This statement is breathtaking:

Bob Ward, the former spokesman for the Royal Society, Britain’s academy of science, and one of the letter’s signatories, said … “Free speech does not extend to misleading the public by making factually inaccurate statements…Somebody has to stand up for the public interest here.’’

The argument of the despot throughout the ages. As Pitt the Younger said, “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”