Meet Dick . . .
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw introduced Senate Bill 16 (amongst many other gun control bills):
Gun control advocates: We just want to have a conversation!
Also gun control advocates: Don’t respond and we’ll get out of this.
Dick recently posted this regarding that meeting:
Today, I once again had the privilege to chair the annual Fairfax County Delegation public hearing. I look forward to working with my General Assembly colleagues to deliver sensible progress for our county and communities. pic.twitter.com/Ub7QOlbrZU
— Senator Dick Saslaw (@DickSaslaw) January 4, 2020
And when you open that tweet, you get this notice:
So he’s censoring what is easily viewable on his tweet. But you can click “Show more replies” . . .
Why is all of this important? Because a federal court has ruled that public officials can’t block critics on social media.
From the Second Amendment champions at the ACLU:
One of the core purposes of the First Amendment is to allow people, regardless of their views, to hold the government accountable through expression. So, if your elected representative has an official Facebook page where she invites comments, can she block you from commenting because you criticize her work?
According to a federal appeals court, the answer is a resounding no.
On Monday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a “public forum,” so an official cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold.
The case arose after the chair of a local board of supervisors in Virginia, Phyllis Randall, briefly blocked a critic from her official Facebook page and deleted a comment he made about her colleagues’ management of public funds.
Virginians, you are being censored by Senator Saslaw. It’s almost as if Virginia Democrats don’t care about the First Amendment any more than they do the Second.
Spoiler alert: they don’t in Illinois either.
In fact, one senator there, who introduced an “assault weapons” registration bill, taunted a constituent who opposed the idea and said she’ll just confiscate them instead.
She likes to block critics on social media, too.
These politicians couldn’t possibly care less about your civil rights. That’s becoming clearer every day.
This article was originally published at Mom-At-Arms and is reprinted here with permission.
Lawsuit time? Trump lost, AOC lost, time for Saslaw to lose on this one.
We need to stop playing in the streets.
The Dems don’t seem to be worried they will be playing there in 2020. What does that tell you?
I guess, but past judgements don’t seem to be deterring any of them, and I don’t think they have to defend themselves with their personal funds. Until officials are personally held responsible for their violations of the basic civil rights of their constituents, I don’t see much changing.
Funny that State Senator Julie Morrison is against foul language. There’s a bill introduced to decriminalize foul language: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB132 I wonder how she’s going to vote on it.
I’m no lawyer, but I thought folks like her were smacked for repressing criticisms, etc. https://slate.com/technology/2017/07/federal-court-rules-public-officials-cannot-block-social-media-users.html
Arrogant Julie won’t be voting on that bill. Her condescending ways are from the Illinois chapter of the Hey Jackass DNC party.
Also she doesn’t care about foul language.
Queen Julie only cares if you peasants kiss her ring and comply promptly and without thought to her edicts.
When the people fear the Government you you have tyranny. Where the Government fears the people you have freedom. This woman, Senator Morrison, is a perfect example of politicians who neither fear nor respect the people.
They and their supporters are unleashing their inner nazi. They barely bother to pretend that they aren’t fascist anymore.
Aaaa… Old Julie Morrisson… the Cruella de Vil of Chicago’s northern suburbs.
If you ever have the “pleasure” of meeting her, ask to see her coat, they say it’s ‘dog-gone’ spectacular!
Go get ‘im!!!😃
Well, she’s quite the cu*t, isn’t she? 🙂
History has shown. Socialism,Fascism and Communism can all be voted in as a form of Government. The problem is You have to Shoot Your way out. Keep Your Powder Dry.
Far too many people are putting too much emphasis on Twitter. Everyone is operating like it’s the one and only place where anything said actually means something. Twitter is NOT the last bastion of American free speech. It is infact a sewer that in my opinion should be shut down.
It is with astonishing irony that Twitter becomes the only method Trump has to get Truth out since our major media hates him so much that they can’t report anything productive at all. All while simultaneously using Twitter as ‘the voice of the people’.
They want to silence critics but it is perfectly ok to bash Trump to extremes that otherwise would cause the FBI to make arrests.
Whether you think any given gazette or forum is a sewer is irrelevant. A government official cannot rightfully silence or burden the exercise of 1A rights of petition of grievances.
It isn’t a government official blocking anything…..It’s Twitter doing the blocking
No, it’s not. He’s hiding the comments. You can do that on twitter (thus the message that author is hiding comments that pops up)
That’s not blocking
Their official statements, even on twitter, are part of the public record. It’s law.
I agree
You don’t have to agree. It’s settled law.
