President Joe Biden poses for photos with his dog Commander for National Pet Day, Friday, April 8, 2022, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
Stop the White House from Attempting to Silence US Citizens
Last 3 November, one of the White House dogs sent a secret service agent to the hospital after Commander bit the agent’s thigh and arm. This has led the Spectator’s Cockburn to wonder, how many agents need to be chewed upon before fear of being attacked is banished?
If only President Joe Biden would treat Americans as leniently as his family pet. With the First Amendment mandate: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech,” Americans have the guarantee that, no matter how inconvenient to those temporarily holding high office, “the people have an absolute right to express their thoughts and opinions,” explains Rand Paul in American Greatness.
Cockburn admits to finding it “a bit strange” that neither Joe nor Jill Biden is willing to take the proactive step of muzzling their dogs. “After all, he questions, “hasn’t this White House been all too eager to muzzle Americans?”
Over two hundred years ago, John Adams and the Federalists in Congress used the threat of war with France to enact the Sedition Act of 1798. The Act made it a crime for Americans to “print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous, and malicious writing” about the government, continues Rand Paul.
This past Independence Day, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction restricting the Biden Administration from collaborating with social media companies to censor and suppress constitutionally protected speech. In his opinion, Judge Terry Doughty stated that the Biden Administration’s efforts to suppress opinions it opposes “arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in the United States’ history.” It is difficult, concurs Senator Paul, to disagree with Judge Doughty’s description.
For years, the Biden Administration demanded social media suppress and censor conservatives who dared question the origins of Covid, the effectiveness of masks and lockdowns, and election integrity, among other issues. The Biden Administration was so zealous in its enforcement of censorship, even parody content did not escape its anti-free speech campaign.
And the Biden administration didn’t ask nicely. When then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki publicly called on social media companies to censor speech relating to Covid, she mentioned Biden’s support for a “robust anti-trust program,” all but threatening to break up tech giants if they failed to adopt the administration’s censorship policies. Later, the White House announced that it was reviewing policies relating to whether social media should be held legally liable for spreading so-called misinformation. In other words, the Biden administration effectively told social media “Do our bidding, or else.”
Americans are a free people who do not take infringements upon their liberty lightly, continues Mr. Paul. Paul has introduced legislation called the Free Speech Protection Act. The Act will prohibit federal employees and contractors from using their positions to censor and otherwise attack speech protected by the First Amendment.
The (Senator’s) legislation will impose penalties for those that violate this rule, as well as empower private citizens to sue the government and executive branch officials for violating their First Amendment rights. Additionally, the bill will mandate frequent publicly accessible reports detailing the communications between an executive branch agency and media organizations, ensure that federal grant money is not used to label media organizations as sources of misinformation or disinformation, and terminates authorities that threaten free speech.
Under my Free Speech Protection Act, the government will no longer be able to cloak itself in secrecy to undermine the First Amendment rights of conservatives, libertarians, liberals, socialists, and all others who wish to exercise their right to free speech and engage in public discourse.
Back to Commander
According to a White House statement, the WH “is a unique and often stressful environment for family pets, and the First Family is working through ways to make this situation better for everyone.” Those “ways” supposedly include “additional leashing protocols and training, as well as establishing designated areas for Commander to run and exercise.”
Cockburn has a workable solution. Surely it would be better if the pet were placed in a home that is less stressful, with a family who will dedicate the time to show the pet discipline while tending to its needs?
The White House is surely stressful, but Cockburn can’t recall this kind of violence from many of the (quite numerous) pets that have previously inhabited the property.
If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.
