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Tag Archive 'Free speech'

Still clearing the spindle (this may take awhile)

Tweet I winnowed down half of my emails yesterday, but still have more than 200 to go.  Some of them, I’m embarrassed to admit, date back to early-ish December.  Those that I’m linking to here are still relevant, though, so don’t be deterred by my delay in posting them.  Also, heads up to those who [...]

Both mandatory unions and mandatory professional organizations are antithetical to Constitutional Free Speech *UPDATED*

Tweet The State Bar of California, which I have to pay into in order to practice law in the State of California, long-ago abandoned its core responsibility of ensuring that people who hold themselves out as lawyers to California citizens are at least minimally qualified.  As with all these mandatory organizations, it’s turned into a [...]

Sunday morning Open Thread — plus a mish mash of news and ideas

Tweet Nothing in this morning’s news, or in my own life for that matter, is moving me sufficiently to justify a full post on a single subject or idea.  I did find some interesting things online, though, that I’d like to share with you.  Also, I always appreciate it when you share interesting things right [...]

Practical suggestions for bypassing the media and getting the conservative message out

Tweet My forte is spotting problems, not finding solutions.  Thankfully, when I put out a call for suggestions, many of you responded.  This post sets out practical list ways to get conservative messaging past the media gatekeepers that so effectively insulted Romney, praised Obama, and squelched or promoted news stories depending upon whether they help [...]

Jonah Goldberg gets to the heart of the matter about Islam and the First Amendment

Tweet I wish I’d said it this well: It’s really quite amazing. In Pakistan, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories, Christians are being harassed, brutalized, and even murdered, often with state support, or at least state indulgence. And let’s not even talk about the warm reception Jews receive in much of the Muslim world. And yet, [...]

Have you ever heard of a book called “The Master and Margarita?”

Tweet I was doodling about on that Folio Society site I told you about, and I came across a book I’ve never heard of:  The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.  Here’s the product description: ‘Well, as everyone knows, once witchcraft gets started, there’s no stopping it’ On a hot spring afternoon in Moscow, a [...]

A brilliant display of grassroots conservative wit

Tweet There’s nothing funny about the Obama administration’s decision to trample on the First Amendment in its rush to placate radical Islamists.  Well, almost nothing.  If you give the conservative masses a crack at their still functioning right to free expression, you end up with marvelous examples of political wit.  Here are a few of [...]

Did Obama just deal another blow to Free Speech? *UPDATED*

Tweet Obama made a statement today.  Here is the official transcript of what he said (emphasis mine): I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts [...]

American embassy in Cairo appears to embrace sharia speech codes *UPDATED*

Tweet Yes, I understand that the embassy in Cairo is besieged but it does strike me as cowardly to abandon core principles as this juncture (emphasis mine): U.S. Embassy Condemns Religious Incitement September 11, 2012 The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings [...]

Angelina’s arrogance perfectly exemplifies the Left’s refusal to engage

Tweet A woman named Jane Pitt recently exercised her Free Speech rights by sending a letter to a local paper castigating Obama for supporting same-sex marriage and urging people to vote for Romney, because he will support traditional marriage.  She was predictably savaged by Leftists who didn’t merely challenge her beliefs, but effortlessly went to [...]

Anti-bullying is simply another way of saying “paralyzing political correctness.”

Tweet Dan Savage made a name for himself as the face of the “anti-bullying” campaign sweeping America’s schools.  He’s gotten lots of money, lots of media face-time, and lots of access within the Obama administration because of his “peaceable” message.  Savage’s own behavior, though, makes clear that his anti-bullying message is just another Leftist scam, [...]

Maryland judge confused about Free Speech and the marketplace of ideas

Tweet I bet all of you all remember “Everyone Blog About Bret Kimberlin Day.”  After all, it took place less than a week ago.  For those unfamiliar with it, this is the way it worked: Conservatives bloggers learned that Brett Kimberlin, using both the legal system and a bit of self-help, was harassing those bloggers [...]

Free speech’s slow death England

Tweet I’ve been following a free speech story out of England and have been meaning to blog about it.  Since the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, I never did get around to writing that post.  Fortunately, someone else did, and a whole lot better than I would have done so.

