Tag Archive for: Amendment

Knight First Amendment Institute Sues The CDC For Failing To Provide Details Of Its Media Gag Order

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We’ve talked quite a bit about the importance of clear and transparent government during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how China’s (ongoing) refusal to allow for people to speak out almost certainly contributed to the pandemic becoming even worse. And now the same situation has been showing up across the US as well. We’ve talked about hospitals firing doctors and nurses for speaking out about supply shortages, and now there’s news that the US Navy fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Brett Crozier, after he sent his bosses a letter pleading for help as COVID-19 was spreading throughout his crew. Rather than recognize that he was pleading for help, they fired him… because his letter got out to the media and it made them look bad.

The Navy fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday, four days after he pleaded for help as the coronavirus ravaged his crew, the Navy announced.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced that Navy Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved for loss of confidence.

“I just know that he exercised extremely poor judgment,” Modly said.

But, perhaps the worst of all appears to be the gag order on actual infectious disease experts within the US government. Back in late February, when VP Mike Pence was first put officially in charge of responding to the COVID-19 threat, it was quickly reported that the White House had put in place a media gag order on all government officials, saying that all communication had to go through Pence’s office. Indeed, various media appearances were cancelled by top CDC officials.

In response to this, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia had sent a detailed FOIA request asking for any records regarding policies and procedures governing public communications by CDC employees and contractors, as well as a variety of related items, including instructions sent by the CDC’s Public Affairs office. Having not received a response, the Knight Institute has now sued the CDC demanding it turn over the information as soon as possible. Given the situation, you can see why this might be pretty damn urgent.

We are in the midst of a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus—and the disease that it causes, COVID-19—has spread to all fifty states. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, as of April 2, more than 215,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and more than 5,000 people have died from it. At a White House press conference on March 31, a member of the Coronavirus Task Force stated that they expected 100,000 to 240,000 deaths from COVID-19, even with mitigation efforts.

In the face of this public health emergency, the White House has restricted the flow of information from the CDC—the nation’s public health agency—to the public. According to recent news stories, scientists and health officials at the CDC must now coordinate with the Office of Vice President Mike Pence before speaking with members of the press or public about the pandemic. These stories have raised concerns that public health experts who know most about the risks to the public are not being permitted to speak candidly and that the information the government is now conveying may be incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading.

The CDC itself imposes unusually stringent restrictions on the ability of CDC employees to speak to the press and public. In 2017, Axios published text from a CDC policy announcing that “any and all correspondence with any member of the news media, regardless of the nature of the inquiry, must be cleared through CDC’s Atlanta Communications Office.”

As the lawsuit notes, the CDC denied “expedited” status to the Institute’s FOIA request claiming — somewhat ridiculously — that the Institute “failed to show that there is an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual.” Yeah, not an individual, but to fucking everyone. Just… look around, dammit. The fact that we can’t get straight answers from people at the CDC is contributing to this mess we’re in today where thousands of people are dying and many tens of thousands more are expected to. It seems pretty damn petty for the CDC to quibble over this. But they are doing so, and hence, they’re getting sued.

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Houston Police Chief Says He’ll Prosecute People For False Statements About COVID-19 Response; Won’t Debate 1st Amendment

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We already went over this with Newark, NJ, but now Houston’s top law enforcement officer is falsely claiming he can and will prosecute people for making false statements about Houston’s COVID-19 response. It started with rumors on social media that the city was going to go into lockdown — which is not a crazy rumor given that plenty of other places in the country (and the world) have more or less done this exact thing already (including the entire state of California). But Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted that this was false information and he was asking law enforcement to investigate:

That says:

There is a video on social media of a person saying she was in a meeting with government officials confirming that there will be a city lockdown this weekend or Monday. All of this is false. I am asking HPD and Harris County DAs Office to investigate for possible prosecution.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo then responded to the mayor on Twitter, saying that the police “have launched an investigation” and something about “nation actors intentionally spreading misinformation.”

Now, it should be noted that we’ve written about Art Acevedo a few times now, including his ridiculously bad response to his officers completely botched a no knock raid that killed two innocent people. Acevedo, who came to Texas (first to Austin, then to Houston) promising “reform” and cleaning up police departments hasn’t always done such a great job of that — but you’d at least expect him to know how the 1st Amendment works.

But, no, that’s too much apparently. Also, when confronted on this… he trotted out the very wrong “fire in a crowded theater” line:

As a reminder, that line is not good law, and is the excuse most commonly used by bumbling idiots to defend unconstitutional censorship.

Even once a bunch of experts in this space piled on to point out to Acevedo he was wrong, he kept it up, with a ridiculous press conference in which he said that he had no time to debate 1st Amendment lawyers:

We have opened a multi-jurisdictional investigation. I had a 1st Amendment lawyer arguing with me on Twitter, and the mayor on his tweet. We’re not gonna debate the law. I’ll just say that the US Attorney’s Office is now involved in this investigation. Our federal partners are now involved in this investigation and we will prosecute anyone to the fullest extent of the law. I’ve been in touch with the DA’s office. I’ve been in touch with our federal partners. And the bottom line is that we have investigations ongoing.

