Wisconsin Republicans created and then inserted themselves into the imaginary issue of liberal intimidation on our University of Wisconsin campuses. While there are rules already on the books (a phrase right wingers use often) to deal with free speech on campus, Republicans like the power of "big government" to threaten and expel anyone exercising free speech rights they don't agree with.
Trump is now using the most powerful office in the country, the presidency, to cut funding to universities on a national level, by taking one small incident and using that to severely harm any college targeted by the right wing. In other words, colleges will take the blame for an individual's actions on their campuses.
I'm going to let the words of one enlightened Republican, believe it or not, Sen. Lamar Alexander, to sum up what Democrats and others see as an obvious problem:
Trump's order, titled “Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities,” (is) aimed at “professors and power structures” who try to keep young Americans “from challenging rigid, far-left ideology.” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): “I agree that colleges should punish hecklers who veto free speech, and stop coddling students to protect them from disagreeable points of view. But I don’t want to see Congress or the President or the department of anything creating speech codes to define what you can say on campus. The U.S. Constitution guarantees free speech. Federal courts define and enforce it. The Department of Justice can weigh in. Conservatives don’t like it when judges try to write laws,* and conservatives should not like it when legislators and agencies try to rewrite the Constitution.”
*NOTE: Actually, conservatives do like it when judges write laws that side with them.
I'm posting this because we'll probably never see anything like this again...we hope. It's enough to take your breath away in one instance and piss you off like you never believed possible in the next instance.
Keep in mind, this is all happening as the Trump administration is purposely dragging every social media CEO into Congress to embarrass, intimidate, and ultimately vilify them and turn their testimony into resentful right-wing propaganda posters. Personally, the news media should be on fire about this growing McCarthyism:
Trump and Kudlow raised the prospect of regulating the company days before executives from the tech industry are set to answer questions on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee will question Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and possibly a representative from Google during a Sept. 5 in a hearing focused on Russian interference in U.S. elections. Separately, Dorsey will face questions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
All Hail King Trump: My Trumpian friend in Milwaukee always falsely accused Obama of being a dictator and king. Well, now I know why. It was wishful thinking and what many call projection.
All of Trump's bad Headlines...Google's Fault? The thing is, when horrible people like Trump do rotten things that are racist and incompetent, well, what do you expect? Most people feel bad and get the message and moderate. But not Trump or Republicans like Wisconsin's Scott Walker, who think bad press and angry protests are irrational events to be avoided, vilified, and silenced:
President Donald Trump is considering new regulations on Google's search engine to address his concern that it turns up too many stories that are critical of him, his top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow said ... the administration is “taking a look” at federal regulations for Google. He spoke after Trump, in a tweet, accused Google's search engine of being "rigged."
Trump: "I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful."
Below, Times reporter Nicholas Confessore made a good point; while conservative media basically owns talk radio, has powerful influential think tanks guiding policy and elections, and Fox News blaring propaganda nationwide 24/7, they're still not happy having dissenting viewpoints challenging their authority. So much for free speech.
First Amendment concerns: There are a growing number of proposals to regulate big tech making the rounds in Washington, among them a proposal to audit algorithms used by tech companies to determine what content users see, but there's not much the White House could do without the cooperation of Congress. “You should read the First Amendment,” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., tweeted to Trump. “Google has the right to, for example, prioritize cute cat videos over weird Alex Jones rants. “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”
I also think Times columnist Mara Gay nailed it in this discussion on MSNBC, disputing the idea that there has to be "balance," where there is none:
Mara Gay: "This is an issue of false balance...sometimes the facts don't necessarily acquit one side the same way they do the other...he's upset that the facts don't look good for his administration."
From my own experience, when I look up topics, I'm overwhelmed by conservative media spin that makes finding the actual story impossible. But Trump's whining plays to his victimized dependent base who can't seem to function emotionally without being told by Trump what to do. You don't hear Hillary making similar claims:
Still, the petty whininess of Trump fires up the dedicated drooling 27 percenters:
Trump’s tweets followed Fox Business host Lou Dobbs' interview Monday with Trump boosters ... Paula Bolyard, author of the PJ Media Post, said her methodology was not scientific. She also said she's not in favor of regulating tech companies. Facebook, Google and Twitter were crucial tools in Trump's ascension to the Oval Office. His tweets Tuesday marked a dramatic change in tone from last month when the president described Google as "one of our great companies."
