve.”

Today, there is no more nimble performer of that dizzying dance than Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz.

Indeed, “Walzing” has become the Minnesota governor’s signature political two-step after his controversial statements on his allegedly socialist views, eliminating the electoral college and other topics.

On Sunday, Walz’s dance partner was Fox News host Shannon Bream, who seemed to be fighting vertigo as the candidate tried to deflect his shocking prior statements on free speech.

Bream asked Walz about his prior declaration that there is “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech”— a statement that runs counter to decades of Supreme Court decisions.

Walz notably did not deny or retract his statement. Instead, his interview ironically became itself a flagrant example of misinformation.

First of all, misinformation and hate speech are not exceptions to the First Amendment: Whether it is the cross burnings of infamous figures like KKK leader Clarence Brandenburg or the Nazis who marched in Skokie, Ill., hate speech is protected.

Yet both Harris and Walz are true believers in the righteousness of censorship for disinformation, misinformation and malinformation.

The Biden administration defines misinformation as “false, but not created or shared with the intention of causing harm” — meaning it would subject you to censorship even if you are not intending harm.

It defines malinformation as “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

So you can post “true facts,” but would still be subject to censorship if you are viewed as misleading others with your pesky truth-telling.

Furthermore, “book bans” are not equivalent to the Harris-Walz censorship policies.

After years of supporting censorship and blacklisting, Democrats are attempting to deflect questions by claiming that the GOP is the greater threat.

“We’re seeing censorship coming in the form of book bannings in different places,” Walz told Bream. “We’re seeing attempts in schools.”

First, a reality check: The Biden-Harris administration has helped fund and actively support the largest censorship system in our history, a system described by one federal court as “Orwellian.”

These are actual and unrelenting efforts to target individuals and groups for opposing views on subjects ranging from gender identity to climate change to COVID to election fraud.

While Walz and others rarely specifically reference the book bans in question, Florida is one state whose laws concern age limits on access to graphic or sexual material in schools.

School districts have always been given wide latitude in making such decisions on curriculum or library policies. Indeed, while rarely mentioned by the media, the left has demanded the banning or alteration of a number of classic books, including “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Of Mice and Men,” under diversity or equity rationales.

I have long opposed actual book bans perpetrated by both the left and the right. However, school districts have always made such access and curriculum decisions.

Finally, Walz and others often sell censorship by citing the dangers of child pornography or of threats made against individuals.

Walz on Sunday followed Hillary Clinton’s recent pro-censorship campaign as he employed such misdirection.

“The issue on this was the hate speech and the protected hate speech — speech that’s aimed at creating violence, speech that’s aimed at threats to individuals,” he claimed. “That’s what we’re talking about in this.”

First, he’d said there is no protected hate speech.

Second, the law already provides ample protections against threats toward individuals.

What’s most striking is that, after years of unapologetically embracing censorship (often under the Orwellian term “content moderation”), the left does not seem to want to discuss it in this election.

Democrats in Congress opposed every major effort to investigate the role of the Biden administration in the social-media censorship system it constructed. Many denied any such connection.

Elon Musk ended much of that debate with the release of the Twitter Files showing thousands of emails from the administration targeting individuals and groups with opposing views.

Now the public is being asked to vote for the most anti-free speech ticket in centuries — but neither Harris nor Walz want to talk about it in any detail.

The result may be the largest bait-and-switch in history.

Walz, Clinton and others also falsely claim they are simply trying to stop things like child pornography — which is already covered by existing criminal laws.

But what many on the left want is to regain what Clinton called their loss of “control” over what we are allowed to say or hear on social media.

Make no mistake about it: The “Walzing” of free speech is one dance you would be wise to decline.

Otherwise, do not be surprised if, when the music stops, you find yourself without both your partner and your free speech.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

 

250 thoughts on “Walzing Around Free Speech: How A Walz Interview Became a Dizzying Dance of Distraction”

  1. Daily I amazed and on occasion amused at that nonsense spewed from the mouths asinine fools who occupy the lefts tent. The home of Joy: all while damning the future by assaulting the Constitution, Laws, and the budgetary foundation of this great Nation: The United States of AMERICA!

    Being amused that an Educated person would think the past 3 plus years has been good. They support a candidate who has no practical skills in running an organization with a budget, negotiating foreign agreements (commerce/defense) and so much more, she is unqualified to be the President of the United States. To the ladies out there, do you really want a laughing clown to be the first female to ascend to the Presidency, “Madame President Kamala Harris” I think not?

    God help us ALL!!!

    1. George
      God is with the righteous but we’re going to have to fight for ourselves to save the Republic. No one is coming to help.

