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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:15AM (1 child)
That's the beauty, it only takes a small presence to influence people's attitudes, then you just let it become "organic". Basically all the people that immediately blame the "other" group are total suckers. Whatever "side" shouldn't matter, corruption is a bipartisan affair. Conservatives and liberals in Florida should all be marching on the capitol demanding the governor end the state of emergency and simply deploy more police during the event. Lock up any rioters, but don't dare touch any innocents.
It'll take time, but a transparent and accountable government is the only way forward.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rylyeh on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:23AM
I think the 'State of Emergency' is a cheap way to get Florida's national guard to augment the police presence, and get some extra federal money.
"a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."