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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.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:23PM (15 children)
20 out of the last 30 aristarchus submissions have been rejected.
If there's something you'd like to see, I would suggest you submit it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:35PM (12 children)
And it is OK, because The Morgataged Buzzwinder is countering by having Mr Plow submit massive submissions about massive boobies. True journalism, just like Soylentils have come to expect from directed bots.
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:47PM (7 children)
They were each and every one scientific or technological in nature and published within the past month. And I added not one word of bias of my own to any of them. I think you're just a mammophobe.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:43AM (6 children)
So I take a knee, so to speak, when the eds cave in to an unreconstructed Republican from the Nations, by posting "No Comment" several times, and I get spam modded. The Miniscule Brossard submits tons, literally, tons, of boobie articles, and this is not spam? All we are asking for it for someone to give Richard Spencer a real job so he does not have to resort to such grandstanding to make a living, much as we could make a case for Milo, Ann what's-her-name, and Sarah Not-from-the-Terminator_movie, and all the other conservative grifters. And point out to TMB that he is out of his league. Boobies! I expected a more intellectual rebuttal, one not so obvious.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:16AM (2 children)
Correct. Every last one of those articles were legit, recent science or tech articles without any of my own bias added. I made very certain of it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:31AM (1 child)
Still boobie spam. Kind of the worst kind. For a while I worked in a magazine store. We had a section where the Gents would pick out their selection of "books", as they called them. The church people made the shop corral all the pron into a small area, not visible from outside, which we called "the steam room", lest the ministers be tittilated. In fact, I distinctly remember one day when the head of the Chamber of Commerce came through the door, and I shouted out, "Hey, Mr ***! We just got the latest issue of . . " I stopped in mid-sentence as his wife and children walked through the door, an unusual event. But, not missing a beat, I continued, "of National Geographic! I saved you a copy!" He was very appreciative, especially since what I originally was going to say was, "the latest issue of "Big Boobs and Jugs", a publication of far lower educational value.
But this is how it goes. TMB has his preferences, which seems to be boobs and fascism. aristarchus has his, which seems to be ancient Greek philosophy, or just philosophy, and anti-fascism. So the question is, does SoylentNews have room for both! And can SoylentNews not discriminate against philosophy, in favor of mammalaries? Only time will tell.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:00AM
I stopped reading after this:
There's no point speaking with someone who lives in a mental world so far removed from reality.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:15PM (2 children)
Disclaimer: what follows are my personal views and are not to be taken as an official position of SoylentNews.
Last things first: I started yesterday with the discovery I had no hot water with which to take a shower. I had a very challenging and exhausting day at work. When I finally got home and looked at the story queue, I noticed there were only two stories left — there would be no stories on the site in a few hours unless more submissions were processed. I summoned my last bits of energy and managed to promote 5 submissions to stories. That left us with nothing scheduled after 1011 UTC. Could stay awake no longer and went to bed.
I woke at 1000 UTC, and even though it was my day off, roused myself enough to look at the story queue only to see that it was unchanged. Still half-asleep, I found 3 stories that I edited and promoted to the site as stories. I went back to bed but was unable to fall back to sleep, so I am still running on empty.
Ahem. There were seven submissions. I know not what measurement system was intended, but none that I know of considers seven of anything to be 'literal tons'. Further, even though those stories were submitted and available, I selected none of them for posting to the site this morning. At this juncture they remain exactly that: submissions. Just because something was submitted does not entitle it to posting to the site. That also goes for me: I've had story submissions declined, too.
History: I was reading slashdot before they even implemented nicks/UIDs. I'd look at that site several times a day. Commented frequently, but rarely submitted stories as I don't recall any of my submissions making it to the main page. The 'corporate overlords' had gone too far, in my estimation, when they referred to us as 'the audience'. As difficult as it was, I participated in the slashcott. Got wind of an alternate site being created, and created an account here at SoylentNews before it went live. Less than a week after we opened up to the world, I came on board as a developer. Established a niche doing QA, which I continue doing to this day. After posting several story corrections on IRC, I suggested it would be easier for the team if they made me an editor so I could fix things directly. So, only two months after SoylentNews come into existence, I became an editor on the site. In that time, I have posted 4300 stories [soylentnews.org]. In my limited, spare time. As a volunteer — nobody at SoylentNews has been paid for their efforts here.
