Free Republic

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently held two days of hearings on proposed internet regulations. While the hysterical media has ginned up a new “red scare,” the FEC’s proposals will do nothing to stop bad actors, but will undermine our First Amendment rights to online political speech. The FEC used the hearings, at which I testified, to consider different approaches — some more restrictive than others — to “improve” disclaimers for online political advertising. Yet FEC regulations already require political action committees (PACs) and other online spenders to use disclaimers where they can, or to click through to fully-disclaimed pages...

There is nothing new about The New York Times running bizarre progressive agitprop. But thankfully these articles are more often relegated to the opinion pages. Not so today, as a headline purporting to be news, on page 1A above the fold, offered the absurd opinion that conservatives have “weaponized free speech.” In the place of anything remotely resembling facts or serious empirical evidence, the article by Adam Liptak relies mainly on quotes from “experts” who think government needs to compel bad guys to shut up. William F. Buckley comes to mind while reading the mealy-mouthed assault on our greatest and...

Make Europe Great Again TV episode 9, with two of the leaders of the free speech, free Tommy, free the UK, etc. movement. Tom Dupré: Co-leader of Generation Identity UK Janice Atkinson: Independent UK MEP

In a remarkably honest exposé, the New York Times acknowledged Saturday that “liberals who once championed expansive First Amendment rights are now uneasy about them” ever since conservatives realized they should apply to them as well. The Times cites First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams who noted that whereas the left once led support for First Amendment protections, they are now “at least skeptical and sometimes distraught at the level of First Amendment protection which is being afforded in cases brought by litigants on the right.” The difference between then and now? Many of the ideas currently being protected by free...

WASHINGTON — On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm. The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California law requiring religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about abortion. Conservatives, said Justice Kagan, who is part of the court’s four-member liberal wing, were “weaponizing the First Amendment.” The two decisions were the latest in a stunning run of victories for a conservative agenda that...

JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. Under Illinois law, public employees are forced to subsi­ dize a union, even if they choose not to join and strongly object to the positions the union takes in collective bar­ gaining and related activities. We conclude that this arrangement violates the free speech rights of nonmem­ bers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern. We upheld a similar law in Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U. S. 209 (1977), and we recognize the importance of following precedent unless there are strong reasons for...

As a longtime resident of Virginia, I am well aware of its sordid history when it comes to slavery, racism and discrimination. I can still remember "colored only" restrooms, water fountains, poll taxes and African Americans forced to ride in the back of the bus. Virginia public schools in the 1950s were mostly segregated, as they had been since first established in 1870. Segregation was so bad in my home state of Virginia that even Native Americans were largely excluded from public education. It wasn't until 1963, nine years after Brown v. Board of Education, that public schools were open...

On May 22, 2018, the U. S. House of Representatives Government Reform and Oversight Committee examined the free speech crisis on college campuses. Since few universities do not receive federal funding, their interest is not inconsequential. One of the three academic witnesses they called--Brett Weinstein--identified himself as a "professor in exile" from Evergreen State College. Weinstein--like the other two witnesses the committee called on from academe--could distinctly be described as on the left of the political spectrum. Nevertheless, only one member of the trio—Shaun Harper of the University of Southern California—downplayed the free speech crisis. The other--Allison Stranger of Middlebury...

Lindsay Shepherd, the teaching assistant who rose to prominence after she was controversially disciplined for showing her class part of a TVOntario program on gender-neutral pronouns, is suing Wilfrid Laurier University, two professors, and a manager of the school’s Diversity and Equity Office. She claims harassment, intentional infliction of nervous shock, negligence, and constructive dismissal. The “attacks” on her “have rendered her unemployable in academia,” she claims, and forced her to abandon her career plans for further graduate study and teaching. The statement of claim, which seeks $3.6 million, was filed Tuesday in Waterloo, Ont., and as yet no statements...

In a democratic republic, freedom of expression and enlightened, open-ended debate are paramount. Yet in America in 2018, First Amendment rights are vanishing for conservatives. There's a reason: Powerful entities such as online and televised media, many of whom are left-oriented, have gradually shape-shifted our nation's speech to match their political flavor. For progressives, this uneven playing field is a seismic boon. For conservatives, not so much, nor is it good for even moderate left-wing thinkers. Under such a regimen, though, a land and people once revered as freedom-loving now creep closer toward socialism. Yet there they stand: the venomous...

