MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘blackmail’

Defining the Boundaries of Free Speech: Threats, Libel, and Blackmail in Society

Posted by M. C. on March 20, 2024

Jack Benny was once “threatened” on his program with the statement: “Your money or your life.” Urged on by the “criminal” of the piece for an answer, Benny replied, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.”

Walter Block

https://substack.com/inbox/post/142785947

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of free speech. It is imperative for society and even more important on campus. After all, the latter is the place where ideas and the search for the truth are held to be particularly precious. Without untrammeled free speech, it is difficult to see how this mission can even begin to be accomplished.

Is there any sort of speech that ought to be banned anywhere at all, whether at any of our institutions of higher learning or in civil society as a whole? Yes, there is one. It is the only exception to this general rule. In mentioning it, being an absolutist on free speech is not the correct position. The exception? Threats of physical violence. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll punch you in the nose.” “If you don’t give me your money and your automobile,” says the carjacker, “I’ll shoot you.” Unless these sorts of statements are part of a movie or a play or mentioned in the present context as part of a philosophical discussion, they are criminal acts.

Jack Benny was once “threatened” on his program with the statement: “Your money or your life.” Urged on by the “criminal” of the piece for an answer, Benny replied, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” Apart from considerations of this sort, the university should be a bastion of free speech. And so should be our general society.

But what about libel and slander? I now falsely claim that Jones is cheating on his wife. As a result, Jones loses his marriage, his job, his children, and his friends. I just ruined his reputation. Presumably, what the general public thinks of Jones is more valuable to him than his house and his car. If I stole those items from him, surely I would be a criminal. But by using my speech to make slanderous statements of him, I besmirched his reputation, and did him even more severe harm. Should I not be incarcerated, and should my “free speech” be prohibited by law? No.

He is the rightful owner of his home and automobile but not, paradoxically, of his reputation.

See the rest here

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Nolte: Washington Post Says Election Will End in Violence Unless Biden Wins Landslide

Posted by M. C. on September 3, 2020

This is WaPo saying it is expected you rape and pillage if it’s chosen candidate doesn’t win.

WaPo/Anifa what is the difference?

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/09/03/nolte-washington-post-says-election-will-end-violence-unless-biden-wins-landslide/

by John Nolte

The far-left Washington Post blackmailed the country Thursday with a threat framed as analysis that says only a landslide victory for Joe Biden can save us from violence.

Because the Post piece is both fake news and irresponsible, I’m not going to compound those sins by linking it here. The Post’s tweet advertising the piece (which I also won’t link) sums up the threat perfectly: “The election will likely spark violence — and a constitutional crisis,” the tweet reads. “In every scenario except a Biden landslide, our simulation ended catastrophically.”

Only a Biden landslide can save America from a national catastrophe.

In other words…

That’s a nice country you got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it.

The Post’s bald-faced threat is couched in a piece of analysis that does not even attempt to be serious, especially in a country where, as I write this, countless Democrat-run cities are on fire thanks to Black Lives Matter and Antifa, two left-wing terrorists groups who operate as Brownshirts for the Democrat Party and media outlets like the Washington Post — who regularly encourage and protect these domestic terrorists.

Even more ludicrous, the Post’s threat is only made possibly by way of its cherry-picking of “experts.”

They make it all so official-sounding. I’ve emphasized the howlers:

President Trump has broken countless norms and ignored countless laws during his time in office, and while my colleagues and I at the Transition Integrity Project didn’t want to lie awake at night contemplating the ways the American experiment could fail, we realized that identifying the most serious risks to our democracy might be the best way to avert a November disaster. So we built a series of war games, sought out some of the most accomplished Republicans, Democrats, civil servants, media experts, pollsters and strategists around, and asked them to imagine what they’d do in a range of election and transition scenarios.

A landslide for Joe Biden resulted in a relatively orderly transfer of power. Every other scenario we looked at involved street-level violence and political crisis.

I swear I’m not making that up. I know it sounds like something I’d make up, especially something as hilarious as a “Transition Integrity Project” operating from the same Washington Post hellhole that led the fake news propaganda jihad for the Russia Collusion Hoax coup plotters. But it’s all real. I swear. Look it up if you don’t believe me.

Anyway, the Transition Integrity Project’s war games (can you believe they used the term “war games?”) are staffed only with ringers. The “accomplished Republicans” are all — and I do mean all — bitter, half-witted, Trump haters:  Michael Steele. Bill Kristol. Trey Grayson.

On the other side are only Biden loyalists: John Podesta. Donna Brazile. Jennifer Granholm.

Not even one disgruntled Bernie Bro.

Not even one.

So the Transition Integrity Project asked six people who fucking hate Donald Trump something about Donald Trump and the answer is not looking so good for Donald Trump.

Transition Integrity Project?

More like the Transition Rigged Project.

