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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-if-nobody-showed-up? dept.

Governor Rick Scott (R) has declared a state of emergency in the county where the University of Florida lay, due to a planned speech by Richard Spencer. According to NPR:

When Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida last month, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency. On Monday, he did the same thing in Alachua County, ahead of a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

"We live in a country where everyone has the right to voice their opinion, however, we have zero tolerance for violence and public safety is always our number one priority," Scott said in a statement. "This executive order is an additional step to ensure that the University of Florida and the entire community is prepared so everyone can stay safe."

"I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent," Scott declared in his executive order, noting that Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell had requested the state's assistance. The order will make it easier for various agencies to coordinate a security plan for Thursday's speech at the university.

[...] No campus group invited Spencer to speak, and the university is not hosting or sponsoring the event. Spencer's group, the National Policy Institute, is paying the university $10,564 for facility rental and security.

And it looks like it could get expensive:

The speech and accompanying protests are also a major expense: The university as well as state and local agencies expect to spend more than $500,000 to provide additional security.

And the University of Florida can't demand that Spencer pay the full cost of protecting him, because of a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement.

In that decision, the university explains, "the Court clarified that the government cannot assess a security fee on the speaker based upon the costs of controlling the reaction of potential hostile onlookers or protestors," under legal doctrine known as the "heckler's veto."

Well, that is the cost of free speech in a free country.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:48PM (8 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:48PM (#584157)

    Remember, every nation gets the government it deserves.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:50AM (7 children)

    by edIII (791) on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:50AM (#584325)

    Yeah, you know that we both highly disagree on that.

    Just like Trump, I don't take any responsibility for it. I've not enabled the corruption, and I vote with what really counts in this world; My Wallet.

    I find it awfully harsh to put the blame on the people. If we truly took it into our hands to do what is required, it would mean rising up and killing every politician, banker, and other member of the ruling class. At that point, I will agree with you that we get what we deserve. However, the reason why the people are oppressed, is that most people just don't have the sociopathic makeup to do it. We live in a world where regular people, that are people you could trust to act decently with humanity, are literally surrounded in a sea of sociopathic/psychopathic assholes hellbent (spiritually) on taking from the world whatever the fuck they want.

    Otherwise we get what they decide we are getting. Or are you going to try to convince me that the Electoral College is actual democracy? That we actually choose our political candidates again? You're right, it's not one big game of power, and the little people actually have sway ;p

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:59AM (6 children)

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:59AM (#584343)

      The blame always lies with the people. The people have the ultimate power, since they have the numbers. If the government isn't the peoples' responsibility, then whose is it? Some other country's? Aliens? Countries with good governments have them because their people took whatever actions needed to be taken to get to that state. Joseph de Maistre was absolutely right when he said that every nation gets the government it deserves.

      We live in a world where regular people, that are people you could trust to act decently with humanity, are literally surrounded in a sea of sociopathic/psychopathic assholes hellbent (spiritually) on taking from the world whatever the fuck they want.

      Yet there's plenty of countries where the government actually works reasonably well: there's a good rule of law, crime is low, public services are good and efficient, etc. Just look at Japan: excellent public transit, excellent infrastructure, no trash anywhere, violent crime is almost unheard of, great healthcare, extremely high standard of living, etc. And it's not just them, the Scandinavian countries have world-leading standards of living. None of these countries have high levels of corruption.

      Or are you going to try to convince me that the Electoral College is actual democracy?

      No decent country has direct democracy, unless you count Switzerland which still has a representative system, just with more referenda. In every highly-developed nation, they don't elect their executive at all; that position is elected by the parliament. Only countries with crappy governments even have "presidents": Russia, Turkey, El Salvador, etc. The Electoral College isn't the problem here, broken American culture is. (After all, if we were any good at governing, we would have fixed the EC problem somehow long ago, but instead we run around talking about how perfect and holy our Constitution is.)

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:42AM

        by driverless (4770) on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:42AM (#584478)

        No decent country has direct democracy, unless you count Switzerland which still has a representative system

        And only allowed women the vote in the 1980s and 1990s, and even then it was rigged so that men could override the women's votes (I can't remember the details, it was explained to me by a Swiss woman). In addition, women needed a man's permission to go out and buy things, and faced various other restrictions. In the 1970s, it was easier to be a woman in Iran than in Switzerland.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:38PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:38PM (#584504)

        Your example of Japan is not a good one.
        You point out their country NOW, but remember the atrocities they committed during WW2?
        Did the Japanese people suddenly change post WW2, or is it different leadership that is the result (plus the constitution the US forced on them after the war)?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:44PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:44PM (#584654)

          FWIW, the Japanese Government changed drastically after the war (e.g. your example of the constitution). I'd assume their culture changed quite a bit too, but that's a less easily defined question.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:47PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:47PM (#584513) Journal

        So Americans should revolt, then? We agree.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:28PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:28PM (#584950)

          So Americans should revolt, then?

          Aren't they already? Surely the president is...

        • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday October 20 2017, @12:35AM

          by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday October 20 2017, @12:35AM (#585018)

          They *did* revolt: they elected Trump (plus GOP politicians in a sweep at all levels). So as I said before, every nation gets the government it deserves.