Thought the slew of anti-protest bills had slowed since early last year? Well, not exactly: the National Lawyers Guild now counts 58 anti-protest bills introduced in 31 states since November 2016, and while a lot of these are the same bills from last year, now anti-government groups like ALEC are getting into the business of writing them. The bill prohibiting protests near "critical infrastructure" that passed in Oklahoma last year, for example? ALEC is exporting that legislation as we speak, as well as "campus free speech" bills like the one that passed in Wisconsin, bills that naturally curtail the free speech of protestors. Gosh, can't anyone defend themselves against criticism anymore?
Right-wing Florida state legislator says the Miami and Tampa sports authorities should cancel Lorde concerts because she supports the BDS movement aimed at getting Israel to withdraw from Palestine. I suspect Mr. Fine rather overinterprets state law (which I still believe to be constitutional, though odious), and he does so not because he believes in law and order, or even because he thinks Israel does no wrong -- he does so because the only thing a right-winger can do anymore is get in swordfights with other right-wingers. And he'll never lose an election until he runs against a populist liberal.
Scott Shackford at Reason finds a pair of Alabama law enforcement poobahs who oppose efforts to reform that state's asset forfeiture laws. I'll admit that when I encountered these guys saying police would have to arrest more people and also that police would arrest fewer people in successive paragraphs, I was tempted to say hey, Jonah Goldberg called, and he wants his imploding argument machine back. Mr. Shackford's work picking apart the lies of the pro-asset forfeiture crowd also rewards careful study.
We asked for it, and we got it: the FCC Inspector General will investigate FCC Chair Ajit Pai to see whether his agency's loosening of media consolidation rules constituted a "sweetheart deal" for Sinclair Broadcasting. Dig the FCC spokeshack suggesting that Mr. Pai's loosening, ahem, modernizing of media consolidation rules couldn't possibly be corrupt because he's been calling for those rule changes for years! Never mind what he might actually have said to Sinclair! Also, too, what are "the merits of his proposals"? I guess, for this FCC spokeshack, assertion equals proof.
Finally, I wish it were a more surprising development that a Nazi wannabe group in Florida said they let the accused Parkland, FL high school shooter train with them a bit, but of course the so-called Republic of Florida needs all the attention it can get, and of course in the Trump era groups like these no longer feel ashamed of their sincere desire to take rights away from other people or air their whiny grievances against women and Jews. Still, it might have been smarter for them to clam up, so that Dear Leader can continue to tell everyone that brown people commit all the terrorism. Anyway, let's never mention the Republic of Florida again.
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