Comments on: Gagging Parler, based in a Las Vegas suburb, maybe not the best idea

By: William P. Barrett

William P. Barrett — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:59:38 +0000

In reply to Kevin Kelley. Kevin, a fair view. But Trump hasn't been convicted of anything yet.

By: Kevin Kelley

Kevin Kelley — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:26:22 +0000

Hey Bill, doesn’t the definition of sedition include INCITING the overthrow or disruption of the government? I think Trump is guilty of sedition regardless of what the mob accomplished. No?

By: William P. Barrett

William P. Barrett — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:15:18 +0000

In reply to Catherine C Robbins. Cathy, I have seen no evidence that more than a small number of Parler users engaged in planning unlawful acts. Amazon's hosting service identified a mere 93 quetionable messages, out of something like 2.5 million daily users. The codebreakers in World War II were trying to read speech, not stop it, but at least that was a declared war.

By: Catherine C Robbins

Catherine C Robbins — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:04:57 +0000

Bill, I believe in letting the bad guys speak, mostly because that’s a handy way to keep track of what they’re saying and doing. I stop short, however, of speech that encourages violence, overthrow of the government, and other acts. The Allies developed cadres of code-breakers to stop enemies from sending messages to each other and the world. They even relied on Native Americans to employ their languages to listen to the enemy and to halt their electronic spying. We were at war and however imperfect, these strategies involved stopping speech. Our country is now at war, or at least being warred upon, despite law enforcement’s denials before last week. The enemy is using toxic messages to pursue that war and to encourage mayhem. This is a time when we just have to interrupt speech, at least for awhile.