Marching In Lockstep With The Political Police

Obama signed into law Bill HR 347 that makes free speech a felony where secret service agents are present.

FOX: "HR 347 gives federal agents sweeping powers to arrest and bring felony charges against citizens engaged in protest where the secret service is present."

Andrew Napolitano:

This "allows secret service agents to decide where there are no free speech zones".

"I can think of three violations: a) speech violations, b) association violations, c) the right to petition the government for a redress of you grievances. What good is free speech if the people in the government are so far away from you that they can't hear you?"

"I think it is one of those laws that's going to be enforced where the government wants to enforce. The problem there.. it puts a lot of unbridled discretion in the hands of secret service agents... That's suppressing speech on the basis of its content and that has been expressly prohibited by the First Amendment since Day One."

It doesn't look that sinister to me.

Here is the text, without the penalty section:

-‘Sec. 1752. Restricted building or grounds

‘(a) Whoever--

‘(1) knowingly enters or remains in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so;

‘(2) knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;

‘(3) knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, obstructs or impedes ingress or egress to or from any restricted building or grounds; or

‘(4) knowingly engages in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds;

or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

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Now I really don't like having the service designate the free speech zones at events where they put the demonstrators where the protectees never even see them, but this law appears to be about attempts to disrupt government business. I do see the potential to misuse the law, particularly by service supervisors seeking to curry favor with protectees, but this law doesn't really add to the power that they already had.

They have already abused their power in the past. It is human nature that they will continue to do it in the future.

:roll: