Speakers gagged by Biden Democrats

That many of today's Democrats despise the First Amendment as much as they do the Constitution's other guarantees to individual liberty is an egregious truth.

Two crisp examples are before us.

Steve Nikoui's son, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was among American personnel killed by a suicide bomber in 2021, at the Abbey Gate entrance of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. 

That tragedy occured during what Western Journal termed "Biden's disastrous and disorganized exit from Afghanistan." As Donald Trump often reminds rally attendees, the inept Biden also abandoned to the Taliban some $83 million worth of American military equipment.

Gold Star father Steve Nikoui attended Biden's preposterous State Of the Union address as a guest of Rep. Brian Mast of Florida. The SOTU speech is a traditional custom, but fog-headed invalid Biden perverted it into a campaign event. 

"Not since President Lincoln and the Civil war have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today!" the seemingly dosed president spat, as he smeared tens of millions of law-abiding patriotic Americans.

When Biden deceitfully boasted of the country's safety under him ("America is safer today than when I took office," lied the career politician), Steve Nikoui could tolerate no more of the bilge.

"Do you remember Abby Gate? U.S. Marines?" he yelled in response.

But in these days when liberty is so reviled by Democrats, defying an office-ensconced progressive autocrat brings harsh punitive actions from armed agents of The State. Praetorian Guard thugs quickly set upon Nikoui, stifling him and hustling the heretic from the hall.

Of course, he was then handcuffed and jailed. An 'enemy of The State,' Democrats might sneer.

Mast visited the imprisoned Gold Star father. "This is America," the representative told Florida ABC affiliate WPBF. "And the blood that paid for the ability for us all to demonstrate and address the government for grievances and everything else that the First Amendment enshrines and every amendment and every part of our Bill of Rights - his family paid for that in blood."

WPBF noted that it reached out to the White House, but had received no reaction. Which seems indicative of indifference.

(On Tuesday, 3/19, all charges against Nikoui were dropped. Of course, his attempt to seek "redress of grievances" had already been squelched by the Biden government.)

In Washington State, meanwhile, Democrat Sen. Javier Valdez has introduced legislation that would establish a "hate-speech hotline." The Gateway Pundit reported that Senate bill 5427 was passed by that state's senate in a 30-18 vote. In the House, the successful margin was 56-39.

The clampdown bill would allow self-righteous actors to report and potentially prompt State repression of citizen speech subjectively deemed offensive. 

Per Gateway Pundit, 5427 states: "Bias incident means a person's hostile expression of animus toward another person, relating to the other person's actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, or mental, physical, or sensory disability."

The bill does exempt government criticism from its many prohibitions of citizen expression. But moves to squelch that, too, will doubtlessly follow.

It now awaits (and is expected to receive) Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee's imprimatur.

Inslee is notorious for his hostility toward political expression. Prior to a 2016 Washington visit by then-candidate Donald Trump, Inslee held a press conference at which he pompously declared "Your hate is not welcome in our state!" 

The governor went on to decry Trump's supposedly "dangerous rhetoric." Obviously, as is currently fashionable among his Democrat fellows, Inslee exploits the 'hate' hobgoblin as an anti-free speech  vehicle.

Fox News notes that critics of a previous bid to grant Washington State activists censorhip capacity called the bill a "tattletail hotline."

(A previous initiative guaranteed supposedly injured parties up to $2000 per individual or incident. While that provision is not replicated in SSB 5427, the freedom-restrictive nature lives on.)

Liberty Nation warned: "If one cannot say anything that another person of a different race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation finds offensive in some way without being reported to the attorney general's office, than one no longer enjoys the constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech."

This reminds that the Left's ideological inclination toward authoritarian State boot-crushing of citizen expression began with "hate speech" laws and regulations. 'It's for your protection,' partisans assured. 'The common good requires speech monitoring and control.'

Perpetual motion is inherent in progressivism. Its proponents never say "this is far enough."

Once society became acclimated to the non-legal concept of "hate speech," additional verbal classes were cited as also requiring clampdown. Mis- and disinformation (often merely ideas contrary to officially sanctioned opinions) were proclaimed threats in need of legal silencing.

Revelations of Biden agencies coordinating censorship of citizen speech with privately owned and sympathetic online platforms have emerged. Those reports surprised no one familiar with the ways of modern authoritarianism.

While sometimes stormy congressional hearings ensued, neither Biden Administration misddoers nor Big Tech fascists have been sanctioned.

These are perilous days for independent voices.