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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: 2) by mth on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:08PM (5 children)
A quick read of the last two links does not match the connection that the summary makes: the heckler's veto case was decided against the speaker, so the violent crowd got the speaker silenced. Many people would consider that an undesirable situation, but it is considered legal by that precedent. And it has no connection to who has to pay for security, as far as I can see, since that links to an entirely different case.
(Score: 2) by mth on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:10PM (4 children)
Argh, why don't I see this on preview, but spot it 1 second after submitting...
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:29PM (1 child)
At least it wasn't "ANAL"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:04PM
At least it wasn't "ANAL"
I'm pretty sure iANAL(tm) has come with with nearly every Apple product for more than at least the last five years!
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:49PM
No need to be anal over a little thing like a typo.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:19AM
Paging AssCork!
(Score: 2) by boxfetish on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:21AM
There is something deliciously ironic about a Governor, who himself deserves to have a state of emergency declared about his governorship, passing judgement upon another in this manner.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:47AM (10 children)
Today is Thursday so lets see how this little event turns out, I'm still willing to bet that the winner here is going to be Mr Spencer. For just $10k he pulls out all of the loony-left and gets nation wide attention. All he has to do is to show up, hold his little speech and then go back to Washington or Montana, I seem to recall that is where he actually lives. One can assume that the leftwing extremists will follow the standard, and predictable, script they usually follow with a protest that eventually turns violent or have to in some way be contained by police. Normal people won't understand them cause they don't see a Nazi in everything like the leftwing extremists do and Spencer will just have gotten some next to free publicity again and by not engaging in violence or a massive protest that have to be contained by police or a state of emergency so Spencer will come off as the sane one.
I recall an interview that Spencer did around the election, don't recall now exactly if it was before or after, but he basically stated that he loved the left (and the whole #blacklives-crowd) due to their predictability. They are so easy to manipulate and he didn't have to really do anything cause they would do all the heavy lifting for him. Every time they call every white person a Nazi white people start to wonder, they don't see themselves as Nazis so they start to think that the leftwing extremists are insane and want to distance themselves from them. Every time they talk about race it is a similar response, apparently it's great to be anything but white and this drives normal white people away from the left. After all if you can have black/brown/yellow/whatever-colour pride or lives that matter but it can't ever be white that drives white people away. Either into the arms of Spencer or just away from the left which is still a win for Spencer, worst case it just drives them into apathy and that still ain't bad for Spencer either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:09PM (9 children)
Consider the role of NPR and Soylent in flogging this guys message. Everybody has known that the way to deal with to ignore them, and offer an alternative message. Instead NPR wants to validate the ultra-right message by dramatizing it on their air.
This trend reflects a serious change in the domestic political landscape. When people start demanding you pick a side, the people to fight are the ones who are making those demands. And while it may be NPR, and some jackass right wing fundamentalist in Florida, both are shilling for the DNC/RNC alliance.
Yes they say different things. That is how the two man con works.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by meustrus on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:45PM (2 children)
You say it's an NPR thing, but all the networks are doing it. It's only surprising that the usually-more-sane network is falling into the same journalistic sinkhole.
But we already knew where journalism is going. Just look at the coverage of mass shootings, something that really shouldn't be all that partisan. And yet every media outlet immediately sensationalizes it every time it happens, practically keeping a scorecard for "greatest mass shooting evar". Yeah, potential mass shooters really lap that shit up. The next one will go even bigger and soak in that delicious spot on the mass shooting leaderboards.
It's a message that perpetuates tragedy in exchange for ratings. It's been going on for decades now. Don't pretend it's any different just because this time the story is explicitly coming from your side of politics.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:25PM (1 child)
"but all the networks are doing it"
Yes they are. That should be an indicator. What of I wonder?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @10:50AM
That they are drawn to controversy like flies to honey?
(Score: 2, Troll) by arcz on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:31PM (5 children)
Taking a side on the free speech issue is not the same as taking a side with regard to what is said in that speech.
I can support the law of Free Speech without supporting what the speaker is saying. Antifa does not even respect the idea of Free Speech.
Antifa is most dangerous because they do not respect the rights of others or the law. We must protect the Neo-Nazis not because we agree with them but because we must protect them from those that would extinguish their free speech rights, which were given by the constitution to EVERYONE, not just the people we agree with. In particular, this means Antifa is the enemy of anyone who believes in the constitution because Antifa responds to offensive speech with violence.
It's possible disagree with Neo-Nazis, agree with the basic point Antifa is making and still come out on the side of the Neo-Nazis because you recognize that the first amendment isn't just more important, it's WAY more important.