Unmaking ourselves in a foolish effort to placate an intransigent foe

Tweet This video is a year old but, especially with the latest Koran burning “scandal,” is as pertinent now as it was when first made: Hat tip: W”B”S

#BillMaher gives a lovely example of the way the Left uses itself as the template for what’s fair

Tweet I always love it when Leftist idiocy highlights some sort of life lesson I just imparted to young people.  Today’s life lesson is that fairness should be a reasonably objective standard, rather than one that, as Bill Maher would have it, depends on whether you, personally, are benefiting from the standard imposed. Back in [...]

Even the affable, slightly generic, left-of-center Jay Leno cannot escape the hurt feelings of the political correctness crowd

Tweet Back in the late 1980s, early 1990s, when political correctness first floated into the realm of mainstream culture, everyone thought it was the same as being nice or having good manners.  It’s not.  Good manners, to my mind, means assuring that the people around you feel comfortable.  Political correctness means controlling people’s thoughts and [...]

Free speech for me but not for thee

Tweet American universities pay lip service to multiculturalism and inclusiveness, but one of their despicable secrets is that, while conservative and Jewish speakers are ignored or shouted down with no push-back whatsoever from the university administrations, pro-Palestinian speakers are given a bully pulpit.  The worse their rhetoric — the more anti-inflammatory and antisemitic — the [...]

“In God We Trust” banned in California classrooms

Tweet Do you have any spare change lying around?  Yes?  I thought you might. My dollar coins say “In God We Trust.” My dollar bills say “In God We Trust.” My quarters say “In God We Trust.” My dimes say “In God We Trust.” My nickels say “In God We Trust.” My pennies say “In [...]

“It’s always something — if it ain’t one thing, it’s another.”

Tweet If you’re old enough to have lived through the 1970s, you recognize my post title:  Gilda Radner’s famous character Roseanne Roseannadanna would let loose with a foolish tirade, and then wrap it up by saying “It’s always something — if it ain’t one thing, it’s another.”  Someone needs to resurrect that character, or at [...]

Everybody Draw Mohamed Day — or, you’re not the boss of me

Tweet Sometimes, to their creator’s dismay, ideas take on a life of their own.  In the wake of Comedy Central’s decision to censor a South Park episode that didn’t actually draw Mohamed, but merely suggested the possibility of doing so, Molly Norris came up with the idea of “everybody draw Mohamed Day.” Then, terrified by [...]

England swings wildly between the extremes

Tweet In 1931, Nancy Langhorne Astor’s son Robert Gould Shaw III was arrested for committing a homosexual act (in a park, I believe).  This was a continuation of a long-standing British public policy of prosecuting “sodomists.”  Arguably the most famous prosecution was that against Oscar Wilde, for public indecency.  The trial, scandal and imprisonment destroyed [...]

Sit back and watch as America enters “The Twilight Zone”

Tweet In the early television era, one of the most innovative and imaginative shows around was Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone.  Certain episodes were so compelling that they entered the popular imagination, and are familiar to anyone over 30.  One of the most brilliant episodes, shown in 1961, was It’s a Good Life, based upon [...]

A quick morning round-up — and an Open Thread *UPDATED*

Tweet If you’re on the ball, this week you have the opportunity to bid on a great sounding book, get an iPad, and help Soldier’s Angels. Everyone’s wondering why multiple New Yorkers just walked by as a good Samaritan bled to death on the sidewalk in front of them.  The intelligentsia has jumped on the [...]

Lowering the bar on incitements to violence *UPDATED*

Tweet Unless you’ve been visiting some other planet somewhere in the universe, you already know about Comedy Central’s South Park debacle.  That’s the one, of course, that saw Comedy Central, the oh-so-hip-and-edgy (meaning often offensive) television station brutally censoring a South Park episode that implied that Mohamed was walking around wearing a bear suit — [...]

Thursday quick picks *UPDATED*

Tweet I’m working on a post, but thought you all would find this interesting in the meantime: From AJ Strata, something that’s not just interesting, but is also terrifying:  the terrorists are out there and, having gotten the measure of our new president and his administration, they are massing for war. If you needed a [...]