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Critics remind Cuomo of the First Amendment after he bans sale of Confederate flag & 'other hate symbols' on state property


RT
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 19:01 UTC
Confederate flags
© Reuters / USA TODAY Sports
Fresh out of losing a Supreme Court battle over his infringement of religious expression, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is again raising First Amendment alarms by banning the sale of "hate symbols" on state property.

The law bans the sale of Confederate flags, swastikas and other so-called hate symbols - a restriction that would require the government to determine what speech is hateful.

Announcing the bill on Tuesday, the governor argued that the legislation will "safeguard New Yorkers from the fear-instilling effects of these abhorrent symbols" at state fairgrounds and other government properties. However, he added that "certain technical changes" will be needed to avoid infringing free-speech rights.

"This country faces a pervasive, growing attitude of intolerance and hate - what I have referred to in the body politic as an American cancer," Cuomo said.

Comment: The real cancer on the American body politic is Cuomo, Whitmer, and the other politicians who use COVID and woke progressivism as a pretext for infringing on people's rights to think, feel, and act as they see fit according to their conscience.

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NPC

Irony alert: Seattle councilmember calls police she defunded to report a crime she is effectively legalizing

Jason Rantz
mynorthwest.com
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 19:22 UTC
Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold
© Seattle Channel
Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold
Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold called the police department she defunded to report a crime she suffered that would be effectively legalized under her proposal. Good thing she didn't wait until after she passes her bill to report the incident.

Under Herbold's proposal, most misdemeanor suspects would get a pass for crimes committed to meet a basic need. It's essentially a poverty defense. But it goes deeper than that.

The future legislation is modeled after a draft bill by radical public defenders. In it, you get a pass if you show symptoms of mental illness. That's where Herbold's 911 call comes into play.

Comment: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Will a dose of reality shake Ms. Herbold out of her woke delusions?

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Snakes in Suits

Oregon's new Secretary of State (Democrat) CAUGHT hosting birthday gathering in defiance of Governor's COVID orders

Brock Simmons
Gateway Pundit
Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:43 UTC
Shemia Fagan hosts gathering

Shemia Fagan hosts a gathering consisting of more than 6 people, and people from numerous different households, in violation of Governor Kate Brown’s covid restriction orders.
In the latest episode of the Laws For Thee, But Not For Me files, we see Oregon's incoming Secretary Of State, Shemia Fagan (democrat, of course), hosting a gathering of about 12 people, many of them, including Fagan herself, not wearing masks. This is in direct violation of Governor Kate Brown's Covid restriction orders.

You may recall that Governor Brown recently ordered that gatherings may not exceed six people and they cannot be from more than two households.

But I guess those orders don't count when Brown's friend, Fagan, wants to host a birthday party for her kid. Fagan is rumored to be an early favorite to run for Governor in 2022.
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Light Saber

Attorney testifies: 42,000 people voted in Nevada twice, another 20,000 non- residents voted

Leisa Audette
100 Percent Fed Up
Wed, 16 Dec 2020 18:11 UTC
Jesse Binnell trump lawyer election fraud

Jesse Binnell, an attorney for the Trump campaign
'Our evidence has never been refuted, only ignored' - Trump attorney Jesse Binell

During the Senate hearing today about election integrity in the 2020 election, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnell dropped shocking facts about Nevada's fraud:
  • 42k people voted more than once
  • 1.5k dead people voted
  • 19k didn't live in NV
  • 8k voted from a non-existent address
  • 4k non-citizens voted

Comment:

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Yoda

Project Veritas scoop: Audio released of Assange warning US government of damaging leak of classified information


Project Veritas
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 17:10 UTC
assange audio project veritas
© Project Veritas
... 'In case any individuals who haven't been warned that they should be warned'

Project Veritas released today an exclusive audio tape of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaking in 2011 with State Department attorney Cliff Johnson, pleading with the government lawyer to act to contain the release of information classified by the U.S. government.

"A whistleblower provided this audio to Project Veritas, so that the American people have a more accurate account of Assange and his conduct," said James O'Keefe, the founder and CEO of Project Veritas.

"Political pressure is building for President Donald Trump to pardon Assange at the end of his first term and this tape goes a long way to rebooting how he has been portrayed," O'Keefe said.

Comment: The Gateway Pundit reports on the building pressure for a presidential pardon for Assange:
In 2018, President Trump's attorneys quietly made a case in defense of WikiLeaks throughout legal filings responding to a lawsuit filed by Democrat Party donors who alleged that the campaign and former advisor Roger Stone conspired with Russians to publish the leaked Democratic National Committee emails.

Their assessment was correct.

Buried within hundreds of pages of case filings, in a motion filed in October 2018, Trump lawyer Michael A. Carvin argued that under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230), "a website that provides a forum where 'third parties can post information' is not liable for the third party's posted information."

"That is so even when even when the website performs 'editorial functions' 'such as deciding whether to publish,'" the filing contends. "Since WikiLeaks provided a forum for a third party (the unnamed 'Russian actors') to publish content developed by that third party (the hacked emails), it cannot be held liable for the publication."

This defense holds true for the war log releases that Assange has been charged for publishing.

