Free Republic

I have had the privilege of speaking at scores of American colleges and universities over the last decade. I have no recollection of meeting a finer bunch of people than the ones I met at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. Their students, their alumni, and their professors are the best people you'll ever want to meet. That is why it is so difficult to see Bryan turning into a dictatorship that is teetering on the edge of destruction. Accordingly, I write today offering some advice on how I think Bryan can turn things around. The normal procedure for ending a...

The U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner claims campus speech codes need to be tightened as college students are still “developing” and cannot yet handle certain information. Speaking during a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) briefing on sexual harassment law in education, Democrat Michael Yaki likened restricting free speech on college campuses to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision to ban the death penalty for minors. During the briefing, Yaki said hostile environments on college campuses can occur from fraternities holding “slave auction[s]” or celebrating Latino culture by “making everyone dress as janitors and mop floors.” “Certain factors in how the...

If at first you don't impede, try, try again. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a new law today restricting the free speech rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors. Patrick, a Democrat, said he was “still stunned” by the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in McCullen v. Coakley, striking down the state's previous 35-foot “bubble zone” at today's signing ceremony. The original law, drafted by current Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts President Marty Walz when she was a state legislator, required all “protesters” to stand dozens of feet away from the entrance of any such facilities. The justices did not rule that all such zoning...

You won’t know whether to laugh or cry after perusing these stories that will be added to our “great moments in government” collection. For instance, did you realize that American taxpayers were saddled with the responsibility to micro-manage agriculture in Afghanistan? You’re probably surprised the answer is yes. But I bet you’re not surprised that the money was flushed down a toilet. Here are some excerpts from a report on how $34 million was wasted. American agricultural experts who consider soybeans a superfood…have invested tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to try to change the way Afghans eat. The...

The chairman of the Federal Election Commission today blasted Democratic colleagues opposed to his effort to protect conservative media after they imposed rules on the publisher of Rep. Paul Ryan's new book, opening the door to future book regulations -- or even a ban. “By failing to affirm this publisher’s constitutional right, statutory right, to disseminate a political book free from FEC conditions and regulations, we have effectively asserted regulatory jurisdiction over a book publisher,” warned Chairman Lee E. Goodman, one of three Republicans on the six-person FEC. “That failure reveals a festering legal uncertainty and chill for the free...

It is axiomatic that the freedom of speech provisions of the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution are specifically intended to protect unpopular and/or offensive speech. After all, speech that is neither unpopular nor offensive is, obviously, not in need of any particular protections. It is equally indisputable that of all the various forms of speech possible, it is political and religious speech that lies at the heart of 1st Amendment protections.Meet Todd Kincannon, that &$(#*&%! Lawyer from South Carolina In the context of the Conservative polito-sphere one of the greatest founts of offensive conservative political and religious speech is...

The U.S. Department of Justice has finally found something to do. Since investigating multiple “fake” scandals like the White House Benghazi cover-up and IRS targeting of conservatives seem so petty, Holder’s crew have been itching for something worthy to investigate. A controversial float in the Norfolk Independence Day parade is just the ground-breaking case they were hoping for. “One of the floats included a zombie-like mannequin standing near an outhouse labeled ‘Obama Presidential Library,’” Omaha World-Herald reported. According to the World-Herald : "The department sent a member of its Community Relations Service team, which gets involved in discrimination disputes,...

Progressive Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) admitted Thursday that he doesn’t even know what Hobby Lobby sells. He tacitly admits that he doesn’t care that it is a family-owned business. Nevertheless, in announcing that the Democrats will pursue legislation to overthrow the Supreme Court’s decision of last week, Schumer explicitly ordered Americans to choose between our livelihoods and our religious beliefs. “Think of the difference,” Schumer says. “You’re born with a religion or you adopt a religion. You have to obey the precepts of that religion, and the government gives you a wide penumbra. You don’t have to form a...

Mr. Chairman, this is the single most radical and most dangerous proposal introduced in the 113th congress. If this proposal were adopted, it would repeal the free speech protections of the first amendment. The breadth of this proposal is astonishing. It should lead the evening news on every station. It saddens me that 46 democratic senators have signed their name to a constitutional amendment expressly repealing the free speech provisions of the Bill of Rights. Ted Cruz continues....