So even though Joe Biden’s supporters are right now — I mean right now as I write this — burning down a whole bunch of Democrat-run cities and Joe Biden has said almost nothing to stop them and PLENTY to encourage them, the Transition Rigged Project talked to six people who fucking hate Donald Trump and came to this bottom line [emphasis added]:

In every exercise, both teams sought to mobilize their supporters to take to the streets. Team Biden repeatedly called for peaceful protests, while Team Trump encouraged provocateurs to incite violence, then used the resulting chaos to justify sending federalized Guard units or active-duty military personnel into American cities to “restore order,” leading to still more violence. (The exercises underscored the tremendous power enjoyed by an incumbent president: Biden can call a news conference, but Trump can call in the 82nd Airborne.)

Yep, the 82nd Airborne, y’all.

Here’s something else the Transition Rigged Project war gamed:

In the “narrow Biden win” scenario, Trump refused to leave office and was ultimately escorted out by the Secret Service — but only after pardoning himself and his family and burning incriminating documents.

Let me tell you what’s happening here…

If Trump wins, the organized left, and you can bet that includes media outlets like the Washington Post, intend to declare war on us. On you and I.

Not political war.

War-war.

That’s what they’re doing now.

That’s what the Democrat Party’s and the media’s Brownshirts in Black Lives Matter and Antifa are doing right now in Kenosha and Rochester and Minneapolis and Portland and will do in any other place where an excuse can be found or manufactured.

The war is a hot war. If Trump wins re-election it’s going to get hotter.

The Washington Post is warning us — not just that there will be a war if Trump loses, but that we will be blamed for the war.

Hey, we warned you if you didn’t pay for protection your store would burn down.

Hey, we warned you if you didn’t vote for Joe Biden your store and your home and your car and your life would burn down.

This is not a drill.

This is a threat.

Take this threat seriously.

Prepare yourself.

Prepare yourself before it’s too late to prepare yourself.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : Next in Coronavirus Tyranny: Forced Vaccinations and ‘Digital Certificates’

Posted by M. C. on April 28, 2020

Proponents of mandatory vaccines and enhanced surveillance are trying to blackmail the American people by arguing that the lockdown cannot end unless we create a healthcare surveillance state and make vaccination mandatory. The growing number of Americans who are tired of not being able to go to work, school, or church, or even to take their children to a park because of government mandates should reject this “deal.”

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/april/27/next-in-coronavirus-tyranny-forced-vaccinations-and-digital-certificates/

Written by Ron Paul

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In my first week in the House of Representatives in 1976, I cast one of the two votes against legislation appropriating funds for a swine flu vaccination program. A swine flu outbreak was then dominating headlines, so most in DC were frantic to “do something” about the virus.

Unfortunately, the hastily developed and rushed-into-production swine flu vaccine was not only ineffective, it was dangerous. Approximately 50 people who received the vaccine subsequently contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome, a potentially fatal form of paralysis. According to an expert with the Centers for Disease Control, the incidence of Guillain-Barré was four times higher among those who received the swine flu vaccine than in the general population.

That sad history may soon repeat itself. Right now, governments and private industries are working to rapidly develop and deploy a coronavirus vaccine. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is a major funder of these efforts, has suggested everyone who receives a vaccine be issued a “digital certificate” proving he has been vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose record of wrong predictions makes him the Bill Kristol of epidemiology, also wants individuals to carry some proof they have been vaccinated.

Another authoritarian proposal floated to deal with coronavirus is to force everyone to download a phone app that will track their movements. This would allow government officials to identify those who may have been near anyone who may have had coronavirus. Such mandatory “contact tracing” is an assault on our privacy and liberty.

Vaccines can improve health. For example, vaccines helped reduce the incidence of diseases like polio. But not all vaccines are safe and effective for all people. Furthermore, certain modern practices, such as giving infants multiple vaccines at one time, may cause health problems. The fact that vaccines may benefit some people, or even most people, does not justify government forcing individuals to be vaccinated. It also does not justify vaccinating children against their parents’ wishes. And it certainly does not justify keeping individuals and families in involuntary quarantine because they do not have “digital certificates” proving they have had their shots.

If government can force individuals to receive medical treatment against their will, then there is no reason why government cannot force individuals to buy medical insurance, prohibit them from owning firearms, dictate their terms of employment, and prevent them from taking arguably harmful actions like smoking marijuana or drinking raw milk. Similarly, if government can override parents’ wishes regarding medical treatment for their children, then there is no reason why government cannot usurp parental authority in other areas, such as education.

Proponents of mandatory vaccines and enhanced surveillance are trying to blackmail the American people by arguing that the lockdown cannot end unless we create a healthcare surveillance state and make vaccination mandatory. The growing number of Americans who are tired of not being able to go to work, school, or church, or even to take their children to a park because of government mandates should reject this “deal.” Instead, they should demand an immediate end to the lockdowns and the restoration of individual responsibility for deciding how best to protect their health.

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