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The annual Manning Centre Conference in Ottawa Canadas answer to CPAC focused on free speech and Islamophobia Friday.

Interim Conservative Party of Canada leader Rona Ambrose began the event with a passionate pledge to continue to fight for freedom of religion and free speech. Ambrose had led the fight the previous week in the House of Commons to stop an Islamophobia motion from an Ontario Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) that could eventually criminalize criticism of Islamic extremism.

The Conservatives were the only political party to oppose Motion M-103, opting to propose their own that would not have granted special status to Islam and its adherents.

At a special session at the event, noted critic of Islamic extremism Raheel Raza, herself a Muslim, warned the audience that radical Islam is dedicated to infiltrating and destroying Western countries like Canada and the U.S. After reading from polling that revealed a majority of Muslim around the world are in favor of Sharia law replacing the secular criminal codes of the countries in which they live, Raza stated that radical Muslims have an ideology that is not in-synch with human rights.

Raza noted that she cant remember how Canada removed the Lords Prayer from schools when she was a child but now in Toronto-area schools there are Muslim prayers on Friday, that has established an ominous double-standard.

She blasted M-103 as akin to a blasphemy law and ridiculed the motions author, MP Iqra Khalid more suggesting that one million Canadian Muslims are victims of racism and bigotry.

Raza asked, Seriously?

She suggested that Canadians are being subjected to a disinformation campaign by Muslim extremists while the Canadian government continues to deny the existence of radical Jihad.

The Muslim Brotherhood, she said, has publicly stated its intention of eliminating and destroying U.S. civilization from within.

Raza was followed by Terrorism and Security Experts Network director Thomas Quiggan, who also said the Liberal Islamophobia motion was a danger to free speech and democracy. Quiggan said that the motions author should be asked, Is it Islamophobic to say that women might not enjoy being beaten, after citing Muslim literature that advocated wife-beating.

Quiggan said the Quebec City mosque shooting was a clear failure of intelligence because the targeted congregation had received threats prior to the fatal event. With that tragedy, Quiggan said, the cycle of violence has come to Canada with terrorist organizations raising money, indoctrinating agents and ultimately breeding more violence and death.

In a question and answer session, Raza contradicted one member of the audience who termed radical Islamic terror as delicate issue, saying, It is an important, not a delicate issue. It has an aura of delicacy around it because of political correctness.

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Canadian Conservatives Vow To Defend Free Speech - Daily Caller

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The chair of a university Free Speech Task Force bashed what he called the stifling politically correct left and is planning to create content and events pertaining to free speech.

Censoring, just banning someone on campus and saying we consider you dangerous because of your ideas, because of [sic] what you said doesnt have a lot of educational value, said Glenn Geher, Chair of the Free Speech Task Force at State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz. This is a place where all voices can be heard, even if some of them are unpleasant.

The cancellation of SUNYs debate with Accuracy in Media (AIM) director of investigative journalism Cliff Kincaid, yet again puts the university at the center of the national discourse about free speech on college campuses.

What I find troubling, which people dont seem to be talking about that much, is what is the point of bringing people who are essentially hate mongers to a college campus? said SUNY sociology professor Anne R. Roschelle. I disagree with the idea of a university spending money on someone [sic] is a known hate monger.

The discussion was cancelled after Roschelle complained about Kincaids participation during a conversation over faculty email. The would-be debaters were paid $7,500 in total for the unexpected cancellation. The sociology professor later said that she supported the expression of different perspectives.

I have a couple of problems with [faculty resistance to speakers]; one is that makes this presumption that students arent bright enough to come up with their own opinions, said Geher, in response. If were doing a good job educating students, they should be able to listen to something like that and if there are genuine problems with their argument or if the student is concerned about what theyre saying, then they should be able to process it and argue back.

Gehers Free Speech Task Force has already hosted events on campus, one of which was a talk by Dr. Jonathan Haidt on victimhood culture, safe spaces, and political correctness.

Resources offered by SUNY New Paltzs Free Speech Task Force can be accessed here.

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University Free Speech Chair Slams 'Stifling Politically Correct Left' - Daily Caller

Given what Ive seen lately, Im not sure most of us really understand the concept of free speech enshrined in our Constitution. The First Amendment is essential to the preservation of our liberty, and weve treated it with all the respect of a box of Kleenex use it when convenient and toss it.

Lets review the historical context first. English common law contained a doctrine called seditious libel that essentially prevented criticism of the state. Many of Americas founders such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson recognized the potential threat that kind of speech restraint posed to our young republic. In fact, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1789 would test the mettle of the Bill of Rights only a few years after its adoption. In the modern context, the First Amendment preserves the right of the people to criticize government and public officials without fear of punishment.

As powerful as it is, the First Amendment is not absolute. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the government may impose speech restrictions on the time, place and manner of speech. Such restrictions must be content-neutral, narrowly drawn, serve a significant government interest and provide for alternative channels of communication. So, no, you dont have a constitutional right to protest in the middle of the interstate at night.