"In addition, the First Amendment generally denies the government power to punish truthful speech," Carvin wrote. He added that privacy cannot justify these violations of core First Amendment norms. The filing then refers to the 1989 case of Florida Star v. B.J.F., in which it was determined that "punishing truthful publication in the name of privacy" is an "extraordinary measure."

The formal pardon request comes on the heels of a viral claim from a Trump ally that the president would be pardoning the publisher. While he ended up retracting his statement, claiming he had faulty sources, it was clear that it was a move that people from both sides of the political spectrum support. The tweet gained over 75,000 "likes" on Twitter in about an hour, before being retracted.

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden weighed in on the news saying that "I very much hope this is true. The case against Assange is based on a legal theory that would criminalize the work of every journalist, both at home and abroad."

Snowden has previously lobbied for a pardon for Assange, even before one for himself.



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Attention

Chicago mayor Lightfoot tries to suppress video of brutal police raid on WRONG HOME


RT
Wed, 16 Dec 2020 22:26 UTC
chicago police line tape
© Reuters / Shannon Stapleton
Chicago police tape marks a crime scene in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot ignominiously fought to block local news from airing shocking police bodycam footage of cops raiding the wrong house and handcuffing a naked, terrified woman - and even threatening to sue the victim.

Hours before Chicago CBS affiliate WBBM aired the disturbing video it took Anjanette Young nearly two years of legal wrangling to obtain, Lightfoot's office intervened to try to block the broadcast, filing an emergency motion in court on Monday to have the footage suppressed.

Lawyers for the city even sought to have Young sanctioned for turning over the video to CBS, complaining the clip would be "shared with the media in a salacious and unfair manner designed to elicit a reactionary response" - apparently suggesting the public would otherwise look favorably on a bevy of heavily armed police raiding the home of an innocent woman who's just stepped out of the shower.

Comment: Double-checking an address is apparently a bit too much to ask for the Chicago PD.

See also:

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Alarm Clock

Maria Bartiromo: "Intel source" told me Trump did in fact win the election - It's up to Supreme Court to take the cases and stop the clock

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Wed, 16 Dec 2020 16:14 UTC
Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo dropped a bomb on her morning show. The award-winning journalist told viewers she was told by an intel source that Trump did win the 2020 election. And then she added that the Supreme Court must take the cases challenging the massive election fraud to stop the clock!
Maria Bartiromo: An intel source told me President Trump did, in fact, win the election. He says that it is up to the Supreme Court to hear suits from other cases across the country to stop the clock. This follows the high court's refusal to hear the lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Comment: "Intel source". Not exactly a slam dunk.

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Cell Phone

Now that the US election is over, Twitter reverts retweet policy, admitting it failed at 'more thoughtful amplification'


RT
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:59 UTC
twitter illustration
© REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Twitter users are once again free to mindlessly retweet, as the policy requiring quote-tweets, imposed ahead of the US presidential election ostensibly to promote "thoughtful amplification" of approved messages, has been revoked.

As of Wednesday, Twitter has re-enabled the "standard retweet behavior" and removed the quote default imposed on October 21.

"We hoped this change would encourage thoughtful amplification and also increase the likelihood that people would add their own thoughts, reactions and perspectives to the conversation," the company said in a blog post. In reality, 45 percent of quote-tweets consisted of a single word and 70 percent contained fewer than 25 characters, Twitter admitted.

Comment: See also:

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Brick Wall

14 convicted over Charlie Hebdo & Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, key suspect sentenced to 30 years in prison


RT
Wed, 16 Dec 2020 18:58 UTC
je suis charlie hebdo rally
© AFP / THOMAS SAMSON
People hold 'Je Suis Charlie' signs in remembrance of those killed in the 2015 attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
A French court on Wednesday found 14 people guilty of being accomplices in the Paris 2015 terrorist attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket, with one person jailed for 30 years for funding the attacks.

Hayat Boumeddiene, the ex-partner of main attacker Amedy Coulibaly, was given a 30-year sentence after being convicted of financing terrorism and belonging to a criminal terrorist network.

She was among three suspects to be tried in absentia after the trio reportedly fled to Syria to join the Islamic State group (IS, formerly ISIS). Two of them are said to have been killed during bomb attacks against the militant group.

Comment: See also:

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X

In latest 'conspiracy' crackdown, Twitter to scrub posts claiming vaccines 'cause harm' or are 'used to control populations'


RT
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 01:15 UTC
twitter vaccine censor
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid; Reuters / Erin Clark
In its latest effort to suppress "misinformation," Twitter has signaled it will begin removing posts containing vaccine "conspiracies," including claims vaccines are purposely used to cause harm and "control populations."

Starting next week, the social media giant will excise all posts that "invoke a deliberate conspiracy" or "advance harmful, false, or misleading narratives" about vaccines, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday, focusing particularly on inoculations against the coronavirus.

"Using a combination of technology and human review, we will begin enforcing this updated policy on December 21, and expanding our actions during the following weeks," it said, adding that the new rule would be enforced "in close consultation with local, national, and global public health authorities around the world."

Comment: Not surprising that Twitter has gone full Orwell on the issue. What took them so long?

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