I guess we have to differ on this topic. I firmly believe that tolerance towards the intolerant is a road to serfdom. The hands off approach the Weimar Republic took towards all the lies and propaganda of the Nazis led to the undoing of German democracy and the rise of Fascism and Nazism.

As a European I cannot condone doing that mistake again. Germany has restricted the speech of the anti-speech and anti-democracy forces and it seems to have worked very well. I would say Germany today is one of our strongest bastions of liberal democracy while the US in my humble opinion is failing miserably. Donald Trump was a real low point showing how truth dies in a world where lies and manipulation knows no boundaries.

I don't see the problem with banning RT. I don't see the value of propaganda. I think would be an affront to those who died at the hands of the Nazis to suggest that what people like Goebbels engaged in had anything to do with free speech. Propaganda is an instrument of oppression. That is not what free speech should be about.

All dictatorships rely on a propaganda aparatus to decieve the public and control them. That we should somehow hold our hands around theis aparatus and protect it in the name of free speech comes across as a mockery of the values of free speech.

We agree on Assange, but I think we may see this in a different context. To me the whole point of free speech is to protect people like Assange. That people spill more ink about protecting the rights of the intolerant istead of people like Assange, Snowden and Chelsea Manning just shows how the free speech debate has derailed IMHO.

When everything is equally important in free speech then nothing is important. I think we must make it really clear that criticism of the system and those in power is one of the core purposes values of free speech and which must be most strongly protected.

Protecting the rights of free speech for Nazis or autocrats should be really far down the list of priorities. Criticis of the system like Alexei Navalny should be at the very top of the priority list.

As for Bidens business in Ukraine... yeah I am sure that should be looked at but frankly I think it is an out outrage that Donald Trump despite all his illegal activity is still not sentenced or facing any prison. Our former prime minister in Norway got fined by the police for hosting a birthday party with too many people according to restrictions. She apologized in public for it. We got people who have to step down for the smallest things. Yet I must say I am deeply provoked that Trump could shit on democracy every week without consequences.

It means I simply cannot make myself get worked up about whatever Biden did. It just seems like a smokescreen to me. Like... lets talk about Biden so we can ignore the 80 000 things Trump did wrong.

I was never a fan of Biden, but I cannot say at this point I really care all that much anymore who he is as long as he wasn't Trump. But it is utterly embarrasing that he was the best people could come up with as an alternative to the trainwreck that was Trump.