Comments on: “Dems Assigned Conservative Groups to Attack on Senate Floor”

By: Ted Nesi’s Saturday Morning Post: July 16 | WPRI 12 Eyewitness News

Ted Nesi’s Saturday Morning Post: July 16 | WPRI 12 Eyewitness News — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 09:02:30 +0000

[…] one of his top aides organizing a coordinated Senate floor attack on various groups. That led to a new round of criticism of Whitehouse on the right, echoing months of previous assaults on him. But Whitehouse went on the offensive himself this […]

By: Melvin H.

Melvin H. — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:34:48 +0000

In reply to William Brennan. You mean, like the IPCC report .... The one with what turned out to be doctored data, the ones that haven't been peer- reviewed because the scientists refused to turn over the raw data.

By: SPO

SPO — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:33:32 +0000

In reply to William Brennan.

But let’s assume he’s not a troll and really believes this nonsense . . . .

I’d like to know what the contours are of banned speech.

Can I lawfully point out that natural processes withdraw prodigious amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere?

Am I allowed to point out that the models haven’t accurately predicted temperatures?

Am I allowed to point out that Michael Mann falsely claimed to be a Nobel Laureate?

Am I allowed to point out that we don’t know that global warming is necessarily “net net” bad?

Am I allowed to ask whether the proposed efforts to combat AGCC will be more beneficial than harmful?

Please tell me, Mr. Brennan—surely you agree that the criminal law has to give people fair warning as to what is criminal and what is not.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:08:03 +0000

In reply to William Brennan. Troll level: Grandmaster. Well done, sir.

By: William Brennan

William Brennan — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 16:05:15 +0000

Unlike terrorism, climate change is a real and significant threat to the future of our civilization. If constraints on free expression are necessary to stop the spreading of pseudoscience, then so be it. The country’s been made better off by the reduction of smoking associated with what happened to the tobacco industry. The same will occur when the transition to renewable energy begins in earnest. As for the effect of the precedent, I am not concerned about the “freedom” to spew propaganda and lies that have not been peer-reviewed and are used to deceive the public.

By: MattS

MattS — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 15:18:03 +0000

In reply to WRT. What makes you imagine that Trump appointees would not also be fine with that? Trump has repeatedly filed frivolous or at least dubious lawsuits against his critics.

By: WRT

WRT — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 10:52:45 +0000

Bullies and cowards. Switch the party of the Senators and the label/political leanings of the targeted groups and imagine the outcry. Not hyperbole to characterize this as criminalization of dissent. My fear is that Hilary’s SCOTUS appointees would be just fine with this..

By: Dem Senator’s Floor Speech to Attack Nonprofit Critical of Her

Dem Senator’s Floor Speech to Attack Nonprofit Critical of Her — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:22:07 +0000

[…] of legal action is “one reason this is more sinister than your ordinary political sideshow,” according to Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, another of the Senate Democrats’ […]

By: Hugo S Cunningham

Hugo S Cunningham — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 13:02:06 +0000

Ever since he entered the US Senate demanding prosecution of Bush-era officials, US Sen Sheldon Whitehouse has reminded me of the fictional Sen Fred Van Ackerman, bad guy in Allen Drury’s “Advise and Consent.” If the Senate Republicans had a brain and a backbone, they would move to censure him for attacks on free speech and press incompatible with his Senatorial oath.

By: Hugo S Cunningham

Hugo S Cunningham — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:54:24 +0000

Your confusion will disappear, citizens, when you realize that “the freedom of speech, or of the press,” are *collective* rights, as in the Stalin Constitution and the Brezhnev Constitution. The people express these rights through their government, which tells them all they need to know. Some comrades have suggested that “free” speech and press implies thear government should provide newspapers and live broadcasts of the Great Leader’s wisdom to homes and workplaces free of charge, but that point is not settled.