15 Comments

Thanks for this update/reminder, Greg. I live in Washington state and am inclined to have chats with legislators now that a new session has begun.

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This is just revolting.

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You and FIRE are doing an immense public service Greg. These assaults on the constitutional rights of American citizens require the complicity of practicing attorneys and exposes the depth and breadth of the rot in our systems. Officers of the court should be defending the first amendment, not destroying it. I suspect that contempt for freedom of expression is nurtured at law schools and spreads like a virus.

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Re: "Bias reporting systems in some states, like Connecticut, let you report things you weren’t even there to witness yourself." This allows dubious rumors and hearsay to be the basis of complaints. If you allow complaints based on evidence like "People [unspecified] are saying Bob said X", the reliability of the witness and their recollection can't be tested.

Also, for these incidents which are recorded, is there any type of hearing? Or is the allegation deemed to be founded?

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It's more like the Stazi every day. And it is the woke Looney Left that is embracing this. The far-right degenerates into fascism and the far-left in totalitarianism. Those of us who are anti-authoritarian are getting hit from both sides.

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YES, WE ARE!

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Snitching has become a cultural value.

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One big problem we have now is that our society has become low-trust. This is not good for civic life in general.

A hotline to nark on your neighbors will only make that worse.

Of course, since this doesn't rise to the level of criminality (yet) the right to confront one's accuser doesn't exist. As a matter of fact, is there any kind of appeal system to begin with?

But I guess this would be great data for a social-credit system!

Who in government is responsible for this scheme? We need to name those names. Someone(s) signed off on this.

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Bull's eye, jabster, about the low trust not being good for civic life!

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Love this Gregg. I'm worried about this too, especially in the context of Israel/Palestine politics on campus. Is free speech really free if wrongspeak can get the police or ICE knocking at your door?

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Do you want me to vote Republican for the rest of my life?

Because this is how you get ants!

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The Trump administration should cut all federal grants to states that refuse to comply with the First Amendment. Period. Let them suffer financial pain for failing to comply with our nation’s constitution.

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New information to me. Thanks for publicizing it. I’d like you to shift from outrage over this to the tougher task of defining what a genocide early-warning system would need to do in order to be effective while also respecting the U.S. version of speech and press freedom.

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Great article.

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Maybe someone can help Tyler Dinsmoor, Washington State

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