There shouldn’t be talk about a civil war when a revolution is necessary to stop the human rights violations the U.S. governments are doing. Right now it’s not as bad as other countries, but America shouldn’t wait until they are comparing themselves to South Africa.
If one does not understand the Left,they want the Constitution gone and will do anything to accomplish that goal,they have to in order to let their inner Nazi roar and enslave “We The People.”
And he hid mine, too. It was just “Looking forward to the censorship lawsuits.” With a link to an article about gov officials twitter accounts.
A liberal looks to squash the 1st Amendment, how very original, not so much…
Traitor to the U.S. Constitution and his constituents. Stage-IV colon cancer is too good for this guy.
Darkman,
It should be no surprise to anyone that a government, which abuses the masses, will never relinquish power until forced to do so.
It is the same dynamic as a family member who begins molesting a young female in the family. Once that family member settles in to repeated molestation without any repercussions, that family member will not relinquish that power until forced to do so.
Don’t think it’s just young females that pedies like, or settle into.
The main problem is voters are electing these politicians. The voters have created this mess.
Exactly Don,
Now dig further, unfortunately women are propping-up the Democrats.
Look at the Red vs Blue Maps when gender is over-layed. Just men and the map is 90% red. Just women and it is the opposite, deep blue.
Democrats understand this perfectly.
Conservatives look like the three monkeys when they see this.
Until this is acknowledged every battle will be a draw.
The condescension and arrogance this woman displayed left no doubt as to what she felt about her relationship with these people. You are the serfs and I am your lord.
While I find his online behavior abhorrent I also find it encouraging that he feels the need to behave in such a manner.
I think they’re finding this road a bit rougher than they expected. Will that stop them? Dunno. Is it a good sign that the road is, in fact, rough and getting rougher? Hell yes it is.
God am I sick of listening to social media addicts whining. Being blocked on Twitter has nothing to do with the first amendment you losers. If I put in headphones while you’re trying to talk to me does that mean I’m violating your rights?
Sounds like you’re advocating for public record to be edited in violation of law. Maybe a mod should edit your post and eliminate it or change it to say something else? Given your stated position, I’d expect you to not complain about that.
That’s exactly why I left Survivalblog after being a daily reader and commenter for eight years. Got tired of my comments appearing slightly altered after the obligatory waiting period after submitting, and found out that JWR mods and reads all comments, and edits many of them. After a private conversation with him, he explained that he mods/edits everyone’s comments so as to prevent anything contrary to his views from appearing on his site.
I politely informed him that I would be leaving and would never be back. And I’ve never gone back.
“If I put in headphones while you’re trying to talk to me does that mean I’m violating your rights?”
If you’re a politician, that is a hired public servant responsible to the people you represent, and you’re putting in the headphones specifically for the purpose of avoiding dealing with your constituents’ right to redress, then arguably yes, it’s a potential violation of the 1A depending on how exactly you want to parse the language of the 1A.
In the case of social media it’s more than that. Being blocked in such a way often means that other people cannot see what was posted. That’s interference with public discourse in a manner the headphones cannot accomplish.
That is, de facto, a government employee curtailing your ability to speak in public and that is a textbook definition of a 1A violation. It’s effectively the same as putting in your headphones while simultaneously muzzling the person you don’t want to listen to so that one else can listen to them either.
A private person blocking what they don’t want to hear is entirely different from a public official effectively silencing public discourse.
My old ears couldn’t make out what was said in the chamber, can some one offer a synopsis?
It’s tough to hear, yes, but other sources say the conversation is substantially like
“Are you going to stick around for the 25 gun nuts?”
“They are just like little kids”
“Do you think they will stay calm”
“Yeah, as long as we don’t respond to them”
I heard it a little differently;
(All with a strong British Accent)
Scribe: The peasants sir! The peasants are make noise!
Governor: The peasants, what are those ungrateful wretches stammering about now?
Scribe: They believe they have rights, sir.
Governor: Rights? The only rights they have is to serve the Government, Big Business and fight our wars. Nothing else.
Scribe: But Sir, they are grabbing pitch forks and lighting torches.
Governor: Fine, fine, give them a extra piece of coal, but quietly raise some other tax. Oh, and double the amount of Football games and Kardashian episodes. That should shut those wretches up!
(fade scene, open to Monty Python’s Holy Grail showing horseless knights galloping across the countryside to deal with the rabblerousers who dared to bother the Governor)
Thanks
Half the country pretending the other half doesn’t exist is sure to end well.
That one half believes, by experience, the other half will roll over and take it.
That is what happens when you take it for so long.
One half has 900 Billion rounds of ammo, the other can’t figger out what bathroom to use.
They support the First Amendment too, but…