Carmen Best: The First Amendment expires weekdays at 3 pm

Seattle’s so-called Interim Police Chief, Carmen Best was in a tough spot. There she was, in front of a group of citizens who were justifiably angry that Best had allowed seven people to take over downtown Seattle by laying down in the middle of the road. Best did what she could to play her duel roles: pretend cop and real panderer. But, in walking that balance beam she became dizzy, veered off course and tried to discuss constitutional rights. That was a bad decision, but at least it was hilarious. You can hear Best veering off course here, recorded by a listener to KIRO Radio and aired on our show.

Carmen Best, constitutional scholar: Congress shall make no law prohibiting some citizens from limiting the movement of other citizens

Best lectured people who had their universally recognized constitutional right to freely associate stolen by seven people that it’s an issue of free speech. She explained that the First Amendment means seven people laying in a street get to prevent them from freely associating with their peers at work, their doctors at Harborview or their families. Speech, she taught, means some people get to physically limit the movement of other people. Best then attempted to wax philosophical. She asked where the First Amendment said free speech was okay unless it was inconvenient. She is afraid to come on the show, or I would ask her where the First Amendment says you can force people to listen or steal their enumerated First Amendment right to peaceable assemble. Of course, Best had ceased to talk about free speech when she began endorsing forced restraint.

The right of the people to petition the government to address grievances . . . and to to call out blatant horse droppings shall not be infringed

Oddly, citizens were not mollified with Best’s endorsement of breaking Washington State’s Disorderly Conduct Law that specifically bans pedestrians blocking the streets. Nor were they made to feel better with Seattle’s so-called Police Chief’s official position that, at any time during your day, a fellow citizen can stop your movement, lock you in place, and make you watch their temper tantrum. So, Best tried to put her fake cop mask back on. Best said that Seattle police only allowed seven people to limit the physical movement of tens of thousands until 3:00. After 3:00, Best said, Seattle police cannot allow people to block the streets.

Remember: The Constitution says your God-given rights expire at 3:00

Carmen Best’s pretend First Amendment right to block people’s movement, which moments ago she held as sacred and inviolable, suddenly expired at 3:00. Free Speech, according to Seattle’s so-called Interim Police Chief, shuts down at 3:00 on weekdays. This is what happens when you operate with no principle higher than keeping your party bosses happy: you find yourself uttering objective gibberish.

This is really quite sad for Seattle, but also for Carmen Best

Once upon a time, Carmen Best was probably an actual cop. Somewhere in her muscle memory, she knows we cannot allow seven people to take over downtown. The King County Sheriff said she will make arrests if people block the streets. But, Carmen Best is no longer a cop; she wears the badge, but it’s an ornament of her past. These days, Carmen Best is a Deputy Panderer to Chief Panderer and failed Mayor, Jenny Durkan. That’s why I have my own plan for dealing with people who block my car in protest.