. Our First Amendment right to disagree and to protest is under fire once again by Trump and other Republicans. The pouty wussy-grabber-elect has already mastered the art of throwing out inconsequential tweets to distract us from his own wrong-doing, and now he’s focusing on keeping us muzzled as well. Trump hasn’t been secretive about his intention to loosen up libel laws, with the intention of dragging the New York Times into court for publishing unflattering (read true) articles about him. This together with threats from Kellyanne Conway and Omarosa who warn us that Mr. Trump has a very long memory, should make us wary of Republican lawmakers who are pushing for laws to make ‘violent’ protesting a felony. Olbermann reminds us that we been here before. Then again, John Adams had his problems, but he wasn’t Donald Trump!
When John Adams proved to be too thin-skinned for jokes as President, the Alien and Sedition Act of 1789 became law:
“That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States..then such person shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.”