  2. When analyzing why some of the current governmental leadership and want-to-be’s, in a Nation with a 235 year old Constitution and Bill of Rights under which, to assume any office of National governmental authority one must first swear an oath of loyalty to, would suddenly leap forward with anti-American extremist views demanding a dissolution of the very framework that gave birth to, and guaranteed a Nation of freedom and liberty for all, one must learn to believe their lying eyes when the truth is otherwise propagandized, and which is often declared as misinformation or disinformation, in order to craft it to an authoritarian approved narrative providing cover for what is otherwise an unacceptable ideological agenda to the majority of the governed population who remain steadfastly loyal to the Founding Fathers doctrines and principles.

    It would appear that Bezmenov pretty much describes the current American polarized political landscape of pro-American and anti-American sentiments detailing just how it would all come to be, in 1985.

    “How Marxists Take Over (and What to Do About it)”
    Published on November 27, 2020
    Lee Harding

    https://fcpp.org/2020/11/27/how-marxists-take-over-and-what-to-do-about-it/

    -Excerpts-

    “The fall of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics did not end the threat of Communism. Yuri Bezmenov, an ex-KGB agent who defected from Russia to Canada in 1970, told us so more than 35 years ago.

    “MARXIST TACTICS FOR REVOLUTION”

    “Bezmenov said that Marxist overthrow begins by undermining the values of the targeted society. “Ideological subversion is the process, which is legitimate, overt, and open; you can see it with your own eyes. All you have to do, all American mass media has to do, is to unplug their bananas from their ears, open up their eyes, and they can see it. There is no mystery.”

    “SUBVERSION OF AMERICA WELL UNDERWAY”

    “Bezmenov said the demoralization stage was already “over-fulfilled” by the 1980s. “Most of it is done by Americans to Americans, thanks to [a] lack of moral standards,” he said. He had no hope for those educated in the increasingly Marxist universities of the West who were now in positions of power and influence across America. “You cannot change their mind, even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of behavior…. the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible.”

    “WHAT TO DO”

    “[E]ducate yourself, [and] understand what’s going on around you,” Bezmenov told Griffin. “You are not living at [a] time of peace. You are in a state of war and you have precious little time to save yourself… especially if you are talking about [the] young generation.”

    “Bezmenov believed a turnaround required “another twenty or fifteen years to educate a new generation of patriotically-minded and common sense people, who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.”

    “Second, Bezmenov urged U.S. citizens to “force” their government to “stop aiding Communism” and the “Soviet military-industrial complex.” This would mean “no credits, no technology, no money, no political or diplomatic recognition, and of course no such idiocy as grain deals to [the] USSR.” He also chastised “wealthy businessmen…selling the rope from which they will hang…if they keep on trading with the monster of the Soviet Communism.”

    (In as much as Bezmenov wrote this decades ago, one could strike out the USSR, and replace it with the CCP).

    “When Bezmenov wrote, “No Novosti is Good News” in 1985, he lamented that “more than 15 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America had been infiltrated, demoralized, destabilized, subverted and some—INVADED by military force and kept occupied”during his years in the “free” West. Either that generation was unaware of Bezmenov’s warnings or ignored them completely. Today’s generation can do better.”

    1. Yuri Bezmenov has decades ago utterly pegged the new woke society.

      Ideological subversion, placing the useful idiots in positions of power in academia the news, and all institutions of power.
      “the walk through the institutions” which we see is now nearly and utterly complete.
      Think about how the demoncrats prefer foreigners over Americans in everything, and how they have used them.
      For instance, Vindman, from Ukraine, sitting on the NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL and attacking Trump with many lies for the demoncrats fraudulent impeachment while their demoncrat Biden was and is the guilty one in the matter, along with most of his personal and extended family.

      Biden who has declared with Mayorkas sitting next to him grinning “an unrelenting stream of migration where the white european population is an absolute minority from now on and forever ! And this is a good thing ! ”
      (the video is widely available on the web)

      There are hundreds of public examples, and even more that are hidden – if you haven’t watched a half dozen Mike Benz hour long videos you are way behind the curve.

      Musk and Trump and the America First movement not to mention the Tea Party, the older and utterly hated John Birch Society, American Thinker, and dozens of others are a reaction to the Anti American disgusting Un Constitutional government security state and ngo’s plaguing the USA – the Stanford research project (censorship banning shadowbanning coordination with gov DOD MIC NSA biden admin) – CISA a big fat gov censorship spending spree agency, the attacks go on and on –

      We don’t know who made the cpb one app for the illegal aliens yet – it was out there with hundreds of thousands of illegals flown in from other nations secretly by the Biden administration before we knew anything about it or heard word one of it.

      I don’t think we fathom how far gone the USA already is. I’d bet my life there are dozens of more subversions we have never heard of.

    2. * Marx? No, it’s just common robbery, murder, theft, fraud etc. The poly sci being used is crime. Why? They have no ther resources because the moral foundation is an engraved criminality on one side and on the other the moral foundation of Hell.

      Both are dumpster fires

    3. * blah blah…it’s just crime. Crime that is being corralled in 15 minute cities. It’s the prison of the future. Clever.

