The Government Is Turning Speech Into Evidence | TMP #1080

When the government cannot prove the crime, it often reaches for the label. In today’s Opening Argument, Tony Michaels tells the story of Lucy Parsons sitting in a Chicago courtroom, watching her husband Albert Parsons face trial after the Haymarket bombing — not because the government proved he threw the bomb, but because his words, politics, and associations made him useful to punish. Then we bring that lesson forward. A crime should be prosecuted. Violence should be prosecuted. But protected speech, unpopular politics, poems, pamphlets, journals, associations, and labels cannot become a shortcut around evidence. The First Amendment was not written to protect speech the government already likes. It was written for the speech the government is most tempted to punish. Read more at The Coffman Chronicle: https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/ Support independent pro-democracy media: https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/subscribe Presented by Squawk Boss Coffee. Get the free Freshness Guide: https://www.WakeUpYourCoffee.com/