(Score: 2, Troll) by meustrus on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:26PM (2 children)
Yes, clearly Antifa is evil because it responds to offensive speech with violence. Those neo-nazi groups, meanwhile, are not evil because when they assault and murder black people it has nothing to do with their free speech rights at all.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:27PM (1 child)
Bzzzzt! You are penalized ten Internets for putting words in his mouth that directly contradict what he said just above you.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0, Troll) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:45PM
No, I think he had it right! That is what the little Nazi sympathizer was trying to say.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday October 20 2017, @12:58AM (1 child)
I would mod up if I had points. The more awful the speech the more it needs to be protected because you never know who will define awful in the future.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday October 20 2017, @04:05AM
You don't have points because you don't support the Dem agenda. It's very hard for the patriots on this site! As you know because you are one. They suppressed my story about #Gainesville. In which I tried to tell people (white & white-positive) how to get tickets. So today there were a lot, a lot of empty seats at the event. Sad! And a lot of rude people. They shouted, they raised their fists, they were very insulting to @RichardBSpencer. Trying to ruin his event. Critics, I call them pathetic babies! No one has ever achieved anything significant without a chorus of critics standing on the sidelines explaining why it can't be done. Nothing is easier or more pathetic than being a critic, because they're people that can't get the job done. #MAGA 🇺🇸
(Score: 1, Troll) by meustrus on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:01PM (27 children)
Damn people. Can't you see that this is just yet another example of money speaking? Nobody wants this guy to speak except himself and outside forces. Nobody wants him around at all. And yet, because he can rent the building, he can not only claim a "free speech" platform, he can put the locals on the hook for massive security expenses. Security expenses that - let's be honest - are going to save the man's life.
He's paying to walk into an extremely hostile environment to spread an extremely unpopular message, and he expects everyone around him to bend over backwards to keep the locals from killing him for it. What a fucking entitled prick.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 1, Troll) by arcz on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:56PM (26 children)
Got off your fucking high horse you douchebag. The man has a right to free speech. Maybe if the local community wasn't so unruly then the local community wouldn't need to pay so much for security.
The real villains here are the Antifa, a fascist terrorist group that harasses people for their speech. I'd bet you're a member. Go fuck yourself.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:00PM (7 children)
So, too many of them in that community? As in, non-whites? Unruly people who might feel threatened by a white supremacist? Yeah, it is all their fault.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by arcz on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:16PM (6 children)
Yes it is. If you feel threatened by speech and become violent in response to speech you lack self control. People who are so primitive and uncivilized that they can't avoid responding to speech with violence are the worst of scum of society and ought to be locked up to protect the rest of us from them.
(Score: 2) by http on Wednesday November 01 2017, @01:37AM (5 children)
Threats are speech. Not responding to a credible threat is suicidal behaviour.
It's obvious you're a white supremacist. People need protecting from you. Ask yourself if I'm still civilized if I threaten to burn down your house - or tell everyone that you deserve a good hanging because everyone knows everyone with a username starting with a vowel downmods everyone with a username that doesn't. Still high on your "all speech should be free" delusion? Or would I actually have to threaten your life in person to make you think clearly?
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
(Score: 1, Troll) by arcz on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:23PM (4 children)
Um. Since when has the so called white supremacist Richard Spencer actually threatened anyone? Direct quote with context and/or primary source please.
The fact is you lefties make up lies in order to justify your demonization of the alt-right.
(Score: 3, Informative) by http on Wednesday November 01 2017, @06:47PM (1 child)
"Nice home you got there, shame if something happened to it."
Now imagine the same without quotes. If you didn't feel threatened, you're to stupid to breathe because it would be a threat. Whether or not you got intimidated would depends on A, how much information you think I can get about you, B, what kind of person you think I am (and what kind of people I associate with), and C, what my travel budget is.
If you think your black neighbour is inferior and don't belong on your block, that's your issue. But if you come to a place with a sign that says "trashtalking blacks welcomed here instead of getting you fired" and talk with five people on your block about the good old days of lynching, and what trees work best these days, it's your neighbour's issue, and the place that put up that sign is as much to blame as you are if you take action.
Ask Kurt Eichenwald if Spencer isn't a threat. Directing from the back doesn't make someone innocent, it makes them responsible.
Spencer, who is called a white supremacist because he is one, has spent the past few decades finding ways to give misogynists and racists platforms to communicate on. He's as much a threat to society as someone leaving kerosene and flare guns at the coffee table ouside a pyromaniac group therapy session.
