| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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Freedom to Boycott
00:03:25
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| The Senate just passed yet another package of aid to Israel. | |
| It contained legislation called the Combatting BDS Act, which runs smack dab into a clash with the First Amendment. | |
| Sponsored by Marco Rubio, perhaps to please his donor Norman Bremen, the act rubber stamps states that penalize boycotters of Israel. | |
| Every single Republican voted for the bill, save this one. | |
| One of the things that I think is fundamental to our country is the freedom to protest, the freedom to dissent, and the freedom to boycott, if you so choose. | |
| Our country was actually founded with a boycott. | |
| The boycott was dumping English tea into the ocean. | |
| In my state, Henry Clay was famous for passing legislation boycotting British goods so that people would wear American clothing. | |
| He actually fought a duel over that and became famous and then became one of the most famous US senators. | |
| Right. Boycotts are a long-established political tool. | |
| Why should Israel get a pass? | |
| Why should Rubio and his backers decide what political expression is or isn't allowed and authorized? | |
| Rand says no way. | |
| I'm not making really a point on whether the boycott's good or bad or with regard to Israeli policy. | |
| My point is whether it's good or bad with regard to the First Amendment. | |
| You see, the First Amendment isn't really about Hearing from people about things that you like, if it's speech that you like and people say, you're a great guy, you're not going to be offended by that speech. | |
| It's when people are critical of you or critical of your thoughts or have different thoughts. | |
| But that's what the First Amendment's about. | |
| Right. It protects speech you don't want to hear. | |
| Yet Rubio isn't about America's fundamental principles. | |
| His eyes rest sentimentally on Tel Aviv. | |
| Boycotting Israel is discriminatory, says he. | |
| But no one's prejudicing a race or creed, but instead protesting a policy of discrimination that Israel carries out against Palestinians. | |
| It's like someone saying back in Martin Luther King's day, Don't protest sending blacks to the back of the bus, because if you do, you're discriminating against the bus driver. | |
| Yet, Rubio tweets, BDS is about destroying Israel. | |
| B.S. With Israel getting 10 million U.S. bucks per day and armed to the teeth with nukes, Israel needs anti-BDS laws to keep it from being destroyed? | |
| Come on! | |
| Rather, it fears that its good guy brand is fading, whether through BDS or outright censure. | |
| Wrong think is catching up with the narration. | |
| What to do? Subplant it with groupthink. | |
| It's groupthink around here. | |
| Everybody's so paranoid and says, oh, we can't object to this lobby because this lobby's so powerful, we can't object to them. | |
|
Codifying Commitments?
00:00:38
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| That takes balls, Rand Paul. | |
| Bravo. But strange, how is it that grown men, Republican senators who cry, Constitution, the Constitution, can't stand up to, uh, The lobby. | |
| That means the next administration, whatever party that's in, six years from now, whenever that may be, is going to inherit a law that has codified the Memorandum of Understanding as a floor and makes clear to the world that the U.S. has a legal commitment, not just a moral one, but a legal obligation to come to Israel's assistance and to continue to provide help. | |
| And toss the First Amendment into the trash. | |