Posted on 10/16/2018 8:37:14 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
In the three years that Donald Trump rocketed from candidate to president, the PEN American Center has criticized him as a bully, an autocrat, a user of hate speech and an enemy of free expression. It has published studies, organized petitions and established a Press Freedom Incentive Fund.
Now the literary and human rights organization, which includes thousands of authors and journalists, is taking a more direct step: PEN is suing the president.
In a suit filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, the center, also known as PEN America, alleges that “official acts” by Trump have “violated the First Amendment and his oath to uphold the Constitution.” PEN cites such examples as reports that Trump was meddling in the proposed merger of AT&T and CNN, a frequent target of Trump’s anger (The Justice Department has sought to block the merger).
The suit also notes Trump’s comments on Washington Post owner and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Trump, unhappy with the Post’s coverage, has threatened antitrust action against Amazon and suggested raising its shipping costs. According to the Post, he has pressured U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rates. (Last week, the United States Postal Service proposed some hikes for 2019, among them increases which would affect Amazon. Shipping costs have been raised several times over the past decade).
“President Trump has First Amendment rights and is free to criticize the press vehemently, but he is not free to use the power and authority of the United States government to punish and stifle it,” the complaint reads.
ETC...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
The First Amendment states the CONGRESS shall make no law prohibiting the freedom of speech.
Last I checked, the President was not Congress.
Hypocrisy, thy name is democrat...
What standing and what harm?
Wow, I wonder what planet PEN lives on?
Just another boof. Its not like they have anything better to do.
Throw it out!
What standing and what harm?
—
None
None
President Trump should sign an executive order stopping the FCC from banning certain words on broadcast TV.
Like the S-word, the F-word and so on...
Then Watch CNN become unglued by that.
He’s rising the price of stamps so people can’t send as many letters and amazon won’t sell as many books - ergo - he’s restricting freedom of speech.
Ergo ANY tax is, therefore, an attack on free speech.
Therefore - I support this lawsuit and hope it wins.
Yes, Amazon, the organization that nixes positive reviews of conservative books.
And CNN, which undoubtedly just makes some sh*t up, should be allowed to merge with AT&T because???
Frivolous.
*** DESPERATE CRIMINALS ***
Part of our frustration is that you know for sure had Trump committed even a fraction of what the BSM media was fine with under 0bama they would be howling. (Sherry Atkinson?)
I was hoping they would get the same judge who tossed Stormy.........
Exactly who has been stifled with free speech? Not leftists, obviously.
Stifling free speech can come from government, and also from falsely imposed limits on speech which is not politically correct - a tactic used all the time by left-wing interests. PC codes are certainly stifling and also can result often in people losing their jobs, thrown out of office or class, etc. Trump has not threatened anyone for their speech, merely used his pulpit to demonstrate his disdain for them. Leftists can certainly dish out the punishment for free speech violations of PC, but cannot take any reciprocal criticism of their own speech or political positions.
The purpose of most of these lawsuits is simply to get their organization’s name in the news.
The only speech that gets stifled is pro-Trump speech.
What chutzpah.
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