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"Congress Shall Make No Law..." [1]

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Date: 2024-06-27  

In an ironic bit of timing, on the day the Supreme Court ruled that the administration asking social media companies to make sure they aren't posting things that could kill people isn't government restricting speech, a 'Pub congressoid decided to test what actually does qualify.

Mad Dog PAC, a political action committee, rented billboard space in Miami from Lamar Advertising to post a message pairing Donald Trump with Fidel Castro and the text, "No to Dictators."

The reactions have been mixed.

"It's disrespectful to Cuba, to Cubans, to Trump, especially to this country, too," one Miami woman told NBC Miami "There's no comparison."

One part-time area resident's complaints, somehow, had more weight than those of the unnamed woman-on-the-street. Rep.Maria Elvira Salazar (R-of course) was also upset at the comparison, and called Lamar Advertising, to protest the billboard. And, somehow, the company immediately agreed to take down the sign.

"This morning, I spoke with Lamar Advertising to express my serious concerns about the profoundly irresponsible and dishonest billboard featuring Fidel Castro, a known murderous dictator," Salazar wrote in a Friday statement. "This afternoon, I was informed by the Vice President and General Manager for the South Florida region at Lamar that they will be removing the billboard shortly. The truth requires them to take this action."

A couple of brief points and I'll see myself out:

Mad Dog PAC, unlike anti-vax trolls, paid money to publish their post, on a platform that pre-screens all content. Lamar approved of Mad Dog's billboard and entered contractual relations to publish it for money.

Lamar broke that contract after personal intervention from a US Representative, who was able to reach the vice-president of the company because she's a US Representative (concerned "women-on-the-street" calling to bitch about billboards do not get their calls forwarded to the top floor).

Finally, unlike social media platforms' restricting of anti-vax speech, which began before the government's communications to the companies, Lamar pulled down the billboard only after direct intervention from a sitting officer of the US government.

Congress, in this case, made no law, but one congressoid sure made a racket, and was able to curtail paid speech with a single yammering call. At this point in life, I’m too tired to get actually outraged by much, but this government intervention to restrict speech burns my biscuits.

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