The Loss of Equal Protection

WASHINGTON , June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Six months after America's Frontline Doctors' viral video of their press conference onthe steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on July 27, 2020, Founder Dr. Simone Gold traveled to a free speech rally in Washington, D.C., to speak on January 6, 2021. In the months between the press conference and January 6th, Dr. Gold was asked to present publicly on numerous occasions about physicians' free speech and her experience of being fired for prescribing early treatment to Covid-19 patients. By this time, she had also founded America's Frontline Doctors, a division of the Free Speech Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. Dr. Gold was scheduled to speak on January 6^th alongside numerous other presenters after President Trump's appearance at the rally, which had a government approved permit. At her expected start time, Dr. Gold was then told all speeches were suddenly canceled without explanation. Upon hearing this, Dr. Gold was amongst thousands swept into the Capitol building when the doors were opened from the inside, with law enforcement officers ushering people in. While there, Dr. Gold realized it was the only remaining moment to deliver her message to those who came to hear it, and so she gave her remarks there. When an officer instructed her to move towards an exit, she complied, and shortly after when asked to leave the building entirely, she did so. The media coverage after January 6th showed carefully selected edits of violent scenes, but that was not Dr. Gold's observation of the day. Subsequently, Dr. Gold was arrested and prosecuted along with hundreds of other non-violent citizens for being present at the Capitol. Dr. Gold reached a plea agreement for entering a restricted building. Her sentencing is scheduled today, June 16, 2022.

Dr. Gold did express regret for being involved in a situation that later became unpredictable, but what she is facing are the consequences of exercising free speech in today's America. Like most January 6^th defendants, she is a victim of selective prosecution – a defining feature of corrupted governments, and a direct violation of the equal protection guarantee of the US Constitution.

For example, consider that there were hundreds of arrests for violent protests in association with President Trump's Inauguration in 2017. The government subsequently dropped all of those charges, including charges against people who were actually disrupting Congress from inside the Congressional gallery while Congress was in session. But with the January 6^th arrests, the government has not only failed to drop any charges against nonviolent persons in public spaces, such as Dr. Gold, it has instead aggressively violated defendants' civil rights at nearly every turn.

There are innumerable well-documented instances of January 6^th defendants not receiving due process noted in the book January 6authored by Julie Kelly. For instance, some defendants have been held in prison for nearly 18 months pretrial. In Dr. Gold's case, she peacefully gave a speech on medical freedom and Constitutional rights in the public Rotunda. This resulted in the government violently arresting her in a surprise raid, breaking the front door of her home, using over a dozen FBI and law enforcement officers with assault weapons pointed at her from two feet away. The intent to terrorize her with this tactical assault suited to a raid on a violent drug cartel was unmistakable; she suffers from PTSD to this day.

Dr. Gold's peaceful exercise of her 1^st Amendment rights also resulted in numerous restrictions of her personal civil liberties and severe interference with her ability to serve the millions who look to America's Frontline Doctors for life- saving information and civil rights support. This continued for over a year before any adjudication.

Such inequitable treatment based upon political preference shows the collapse of the rule of law. For people interested in learning the truth about the January 6^th event, please watch Capitol Punishment. In addition, the government has aggressively refrained from arresting or prosecuting certain highly visible individuals seen on videotape who waived people into the building. The government has aggressively withheld 14,000 hours of closed-circuit security footage. The government has not disclosed how many FBI agents and assets were in the crowd. And the media lied when it stated five officers were killed – exactly zero officers were killed that day. The only person who was killed, Ashli Babbitt, a petite unarmed 35-year-old female military veteran posing no lethal danger, was gunned down by Michael Byrd, a Capitol police officer, who in a prior incident of severe negligence left a loaded gun with no safety in a public restroom. Byrd was never charged for Babbitt's murder.

Dr. Gold remains committed to her advocacy for physicians' free speech. In quoting George Washington, she said: "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." For over two years now, We The People have been under attack. Our Constitutional rights have been increasingly trampled and eroded. The First Amendment has been annihilated. This is unprecedented in our lifetimes.

A concerted effort has been undertaken to "cancel" physicians who do not follow the mainstream narrative. Dr. Gold has been targeted by these attacks since the White Coat Summit in July 2020 when she shared the news of lifesaving medications alongside many esteemed colleagues, now numbering in the tens of thousands. The California Medical Board subsequently threatened Dr. Gold's license with an unfounded claim she was sharing "dangerous disinformation." Meanwhile, data continues to grow in overwhelming support of her positions with every passing week.

The attempted silencing of this one doctor was just a preamble for what is to come throughout the nation. California AB 2098, an official government censorship bill, has just been passed through the CA State Assembly. This outrageous bill puts a gag order on doctors in exchange for a California medical license. Without a license, a doctor cannot practice medicine. When a doctor has a license revoked in any state, it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for that doctor to obtain a license in another state. This is career-ending. Further, AB 2098 proposes to violate the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship and create a new category of "unprofessional conduct" against doctors who provide education and early treatment for Covid-19. AFLDS has prepared a comprehensive Issue Brief on AB 2098.

Issue Brief - CA AB 2098 | America's Frontline Doctors (AFLDS.org)

As we consider the results of Dr. Gold's sentencing, one thing is clear. We are still far from the change that is needed. The Constitution is crumbling before us, and we must continue to stand for what is right. We will never cower to government threats and harassment. Dr. Gold risked her career when she stood against the mainstream narrative to save lives. Now, she still stands, risking her freedom, to choose what is right over what is comfortable. We must learn to be so bold and continue to stand together against the growing tyranny we face.

America's Frontline Doctors is the nation's premier Civil Liberties Organization. Our mission is to provide We The People with independent information from the world's top experts in medicine and law so you can be empowered with facts, protect your health, and exert your inalienable and Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Aflds.org

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SOURCE Free Speech Foundation