  3. Could honestly and precisely say that Tim Walz personifies the Governor in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as the song SIDESTEP is performed.

    1. If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh!t. – W. C. Fields
      Hillary, Obama, Biden, Harris and Walz have made it an artform.
      Sadly, Democrats believe them, even on this website.

      Sadly, on this “Free Speech” website, I couldn’t quote W. C. Fields without having to use an apostrophe.

  4. The argument about private entities censoring posts on their platforms is a Red Herring. So if the Republicans get control they should demand censorship on the pages of The New York Times for an article they deem to be hate speech against a black member of the Republican Party. Twisted justification is twisted justification. If you break it down what Walz really means is whatever he considers to be hate speech should be banned. I’m sure he picked it up during one of his many trips to the country of his brothers in arms known as China. Mao is considered a god in China and Walz also wants to be lofted to that high position. Mind Worm?

  6. For myself, i am going to stop mincing words in every comment: we are dealing with a leftist, fascist, global regime not seen in the West since WWII, and the question is how do we turn the corner? They will not stop their ugliness and dirty tricks, not ever, and not for a second. When the rule of law is null and void, what do we do? And how can any liberal minded person support this in good conscience if they aren’t wholly asleep?

    1. James,
      No need to mince words. I try to be direct as I can.
      Turn the corner? Good question. Thing is, I dont think we can do it with the baggage that is the current Democrat party. We need to ditch them and go our own way. For the most part, studies show we are already doing that to a degree as people move to areas that favor their values. I say we encourage that.
      Rule of law null and void? That is a very scary thought.

      1. @Upstate

        Same here. though I am grateful for the Professor’s knowledge and acumen, and the same from the posters that are die hard legal folks: really. We are dealing with a regime that will stop at nothing to hold onto power, they don’t want the people to be empowered. This will not cease no matter how November goes. We are in a big, big, intractable place, and I would sure love it if we didn’t start shooting at each other. But ideologically, with the modern left pretty much fully embracing Marxism, I do not know hoe we do this. I’m guessing no one else does either, given our collective hesitation. Even if modern ‘liberals’ are too cowardly to admit it, they know their party is bunk. What they lack is courage.

        1. PS- pretty sure I posted a similar sentiment in 2020. Really: what will it take to make people wake up? New concentration camps or their equivalent? It’s madness.

      2. Upstate: “I try to be direct as I can.”
        Like when you go crying to ‘Darren’
        to get comments taken down?

  7. Low and behold. Bill Clinton agrees with Trump that Layken Riley will still be alive if her killer had been properly vetted at the border then he goes on to blame Trump when it was Biden Harris who were in charge of the border at the time. I guess it depends on what the meaning of is is. The man slashed her up just to torture her before he killed her. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/10/14/bill_clinton_laken_rileys_death_probably_wouldnt_have_happened_if_all_immigrants_were_vetted.html

    1. Stone the crows, ya left out the best part mate…

      But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole
      Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree,
      And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong,
      “Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?”

      1. Burl Ives
        My mother had that record an we would listen to over and over when kids.

  9. Honestly, Kamala Harris and the Democrats do have a record of developing an opportunity economy. Unfortunately the beneficiaries of that economy are illegal immigrants, criminal gangs, drub cartels, looters and state sponsors of terrorism. Law-abiding US citizens, not so much.

        1. OLLY,
          An interesting comparison between Harris supported opportunities and those of Renaissance People, We Are in Need of Renaissance People
          “We have created a society of professionals who are experts within their narrow specialties. Those are not the people who get great things done.”
          https://www.thefp.com/p/renaissance-people-ben-franklin-elon-musk
          My own wife has commented that I am a renaissance man.

      2. Upstate Farmer–If Trump hadn’t spewed the Big Lie, Ashli Babbit wouldn’t have died. Trump’s lying is directly responsible for her death. And–Kamala Harris is NOT responsible for the border.

  10. “ Bream asked Walz about his prior declaration that there is “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech”— a statement that runs counter to decades of Supreme Court decisions.”

    It’s not entirely true that misinformation and hate speech are guaranteed protection under the First Amendment. As usual, Turley and critics of Walz’s statement leave out half the story and context in which he made that statement. The First Amendment protects speech from being infringed by the government. It protects individuals from government retaliation and threats to silence criticism of government and make offensive and hateful speech. It does not protect speech from being infringed and censored by private entities. Since most political and social discourse now happens within the umbrella of social media run by private companies, hate speech can be censored or moderated and thus does not fall under First Amendment protections. Tim Walz states that “we should push back, that there is no guarantee to free speech on misinformation and hate speech,” which means that in the age of social media, it’s not guaranteed. This is when private companies can remove content, hate speech, and misinformation that violates their terms and conditions. Government officials can say they don’t like a particular speech or that specific speech should be moderated, and they can complain and suggest that private companies do more to deal with misinformation. They can absolutely do that, as SCOTUS stated in Murthy vs. Missouri.

