I guess it isn't all that surprising, but it is certainly disappointing that a United States senator doesn't have the foggiest idea about constitutional law and freedom of speech.

Ben Cardin of Maryland had THIS to say when talking about supposed "hate speech" on the internet.

If you espouse hate, if you espouse violence, you're not protected under the First Amendment.

Yeah, this dude wants you to think that "hate speech," however he defines it, is illegal in the United States.

This is really about controlling speech on the internet, and all this recent grandstanding by congressmen is thanks largely to Elon Musk.

I think we can be more aggressive in the way we handle that type of use of the internet. We know that Europe has done things, I think we have to learn things from each other.

Yes, let's look to Europe, shall we?

• UK Man Arrested For ‘Malicious Communications' After Posting Meme Mocking the Transgender Flag
• British Ex-Cop Gets 20 Weeks' Jail for Sharing Memes Mocking George Floyd
• Count Dankula found guilty of hate crime after teaching pet pug 'Nazi salute'
• British police barged into this pastor's home and arrested his wife for posting memes online
• Video footage shows moment a woman was arrested in Britain for silently praying outside an abortion clinic

Not only does Democrat Ben Cardin think that the First Amendment doesn't protect hate speech, he sees stories like these coming out of Britain and thinks, "Hey, why aren't the police arresting these meme makers here in the US?"

I guess he's in favor of a dystopian police state that arrests people for wrongthink and silly jokes that go against the party line – and he's comfortable saying it out loud!