Free Speech | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 50
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Free Speech Tag

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 22, 2017 31 Comments
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. This assault on one of our nation's most cherished foundational principles is ongoing and has most recently manifested in a tweet by former governor and former Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 22, 2017 14 Comments
For anyone who hasn't been paying attention, here's a quick recap of where we are now. If Ann Coulter or any other conservative wants to speak on a college campus, it's justification for a riot. If a professor decides to paint the president as beheaded, it's an important free speech issue. Got it? Campus Reform reports:
U Alaska art exhibition displays Trump’s severed head The University of Alaska Anchorage is displaying a professor’s painting that depicts Captain America holding the severed head of President Donald Trump. The work, created by Assistant Professor of Painting Thomas Chung, is being presented as part of a month-long faculty art exhibition in the university’s fine arts gallery, reports KTUU.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 20, 2017 8 Comments
As we mentioned in a recent Quick Take, conservative students at Berkeley decided to thumb their noses at campus SJWs by inviting Ann Coulter to speak on campus. First the school imposed a number of conditions, then banned Coulter's speech altogether. Ann is vowing to visit the school anyway. The Young America's Foundation has the story:
Berkeley Tries to Cancel Ann Coulter Event; Lecture Will Go On Young America’s Foundation, BridgeCal and Berkeley College Republicans have been working together to produce a lecture at UC-Berkeley on April 27, 2017, by Ann Coulter, a twelve-time bestselling author, whose book, “Adios, America!” – a No. 2 New York Times bestseller — is widely credited with shaping President Donald Trump’s immigration views.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 19, 2017 16 Comments
After Heather Mac Donald was recently shut down by a mob of students who support Black Lives Matter at Claremont McKenna, the president of Pomona College, which is part of the consortium of Claremont colleges, defended her and the importance of free speech. That didn't sit well with some students. The Claremont Independent reports:
Students Demand Administrators 'Take Action' Against Conservative Journalists In an open letter to outgoing Pomona College President David Oxtoby, a group of students from the Claremont Colleges assail the president for affirming Pomona’s commitment to free speech and demand that all five colleges “take action” against the conservative journalists on the staff of the Claremont Independent.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 16, 2017 20 Comments
The student editors at the Wellesley College (Hillary's alma mater) student newspaper wrote an editorial recently that rightly is getting much criticism and mockery. The Editorial is titled Free Speech is Not Violated At Wellesley.  The argument is that shutting down what the editors call "hate speech" is not a violation of free speech:
Many members of our community, including students, alumnae and faculty, have criticized the Wellesley community for becoming an environment where free speech is not allowed or is a violated right. Many outside sources have painted us as a bunch of hot house flowers who cannot exist in the real world. However, we fundamentally disagree with that characterization, and we disagree with the idea that free speech is infringed upon at Wellesley. Rather, our Wellesley community will not stand for hate speech, and will call it out when possible.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 08, 2017 26 Comments
Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has been one of the leading voices defending law enforcement officers in the age of Black Lives Matter, particularly by showing that much of the rhetoric about police shootings is statistically inaccurate or misleading. Mac Donald's willingness to take on the foundations of the Black Lives Matter movement has earned her the ire of the movement. Mac Donald was supposed to give a speech at Claremont McKenna College but student supporters of Black Lives Matter went nuts. In a way, it was like a repeat of what happened at Middlebury College to Charles Murray. The College Fix reports Angry mob shuts down Blue Lives Matter speech at Claremont McKenna College:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 06, 2017 16 Comments
The government of Angela Merkel has approved draft legislation that seeks to combat certain content on the social media. The proposed law will force social media companies to remove content that German government may find offensive or 'false'. In its broadly defined parameters the law wants social media companies to act against hate speech, and other contents that may be "in breach of German laws", Bonn-based public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported. Companies could face up to €50 million, or $53 million, in fines if they fail to remove 'criminal content'. All the major social media providers are based in the U.S. and by enacting this law Merkel government clearly wants to circumvent the free speech rights granted under the U.S. Constitution.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 26, 2017 4 Comments
Documentary filmmaker Rob Montz produced a short last year which focused on free speech at Brown University. Now, Montz has created a sequel which focuses on Yale and the incident at Silliman College which we covered extensively, Yale SJW Student to Professor: “I want your job to be taken from you”:
Last fall at Yale University, an administrator and professor named Nicholas Christakis, Master of Silliman College at Yale was confronted by a mob of angry students over a nontroversy regarding Halloween costumes and cultural appropriation. Christakis and his wife, who also worked at the school, ultimately resigned over this. We covered the story, see here and here. New videos of the confrontation have been posted online by Tablet Magazine which shed new light on the situation. It was much worse than anyone knew.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 19, 2017 5 Comments
A series of high profile attacks on conservative speakers on campus has created great controversy, even among many academics on the left. The scenes of physical assaults, incendiary projectiles fired at the student center, and bonfires lit at UC-Berkeley to stop an appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos’ gained media attention and raised questions about free speech on campuses. When a mob shouted down Charles Murray at Middlebury, physically assaulted his faculty host, and then jumped on and blockaded their getaway car, there was a howl of condemnation. The Middlebury incident in particular sparked much soul-searching in academia. The scenes at UC-Berkeley and Middlebury may have been shocking to many people, but not to those of us who support Israel. We have seen this movie many times before.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 09, 2017 8 Comments
A conservative student group at the University of Lincoln in the UK criticized their students' union over a lack of free speech over criticism of an online magazine. In response, the students' union shut down the group's social media accounts, thus proving their point. A student paper called The Linc reported:
Conservative Society suspended from Twitter by SU after criticising their record on freedom of speech The University of Lincoln Conservative Society has been forced to hand over control of their twitter account to the Students’ Union. It follows a tweet sharing a report which said the University of Lincoln had a bad record on freedom of speech.