    That does not mean the government can threaten to censor speech or punish those who do. There is a big difference between talking about it and acting on it. Ironically, the government is exercising its free speech right to discuss it without taking action. That is legal and entirely constitutional. No law says the government cannot object, suggest, warn, complain, or ask that certain private entities moderate or censor specific speech that can be harmful. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has done that with impunity regarding woke issues. Turley has remained dead silent on that, and it’s because he doesn’t see a problem with it even though Walz is doing the same thing, and SCOTUS has supported it.

    Turley cherry-picks his issues and narratives to keep his conservative readers in a constant state of ire about this alleged censorship machinery, which he claims exists only within the Democratic Party.

    1. georgie, who loves to talk about people taking things out of context, somehow ADDS facts and context to what Walz actually said. Nowhere, repeat nowhere, did Walz mention private entities. georgie is just looking to find a space to disagree with JT. as usual.

      “SHANNON BREAM: You’ve said there’s no guarantee of free speech for misinformation or hate speech. But first of all, the Supreme Court, was very clear in a unanimous 2017 decision that hate speech is protected, that’s the kind of stuff that needs to be protected stuff. None of us like to hear. But more importantly, who gets to decide on the issue of what misinformation is.
      GOV. TIM WALZ: Look, the First Amendment is foundational. It’s something I spent my whole life, the vice president and I think most Americans are clear on this.
      SHANNON BREAM: There’s a distinction you would say though, between something like a threat and misinformation, certainly.
      TIM WALZ: Certainly. And that’s what we’re talking about.”
      https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/10/13/fncs_shannon_bream_to_tim_walz_who_gets_to_decide_what_misinformation_is.html

      1. Anonymous, that still doesn’t contextualize what he was trying to say. She was focusing only on the statement and ignoring the overall context of what he was saying, just like Turley did in his column. We already know Turley likes to tell only half the story and focus on statements without diving into context and details. He’s not going to undermine his narrative by getting into the details. That’s the point. He wants to convey a dishonest narrative by leaving out context and the entirety of Walz’s conversation.

        1. You did not answer the question. WHERE did Walz say or even imply that he was talking about “private companies?”

        2. “. . . ignoring the overall context . . .”

          “Context” four times in one paragraph. That must be a new record.

          Here’s your Sophistical use of “context:”

          People respect context. So unbeknownst to them, I’ll contort its meaning to confuse the hell out of them.

          True to form, you are pathologically deceptive.

  11. This is pretty funny. One excerpt below, read the whole thing.

    Incredibly, their strategy to sway men to a feckless presidential candidate is to belittle them, call them misogynists and reduce them to Carhartt caricatures. It was like they saw the damage of JD Vance’s haunting “childless cat lady” comment from 2021 and said, hold my Bud Light.

    https://nypost.com/2024/10/15/opinion/kamala-has-a-man-problem-and-belittling-men-is-making-it-worse/

    1. Look who’s reprimanding them, Bathhouses Barry. The same guy that met up with his choom gang and by his own admission dealt a little weed and blow. Mind boggling that the left praised this POS as the Savior of all white continuing their onslaught of Trump as being a criminal and non-Presidential. All because he’s a big meanie and says nasty things about nasty people. Trump never has had a drink or smoked anything, the business of business is business, it’s not tax dollars. Comical watching Obama trying to relate to the folk. He’s panicking that all truths shall soon be revealed.

    2. Sorry, I can’t laugh as people die. I’m not used to murder ,yet. Maybe one day I’ll think murder is fun.

      Just can’t.

  13. Turley works for a corporation that lost a lawsuit in a court because they got caught red-handed lying to it’s viewers and listening audiences. Turley enables and protects Trump who is without doubt the most proven and documented liar in American history if not world history. So one can see why Turley wants to blur the lines of the true meaning of free speech.

    1. Turley works for a corporation that . . .

      Is that really the best you can come up with?

        2. You can keep your doctor if you want your doctor.
          Covid mRNA will prevent you from getting Covid.
          Covid mRNA vaccine will stop transmission of the virus.
          I never had sexual relations with that woman.
          What difference does it make now anyway?
          It’s all because of a video, arrest and imprisonment.
          Trump colluded with the Russians.
          I NEVER had discussions with the smartest guy I know about his business dealings.
          Joe is sharp as a tack.
          That’s just off the top, you want to talk lies and facts Fishdip? Let’s go.

    2. Turley works for a corporation that lost a lawsuit in a court because they got caught red-handed lying to it’s viewers and listening audiences.

      FishAnus appears here working for Rachael Maddow and her corporation who were caught red handed repeatedly lying that a competing news network was owned and controlled by Putin. Not to be confused with all the rest of the corporations who spent YEARS mainlining the Obama/Clinton/Biden/DNC “Russia Dossier” into his fishy brain.

