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Quote of the Day: Freedom of Speech
“Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality.” – Ben Shapiro
Are we there yet? Has thought crime become a reality? It seems that way. Our freedoms are now under siege as they never have been before. An NFL quarterback is made to apologize for issuing a patriotic thought. A distinguished legal scholar at a New York University is fighting to keep his job because he expresses doubts about the BLM movement. And people everywhere are made to deny what they are seeing before their eyes — that they are witnessing rioting and looting, not peaceful protests.
The madness will continue until November. Even then it will not end unless those peddling lies, the Cancel Culture, is slapped down decisively at the polls. If not, the American Republic may go the way of the Roman Republic.
Published in General
Adding to my thoughts on another post, the Constitution gives us authority to speak our mind and to be responsible for that speech. And it also gives others the right to do the same, to debate us, etc. The first, like the second, is not mired in technical definitions of what they mean. They had speech, which was similar to our own, if you can read historical writings from 230 years ago, or so. They also had guns that had specifications. The founders were, actually more concerned with what “is” is than the definition of a specific weapon. The first two amendments, which protect the rest, are very good, clear, technical writing. They are the more inclusive than all the current people realize.
You have the right, if you choose to use it is another matter.
We are seeing a rising group of Greta/Karens, that is for sure. And they are bullies. I would hope there will be a line held and reinforcements coming in to counter what is going on.
Been there already. Hate crime laws, aside and apart from the underlying act to be punished, are basically aimed at “thought.”
No pollster has to be close to being right until the final poll prior to Election Day in order to maintain their credibility, so any poll between now and late October can be taken with a grain of salt. But it is interesting that while the Real Clear Politics poll average shows Biden with about an eight point lead on Trump, Zogby’s poll of who people think will win in November shows an eight-point lead for Trump.
Sixteen points is a pretty big gap, and unless Joe Biden voters are more pessimistic about Joe Biden than even hardcore Trump supporters are, some pollsters are either fudging the numbers or are getting misleading replies to their questions.
The betting markets favor Trump. The wisdom of crowds?
Have a look at these polls from 2016:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html
Some of the earlier polls had Clinton with a lead in the teens, one poll at +24. Polls are used to drive opinion, not reflect it.
I, for one, look forward to our new mind-reading reptilian overlords. 🐍
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In the current era of cancel culture, job losses and doxxing from offering up the wrong thoughts to the wrong people, the wisdom here may be in not telling some random person who calls up who they’re voting for, while the question of who they think is going to win doesn’t directly go to political preference. So it’s safer to say you think Trump will win than it potentially is to tell anyone you don’t know very well that you’re voting for Trump.
Taking a knee before another person and being forced to deny reality and signs of fascism.
I hate to say it, but right now RealClearPolitics is showing Biden 52.6%/Trump 43.6% in the betting odds.
I am old enough to remember when the Left claimed to support freedom of speech and to be the enemy of all censorship.
(from the excellent Calvin & Muad’Dib which really ought to be better known.)
That’s what I was saying originally — there’s a huge gap between those numbers and the numbers when people are asked who is going to win. Going by those RCP figures, about 8.5 percent of those saying they’re voting for Biden think Trump will win. I suppose that high a level of pessimism is possible, but it comes across as odd.
I think that’s implicit in the designation.