Discussion:
Wisconsin's shame: How free is free speech in America?
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Liberals Just Keep Making The News
2015-10-21 20:30:44 UTC
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In a democracy, citizens must be able to criticize their
leaders. It’s a reason America’s founders put free speech in the
Bill of Rights. I assumed that right is safe in the United
States. So I was shocked to learn what happened in Wisconsin.

Before dawn, Deborah Jordahl was awakened by the sound of cops
banging on her front door. She rushed downstairs before police
used their battering ram to break the door down. The officers
then said her household was under criminal investigation.

They ordered Deborah and her son Adam to step aside while they
took her family’s computers, cellphones and files. They also
told her, don’t talk to anyone about this investigation! If you
do, you may be jailed!

They wouldn’t tell her why.

We like to think speech is free, but when government can
investigate you for possibly violating countless little rules,
and then order you to shut up, it censors without the public
even knowing.

School buses drove by. Neighbors wondered what was going on at
the Jordahl house.

Deborah’s son told me, “People came up to me at school and said,
‘Hey, what happened at your house this morning?’” He couldn’t
legally answer.

No one in the family was allowed to explain that Deborah works
as a political consultant, that she supported Gov. Scott Walker
and limited government. Now, political incumbents who like big
government were investigating her for possible violation of
Wisconsin’s campaign finance rules.

Modern campaign rules are so complex no one is certain what is
legal. Yet one misstep is enough to get accused not just of bad
political arguments, but also of “collusion” and racketeering.
Raise money for a cause you believe in and get close to
politicians you favor, and you may be accused of funneling
illicit money to their campaigns.

In Wisconsin, prosecutors may also impose what’s called the
“John Doe” rule: Don’t tell anyone that you’re being
investigated, not even your kids, your spouse and definitely not
the media.

Prosecutors claim secrecy is needed to “protect privacy” of
people under investigation -- if charges are dropped, no one
need know that you had been accused. But in truth, says Eric
O’Keefe, another limited-government activist who Wisconsin
prosecutors investigated, “This is about shutting us up. That’s
all it is. It is a speech suppression play.”

It’s also a way for political insiders to punish their
opponents. O’Keefe is a Republican, and the lead prosecutor,
Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm, is a Democrat, but
two Republican insiders signed off on the raids, too. “I take
cold comfort in having my constitutional rights trampled by both
parties,” says O’Keefe.

We who support smaller government expect retaliation from
incumbent politicians. But children shouldn’t be punished.
Sixteen year-old Noah Johnson was home alone when cops banged on
his family’s door at dawn. His parents left early that morning.

Noah was scared because he had no idea what was going on. “I’m
looking around outside. There are flashlights everywhere.”

He wanted to call his parents, which sounds responsible, but,
“They didn’t let me call anyone -- I was not able to call a
lawyer.”

Hours later, they allowed him to leave for school, but again
warned him not to tell anyone about the police!

“I was two hours late for school,” he told me, but “there’s no
way you can explain it to anyone.” When his teacher asked why he
was late, all he could say was, “I cannot say.”

Every John Doe suspect had to live the nightmare of knowing that
the state was investigating them or their family members but
that they were forbidden by the government to say what the
family had done that might be forbidden by the government.

This forced silence lasted five years, until Wisconsin’s Supreme
Court finally ordered the Joe Doe investigations stopped, saying
prosecutors used “theories of law that do not exist.”

But political incumbents didn’t have to win convictions to
achieve what I assume was one of their goals: silencing
opponents during political campaigns.

We like to think speech is free, but when government can
investigate you for possibly violating countless little rules,
and then order you to shut up, it censors without the public
even knowing.

Campaign finance rules -- and the political incumbents and
prosecutor-bullies who manipulate them -- are a major threat to
our freedom.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/10/21/wisconsins-shame-how-
free-is-free-speech.html?intcmp=trending
Rudy Canoza
2015-10-21 21:08:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by Liberals Just Keep Making The News
In a democracy, citizens must be able to criticize their
leaders. It’s a reason America’s founders put free speech in the
Bill of Rights. I assumed that right is safe in the United
States. So I was shocked to learn what happened in Wisconsin.
Before dawn, Deborah Jordahl was awakened by the sound of cops
banging on her front door. She rushed downstairs before police
used their battering ram to break the door down. The officers
then said her household was under criminal investigation.
They ordered Deborah and her son Adam to step aside while they
took her family’s computers, cellphones and files. They also
told her, don’t talk to anyone about this investigation! If you
do, you may be jailed!
Bullshit.
Post by Liberals Just Keep Making The News
They wouldn’t tell her why.
We like to think speech is free, but when government can
investigate you for possibly violating countless little rules,
and then order you to shut up, it censors without the public
even knowing.
School buses drove by. Neighbors wondered what was going on at
the Jordahl house.
Deborah’s son told me, “People came up to me at school and said,
‘Hey, what happened at your house this morning?’” He couldn’t
legally answer.
Bullshit.

They should have told the whole world about it, and let the state try to
prosecute them. Then they sue in federal court for a violation of their
first amendment free speech rights. Don't these people have any courage?
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