From “Reason Magazine“: A judge on Wednesday threw out a criminal charge against an Arizona mother who was arrested at a city council meeting for criticizing a public official, calling her arrest “objectively outrageous.” Maricopa County Judge Gerald Williams dismissed with …
Tag: free speech
Deliberately Misunderstanding Our Free Speech Rights
From this piece: Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed, with his purchase of Twitter, that he would turn it into a “digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated.” Yet here are headlines about Musk banning the accounts of …
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Understanding Free Speech
A conservative reader sent me the meme here, to which I responded: I think what you’re missing here is that there is a difference between “conservative” opinions and language that is intended to incite sedition and violence, and fan the …
Tagged with: free speech
News Flash: Rush Limbaugh Is Disgusting
In reference to the meme here, someone suggests, “This creep needs to be silenced.” No, loathsome as it is, this is protected by free speech. What needs to happen is precisely what seems to be the case: people are disgusted, …
Tagged with: free speech
Free Speech on College Campuses
The main reason that I haven’t written a book in the last few years is that I’ve come to understand that the issues thwarting environmental sustainability have relatively little to do with the technological and economic aspects of things like …
What Exactly Is Censorship, And Why Should We Care?
What are the limits of free speech, as protected by the First Amendment? This is a touchy subject, especially today, with the White Supremacists demanding (and receiving) speaking platforms at our universities. Where does a civilized society draw the line?
Letting the Market Control Hate Speech
Occasionally I like to comment on our First Amendment right to free speech and how the marketplace of ideas tends to police itself very well. This is quite clearly the case with most issues in our society. While the U.S. …
The Difference Between "Stupidity" and "Dangerous Stupidity"
In correspondence to a close personal friend who happens to be a supporter of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, I wrote: Btw, I know you don’t watch Fox News outside of Bill O’Reilly, and that’s a good thing. Just for grins, …
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Is There a Line that Defines What Forms of Free Speech Are Protected under the First Amendment?
Sorry for the bait and switch, but I don’t have a clue. Here’s a story about Fox News’ victory in a Florida court of appeals, establishing that news broadcasters have no binding legal obligation to tell the truth, or, to …
Tragedy in Paris
Since I’m more involved in free speech than the average man-on-the-street, I should note that I was deeply saddened to wake up this morning to learn that nine people, publishers of a satirical magazine in Paris, had been murdered. It’s …
