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9Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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Gov. De Santis of Florida and his cronies want to wants to stop Freedom of Speech and Press.
Florida Has Become A Hot-Bed Of Right Wing Extremism
Florida is the hot-bed of right winged Trump extremism in just about every aspect from women’s rights, freedom of speech, banning books, hate against people that are gay, trans etc. and now the far-right Republican extremists are introducing a bill in the Florida legislature which will go against the 1st amendment. Doing away with “Freedom of Speech”. It has a good chance of passing in the Republican-controlled legislature. The proposed legislation would cast a wide net, targeting not just journalists, but everyone from bloggers to talk radio hosts. So beware FB warriors. The Supreme Court said, the First Amendment demands vigorous debate. And sometimes we know that can be really ugly and really unpleasant. But that debate is important. So as a result, if you are a public figure, celebrity, or a public official, and you are going to sue for defamation, you've got to not only show that you have a reputation to defend, that your reputation was harmed, and that the information was false, but you have to show that it wasn't the product of an honest error. Basically its like if you are angry at your local county commissioner, or mayor, or city councilperson and you go online or write an opinion piece and say they are stupid, idiots. Right now the writer is protected because you're a public figure, you're a public official. Everything we do has been governed by a case called ---The New York Times v. Sullivan. In the midst of the civil rights movement, someone who put an ad in the New York Times, and it had some mistakes in it. So they sued based on these honest errors — it's about Martin Luther King, as a matter of fact, how many times he had been arrested, they made an error, they made an error about the Montgomery police about how many actions they had. So they took these honest mistakes of this advertisement in the New York Times, and they sued. An Alabama jury awarded these people approximately $500,000, which was a huge amount in 1964. So the New York Times fought its way up to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court in a landmark decision, which is what we know, the framework under which we have for all of our television, all of our radio etc. And now, everything we do online has been governed by this case called The New York Times v. Sullivan. (Sullivan was the head of the Montgomery police). So what the republicons what to do is throw out the Supreme Court Ruling of New York Times Vs Sullivan, which means everybody, because everybody these days is a journalist, everyone publishes ,aka Face Book, and other social media, everyone has an opinion. And it throws it all out and it leaves everyone vulnerable to punitive lawsuits. So if this passes is will certainly curtail the debates which we are used to and have now. Gov. DeSantis come out and said that he thought that the press was too freewheeling, that it wasn't responsible. He was aiming at CNN, the the Miami Herald, and the Tampa Bay Times. All stations which he dislikes because they often report unfavorable about him. While the republicons are trying to get rid of Times v. Sullivan, Fox news a solid republicon talking machine is using Times v. Sullivan in the case Dominion Voting Systems versus Fox News. They are using the malice clause, the very thing that the legislature wants to throw out! What a bunch of hypocrites. To limit the freedom of the press or freedom of Speech we will end up just like Russia with controlled media, or Siberia if you speak out against anyone in so called charge elected positions. What kind of society do we want to live in. In America we are unique we can speak out against anyone we wish, we have different voices and they all can be heard. We don’t have to agree but we all can be heard. Only in America , we need to protect this unique ability. We've always believed in the importance of the ability to speak freely about our government and government officials, and to speak freely in the name of a national debate. So will we allow what Florida is trying to do? I hope not. Then we have to worry about the 14th Amendment, which amongst its many provisions, is the view that all citizens from all 50 states should have the same rights under federal law, the states can individually rewrite federal law. So thus, you know that your marriage in Ohio is recognized in Florida or somewhere else. So it means if this law passes it means that the citizens of Florida are no longer held or have the benefits of this landmark court case. They will not have the same rights as the other 49 states. That’s why that if this law is passed in Florida , it will go to the Supreme court. But here is breaking news! From what we know, Clarence Thomas has come out against Times v. Sullivan. And there's two other justices that may have small problems with aspects of it. But by and large, unlike Roe v. Wade, this does not seem to have the votes. Which is good. What a gamble for the republicons, while they hate part of the press, it is probably the most un-American thing that they could do, which is limiting people's free speech. I think most Americans are against limiting free speech. The Floridian House version, HB 991, is that you don't even have to be wrong, someone could say something that's 100% true. But if the plaintiff, the person bringing the charges says, "this makes me look bad. This was intent. This is all true. But it was intended to make me look bad," you have grounds for a lawsuit. Also in this bill, anything that's anonymous would be deemed by the court in a defamation case to be false. And whereas in this case, and in this state, as in many other states, they have things called journalist shield laws, which prevent them from compelling professional journalists to divulge your sources, recognizes that what sources are to journalists, as confidential informants are to police. So people who came out in secret to give testimony in many well know cases which brought certain people to justice, their testimony would be considered false, so the courts are stacked against true justice. Another aspect of this proposed law is if I sue as a nuisance lawsuit,to get even because I am mad at you and I loose-- right now I would have to pay your court fees and lawyer fees, in this bill you would still be responsible for all your own bills. Nuisance laws is to keep the courts from being plugged up with stupid suits, makes a person think twice from suing for something stupid, not now if this bill passes. If this bill passes and becomes law, I think the only group that will benefit will be trial lawyers. This bill if it passes is deeply frightening. And it has the likelihood to impact our lives in ways that we can't even imagine, because we're so used to speaking freely. A freedom being taken away is the beginning of the slippery slope. When do we stand up against theses Nazis. We better do it sooner than later. Before its too late. If this goes country wide Tammy’s Takes will be gone, The Odd Friday (every Friday) 9a.m. -10 a.m. 1600 am KOHI radio program will be gone, Setting the Record Straight will be gone as well. 10 a.m. -11 a.m. 1600 am KOHI. Stop the attack on our freedoms!
Tammy
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