Free Republic

Some University of Oklahoma students in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity were videorecorded singing (as best I and others can tell), There will never be a nigger at SAE There will never be a nigger at SAE You can hang him from a tree But he’ll never sign with me There will never be a nigger at SAE University of Oklahoma president David Boren said, “If I’m allowed to, these students will face suspension or expulsion.” [UPDATE: The president has indeed expelled two of the students.] But he is not, I think, allowed to do that.

Internet is a medium by which every one may publish to every one. The medium must not can not be regulated. Regulation is an abridgment of the freedom of speech and of "the press" Internet is “the tyrant’s foe, and the people’s friend” The FCC is seizing control of the medium. They claim laws of the 1930's as their authority. The 1930's are well before computers and internet existed. The FCC has no authority to regulate the medium. There can be no authority to control the medium.

As the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Election Commission toy with regulating aspects of the Internet, critics on those agencies are warning that speed and freedom of speech are in jeopardy. In a joint column, Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai and Federal Election Commission member Lee Goodman, leveled the boom on the Obama-favored regulations, essentially charging that it will muck up the freedom the nation has come to expect from the Internet. In one key passage of the column published in Politico, the duo wrote Monday that heavy-handed FCC regulations like those imposed in Europe will significantly slow down

Former film star Brigitte Bardot, France’s iconic blonde bombshell and “sex kitten” who reigned supreme from 1952 – 1973, is currently on trial for the fifth time for insulting Muslims and “inciting racial hatred.” Bardot has been fined four times and has also received suspended jail sentences.

A man-on-street video. The University of Michigan took some pretty big steps toward stifling free speech on its campus this month with its “Inclusive Language” program. They’ve even gone as far as to create a list of “unacceptable words”. Just how important is the 1st amendment to students today. I’m pretty sure that after watching the video, you’ll feel more compelled to protect the 1st amendment than ever before!

Danish police have said three officers were shot and wounded at blasphemy debate in Copenhagen where the French ambassador was speaking. Two gunmen are said to be still at large. Reports say up to 40 shots were fired outside the venue in the Danish capital. Controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has drawn caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, was also present at the debate. Shortly after the attack, a message appeared on the Twitter feed of French ambassador Francois Zimeray saying he was unharmed. Lars Vilks stoked controversy in 2007 by drawing pictures of the Prophet Muhammad dressed as a...

The Federal Election Commission is considering expanding their regulatory power to include political speech online… Yeah, let’s regulate the internet. I mean, free speech can’t just be expected to run wild or anything, right? The FEC held an open hearing yesterday to determine if they will move forward on clamping down on political content online (such as blogs, YouTube videos, and other “free” messaging). According to CNS News:Last October, FEC Chairwoman Ann Ravel issued a statement in which she complained that the agency was not doing enough to monitor activity on the Internet.Right… Because I know I’m terrified that the feds...

As France recovers from last week’s terrorist attacks against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the Western world, including journalists and social media spectators across the political spectrum, are rallying around freedom of speech – even offensive speech. While they are rightly united in the conviction that objectionable expression should be safe from violent retaliation, it is increasingly clear that the freedom of speech often works only at that bare minimum — protecting us from imprisonment and decapitation by governments, but not from social and economic destruction by our fellow Americans, including government officials. Take the case of Kelvin Cochran, Atlanta’s...

Pope Francis suggested there are limits to freedom of expression, saying in response to the Charlie Hebdo terror attack that "one cannot make fun of faith" and that anyone who throws insults can expect a "punch." The pontiff said that both freedom of faith and freedom of speech were fundamental human rights and that "every religion has its dignity." "One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith," he said. "There is a limit. Every religion has its dignity ... in freedom of expression there are limits." The pope was speaking to reporters on...

[...] Zvyagintsev [a noted Russian film director whose "Leviathan" has recently taken the Golden Globe prize] swims resolutely against the tide. One remark by Russia’s culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, who, earlier this year, said openly that he did not like Leviathan, seems especially to irritate. “He said: ‘Let all the flowers grow, but we will only water the ones we like.’ After these words he should have been fired, because this is a direct violation of the constitution, a direct violation of human expression. You cannot impose rules on art. Everybody should be equal. Government help, without which art cannot...

Paris (AFP) - French prosecutors said Monday they were investigating notorious comedian Dieudonne for "inciting terrorism" with his Facebook comment [...] "Tonight, as far as I'm concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly", the comedian wrote, playing the expression "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") off a reference to Friday's kosher supermarket attacker Amedy Coulibaly. "Je suis Charlie" was adopted as the rallying cry following shootings at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people died. Coulibaly killed four hostages in the kosher supermarket seige, after murdering a police officer Thursday. [...] The comedian made his controversial Facebook post after attending...