      However, in the ensuing lawsuit, the Obama judge threw the Rachael Maddow lawsuit out of court, declaring that Maddow’s followers like FishAnus KNEW she was lying her Birthing Person ass off to her audience.

      After that decision, Fox was gullible enough to believe that preceding lawsuit would provide them with a precedent defense when their guests – not journalists like Maddow – lied. Fox apparently believed that Democrat Different standards of justice wouldn’t apply in their defamation lawsuit. How silly of them to believe that!

      FishAnus is in the running with Gigi and Dennis to be the most proven and documented liar on this blog.

      And as the most proven and documented liar in American history, Bribery Biden, regularly instructs his apparatchiks like FishAnus: “If you ain’t pathologically lyin’, you aren’t really tryin’.”

      1. “Screaming Lil Bow Wow,” what were your MOS, Awards, Campaign, and Theater, or is yours stolen valor “Tampon Tim” style?

        Was your MOS Culinary Specialist 92G?

        What were you cooking up for the infantry, weapons, and arty boys doing the war fighting, hot field mess, C-Rats or MREs?

    3. Fishstick, the good professor also writes columns for The Hill, The NY Post and USA Today. He is a professor at GW. He has published a highly successful book so much so it is in it’s fourth printing. Joe Biden would win the distinction of being the most liar in public office. Professor Turley is not blurring the lines. He is clearly pointing them out.

      1. I’m sorry to say that I am not a professional deprogramming expert in cults. Therefore there is nothing I can say to prove facts or evidence that would change your alternative reality world. But I do wish you luck with your mental health issues, Old Airborne Dog.

        1. That’s rich! A lunatic offering mental health advice to the sane masses. Fishdip, you still cannot see the forest for the trees. It’s a Constitutional Republic or a Marxist third world dictatorship by default. You will own nothing, you will have nothing and you will like it or pay the consequences. Simple as that.

        2. <<< "there is nothing I can say to prove facts or evidence"

          At least he admits it. A glimmer of hope for the poor lost lad.

          A bit like absent minded Bill Clinton yesterday admitting that the current regime isn't even attempting to properly vet anyone of the tens of millions of illegal aliens that they have ferried across our borders in their desperate attempt to replacement of the now disloyal minority urban voting block.

          Problem is; Harris who ole Bill is supposed to be supporting, IS the current regime.

          1. I don’t get it – fishwings aka dingaling is a WOMAN – how can you guys not notice that ?

            If not the estrogen fairies have been injected greatly and the operations are fiat complete.

          2. I hate to believe or even say this but it’s time to prepare for a major blood letting. I don’t see any alternative that will save America for her rightful citizens. No one is coming to the rescue.

    4. Turley works for a corporation that lost a lawsuit in a court because they got caught red-handed lying to it’s viewers

      Fishy… why would you delude yourself into believing that you even know what lying looks like, or delude yourself into believing the readers here don’t know you cover the lies of your Dear Leaders?

      EXCLUSIVE: Kamala Harris plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her criminal-justice book, Smart on Crime, according to a new investigation. The current vice president even lifted material from Wikipedia. We have the receipts.

      https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1845847428207145110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1845847673657774387%7Ctwgr%5E76a4c5078d795756591ee363b4c299b2ba791f52%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Fmattvespa%2F2024%2F10%2F15%2Fit-looks-like-kamalas-book-publisher-knows-theyre-in-some-trouble-over-plagiarism-allegations-n2646231

      The investigation was conducted by Dr. Stefan Weber, a famed Austrian “plagiarism hunter” who has taken down politicians in the German-speaking world. We independently confirmed multiple violations, which are comparable in severity to the plagiarism found in former Harvard president Claudine Gay’s doctoral thesis.

      https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1845847673657774387/photo/2

    5. Turley leaves out a lot, too. Free speech is not absolute, as FishWings correctly pointed out. Fox News paid dearly for deliberately putting out misinformation and lying. Of course, they had the right to say as much as they wanted. But they could not avoid the responsibility of saying it and claim ignorance.

      Hate speech and misinformation can be condemned by the government. They can say it’s wrong. They can say it should be moderated. They can say some of it shouldn’t be allowed by social media companies. They can do all of that. What Turley does not try to distinguish is the difference between saying something and acting on it. I will continue to cite that SCOTUS made that point when they ruled in the Biden administration’s favor in Murthy vs. Missouri.

    6. A terminal case of TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome:

      “Trump who is without doubt the most proven and documented liar in American history if not world history. ”
      Dingaling
      ROFL It really is amazing how demented and mental the demoncrats are.

  14. Talk about waltzing around. Turley did a bit of WAltzing in his article while complaining about censorship and “content moderation” being overly restrictive.

    “ Finally, Walz and others often sell censorship by citing the dangers of child pornography or of threats made against individuals.”