Apologizing for racists instead of shutting them down says a lot about you. "But da free speek" shows that you've got nothing coherent to defend the position with. Bye, Felicia.
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
(Score: 2) by arcz on Friday November 03 2017, @02:51PM
Give me a source. You're not a reliable source. Back up your arguments with evidence.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday November 02 2017, @07:27AM (1 child)
Damn, arcz! So you actually are a Nazi! Well, not alone here, we have VLM, who is a straight up white supremacist and authoritarian, but still bothered about that "socialist" thing in the National Socialist thing. Or jmorris, who is just so kneejerk anti-anything slightly left, like laws against child-molestation, that he often sides with Nazis. And of course, khallow, who thinks intelligence, and hence the right to wealth, is hereditary, so he is kind of a Nazi, except that, well, there is the whole Trump sons issue. And finally, you have to support of TMB! The one Soylentil who can go by a TLA (Three Letter Acronym)! Of course he is not a Nazi, his bloodline would disqualify him, but he is right up there in defending the rights of the intellectually disabled to make fools of their selves, which we at SoylentNews are more than willing to extend to you.
Please answer these totally innocuous questions, that are not at all aimed at determining whether you are a racist Nazi or not:
How do you feel about Black Livers Matter?
Do Blacks commit more crimes than Whites?
Are Hispanics not as smart as European races, and so should be kept in janitorial jobs?
Have you ever had sex with an Aardvark?
Is jy 'n rassistiese bastard?
And, we know you are mod-banned for a month. You may be modded down, for being a Nazi, and you will not be able to retaliate. But just remember this: in the large scheme of things, SoylentNews is small potatoes, just like your. . . Sorry, did not mean to go there. Fascist.
(Score: 3, Funny) by arcz on Friday November 03 2017, @02:53PM
You failed to answer the question. You're a pathetic loser who likes to libel and slander people without any evidence to backup your claims.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:16PM (17 children)
Jesus christ, I think its only a matter of time before these alt-right sympathizers just come out of the closet and say "I'm gay and I hate myself OK? Also blacks and jews."
Since you exist within your own bubble of idiocy it is apparently impossible for you to see how freedom of speech never matters to you alt-nutters when it is a liberal person being shouted down but when an actual white supremacist who looks like a goddamn hitler youth gets the governor to make the most scary dystopian abuse of power I have yet seen, why then you fall all over yourself about the constitution and freedom.
Fucking hypocrites, I can only hope you're a shill trying to stir the controversy, because it saddens me to think you people are real. Victim blaming piece of authoritarian shit is what you are, and yet you think you're the exact opposite. It'd be hilarious if it wasn't such a serious problem.
(Score: 2) by arcz on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:24PM (13 children)
Excuse me? Did I ever say I was from the alt right? I've consistently been on the side of free speech on a variety of issues including flag burning. Nice ad hominem attack though.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @11:48PM (12 children)
No, you did not. But on the other hand, it wasn't really necessary, it is obvious to all. Kind of like TMB. Demanding free speech for racists is just kind of, you know, racist.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 20 2017, @02:26AM (11 children)
Au contraire. Demanding that $protected_class be treated like children and protected from hurtful words is racist. Treating them as fully capable adults is not.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Friday October 20 2017, @05:24AM (10 children)
So are you a Tutsi? Do you know what triggered genocide in Rwanda? Right-wing hate speech radio. I suggest we have given the boy-nazi alt-right Spencer his fifteen minutes of fame. He go to speak, and so did his audience, and the world has come to see that he really had nothing to say! That is the point, and that is why all you Nazi sympathizer racists are not really demanding free speech for the wackos, you are demanding that their position on things be given a hearing, be taken seriously. That is something no sane person will do.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 20 2017, @11:31AM (9 children)
Would you care to compare the death count left-wing hatred has led to to the stuff you call right-wing? Your side would lose at least a thousand times over. And yet we still allow you to speak.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Friday October 20 2017, @08:16PM (8 children)
You are making several mistakes all at once, Buzzie!
The left does not hate, because it does not fear. The left is progressive, it has faith in the future. So comparing the death tolls is just apples and oranges, even leaving out that the real distinction is between liberalism and authoritarianism. Stalin may have "liquidated" the Kolacks, but that is only because they posed a threat to socialism. He probably did not "hate" them at all, and as any dictator, was just doing what was necessary, realpolitik! Hitler, on the other hand, went with the "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Question" not because the German Jews posed any threat to the third Reich, but because Nazi's gonna hate.