SoylentNews was founded to provide the community a place to have reasoned discourse and discussion. Generally with a nerd/tech/science perspective, but not exclusively so. I have learned so much reading stories that lie outside of my areas of expertise and interest. I might have nothing to contribute to the discussion, but I am grateful to learn about discoveries in other fields.
As an editor, I was warned that I would need to develop a thick skin. That filled me with dread, foreboding, and anxiety. But I soldiered on nonetheless. I have made many mistakes along the way, and the community has quite rightly held me to task for them. I owned my mistakes, publicly. I grew and learned a great deal through that process.
What I look for in a story submission is something that, based on my experience, will be of interest to the community — something that will enlighten — ideally with a tech/science/nerd angle. Reasoned discourse, educated exposition, thought-provoking stories catch my eye. Humor, too! I'm a sucker for a good double entendre or well-crafted pun. If you do not want me to consider your story, be sure to use lots of exclamation points!!1!eleventy! Be shrill and inflammatory!!! Scream and yell!!
I've read that one course of action for lawyers in court is to follow this legal adage [quoteinvestigator.com]: “When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither is on you side, pound the table.”
Table pounding does not impress me. Employing that technique suggests to me the submitter's inability or unwillingness to provide reasoned support for their argument. Having to descend to such artifices only supports the thesis that if one cannot win someone over with the facts, try bludgeoning them with bravado. By way of comparison, I try to remain mindful of this adage [quoteinvestigator.com]: "If you speak when angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret."
tl;dr When bemoaning treatment at the hand of 'the eds', realize that includes the editor who accepted this story, and the other story you complained about in your journal. The one who saw the seven 'boobies submissions' and ignored those. Criticizing someone who has accepted your submissions is not a winning strategy.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:10PM (1 child)
My critique is not aimed at the editors, and especially not at you, martyb!!!!!! (That takyon, on the other hand, sometimes he just . . . ) And we're just trying to catapult the hyperbole here, after all, since there are Nazis speaking at a Florida University. Get some sleep, martyb!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:40PM
I don't take marching orders from TheMightyBuzzard. If an editor deletes a submission of yours, you should complain about that editor, not TMB.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:39AM (1 child)
Actually, there aren't massive submissions about massive boobies. In fact, one of the articles suggests that massive boobies are going out of style. My own preference for something like a natural 36-C seems to be moving up in popularity. And, another article says that women are checking out other women's boobs - it's not just a man thing.
Did you bother to click the links?
Or - maybe you're just a mysogenist who hates women and their boobs? Did a big busted woman abuse you during your early life, Ari?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:09AM
No, you perv. I do not come to SoylentNews for pron, and thanks goodness I do not. I am udderly disgusted!!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:33PM (1 child)
Well, you're doing it wrong. Make sure the story you're submitting is a legit geek topic and put your English on the ball at the end of the submission. I have slipped endless juvenile references and asinine quips past the editors that way. :-)
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:58PM
Indeed. It's a tried and true formula. I've attempted to clue him in on it but he insists that the entire summary drip with snark.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:36PM (1 child)
If Ari submitted his articles on dead tree paper, at least there would be something to wrap garbage with. Or fish. Or, something to start a fire with.
This damned fool Spencer wouldn't even be a thing, if the left weren't busy throwing fuel on the fire. But, that whole "alt-right" thing fits their narrative, so they pump the gasoline as fast as they can.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:39AM
Exactly this. Statistically no one buys into the super-authoritarian vision of totalitarianism by someone with the same white skin tone as their own. There are unfortunately plenty of idiots out there willing to be useful.