Republican Thought Speech Police
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Bruce Schneier and John Penney argue that the actions of the Trump maladministration are having a chilling effect on the exercise of freedom of speech. Their article focuses on college campuses, but methinks it extends much further. Here’s a tiny bit from their article:
Research suggests that surveillance, personal threats, uncertainty and abuse of power are key factors in doing so. The federal government has a clear and systematic pattern of employing these very mechanisms across a number of domains far beyond campuses.
They are evident in militarized raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and in journalists being arrested and indicted for reporting on protests. They are made clear in the long list of political enemies the Trump administration has investigated or threatened, including the Federal Reserve chairman. And they can also be seen in the weaponization of technology, including ramping up surveillance to target critics and protestors.