    Odd, because that’s exactly what Republicans do when they are trying to justify book bans in schools. Well, except for the threats against individuals part. The book bans were actual book bans. In Florida and most other states where they had them, most of those books have been returned to the bookshelves because, after extensive review, they could not justify banning them. After all, one line or excerpt taken out of context was used to justify banning the book/s.

    “ Democrats in Congress opposed every major effort to investigate the role of the Biden administration in the social-media censorship system it constructed. Many denied any such connection.”

    He forgot that SCOTUS agreed with the Democrats in Murthy vs. Missouri. They didn’t oppose any investigation. Republicans held hearings, and most of those hearings did not show any proof of censorship, only allegations of censorship. Turley leaving out Murthy vs. Missouri while claiming Democrats were opposed to investigations is a bit of misinformation itself.

    Turley likes to conflate “censorship” with “accountability.” He wants to ignore the aspect of free speech that requires acknowledging responsibility and ownership of the words being uttered, which are just as important as expressing them. I’ve made this point before. Turley and most ‘free-speech’ proponents like Elon Musk want free speech to be the equivalent of being able to shoot a gun at anything and anywhere and not worry about where the bullets end up. They don’t want to accept the responsibility of pulling the trigger while having the right to shoot at anything they want without consequences. Turley often argues for civility in free speech, but nothing in the law or the constitution says speech must be civil or orderly to be protected speech like heckling and shouting down a speaker. Remember, Turley considers content moderation to be like Orwellian. His blog engages in content moderation, too.

    1. Talk about waltzing around. Turley did a bit of WAltzing in his article while complaining about censorship and “content moderation”

      Talk about George walzing around with another succession of lies.

      Minutes after being taken down for his first lie of the day: that there was a chain of custody problem with the Biden laptop – the one that Biden’s lawyers didn’t object to being admitted in evidence in his trial.

      George can do the walz – but obvious to his viewers, pathetically and poorly.

      1. Huh? Not objecting to the laptop being admitted into evidence does not mean they can’t bring up the issue of chain of custody. By being able to bring it up in a trial, they can put doubt on the integrity of the laptop’s contents.

      2. NOBODY cares about any laptop–Joe Biden isn’t running any more. Republicans tried, and failed, to prove that Joe Biden was taking bribes–that BS went nowhere. Kamala Harris IS the candidate–try to keep up.

        1. NOBODY cares about any laptop–Joe Biden isn’t running any more.

          Gigi, Womb Of Pathetic Lies, why do you lie that you’ve been appointed spokes idiot to say whether or not anybody cares what material in the Biden Bribery Laptop links to Biden White House Crime LLC?

          You saying “nobody cares” is pretty much the opposite of the truth.

          Of course, pretty much everything you post here is pretty much the opposite of the truth.

          You aren’t hoping to replace Cringe Jean-Pierre as Biden’ White House Spokes Liar, are you?

    2. George: thanks. I’d like to see Turley address the FEMA lies in Florida and the gullible MAGA dumbaxxes driving around in pick up trucks, hunting for FEMA workers, which caused delays in providing aid because they had to take cover for their own safety. Those FEMA lies came directly from Trump–what if those losers had caught up with FEMA representatives and killed them? Would that make Trump’s lies OK? What about the death of Ashli Babbitt–she died believing Trump’s Big Lie–is that OK? Does anybody believe that Trump has any remorse whatsoever for Ashli Babbitt’s death that he is directly responsible for? How about the serious injuries sustained by Capitol Police because of the Big Lie–one officer lost an eye, and others sustained things like head injuries–some of them died afterwards from the beatings they sustained–does Trump even care? Trump has the gall to stand in front of the American flag and continue lying about losing in 2020. And, the gullible MAGAs keep on cheering. It’s reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Hitler driving down the streets of Berlin in his Mercedes limo, waving to the cheering crowds waving swastica flags.

      Turley claims there is a First Amendment right to spew lies, misinformation and disinformation—that’s all Republicans do because it’s all they have. Trump says our economy is in the toilet–but nothing could be further from the truth–the stock market keeps setting new records, even though Trump said that it would go into freefall if Biden was elected–so why do any of his fans believe anything he says about the economy? Unemployment is at 4%. Inflation is the lowest it has been in 4 years. Wages and real wealth are going up. Manufacturing is returning–and yet, Trump lies and says America is a nation in decline. Gullible people believe it–why, when it’s obviously not true and when so many distinguished economists have said that Trump’s tariffs will destroy our economy and drive up inflation? Turley is using his credentials as a law professor to lend credibility to these lies, which have and will hurt us all– and it’s wrong.

  15. How about debate Trump’s tweet from a few days ago Jon? This one on the Alien and Sedation Act. You have become a tool. You know this act directly hit the 1st Amendment but you will ignore it. Gotta get paid right?

