Goodbye, First Amendment: ‘Trespass Bill’ will make protest illegal

[classicman]

Just when you thought the government couldn’t ruin the First Amendment any further: The House of Representatives approved a bill on Monday that outlaws protests in instances where some government officials are nearby, whether or not you even know it.

The US House of Representatives voted 388-to-3 in favor of H.R. 347 late Monday, a bill which is being dubbed the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. In the bill, Congress officially makes it illegal to trespass on the grounds of the White House, which, on the surface, seems not just harmless and necessary, but somewhat shocking that such a rule isn’t already on the books. The wording in the bill, however, extends to allow the government to go after much more than tourists that transverse the wrought iron White House fence.

Under the act, the government is also given the power to bring charges against Americans engaged in political protest anywhere in the country.

Under current law, White House trespassers are prosecuted under a local ordinance, a Washington, DC legislation that can bring misdemeanor charges for anyone trying to get close to the president without authorization. Under H.R. 347, a federal law will formally be applied to such instances, but will also allow the government to bring charges to protesters, demonstrators and activists at political events and other outings across America.

When thousands of protesters are expected to descend on Chicago this spring for the 2012 G8 and NATO summits, they will also be approaching the grounds of a National Special Security Event. That means disruptive activity, to whichever court has to consider it, will be a federal offense under the act.

And don’t forget if you intend on fighting such charges, you might not be able to rely on evidence of your own. In the state of Illinois, videotaping the police, under current law, brings criminals charges. Don’t fret. It’s not like the country will really try to enforce it — right?

much more here

[Griff]

Good times... good times.

[ZenGum]

That link is to a satire site like the onion, right?


RIGHT????

[Spexxvet]

You have to love the House.

[Stormieweather]

Frogs in a pot. That's what we are. Oblivious and indifferent as our rights are slowly and insiduously removed.

Next, it will be illegal to write something negative online. Subversive, they'll call it. Traitorous, seditious libel, treasonous...

See, they have to do this FIRST, so when the pot really starts boiling and people try to speak up, they'll (we'll) be crushed and silenced.

“The more there are riots, the more repressive action will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing takeover and eventually a fascist society.”
Martin Luther King, Jr

“This is a deeply uncanny and very troubling development, it exists, and it wants to take us back. It wants to take us, I mean, way back. I mean sure, they want to go back before the 70’s and the 60’s to the 50’s, no doubt about that. They also want to go back before the New Deal to the 20’s, well they also want to go back before the Progressive Era to the Gilded Age. Well, not quite, they also want to go back before the Emancipation Proclamation to the days of slavery, not even, what they want to do is take us back to a moment prior to the Enlightenment; they want to take us back to a moment when faith registered more than reason. They want to take us back to an imaginary age of absolute moral clarity, when good was good and evil was evil and everyone could see the difference. They want to take us back to an imaginary Manichean age when you’re either with us or against us, which means you either are us or we’ll exterminate you because we can only tolerate ourselves, we can only tolerate those who share our values. If this movement were to be given a name, I think it would most appropriate to call it Christo-Fascism, and if anyone objects to my using the word fascism, because it seems so redolent of the Axis powers, and after all we valiantly defeated fascism once, well understand this about fascism, when it arrives it never shows up in the discarded costume of some other country, and when fascism comes here, its not going to be wearing a toothbrush mustache with a luger in his belt and go goose-stepping around the mall, because that’s Germany. And its precisely characteristic of fascism, that it seems absolutely, totally expressive of the homeland, it seems completely familiar, it’s when 150% America puts a flag on it’s lapel and a cross around it’s neck and a real folksy way a talkin’, but just because it’s red, white and blue, doesn’t mean it’s American.”
A Patriot Act
Mark Crispin Miller

[glatt]

This is the worst part.

voted 388-to-3

I want to know who the 3 were.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by glatt

I want to know who the 3 were.

Broun, Paul [R]
Amash, Justin [R]
Paul, Ronald [R]

[classicman]

At least three R's got it right - All the D's voted for this BS.

[Spexxvet]

223 Rs voted yea = 93%

176 Ds voted yea = 92%

[classicman]

The vote was 388 to 3
The ONLY three who voted against were
Broun, Paul [R]
Amash, Justin [R]
Paul, Ronald [R]

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

176 Ds voted yea = 92%

How do you get 92% when every D voted for it? That would be 100%.

[piercehawkeye45]

Didn't vote?

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by glatt

How do you get 92% when every D voted for it? That would be 100%.

16 Ds didn't vote

[Spexxvet]

223 Rs voted yea = 93%

176 Ds voted yea = 92%

[infinite monkey]

Where's Boehner? He's not listed at all.