Watch What You Say in France

For John, BLUF:  Is this very "Soviet-like" or is it just very "European-like"?  Over there they don't make a fetish of free speech, the way we do in the AngloSphere.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Marine Le Pen furious after being ordered to undergo psychiatric tests

Here is the sub-headline:

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far right has been left shocked and furious after a court ordered her to be examined by a psychiatrist to determine if she "is capable of understanding remarks and answering questions".

From The Local/AFP, by Reporter Ben McPartland, 20 September 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

Le Pen, who is head of the former National Front party - now National Rally (Rassemblement National) revealed on Twitter her shock and anger at being ordered to undertake a psychiatric assessment.

The unusual summoning is in relation to Le Pen having tweeted out gruesome propaganda images from terror group Isis that showed the bodies of people having been executed by the so-called Islamic State.

In March Le Pen was charged with circulating "violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity" and that can be viewed by a minor.

And as part of their investigation it appears magistrates in Nanterre near Paris have ordered Le Pen to visit a psychiatrist for an expert assessment.

"I thought I had been through it all: well, no! For denouncing the horrors of Daesh (Isis) by tweets the "justice system" has referred me for a psychiatric assessment. How far will they go?!" she said on Thursday.

The really scary part is that with the World Wide Web it is possible for European nations to impose their totalitarian rules on the rest of us.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff