"It's a dangerous time!"

Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection believes we are living in dangerous times. He cites three areas of concern.

1. Antifa and The Resistance are getting ready to fight fight. ...Recall that anti-Trump riots erupted during the campaign, with Chicago being the most notorious. There have been many other physical attacks by “Black Bloc” anarchists and Marxists. Those Black Bloc street thugs have rebranded as Antifa, and they are moving from the extreme fringe to the street muscle for the anti-Trump Resistance.

Jacobson cites authors who explain the history of "Black Bloc," Antifa, anti-Israel pro-BDS professors, and groups emphasizing anticapitalism, environmentalism, and gay and indigenous rights — the diverse collection of anarchists, communists and socialists."

2. Internet Freedom At Risk at Gatekeeper Level
Bad facts make bad law, and bad facts also make dangerous internet policy. No one wants to defend The Daily Stormer substantively, but the notion that domain registrars would shut down the ability of a website to exist is new territory.

It’s significant that part of the effort against GoDaddy were led by the group Sleeping Giants, the same group targeting advertisers at Breitbart and other websites.

...The Southern Poverty Law Center is using its highly politicized hate lists to encourage pressure on internet providers.

...But, as the SPLC list shows, it will set a precedent. Companies like Cloudfare and others who provide internet infrastrucure will come under increasing pressure, and it won’t be limited to the Storm Fronts of the world. We know from history that the “hate” label is broadly applied for political purposes, and will be used only against right-of-center websites.

Being cut off from domain registrars and other aspects of the internet backbone is something we expect from totalitarian governments. Now that power is in the control of almost-uniformly left-wing corporate managers.

...3. Scaling Back Free Speech Protections In The Name of Social Justice

...This urge to curtail First Amendment free speech rights interacts with the Antifa violence against speakers. The threat of disruption from protesters is one of the reasons being given to curtail unpopular speech.

The academic foundation for restricting free speech is in place, and the tactic of threatening violence provides an excuse.

Jacobson concludes,

The factors I raise above are beyond politics. They are about our liberty — on the street exercising our free speech rights, accessing the internet to communicate our ideas, and preserving the protections of the First Amendment and free speech.

It’s a dangerous time.

Read more here.