Omar Mohamad travelled from Reading to march against the EDL leader and left Sergeant Guy Rooney with a severely bruised face. The 62-year-old joined the Hyde Park event led by the controversial leader with a group of men. During the rally he scuffled with the officer and struck him with a walking stick. Sergeant Rooney suffered from post traumatic stress and his bruising was so bad his children wouldn't walk to school with him. Passing a 26 week suspended sentence, District Judge Richard Blake said the rally was held "to express views that were adverse to the Muslim community in...

The Trump administration is using its legal muscle to aid college students who say their free-speech rights have been violated on campus, diving into a politically charged battle over whether school discipline and safety policies are hindering expression. Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has decried colleges for becoming “echo chamber of political correctness,” the Justice Department has been inserting itself into lawsuits on behalf of students who say their views are silenced when administrators restrict where they can protest or who can speak on campus. In recent months, the Justice Department has sided with conservative student groups suing the...

In our increasingly divided and partisan society, it appears that some forces are stepping up their efforts to silence others, shutting down debate rather than taking part in it. It's a mark of folks who know they have no winning argument, so therefore have to project, obfuscate and name call rather than actually address issues. Snowflakes! This is nothing new, but in the Trump era – in which the losing side of the 2016 presidential election still thinks of itself as the side of goodness despite increasing evidence to the contrary – U.S. President Trump's efforts to drain the deep...

Just who is behind the policing of our thought online? An article, “What the Red Pill Means for Radicals,” published on June 7 in the ironically named publication Fair Observer might have passed unnoticed as yet another uninformed, biased and ideologically motivated attack on all who ever get labeled “extremists.” The piece is so riddled with non-sequiturs and wild generalizations that it seems almost cruel to rip it to shreds. But the author is Bharath Ganesh. A little online research reveals that Ganesh is currently working at the Oxford Internet Institute — at the esteemed Oxford University — on a...

A discussion of free speech on American college campuses, and how the Bill of Rights is under assault in the 21st century.

Robinson was sentenced to 13 months imprisonment for “contempt of court” after attempting to livestream outside a trial that had been restricted from media reporting. Ten months was attributable to the livestream, and an additional three came from a re-activated suspended sentence from a previous attempt to film a child rape case. British reporters were temporarily banned from reporting on Robinson’s case, but the ban was later lifted. Flowers Left at British Embassy The American activists left flowers on the British flag “for the innocent girls, the victims of these brutal gangs that are rolling rampant through the UK and...

MSNBC continues to maintain its red wall of silence on Joy Reid. But the ugliness just keeps rising. The old blog posts by the progressive personality reek of every bigotry that the left claims to condemn. And, as Bre Payton at the Federalist notes, there's even a call to ethnically cleanse Jews from Israel. Iran's pres strikes again Says "move Israel to Europe" "You believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want....

On Wednesday’s “Full Frontal” on TBS, host Samantha Bee slammed the Trump administration over separating children from their families at the border and urged Ivanka Trump “do something about your dad’s immigration practices you feckless c**t.” ``````````````````` TBS is a Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., company, which in turn is owned by Time Warner, Inc.

ABC had every right to dump her, and political correctness was not involved. In case you haven’t heard, Roseanne Barr did something really awful and stupid on Tuesday morning. In a now-deleted tweet, Barr made a racist comment about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, saying that she was like the “Muslim brotherhood and Planet of the Apes had a baby.” A matter of hours later, her hit ABC sitcom was canceled. There’s no denying that what Barr said was racist, or that she was dumb for having said it. She has since apologized, and has probably also reached the conclusion...

..... Website: http://www.laurensouthern.net Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lauren_southern On Friday May 25th, 2018, Tommy Robinson was arrested for “breaching the peace” while filming outside Leeds Crown Court during the trial of a Muslim grooming gang. The "breaching the peace" charge morphed into another “contempt of court” charge, leading to Robinson’s preexisting suspended three month sentence for “contempt of court” being reinstated and an additional 10 month added. Robinson was swept off the streets and imprisoned within hours - placing him in a facility filled with individuals who would love to see him injured or killed. The court also instituted a shocking “reporting restriction”...