Shortly after a terrorist attack left 12 dead inside a Paris magazine called Charlie Hebdo, a meme went viral. People posted a new phrase on social media, held signs with the slogan, said it again and again and again on TV: “Je Suis Charlie” — I am Charlie. The message was meant to show solidarity with those who died. And those who were murdered in cold blood were called “journalists,” therefore “Je Suis Charlie” supporters were saying, essentially, there but for the grace of God go I. They, too, could have been killed over freedom of expression. We are all...

A Saudi Arabian blogger has been publicly flogged after being convicted of cybercrime and insulting Islam, reports say. Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail, was flogged 50 times. The flogging will be carried out weekly, campaigners say. Mr Badawi, the co-founder of a now banned website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested in 2012. Rights groups condemned his conviction and the US appealed for clemency. On Thursday state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki urged the Saudi authorities to "cancel this brutal punishment" and to review his case. In addition to his sentence, Mr...

The massacre in Paris of the staff of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was an act of terrorism, but also a successful act of war in the clash of civilizations between Islamism and the West. Nor were we lacking for warning signs. In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, a license to kill author Salman Rushdie for his anti-Muslim novel "Satanic Verses." Danish cartoons of the Prophet with his turban in the shape of a bomb caused riots across the Middle East. Charlie Hebdo published them. The vulgarian Theo Van Gogh was carved up alive on a street in Amsterdam...

Kelvin Cochran was five-years-old when he realized that he wanted to be a firefighter. “My family was very, very poor,” Cochran told me. “We were living in a shotgun house in an alley – three big brothers, two little sisters.” One Sunday afternoon the Cochran children heard a fire truck stop across from their neighbor’s home. Miss Maddie’s house was one fire. “It’s a frightening day in the United States when a person cannot express their faith without fears of persecution following,” White told me. “It’s persecution when a godly fire chief loses his job over expressing his Christian faith.”...

A new law will come into effect in Sweden after Christmas 2014, that will allow people to be prosecuted for criticizing immigration or politician’s unwillingness to tackle the issue. The Constitutional Committee’s report has been voted for in parliament, seen in a letter from the Parliamentary Offices. Member of Parliament Andrew Norlén, member of the Constitutional Committee, has been pushing the issue and he says it will rapidly become a deterrent. ... Without freedom of speech there can be no democracy. If you are not allowed to say certain things then parties that support your ideas cannot exist and Sweden...

Five Christian pastors will no longer have to turn their sermons over to attorneys for the city of Houston. Instead, they will be forced to turn over their speeches related to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). I don’t mean to point out the obvious here—but what do those attorneys think a sermon is? It’s a speech. According to an amended motion filed Friday in Harris County, Texas court, the city’s attorneys will no longer demand sermons related to homosexuals, gender identity, or Mayor Annise Parker—Houston’s first openly lesbian mayor. The amended subpoenas do require the pastors to turn over...

I’ve learned how the game works, from my perch here at Breitling Energy. For one, we advertise and broadcast Powering America Radio on The Patriot, KEIB 1150 AM in Los Angeles, the USAs 2nd largest media market. It also happens to be the transplanted LA home of the Rush Limbaugh show. On occasion, Chris Faulkner’s “Oil and Gas Today” reports fall within the Limbaugh program (it’s called run-of-schedule in broadcasting….where commercials air randomly through the day).. When they hit his show, here come the emails. People “informing” us of Rush’s bigoted bias and “encouraging” us to not support any station...

Blissfully unaware of how hot the irony burned, Robert Kennedy Jr. yesterday took to a public protest to rail avidly in favor of censorship. The United States government, Kennedy lamented in an interview with Climate Depot, is not permitted by law to “punish” or to imprison those who disagree with him — and this, he proposed, is a problem of existential proportions. Were he to have his way, Kennedy admitted, he would cheer the prosecution of a host of “treasonous” figures — among them a number of unspecified “politicians”; those bêtes noires of the global Left, Kansas’s own Koch Brothers;...

Ayaan Irisi Ali has often been rejected by the "multicultural" establishment, perhaps most memorably in April of this year by Brandeis University. According to Brandeis, "She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women's rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world," said the university's statement. "That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values." [Emphasis added.] According to the Fox News article linked above, Ali, a member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006, has been quoted as making...