It doesn't matter if you're talking New York City or the European Union. So many formerly accepted social norms, what were once recognized as civilized behaviors or anticipated and correct outcomes, have been turned on their head by progressive, Woke ideology that it's hard to know which end is up.

Can I visit Ebola in England safely? That's not a rhetorical question. I've got a bit of an online presence, and I've been vocal in my condemnation of the authoritarian direction the UK government has taken.

That's a no-no as far as those autocrats are concerned. They reserve the right not only to hound and imprison their own citizens, which they do routinely, but also to take close looks at the opinions expressed by arriving visitors.

I'd rather not get turned around at Heathrow, but who would have ever thought such a thing could be a possibility to begin with?

Such is the world we live in now, thanks to 'progressives.'

In Germany, the madness is pervasive, and 'democracy' is a laughable construct. Sure, you can belong to a political party, but if that party doesn't pass a smell test and, God forbid, becomes too popular, well, the powers that be will work to ban it entirely. If they can dream and debunk you for being a 'right-wing extremist' at the same time, fantastic. One less populist they have to worry about.

There are also the same sort of hate speech laws protecting everyone but the native Germans living there. Immigrants, their crimes, or their extortionate cost to German society can't be spoken against, illegal or otherwise. Certainly, their religion is off-limits.

A perfect example of the upside-down nature of progressive governance happened recently.

On the last day of May, an anti-Islamic activist in Mannheim, Germany, named Michael Stürzenberger, was attacked as he stood in a square ranting his spiel to no one in particular. John and I both covered it.

A young police officer, who actually dove on the victim being attacked instead of the attacker, was stabbed in the neck for his mistake and later died at the hospital.

To a person, everyone wondered, did his politically correct training get him killed?

Why would he not go for the obvious fellow with the knife first?

It seems short-sighted of this gentleman to challenge stereotypes about the dangers of Islamic immigration by attacking people with a knife.https://t.co/uOqFrzV7Iu

— Ben Sixsmith (@BDSixsmith) May 31, 2024

The victim, thanks to a previous incident, now has a conviction for 'incitement' to add to his assassination attempt, thanks to Germany's hate and incitement laws.

Earlier this year, activist and blogger Michael Stürzenberger became the victim of an Islamist attack because of his harsh criticism of Islam. Now, six months later, he has been convicted for incitement to hatred and given a fine by a regional court in Hamburg – also because of his harsh criticism of Islam.

In May, a former refugee from Afghanistan targeted and attacked Stürzenberger and six others during a rally organised by Stürzenberger’s campaign group, Pax Europa, in Mannheim, south-west Germany. The incident left one policeman dead, Stürzenberger severely injured – he needed several operations on his face and knee – and a nation in shock.

Stürzenberger’s incitement conviction is not directly related to the incidents in Mannheim. Instead, it relates to statements he made at a rally in Hamburg in 2020. He was originally found guilty of incitement to hatred and given a six-month prison sentence at a Hamburg court in September 2022, but appealed the conviction. Last month the court upheld the original verdict, but reduced his sentence to a fine of €3,600.

According to reports, his punishment was reduced because he had since become a victim of an assassination attempt. Another mitigating factor was that he had not given any public speeches since the Mannheim attack.

The Stürzenberg case shows how dangerous, intimidating and anti-democratic Germany’s laws against incitement to hatred and hate speech are. It would be difficult to find a country in Western Europe that restricts free speech as radically as Germany does – especially when it comes to criticising Islam. Indeed, the German elites regard criticism of Islam as an act of right-wing extremism that needs to be censored.

It's nice the jury gave him credit for his knife wounds.

All for voicing his 'opinion.' No one seems to care that this Afgan refugee validated every word.

The victim is guilty of #DaMeanz.

Progressives.

There is another abomination announced today in relation to the abomination that is the Daniel Penny trial itself.

A trial that even the mayor of New York City, no slouch in progressive circles himself, says is wrong.

NEW: NYC mayor Eric Adams defends Daniel Penny for protecting subway passengers, blasts the media for portraying Jordan Neely as an "innocent child."

Adams said Penny did what New York City "should have done as a city."

"You have someone on that subway who was responding, doing… pic.twitter.com/CO7r6GdeD4

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 5, 2024

..."You have someone on that subway who was responding, doing what we should have done as a city in a state of having a mental health facility." 

"It seemed like it was a young, innocent child who was brutally m*rdered, and it gave that impression." 

"When you look at the photo that was being used, it wanted to set up in the minds of people that we were dealing with a young, innocent child, just a Michael Jackson imitator that was just brutally assaulted."

And the assault comes from the parents of that same deranged, drug-addled, dangerous-as-hell Michael Jackson imitator who frightened the people on that subway car out of their wits.

The gentle soul with an outstanding assault warrant at the time he climbed onto that train.

The Daniel Penny saga just gets more and more insane: at the time of his death, there was a warrant out for Jordan Neely's arrest - get this - for the assault of a woman on the subway. How this even went to trial is beyond me. pic.twitter.com/2kT64NS41w

— captive dreamer (@captivedreamer7) December 3, 2024

These people make me puke.

Jordan Neely’s father sues Daniel Penny as NYC jury deliberates verdict for subway chokehold death https://t.co/QjinKds2Mc pic.twitter.com/hw5JU9wkDO

— New York Post (@nypost) December 5, 2024

That young man being railroaded in Alvin Bragg's courtroom does not deserve any of this.

If this doesn’t get dismissed immediately, Daniel Penny should counter sue. The father’s neglect gave rise to Neely’s maladaptive behavior and drug addiction. The father should have to pay all of Danny Penny’s legal expenses related to the criminal trial & lost income https://t.co/pC25gcBv8s

— No One (@brbrjmsbrnts) December 5, 2024

But isn't that how progressives roll?

Isn't that completely how they turn worlds upside down and criminals into saints? Profit out of neglect?

I am so tired of their twisted world.

So, so tired.

Any man who acts with courage will spend the rest of his life being destroyed by the courts and media

Something drastic must be done, we can’t continue to live like this https://t.co/uxb5qKTjSJ

— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) December 5, 2024

We need common sense, civilized behavior, and good guys again.