In a recent post about your current abode, you mentioned the risk of getting murdered or raped, or both. This sounds like a fear that leads to hate, and insisting on a second amendment. Projection. And poor khallow can only believe that the left opposes the right because they are jealous of the Right's wealth, but again this is projection.
The left does not oppose the right because it hates the right, it opposes the right because the right is wrong. And the alt-right is, as turgid constantly puts it, alt-wrong. Social Justice, right?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 20 2017, @10:44PM (7 children)
You're really reaching there, even for you. The left opposes the right for the same reason teenagers hate their parents, without the excuse of being a hormone-overloaded teenager. The right knee-jerk-opposes the left because the left are acting like asshole teenagers. Until you can see that divorce the issues from the morons supporting/opposing them long enough to make up your own mind, you claiming anything in common with a philosopher is laughable.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday October 20 2017, @10:52PM (6 children)
You're out of your league, Buzzard. Way out. How about some college courses, maybe even in Poly Sci?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 20 2017, @11:32PM (5 children)
You're absolutely correct. I haven't been in the peewee league for quite a while. I have hopes that one day you won't be either.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday October 21 2017, @01:49AM (4 children)
Once again, my hopes of a serious political discussion with The Mighty Buzzard have been dashed! Nearly as frustrating as trying to discuss economics with khallow. You do realize that it is not a imposition on your freedom of speech for you to have nothing to say? Childish tactics such as calling your opponent childish have no place in the big leagues, Buzz.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 21 2017, @02:05AM (3 children)
Now now, tell the truth... You haven't once held anything even resembling a serious discussion on this site. That would require listening to the other person and considering the possibility that you could be wrong.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday October 21 2017, @02:29AM (2 children)
I've been listening, but you haven't been saying anything, Buzz! What exactly do you think "right" politics is? What policies would the promote, what principles would they hold? And would they support racists? That is all I want to know. But it seems that all you have is "adolescent" and "peewee". That is not a political theory. I am starting to really think you may actually be on the same plane as Runaway, only with a bit more of a knack for trolling.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 21 2017, @10:43AM (1 child)
Sigh, the expected steaming pile of rhetorical dodges. This is why nobody takes you seriously. And why I'm done with this conversation.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday October 21 2017, @12:10PM
No, you're not!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by arcz on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:26PM (2 children)
The real danger here is these leftist shills that promote the idea that you can't support the free speech rights of the alt-right without being a racist/member of the alt right.
This is a dangerous idea and we ought to reject it. Believe in free speech means neutrality and protecting the right for all peaceful speech. Just because I don't agree with the idea that we should create a nation of white people doesn't mean that I think they shouldn't be entitled to their free speech rights.
(Score: 4, Disagree) by meustrus on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:23PM (1 child)
No, the real danger here is people like Richard Spencer who hold these events to vilify their political opponents.
Let's be clear: white nationalist messages don't need help spreading, and if they did then college campuses would be the last place anybody would expect it to be effective.
These speeches are stunts that are meant to produce exactly the kind of protest they are receiving - protest which is protected by the 1st amendment, I will remind you - which the speaker can then point to as proof that liberals are against free speech.
It's all in bad faith and entirely based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of "free speech" in America. Mr. Spencer has a right to speak his opinions, others have a right to protest those opinions, and universities have a right to provide an elevated platform to only those its community want to hear from. Up to and until the point at which we are seriously talking about making these speeches somehow illegal it is not a free speech issue.
And if you think that the university is somehow required to provide its platform to whomever can pay to rent the space, its free speech rights be damned, then I suggest you have a word with all those bakers and florists who are counting on your support to express their 1st amendment right to deny services to gay weddings.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 1, Troll) by arcz on Monday October 30 2017, @09:51PM
There's plenty of law on how the government, when it rents a space to any random speaker, can't suddenly say "anyone except this person".
The government can limit who it rents to, but only if it manually approves each an every speaker. Also, then religious groups would not be allowed to rent because the government would be endorsing it. It's either a limited public forum, private forum, or public forum. Universities like to make money, so they set the rules accordingly.
(Score: 3, Funny) by looorg on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:29PM
Seems everything is more or less peaceful so far. I just grabbed the first media outlets in the Florida area that came to mind, no real preference or anything.
Turned out it was just the Florida State troopers ... I'm sure all them white people look all the same or something.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article179680501.html [miamiherald.com]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday October 20 2017, @12:00AM
In the words of Malcolm, Reynalds, not X, "Yeah, that went well!" [youtube.com]
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-supremacist-shouted-down-florida-college-speech-202756363.html [yahoo.com]