Domestic extremism bill would criminalize free speech, create 'Ministry of Truth,' advocacy group warns

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Fox News

A bill pushed by Washington's attorney general would criminalize free speech and lead to an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth" under the guise of preventing domestic terrorism, according to a regional think tank.

"This bill will create a two-tiered justice system where some people have free speech and others don't, and that is a dangerous path for us to be set upon," Liv Finne, director for education at the Washington Policy Center, told Fox News.

 

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office released a 31-page report last year with recommendations on preventing domestic extremism. Now, a bill establishing a commission tasked with building upon the report and creating a first-of-its-kind public health approach to proactively fighting misinformation and early signs of radicalization is making its way through the state legislature.

Specifics on how the state might prevent radicalization and extremism are scarce in both the bill and the attorney general's report.

"We want to figure out how to prevent it before it happens because once the violence happens, everybody's gonna suffer the consequences," Rep. Bill Ramos, who introduced SHB 1333 with the support of nearly two dozen democrats, told KING 5.

While SHB 1333 itself would not criminalize any speech or association, Finne said that is the natural next step of the commission, which is supposed to identify existing legal options and potentially new legislation for addressing extremism.

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National Effort Thwarted, DHS Funds ‘Mary Poppins’-Style ‘Ministry of Truth’ in Rhode Island

Not to be deterred by its embarrassing failure to carry out its 2022 national “Disinformation Governance Board” plan, the federal Department of Homeland Security has now resorted to funding a grassroots surrogate operation in Rhode Island.

A grant of more than $700,000 was provided by the DHS to the University of Rhode Island, which in turn funded a local group called “Courageous RI.” Instead of a top-down national “governance board” strategy, DHS appears to be shifting to a local, bottom-up approach in seeking to accomplish its same dishonest objective.

The Courageous RI scheme is deceptively less overt than was DHS in its mission to discourage and shut down free speech, but it’s not fooling anybody. In an embarrassing YouTube video of its own (and, obviously, with visions of Jan.  6 “insurrectionists” dancing in their head), its stated mission is “to address targeted violence and domestic terrorism in Rhode Island.”

Neither exists in reality. It’s purportedly caused by speech they disagree with.