    “We are now known, all throughout the world, as OCCUPIED AMERICA…But to everyone here in Colorado and all across our nation, I make you this vow: November 5th, 2024 will be LIBERATION DAY in America. I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered—and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.
    In honor of Jocelyn Nungaray, Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and all of the others that are dead and mortally wounded at the hands of migrants who should never have been allowed into our Country, I am announcing today that upon taking office, we will have an OPERATION AURORA at the Federal Level. To expedite removals of this savage gang, I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American Soil.
    No person who has inflicted the violence and terror that Kamala Harris has inflicted on this community can EVER be allowed to become President of the United States!”

        1. HullBobby,
          HAHA!
          I was not trying to be snarky. Just giving Jeff the information.

  16. I can’t believe the presidential race is this tight. This is utterly amazing. These Democrats are clearly a threat to democracy, republicanism, constitutionalism, the truth–basically, anything decent you would imagine, and yet… almost half of this country would vote for them. With that much support, they can still blow up the whole project even if they lose.

    I do have a radical solution (if we win). Move Venezuelan drug gangs from Aurora to Marth Raddatz’s neighborhood. Let’s see if it’s no big deal then.

    1. Harris and Walz are both very low IQ . . . and . . . they’re both to the left of Fidel Castro. So, yes, the fact the race is close bodes ill for the future of this country. I was just thinking the same thing.

    2. Diogenes,
      I assess it as those people still watch and believe MSM. They are some of the most misinformed, illinformed people in the country.

        1. Upstate says he gets his info from ‘independent news’
          yet how many of them say to go all-in on Trump? Almost none?
          Plus he mostly uses right-wing media links for his confirmation bias.

    3. * Right. It’s a rock and a hard place. Adaptation.

      Tragedy for many. Americans are and have literally starved to death while money is withheld from them via graft. Payola all the way down. Drug cartels cut their product as it moves down to the streets.

      It’s all they know.

    4. “I can’t believe the presidential race is this tight.”

      Diogenes, I don’t believe the race is tight in 2024 nor in 2000. I have no doubt Trump won both elections. The only thing worrying me is if the Democrats are successful at cheating.

      1. S. Meyer,
        If reporting is true, which I believe it is, Democrats are in a panic right now, and do cheat they run the risk of over doing it and it becoming too obvious. Then the election integrity laws will really come out at the local, state and federal levels. That would then prevent them from cheating in the future.

        1. Upstate, we have to remember that too many people, Republicans included, can be bought, so cheating will not come under control until more prominent people are put in jail. Each Trump supporter needs to vote 10 times. Not illegally, only once and bring along 9 friends. (I don’t know who said it).

          We already are in a position that the freedoms we had cannot be returned within my lifetime. If Trump loses were are finished for a long time, if the freedoms are ever returned.

      2. Alan, most would cheat and some will kill because the brainwashed have been told we’re NAZI’s. Basically, that’s a dog whistle for anything is justifiable to keep the Democrats in power (and in privilege). It’s not about keeping Trump out of power. It’s about getting everybody under their thumbs.

    6. I can’t believe the presidential race is this tight.

      Diogenes, I don’t believe it is, from a free and fair election standpoint. The fact the Biden/Harris DOJ is suing Virginia from cleaning up their voter rolls and states like California making it illegal to ask for ID, it makes sense why Biden/Harris have pumped millions of illegal migrants into swing states. And then we have this piece of news today from a Georgia judge:

      A Georgia judge has ruled county election officials must certify election results by the deadline set in law and cannot exclude any group of votes from certification even if they suspect error or fraud.
      https://apnews.com/article/georgia-election-rules-certification-03f6bc623d9f6aeeb3f9dc47823d03f9

      Here is what election certification is supposed to mean:
      Election certification refers to the process of election officials attesting that the tabulation and canvassing of the election are complete and accurate and that the election results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes cast in a particular election.

      So if they suspect error or fraud, what are they certifying?

    7. Is it really that tight or is it reported as such for the public’s purview to accommodate their cheating and reporting it within the margin of error ?

  17. Jonathan: My wife and I hosted a pre-election and pre-Halloween party last night. I read to the assembled from your column yesterday “Liberals are losing their minds over Elon Musk”. I quoted your claim that “Musk is arguably the single most important figure in this generation of free speech”.

    When the laughter subsided one attendee pointed out: “If Musk is so pro-‘free speech’ why did he setup a website to register voters and then refuse to submit the registrations of those he suspected of being Democratic voters? And why did he shut down the website when he was caught red-handed?”

    Another mentioned “I went on X and submitted a comment severely critical of Trump’s lies about the Haitian immigrants in Ohio. About 5 minutes later the post was deleted. That’s not exactly ‘free speech’!”

