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Free Speech Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2017 34 Comments
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in discussing the limits of free speech, wrote in Schenck v. U.S. (1919):
"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."
A lot of people mess up the quote, saying that "you can't yell fire in a crowded theater." Actually you can yell fire in a crowded theater, if there really is a fire.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 24, 2017 22 Comments
Officers in Laguna Beach have arrested Richard Lousy who allegedly sucker punched a black Trump supporter at a rally on Sunday. R.C. Maxwell told FOX 11 the attack was unprovoked:
"If the optics were completely different and I was a black lives matter supporter and I was attacked on the Trump side of a protest I would be in the spotlight on CNN right now," Maxwell said. "I went over to the left side to see if I could engage them with dialogue and I was instantly encircled by the so called anti fascists."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 23, 2017 28 Comments
We recently reported how anti-Jihad websites were the subject of attempts to deprive them of funding and internet access as a result of appearing on "hate" lists from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League. PayPal cut them off after outreach from ProPublica, as discussed in our post, Charlottesville is being exploited to attack freedom of speech and internet freedom.

Posted by New Neo on August 21, 2017 61 Comments
Antifa justifies its violent actions against neo-Nazis protesting peacefully by saying that the speech of Nazis constitutes violence:
Antifa leaders admit they're willing to physically attack anyone who employs violence against them or who condones racism -- as long as force is used in the name of eradicating hatred...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 20, 2017 27 Comments
This was a really bad week for freedom of speech and internet freedom. As documented in my post Gathering Storms And Threats to Liberty, corporations that operate the gateways to the internet, such as domain registrars and services such as Cloudfare, have come under pressure and have capitulated to drive the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer from the internet. That pressure is now moving to other organizations based on biased and politicized "hate" lists from groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League. I pointed out the danger to internet freedom:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 18, 2017 79 Comments
We're living in a very dangerous time. Several things are coming together that pose a serious threat to the liberty of anyone who is right-of-center. While there are many factors at work, I've been focused in recent days on three: (1) Antifa becoming a part of the anti-Trump Resistance; (2) politically-motivated denial of access to the internet at the gatekeeper level; and (3) attempts to weaken free speech protections in the name of social justice.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 13, 2017 98 Comments
For the past 36 hours I've tried to gather my thoughts about the Charlottesville riots and killing of 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Here goes, in no particular order. Free Speech. The sight of neo-Nazis marching with torches was nauseating. But even Nazis are protected by the First Amendment. That's why a federal judge declined to issue an injunction against their march. It's why the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an injunction issued in 1977 seeking to prevent Nazis from marching in the mostly Jewish Chicago suburb of Skokie.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 05, 2017 9 Comments
Mike Adams is a professor in the criminal justice program at UNC-Wilmington with a fascinating political background. According to his columnist bio at Townhall:
Upon getting his doctorate in 1993, Mike Adams, then an atheist and a Democrat, was hired by UNC-Wilmington to teach in the criminal justice program. A few years later, Adams abandoned his atheism and also became a Republican. He also nearly abandoned teaching when he took a one-year leave of absence to study law at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 03, 2017 3 Comments
Hen Mazzig is an Israeli who makes frequent appearances abroad to promote the truth about Israel. I first learned of Hen when he wrote about his experiences with the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the U.S.:
As a young Israeli who had just completed five years of service in the IDF, I looked forward to my new job educating people in the Pacific Northwest about Israel. I was shocked, however, by the anti-Israel bigotry and hostility I encountered, especially in the greater Seattle area, Oregon, and Berkeley. I had been very liberal, a member of the leftist Zionist party, Meretz, but the anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel that I have seen in the U.S. has changed my outlook personally and politically….
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