Yeah, except (1) you can’t prosecute people for mere rumors on social media, and (2) saying that you are going to prosecute false information is incredibly dangerous because it stops people from sharing valuable and useful information if they’re afraid that it might not be fully verified. We saw this in China, where police went after the doctor who was trying to raise the alarm about COVID-19 and it silenced him and probably slowed worldwide (and local) attention to the risks of COVID-19.

Even more ridiculous, right before saying that he was going to prosecute people for false statements, Acevedo said (and I kid you not) that you shouldn’t listen to anyone on social media, but you should listen to the President — the very same President who has been a veritable fire hose of misinformation regarding COVID-19. Meanwhile, much of the good and useful information has been spreading by experts on social media, just as Acevedo is saying not to listen to any of it.

As it relates to the individuals who continue to spread false information: you should be ONLY listening to your elected officials, or to your appointed officials, for information on what is happening or is about to happen. If there’s a change, only believe it when you hear it from the Mayor, the judge, the Governor, the President or the people that they appoint for these type of responses.

Now, sure, you should listen to officials to get specifics on the official response, but mentioning the President at a time when he’s spewing so much disinformation and then immediately insisting that disinformation is criminal, is just crazy. Oh, and then he also insists that the misinformation is coming from foreign sources:

Secondly, the majority of this information, a lot of, it’s not just coming from individuals, but from nation states. I’m gonna repeat: nation states, that are purposefully putting out information that try to cause pandemonium. That try to get a reaction from the public.

Citation needed, chief. Yes, I’m sure that some information on social media is being put out by nation state trolls trying to wreak havoc. But “the majority” of it? Come on. Also, again, importantly, there’s been a ton of incredibly useful information and details on social media talking about how to best respond to this, from how to “flatten the curve,” how to stay safe, how to wash your hands, how to practice social distancing, even to the point of how to help make medical equipment to help protect medical professionals. Telling everyone not to listen to any of it and that you’ll prosecute people for posting that info is downright dangerous by itself.

I don’t expect everyone to understand the ins-and-outs of the 1st Amendment, but a police chief of a major city, certainly should.

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Hijacking the Second Amendment – Consortium News

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Hijacking the Second Amendment  Consortium News

The gun lobby has hijacked the Second Amendment, which was intended for citizen militias to provide domestic “security” without a standing army.

“HTTPS hijacking” – read more

LAPD Infiltrated An Anti-Fascist Protest Group Because The First Amendment Is Apparently Just A Suggestion

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Maybe the LAPD doesn’t have the experience its counter-coastal counterpart has in inflicting damage to rights and liberties, but it’s trying, dammit! The NYPD’s brushes with the Constitution are numerous and perpetual. The LAPD may have spent more time working on the Fourth and Fifth Amendments during its Rampart peak, but now it’s rolling up on the First Amendment like a repurposed MRAP on a small town lawn.

The Los Angeles Police Department ordered a confidential informant to monitor and record meetings held by a political group that staged protests against President Trump in 2017, a move that has drawn concern and consternation from civil rights advocates.

On four separate occasions in October 2017, the informant entered Echo Park United Methodist Church with a hidden recorder and captured audio of meetings held by the Los Angeles chapter of Refuse Fascism, a group that has organized a number of large-scale demonstrations against the Trump administration in major U.S. cities, according to court records reviewed by The Times.

Perhaps no entities show more concern about opposition to fascism than law enforcement agencies, for some weird and completely inexplicable reason. Somehow, this investigation involved the Major Crimes Division, which felt the need to get involved because of all the major criminal activity that is the hallmark of protest groups.

What sort of major crimes are we talking about? Well, let’s just check the record…

Police reports and transcripts documenting the informant’s activities became public as part of an ongoing case against several members of Refuse Fascism who were charged with criminal trespassing…

I see the term “major” has been redefined by the Major Crimes Division to encompass anything it might feel the urge to investigate. Supposedly, this incursion on the First Amendment was the result of an “abundance of caution” following reports of violent clashes between anti-fascists and alt-right demonstrators at other protests/rallies.

Again, the LAPD seems to not understand the meaning of the words it uses, because an “abundance of caution” should have resulted in steering clear of First Amendment-protected activities, rather than infiltrating them.

Also, an abundance of caution might have resulted in the LAPD checking out the other set of theoretical combatants, but the Los Angeles Times reports a police official said no attempt was made to infiltrate any far-right protest groups.

“Major.” “Caution.” “Consistency.” These words are beyond the department’s comprehension. And here’s the kicker: the Major Crimes Division did not send its informant in until after the demonstration was already over, the freeway had already been blocked, and criminal trespassing charges had already been brought. This wasn’t an investigation. It was a fishing expedition targeting people who don’t like fascists that used the First Amendment as a doormat. Calls to the LAPD’s Irony Division were not returned.

I guess we’re all supposed to feel better about this now that the LAPD has promised to investigate itself over its First Amendment-infringing infiltration. But it seems a department that routinely struggles to use words properly and cannot steer clear of the Constitutional shoreline shouldn’t be trusted to run a fax machine, much less an internal investigation.

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