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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 26 2017, @06:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the chilling-effect dept.

ACLU* national legal director David Cole warns that this new piece of legislation is a serious problem to free speech. He says that just discussing the boycott of Israel could land you in prison for 20 years and fined $1 million.

The right to boycott has a long history in the United States, from the American Revolution to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Montgomery bus boycott to the campaign for divestment from businesses serving apartheid South Africa. Nowadays we celebrate those efforts. But precisely because boycotts are such a powerful form of expression, governments have long sought to interfere with them — from King George III to the police in Alabama, and now to the U.S. Congress.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, legislation introduced in the Senate by Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and in the House by Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.), would make it a crime to support or even furnish information about a boycott directed at Israel or its businesses called by the United Nations, the European Union or any other "international governmental organization." Violations would be punishable by civil and criminal penalties of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison. The American Civil Liberties Union, where we both work, takes no position for or against campaigns to boycott Israel or any other foreign country. But since our organization's founding in 1920, the ACLU has defended the right to collective action. This bill threatens that right.

As a European myself I find it very strange that such a law can ever be officially proposed. And in the US of all countries where the freedom of speech in codified in the constitution.

What do you make of it?

*American Civil Liberties Union


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday July 26 2017, @07:10PM (18 children)

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Wednesday July 26 2017, @07:10PM (#544806) Journal

    introduced… by Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and… Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.)

    A bipartisan proposal! Obviously Israel has been captured by the lizard people!

    David Icke assures us (in my interpretation) that the lizard people are an intelligent species that evolved around a star called Thuban, little over 300 ly away, and that they have formed a technological civilization capable of bending spacetime and traveling through the cosmic Bulk into a 4th spatial dimension perpendicular to the 3 more familiar spatial dimensions of back-forward, up-down, and left-right. Personally, I call it über-hinter, since I need to call it something when playing the odd game out there with 4 spatial dimensions, but whatever.

    Depending on how your draw your quadrants, Thuban (also known as α Draconis) and its lizard people are right here in the Alpha Quadrant, busy following the general pre-first contact procedures recommended by the Galactic Federation based on Earth's initial membership application, a rather charming broadcast of a global athletic festival, that was picked up by the listening post around Barnard's Star (an instrument that must is almost unimaginably sensitive, but to a caveman, the Very Large Array for example is unimaginably sensitive).

    That aside, Icke emphatically makes sure that we all understand that “lizard people” is not simply a euphemism for a certain much-maligned religious and ethnic group.

    I just wanted to make that clear….

    Because I am supposed to believe as an American that an insular, xenophobic nation that believes it represents Yahweh's elect and chosen people, in a very real political sense, and may speak for an entire ethnic group the world over is capable of no backroom dealing and capable of no evil.

    Clearly, it's the lizard people.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @07:59PM (11 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @07:59PM (#544833)

    (D-Md.)

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has recently come up with a "Better Deal" platform where he tries to convince gullible USAians that it's something like FDR's New Deal or Jill Stein's Green New Deal.

    It's quite hollow in that it doesn't address the REAL problem that The Donkeys have (their continual pursuit of Oligarchs' money).

    .
    the lizard people

    "take me to your Lizard" (Courtesy of Douglas Adams) [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [futurismic.com]

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 1, Troll) by HiThere on Wednesday July 26 2017, @10:21PM (9 children)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 26 2017, @10:21PM (#544894) Journal

      My opinion of Jill Stein has been irremediably damaged by her recommendation that Green Party supporters vote for Trump. I now consider anything she supports as suspicious baring further evidence.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @10:50PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @10:50PM (#544907)

        Citation needed.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @02:23AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @02:23AM (#544968)
        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday July 28 2017, @04:17PM (1 child)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 28 2017, @04:17PM (#545829) Journal

          Sorry, I can't remember the cite. It was right before the election when she said, approximately, "vote for Trump". She didn't exactly endorse him, but she said it was clear she wasn't going to win, so those who support her should vote for Trump. You might call it "praising with faint damns". Previous to that comment I'd been considering voting for her since it was clear that Hillary was going to win in my state anyway. Afterwards I started wondering if she was a Russian agent. (Yeah, pretty weak evidence, but I wondered.)

          I'll agree with anyone who says that Hillary was a horrible choice, but after that I held my nose and voted for her as the least bad of the four major parties.