Over three dozen journalist organizations including the Radio Television Digital News Association, National Press Foundation, and the Society of Professional Journalists, have asked the President to drop the "excessive controls" on public information by federal agencies, branding it "politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies." There has been an ongoing tension between broadcast, print and online journalists and the Obama administration, with complaints that the Administration has limited access to events, while providing its own "coverage" through official channels. n a letter to President Obama, the groups complained about policies that require journalists to go through public...

Even while my colleagues and I at the ACLJ are suing the IRS and its key officials on behalf of 41 conservative groups in 22 states, there’s still a need (now perhaps more than ever) for a bit of old-fashioned levity and mockery. Our outstanding video-production team put together this three-minute “ACLJ short” about IRS excuses. It’s called “Quick Lerner.” Enjoy!

New York's highest court said on Tuesday that a law designed to criminalize cyberbullying was so broad that it violated the First Amendment, marking the first time a U.S. court weighed the constitutionality of such a law. . . . The Court of Appeals in a 5-2 decision said it was possible to pass a law outlawing bullying via social media or text message that respected free speech rights, but the county's statute went too far. . . . “The problem is, it’s going to be really tricky to write a law that is comprehensive in its coverage of bullying...

While Thursday’s ruling overturning buffer zones outside abortion clinics pleased pro-life activists, Justice Antonin Scalia thinks it didn’t go far enough. The court unanimously agreed that the Massachusetts law, which barred protesters and counselors from being within 35 feet of abortion clinics, violated the First Amendment, but denied that it unfairly discriminated against abortion opponents. “Today’s opinion carries forward this Court’s practice of giving abortion-rights advocates a pass when it comes to suppressing the free-speech rights of their opponents,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, with whom Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas concurred. “There is an entirely separate, abridged edition of...

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has struck down a 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts. The justices were unanimous Thursday that extending a buffer zone 35 feet from clinic entrances violates the First Amendment rights of protesters. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Chief Justice John Roberts says authorities have less intrusive ways to deal with problems outside the clinics.

College campuses are becoming increasingly hostile towards certain forms of speech. One of the main reasons for the hostility is the admission of students who are too emotionally immature to tolerate dissenting opinions. In addition to lacking emotional maturity, many of these students lack humility. They believe that their emotions trump the ideas of others. Obviously, I disagree. In fact, I think that these students need to be weeded out early in the college application process. I think I have a specific plan that can help make that a reality. We already ask students a lot of questions in the...

Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the name Redskins is 'disparaging of Native Americans' and, therefore, should not be afforded trademark protection any longer. This seems like a free-speech appeal just waiting to happen but in the meantime we should take a look at all the major American sports (sorry, soccer/futbol is still not one of them) and pick a few other nicknames that should be banned or at least left unprotected with trademark rights because they could be offensive to some people in the country. Major League Baseball 1.Royals - this name could be offensive to...

I gave a cursory read to the Code of Conduct in the updated Microsoft Services Agreement, which, among other things, states under Prohibited Uses states, You will not upload, post, transmit, transfer, distribute, or facilitate distribution of any content (including text, images, sound, video, data, information, or software) or otherwise use the service in a way that: ...Threatens...defames...degrades, victimizes, or intimidates an individual or group of individuals for any reason, including on the basis of age...sexual orientation, race or religion, or incites or encourages anyone else to do so. Obviously, this is purposely ambiguous and broad ("for any reason"!), but...

he Supreme Court delivered a major victory on Monday to an anti-abortion group that sought to challenge an Ohio law that bans campaign statements deemed to be false. The justices, in a unanimous decision, ruled that the Susan B. Anthony List can go ahead with a lawsuit challenging the law as a violation of free-speech rights.

Earlier this year, Sauk Rapids satirist Dan McCall won a legal victory over the federal government after National Security Agency reps tried to get online retailers to stop selling shirts emblazoned with the the agency's seal and slogans like this: "The NSA: The only part of government that actually listens." The NSA essentially claimed their logo is copyrighted and couldn't be used without permission, an argument that didn't pass muster in light of the First Amendment's protection of satire. Now, a pro-Hillary Clinton group is making a version of that same argument to once again get McCall's products pulled from...

Yesterday, a man and a woman shot two police officers in a Las Vegas restaurant after saying, “this is a revolution.” Then they draped their bodies in a Gadsden flag. According to reports now coming in, the couple (who later killed themselves) appear to have been white supremacists and told neighbors they had gone to join the protests in support of anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy. It was one more incident of right-wing terrorism that, while not exactly an epidemic, has become enough of a trend to raise some troubling questions. What I’m about to say will raise some hackles, but...