    The consensus at the party is that Musk, by his own admission, has gone “Dark MAGA”–spending hundreds of million supporting DJT’s candidacy–the guy who would cancel the broadcast licenses of CBS and NBC because they had the temerity to fact check his lies. If Musk, as you claim, is the “brilliantly unreasonable person” why would he support the only candidate who would persecute and prosecute his political “enemies”, use the military to suppress political dissent and deprive citizens and those here legally of their 1st amendment rights? That left all my friends scratching our heads! One attendee at the party asked: “Who is this Jonathan Turley who has lost HIS mind?”

    1. Jonathan: My wife and I hosted a pre-election and pre-Halloween party last night… The consensus at the party is that Musk, by his own admission, has gone “Dark MAGA”

      Must have been a hell of a party: Dennis and his Birthing Person partner yet again mixing booze with those Hamas supporting Muslims that Dennis earlier bragged about partying with at another election fundraiser. Serving booze to Muslims… Imagine the surprise of the audience here that (if this meeting wasn’t more of Dennis’s lies) that the Dark Fascist Minds of Dennis and his friends agreed they hate Musk.

      Dennis, why aren’t you sharing the real news/explanations with your dear personal friend “Jonathan:”?

      1. Command Sergeant Major Stolen Valor Vance, who claimed he carried an AR-15 in combat, didn’t know how to load a shotgun he claimed to have owned for years while going ‘pheasant hunting’.

      2. Kamala Harris’s campaign is so fearful of how far behind their internal polling shows her to be that she has suddenly agreed to an unscripted interview with Fox News.

    2. “Jonathan: My wife and I…” Dennis, don’t lie to us about your fictional social life. Give Jonathan your Breaking News Reports!

      Democrats Enter Panic Mode As Trump Tightens Race In Swing States
      https://wokespy.com/democrats-enter-panic-mode-as-trump-tightens-race-in-swing-states/

      Kamala Harris to Be Interviewed by Fox News’s Bret Baier
      https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/kamala-harris-to-be-interviewed-by-fox-newss-bret-baier-5741080?src_src=partner&src_cmp=BonginoReport

    4. All the Breaking News Dennis McIntyre hopes he can hide from Jonathan:

      Team Kamala Angry At Biden For Not Thinking Of Campaign Before Praising DeSantis
      https://www.dailywire.com/news/team-kamala-angry-at-biden-for-not-thinking-of-campaign-before-praising-desantis

      After Screeching About J6 And Democracy For Years, Top Dems Vow Not To Certify A Trump Election Victory
      https://thefederalist.com/2024/10/13/after-screeching-about-j6-and-democracy-for-years-top-dems-threaten-not-to-certify-a-trump-election-victory/

    6. Dennis: I was at your party. Not only did I not hear such comments from the other three people who were there, but I DID hear one of them say, “Looks like Kamala might have to face some plagiarism accusations involving her book.”
      Another guest said, “Looks like her running mate Walz doesn’t have a clue about the First Amendment.” –Then your third guest said, “yeah, and our host seems to suffer from wanting to force his own topic agenda on us, even though he is renting this space from some guy named Turley.”
      just having a little fun, Dennis. Have a good day anyway.

      1. Lin,
        HAHAHA!! Good one!
        I would add, “Looks like her running mate Walz does not know how to load is own shotgun!”

    7. Hey Dennis, Did you and Mortcia leave Wednesday and Pugsley in the care of Uncle Fester or Lurch during your Pre-Halloween soirée or was the entire event in your mind? At first reading I imagined the gathering looked like the final scene in Rosemary’s Baby.

  18. What is the Democrat response to MSM content manipulation (disinformation) by deceptively editing interviews with political figures, (e.g., Kamala Harris)? How is that deception any less egregious than the AI generated parodies of political figures?

    1. Radical Pragmatist,
      Q: What is the Democrat response to MSM content manipulation (disinformation) by deceptively editing interviews with political figures, (e.g., Kamala Harris)?
      A: When we do it, it is okay!

      Dont forget the supposedly town hall meeting with undecided Latino voters was packed with Harris supporters.

      And, a new, “men” for Harris, featuring professional actors. Not real “men.”

  20. Today’s column is consistent with previous columns such as the recent column concerning Jack Phillips, the Christian baker who declined to make cakes that violated his religious beliefs. Unless I am mistaken, Mr Turley’s opinion is the First Amendment protects freedom of speech -not religion; to be consistent, neither is lifestyle protected by the First Amendment. By analogy, therefore, the First Amendment protects the local public library’s decision to remove a specific book from the shelf. To the point: “We’re seeing censorship coming in the form of book bannings in different places,” Walz told Bream. “We’re seeing attempts in schools.” (FTA) As they say, look who’s concerned!

    1. * Smut books generally have their own libraries. This culture has evolved into home of the free, land of the depraved.

      People DO have freedom to NOT be constantly baraged with immorality. It’s constant. It’s repugnant in truth to a large segment of the population. Put your smut and depravity in your own libraries.

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