Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer spoke at Dickinson College during my freshman year. I can’t remember what the question was, but a student thought that Europe was fit enough to counter the rising tide of jihadism that continues to sweep the continent. Scheuer did not hold back, calling our European allies some of the most feckless we could be around in this fight.
Almost 20 years later, the landscape has changed. And like Scheuer, Vice President JD Vance did not hold back either, lambasting European nations for their assault on the freedoms and liberties that have been the glue that’s kept the United States and Western Europe together. His points were simple: you cannot demand greater military assistance in defending democratic values if you lead the assault on those principles. The vice president also said that internal threats like this are more significant than the ones from Moscow. European leaders were reportedly aghast, but it’s not like we don’t know about the systemic censorship industrial complex that’s now systemic, even codified law in Europe. Law professor Jonathan Turley, who isn’t a conservative, described the speech as “glorious” (via The Hill):
Vance then pulled back the curtain on the censorship and anti-free-speech policies of the European Union and close allies ranging from the United Kingdom to Sweden. He also chastised one of the most vehemently anti-free speech figures in Europe, Thierry Breton, who led the EU efforts to control speech with draconian measures under the infamous Digital Services Act.
Vance called out the hypocrisy of these nations asking for greater and greater military assistance “in the name of our shared democratic values” even as they eviscerate free speech, the very right that once defined Western Civilization.
The point was crushing.
[…]
In my recent book, I discussed many of the examples cited by the vice president. One of the most telling came from Canada last year, when the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau temporarily blocked the citizenship of Russian dissident Maria Kartasheva. The reason was that she had a conviction (after a trial in absentia) in Russia for condemning the Ukrainian war. The Canadian government declared that Kartasheva’s conviction in Russia aligns with a Criminal Code offense relating to false information in Canada.
In other words, her use of free speech could be prosecuted in Canada under its abusive Section 372(1) of the Criminal Code, punishing speech deemed to be “convey[ing] false information with the intent to alarm or injure anyone.”
Vance ran through just a fraction of the parade of horribles, from Britain arresting people for silent prayers near abortion clinics to Sweden prosecuting a religious protester who burned a Koran, with Judge Göran Lundahl insisting that freedom of expression does not constitute a “free pass to do or say anything.” Apparently, it does not include acts once called blasphemy or insulting religion.
Vance also mocked the underlying premise for speech crackdowns to combat “disinformation,” pointing out that these measures constitute a far greater threat to citizens in the West than any external threat. He had the courage to say what has long been verboten on the restriction of speech to combat foreign influence: “if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”
[…]
He [Vance] was called a “wrecking ball” for bringing up the anti-free speech movement that has swept over Europe. One German official declared “This is all so insane and worrying.” This is a diplomat from a nation that shredded free speech for decades, to the point of arresting people over their ringtones.
[…]
Of course, our own anti-free speech voices were in attendance, too. Politico quoted one “former House Democratic staffer” who bravely attacked Vance anonymously: “I was aghast … He was blaming the victim. What the f— was that? I had my mouth open in a room full of people with their mouth open. That was bad.”
No, it was not bad. It was glorious.
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It was the punch to the face these smug European leaders needed, along with their allies here who want to import this Eurotrash system of censorship with legal muscle. It even caused some German leaders to cry—no, I’m not kidding.
The poor little chairman of the Munich Security Conference had a full-on pathetic meltdown, sobbing like a toddler, all because JD Vance dared to hurt his precious feelings by criticizing European leaders. pic.twitter.com/Lj9ZckbDpC
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 17, 2025
good grief https://t.co/2ICGxa2mZn
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 17, 2025
So @VP was completely right about Europe’s turn against free speech.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 17, 2025
Many such cases! pic.twitter.com/oKHz3hnVNs
Quite a bookend to CBS News’ day on this subject https://t.co/HjDmJMxhOn
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 17, 2025
German state police raid a home, seizing the suspect’s laptop and phone. The crime? Posting a racist cartoon online. https://t.co/4LHUP1ZWrB pic.twitter.com/tEC1N1Nm1L
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
Yes, a feckless lot indeed.
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