Posted on 03/16/2024 10:28:47 AM PDT by John Semmens
Disappointed that his 2022 abuse of the Emergencies Act to suppress public protest against his draconian Covid restrictions was ruled unjustified by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now pushing legislation called the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63). This law would allow the government to impose prison sentences of up to life behind bars on persons who post "hate speech" on social media.
Civil liberty advocates have called the proposed law "totalitarian" and "Orwellian." George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley asserted that "the proposed law constitutes a doubling down on Canada's totalitarian commitment to reducing free speech for citizens despite criticism from many in the civil liberties community."
The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood found "the law empowering judges to order the imprisonment, house arrest or electronic monitoring of a person if someone else fears that that person will commit a future hate crime is a frightening Orwellian turn away from freedom of speech."
Justice Minister Arif Virani argued that "unregulated speech is an emerging threat that must be addressed. There are a lot of sick and malevolent individuals out there. Government must protect the innocent and defenseless masses from harm. Chilling free speech isn't bad if the speech that is suppressed is hate speech."
Meanwhile, Toronto Police Service (TPS) Constable Marco Ricciardi has advised residents "to leave their car keys in their front door lock so thieves who want to steal it don't have to break into your home in search of the keys. The inconvenience of having your car stolen is more tolerable than the violence of a home invasion. You can always buy a new car, but you can't buy a new life if you're murdered or maimed by the thief."
In related free speech news, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) assailed opponents of government's efforts to censor freedom of speech, saying "the First Amendment is not absolute. It does not protect any single thing anyone says. The federal government needs to monitor what is going on on social media so that it can take the necessary steps to suppress the kind of misinformation and disinformation that could help Republicans in the November election."
On the other hand, a Harris Poll showed that 68% of college students say that "campus free speech protection should include the right of individuals to incite violence or threaten others." As one respondent said "when Jews are massacring Palestinians, counter action is needed. Sometimes the threat of violence will get results when purely peaceful protest won't. This is especially the case where university administrators insist on taking the side of the Jewish oppressors."
If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...
https://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,526729.0.html
Dan Goldman doesn’t understand. The first IS absolute. That’s why we have the 2nd for when totalitarians like him try to come for the first.
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