Free Republic

When I was a journalist, I loved Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s assertion that the Constitution and the First Amendment are not just about protecting “free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.” But as a government official traveling around the world championing the virtues of free speech, I came to see how our First Amendment standard is an outlier. Even the most sophisticated Arab diplomats that I dealt with did not understand why the First Amendment allows someone to burn a Koran. Why, they asked me, would you ever want to...

Remember the bakers in Oregon who were driven out of business for refusing to bake a cake for a ceremony that was against their principles? They were fined $135,000 under Oregon law. Now the federal government is going even further, by pushing a bill to erode the First Amendment, which would criminalize opinions deemed as “hate speech.” Indeed, if House Bill 257 is passed into law, you could be jailed for an opinion that defies political orthodoxy with regards to sharia law, or radical Islam. The United States already has strict laws that protect against hate crimes, so one reasonably...

YouGov conducted a nearly but not quite identical poll (more on that a minute) on this topic last October. I made a big deal about it and have had liberal friends ever since telling me that it’s a fluke result, that most Democrats don’t really support banning hate speech, and that I’m generally being alarmist. Well, here’s YouGov’s sequel. I’m done entertaining doubts that this is a real problem.Don’t start hissing at the left yet, though. I hate to say it but it ain’t their party that’s growing in support for making hate speech a crime.The question YouGov asked...

Free Dominion, one of the arch-foes of the Canadian Gun Registry, has been shut down. The conservative website, Free Dominion, has shut down after a long legal battle with censorship champion lawyer Richard Warman.  Warman gained notoriety for his attacks on conservative sites by using the "hate speech" law in Canada (the Canadian Human Rights Commission) to censor speech he disagreed with.   He was essentially the only person using the law and the process.  The CHRC became his personal tool of repression.  He had considerable success, though the CHRC has since been reformed by parliament as a result....

The House of Representatives has voted to urge a conference committee to add "sexual orientation, gender and disability" to federal hate-crimes law, a development some observers say would muzzle Christians who speak out against homosexuality. On Sept. 28, the House voted 213-186 to pass a procedural motion encouraging a conference committee to include the hate-crimes legislation in the final version of the Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4200). SPONSORED LINKS Mortgage Rates Drop to 6-month Low Lock in the lowest rates of the summer. Get up to 4 free quotes from trusted lenders. Apply now - bad credit OK. www.LowerMyBills.com Distance...