Congressman Adam Smith says ‘totalitarian’ protesters are ‘trying to silence anyone who dares to disagree with them’
Says the man wanting to lock people up.
“Intimidation is the tactic,”[…] “Intimidation and an effort to silence opposition”
Is this man so comically evil he’s trying to be the Spanish Inquisition?
I was outraged by the headline, but he said protestors should be arrested in the context of protesting outside of someone’s home. While I don’t think I agree with that, I can at least understand why he would feel that constitutes intimidation.
Yeah his whole tirade is ludicrous and he sounds like an absolute asshat, but someone reportedly vandalized his home, and that's crossing a very big line. He should shut the hell up about whatever he thinks "leftwing fascism" is, and they should stop vandalizing people's homes.
I dunno, I’m with ya but also if you see protesters, who regular citizens with no special power, as totalitarian tyrants wanting to silence you while also demanding they be arrested with your very real closeness to the power that could that then fuckin’ maybe your house should get vandalized. I’d draw the line at hurting an actual person and then urging people away from vandalism since they might hurt someone by accident but stillllll…
Does he mean the Jews doing a Seder in front of Chuck Schumer's house?
protestors should be arrested in the context of protesting outside of someone’s home
Being a public elected figure typically means dealing with constituents, even when you don't want to. That's the nature of the job.
If you don't want folks on the sidewalk waving signs that call you a murderer, maybe stop advancing policies that kill tens of thousands of people.
Aren't there harassment laws that should already cover this? Protesting outside of a business should be fine. But protesting outside of living areas feels like targeted harassment.
I disagree. That's like going after journalists/reporters because the huddled outside a senators house because he/she caught in a scandal. Because it's a group, you could argue that's intimidation too except that they're asking questions in the public interest. Protesters whether you agree with them or not believe they're acting in the public interest too and are trying to change things for the better.
Totalitarian... protesters?
You get a buzzword, you get a buzzword, everyone gets a buzzword!!!
The ANTIFA are culturally appropriating the Jewish space lasers! Antisemitism!
Fun fact. The organization of holocaust survivors, bund of anti fascists in Germany, whose members are mainly Jewish holocaust survivors and their descendants has been targeted by the German government for being "far left extremism." Because actual holocaust survivors are clearly suspicious for demanding antifascism.
I've heard that its also including bank account freezes for them as well in some cases, utterly ridiculous behavior by the German government.
Antiwar Tankies
This is the most incoherent thing I've ever seen...
By speaking out, these "totalitarian" protesters are silencing everyone else and challenging representative democracy? And to stop them from silencing others, they must be arrested to prevent them from speaking?
Dude, this couldn't have sounded good in your fucking head...
It's called doublespeak.
A guy called Orwell wrote a book about Modern Totalitarianism that includes this (prety good book, recommended read).
It was supposed to be a work of fiction but apparently a lot of politicians are using it as a roadmap.
This is beyond double speak. It doesn't even need to make sense anymore. As in, like, they don't even need to form a complete, coherent sentence anymore.
They don't need to. They've had far more success with the big lie than anyone ever expected, I believe.
double speak and double think didn't need to make sense. The key to them is accepting directly contradicting statements as equally true as long as the party puts them out. The total ignorance to contradiction is the key.
Strange .. I don't remember storming a capital building trying to subvert our democratic process....
All I suggested is that not everyone in Gaza is Hamas. That 6 year old girls are way to young to understand what a Nazi even is.
And that Israel's tactics for a hostage situation is deplorable. Considering they used more Bombs in a week then the USA dropped in Afghanistan in a year.
What an absolute dickbag. He even complains about silent protests that are 100% peaceful. Maybe if your stance is so weak that silent protestors are enough to derail your plans, you should rethink your stance. He even downplays children being killed.
Also, if we are talking about silencing opposite points of views, how many pro-Israel people in the US have been kicked out of school, arrested, vilified in the mainstream press, or fired from their jobs?
Pretty standard perspective for a politician that has been in office since the 90s.
When you really haven't felt accountability for decades, it probably feels intimidating. He might have to, you know, represent these opinions from his constituents somehow.
"You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists"
Friendly Reminder:
Neoliberals are conservatives. Always have been. The D next to the name does not change that.
We do not currently have a viable left-wing party. We have a conservative party and a more conservative party.
We have two parties, conservative and fascist.
We used to have a centrist and far right party. And before that, for a brief time, we had a liberal and a Conservative party.
One party makes outrageous and unreasonable demands that only move to the right, and the other party is happy to negotiate with those demands, and so the country moves further and further to the right.
We're told the only way to stop this is to keep doing what we've already been doing.
From an outside perspective you have a an economic far right party with gay rights and systemic racism and genocidal imperialism as well as a fascist party w.o. gay rights
Oh look... the (so-called) "moderates" and "centrists" peddling the exact narratives their fascist cousins want them to peddle.
I guess it's true what they say - fascism can only sprout once liberals have loosened the ground for it.
These tools use the novel 1984 as a self help book.
People like this democrats and republican should not be allowed in government
Problem is that the people who really should be in government are the ones who don't want to be in government.
Man I sure do love being forced to be in the same party with this guy and not having a bowl of punch to stick my dick in.
Ooh, sounds like some asshole just found out he's going to be replaced in November.
"the ranking Democrat on the House armed services committee"
Oh you mean the guy who almost certainly is being paid by the military industrial complex to keep arms sales going as much as humanly possible? That tracks.
Get fucked Smith. Hope your "totalitarian" base votes you the fuck out.
Come and try it, you old ,corporate cock gobbling, douche bag.
"Why do these pinko commies keep talking about what happens when they scratch me?"
This is your daily reminder that the Democratic party is right wing and are just as ignorant of the mere definition of “leftist” as the Republican fascists are.
"democrat"
Not a true Scotsman?
Pointing out the desolate state of the Democratic party and its inhumane policies internally and abroad is just botting for Trump didnt you know?
he's literally a congressman for the democratic party, i dont see how he could be any more of a democrat
“Intimidation is the tactic,”
Yes, absolutely. There is a war against free speech and they're trying to make people afraid to even fight back.
“challenging representative democracy”
What he means is, they're challenging this fucked system that doesn't represent people equally. 2 senators per state, gerrymandering, and the electoral college. This guy is a fascist himself, and that's why he immediately calls his opposition fascist. Imagine calling people who want a ceasefire fascist? That is something Joseph Goebbels would have said I bet. We don't have a representative democracy.
Isn't that the guy from Poltergeist?
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