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Free Speech Tag

We frequently cover issues related to free speech on campus, including shut-downs, shout-downs, disruptions, threats and violence. There is a long history to this problem, and it first showed itself in attacks on Israeli, pro-Israel and Jewish speakers, as I documented in With campus shout downs, first they came for the Jews and Israel.

My recent DREAD-ful blog anniversary post had a good response in the comment section, and also generated numerous emails. I appreciate the feedback and support, it truly lifted my spirits. So let me clarify that, to the extent some people read into my post an intent to close down Legal Insurrection, that is not in the cards. There are some struggles and challenges, but we're not turning off the lights. There even is the possibility, which is premature to announce but which I'm happy to tease, of some exciting new developments.

Reem’s bakery in Oakland, CA, prominently displays a full-wall mural of Rasmea Odeh, who recently was deported for immigration fraud. Rasmea is the former military member of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who was convicted in Israel in 1970 of the 1969 supermarket bombing that killed two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. She also was convicted of the attempted bombing of the British Consulate. Rasmea and her supporters have concocted a phony claim that Rasmea only was convicted because of a false confession extracted after 25 days of sexual torture.

University of Oregon President Michael Schill was supposed to deliver a speech last week about a $50 million dollar gift to the school. Before he could even take the stage, the event was taken over by student protesters.

FOX News contributor Katie Pavlich is scheduled to give a talk at the University of Wisconsin Madison next week on the Second Amendment. The event is being hosted by the Young America's Foundation and it is already hitting roadblocks.

So it looks like the left has embraced the idea of using #TakeAKnee to show its opposition to President Donald Trump and his administration without taking into account the perception it gives. Georgetown Law School faculty and students decided to protest a free speech event by Attorney General Jeff Sessions by taking a knee. Yes, Sessions's speech was about how free speech has eroded on campuses and that the Department of Justice plans to provide protections for speakers.

By now, you may have heard that a n event at UC Berkeley called "Free Speech Week" which was set to feature Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon has been cancelled. All we really know at this point is that the school didn't cancel the event, it was the student group which was hosting it. NBC News reports:

I used to be puzzled by patently- and provably-untrue statements made by prominent Democrats.  For example, former Democrat governor, presidential hopeful, and DNC chairman and current "Democrat consultant" Howard Dean stirred controversy earlier this year with his insistence that "hate speech" is not protected by the First Amendment. I wrote about this a few months ago, noting that restricting Americans' First Amendment rights is a key goal of the left.
One of the fondest dreams of the radical (and not-so radical) left is to undermine the First Amendment and ultimately to control speech.  Democrats have advocated the DOJ’s investigation and even prosecution of climate “skeptics,” condemned “hate” speech formally in the House, supported the criminalization and ban of “hate” speech, and as we see play out on college campuses across the nation, resorted to violence as a response to speech with which they disagree.