          --
          Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @05:50PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @05:50PM (#546350)

            This is not evidence that towards the end of the campaign she didn't suggest voting for Trump

            ...but, as the link to Snopes by AC#544968 clearly indicates, Jill has -always- said **Vote for Jill**.
            Any other interpretation of some statement by Jill (by lousy media or by you) is simply wrong.

            she was less happy with the idea of Hillary as president that with the idea of Trump

            Heh. I may say that piss soup is less awful than turd soup but that doesn't mean that I recommend either.

            N.B. You need to vet your sources of information better and weed out the junk.

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:01AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:01AM (#544985)

        A view from outside the USA: Jill Stein was correct.
        However bad Trump may be, Clinton would have been worse.
        You can stand a loud, boorish fool, a few silly decisions, and a fair bit of corruption. The corruption is standard, and silly noises don't really hurt anyone.
        Clinton would either already, or very soon, have been at war with Iran. And that is a whole different level of pain. Iran is not just another bunch of 'sand niggers' you can drop bombs on with impunity. It would be a long hot war with lots of casualities on both sides and massive amounts of money and power for the MIC.
        Trumps increase in military spending is probably compensation for missing out on the US-Iran war.

        • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:49AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:49AM (#545002)

          ...except that HiThere was completely wrong.
          He has terrible sources of information and does a lousy job of vetting those.

          As AC#544968 notes via a link to Snopes, Jill's actual advice was **Vote for Jill. The Reds and The Blues have awful candidates.**

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

          • (Score: 3, Disagree) by HiThere on Friday July 28 2017, @04:35PM

            by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 28 2017, @04:35PM (#545845) Journal

            She certainly criticized both Trump and Hillary multiple times while campaigning. This is not evidence that towards the end of the campaign she didn't suggest voting for Trump. and I saw a report that she did. I do wish I could remember the context, but there was so much political garbage flooding everything that there's no chance I kept a link, and small chance that if I had it would still be valid.

            I just did a brief search, and wasn't able to find the exact article I read, though I did find several where she *indicated* that she was less happy with the idea of Hillary as president that with the idea of Trump. It was in one of those where she was saying the Hillary would be more likely to cause nuclear war.

            --
            Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:00PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:00PM (#545197)

        irremediably

        Huh - this is actually a word. I was wondering if you meant "irredeemably" or something.

        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday July 28 2017, @04:21PM

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 28 2017, @04:21PM (#545831) Journal

          You got me. Somehow I missed noticing that even after posting.

          --
          Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @04:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @04:34PM (#545255)

      Trump's Raw Deal.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:42PM (#544859)

    Because I am supposed to believe as an American that an insular, xenophobic nation that believes it represents Yahweh's elect and chosen people, in a very real political sense, and may speak for an entire ethnic group the world over is capable of no backroom dealing and capable of no evil.

    Stop making fun of America! [relevantmagazine.com] Oh wait you were talking about Israel... Carry on.

  • (Score: 1) by nnet on Thursday July 27 2017, @12:51AM (4 children)

    by nnet (5716) on Thursday July 27 2017, @12:51AM (#544943)

    Judaism is an ethnicity?

    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:06AM (3 children)

      by deimtee (3272) on Thursday July 27 2017, @03:06AM (#544987) Journal

      It is an ethnicity, a religion, a race, a political system, or whatever is most convenient at the time.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
      • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday July 27 2017, @04:46AM (2 children)

        by jmorris (4844) on Thursday July 27 2017, @04:46AM (#545010)

        I put it a little different but yea, you are on the right track.

        Jews are quantum beings. Religion, ethnicity, nation? Yes. And No. And sometimes "It Depends". They can even be "white" or "not white" as best suits the Jew in question at the moment. They especially like being "white" when pontificating in MSM outlets and such about "what 'our' values are." You can even become a Jew if you marry one and a Jew can decide they aren't a Jew anymore.... until they decide differently. It is very confusing.

        One thing we do know, publishing a meme illustrating just how many work for CNN will enrage them to the point of threatening to dox some nobody on reddit. Do not collapse their wave function dude, it harshes their mellow something awful. So do not attempt to observe them closely. One must never NOTICE them. You may see a Jew, you can occasionally see some Jews, you must never SEE them.

        • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @05:42AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @05:42AM (#545020)

          Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

          He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

          He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

          Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.