Here are some critical speech and press issues we ought to address:

The First Amendment protects our rights in wonderful ways, but theres nothing magic about the paper or ink of the Bill of Rights. Our speech, press and religious freedoms depend on us. Its time we use them more frequently to advance liberty and less often to tear each other down.

Image by Chris DeRidder and Hans VandenNieuwendijk

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/02/free_speech_isnt_a_justificati.html

Alabama Media Group

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'Free speech' isn't a justification for being terrible - R Street

State Sen. Kim Thatcher has what she says is a plan to help protect free speech and ensure student safety on college campuses.

It involves expelling students.

Thatcher, a Keizer Republican, deserves points for originality sort of. The qualifier is needed because one suspects that Thatchers main goal is to yank Democrats chains, given that her bill has less chance of passing the Oregon Legislature than a resolution honoring President Trump.

Thatchers Senate Bill 540 would require community colleges and public universities to expel students found criminally guilty of violent rioting.

Thatcher says she is a huge supporter of the First Amendment and that this is a free speech issue.

Free speech protects us all and ensures we can exercise the critical right to share our truth., she said by way of explanation. Violence is not free speech. My bill will help protect students who are peacefully protesting from bad apples in the crowd who exploit peaceful protests to engineer violent riots.

Thatcher is not an attorney she owns a highway construction firm so her bill glides past several issues. These include the states legal definition of a riot, which requires that there are a minimum of six people acting violently.

Theres also the difficulty of convicting someone of rioting.

Portland police arrested almost 20 people after a January protest turned violent but later dropped charges against all but four of them. It is not clear if any of the four remaining people are 1) still facing charges and 2) students at state colleges or universities.

Then theres the question of whether the Legislature really wants to get into the business of writing student conduct codes for the state schools, which are unlikely to greet the prospect warmly.

Thatcher has had her fun. She and her colleagues need to settle down now to the serious business of dealing with the states massive budget deficit, figuring out how to fund health care if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, and what to do about Oregons dismal high school graduation rate.

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'Protecting' free speech - The Register-Guard

After issuing a warm Aggie welcome to incoming UC Davis chancellor Gary May from Georgia Tech, interim UCD chancellor Ralph Hexter delivered A message to our campus community about a completely different subject.

Hexter, who has agreed to carry on in his interim role until the new chancellor comes aboard on Aug. 1, begins with the words I have no doubt that the next few years will be ideologically charged ones for many college campuses across the country.

Certainly doesnt take a Ph.D. behind your name to agree with that statement.

As I said at our Fall Convocation, Hexter continues, I cannot recall a moment in my lifetime when the discourse of our national community was more vitriolic and polarized.

Given that I have a few years on the interim chancellor, I can state with authority that his words are correct. We are most definitely sailing in uncharted waters.

Hexter then leaves the national arena to discuss recent polarizing events on the UC Davis campus itself.

Because UC Davis is a public university, he notes, our faculty and duly registered student clubs are allowed to invite speakers with diverse perspectives to share their views and insights with the larger community. Consistent with our legal responsibilities, we do not screen these speakers based on the content of their views.

Many U.S. Supreme Court decisions have rested on that very principle. However, there are still folks out there who wish to ban anything that might hurt their feelings or rupture their eardrums.

Added Hexter, We have for many years received demands from individuals in our community to ban invited speakers whose views they found objectionable, and those demands have recently intensified. (Can you spell Yiannopoulos?)

Again, consistent with our legal responsibilities, grounded in the First Amendment to the Constitution, we do not exercise prior restraint on speech.

Thank heavens for clear thinking in the face of the recent ugliness on campus.

We understand that controversial speakers may well inspire protest, and we fully support properly conducted protests. Protesters, too, enjoy free-speech protections, but like any expression, protest is subject to time, place and manner restrictions.

Which means no reading the Bible out loud in advanced calculus, and no yelling someone stole my popcorn in a crowded theater.

Yes, all you purists, free speech does come with limits. But not many.

Unfortunately, at one event last year, protesters shouted down and for a time physically blocked the audience from observing the speaker. Recently, a student club invited a speaker with views abhorrent to many. On this occasion, protesters managed to prevent the orderly entry of ticketed audience members to the lecture hall so that the speech was cancelled before it could even begin.

A hecklers veto, as the court would call it.

I am mindful that some speakers may be extremely upsetting to members of our community, particularly those who believe they are targets of the speech. However, I am also vigilant about our obligation to uphold everyones First Amendment freedoms. This commitment includes fostering an environment that avoids censorship and allows space and time for differing points of view.

UC Davis is a community for all ideas, and our campus is committed to ensuring that all members are allowed to freely hear, express and debate different points of view. In the incidents I described above, we fell short of permitting free expression and exchange of ideas.

Indeed, it was an unnecessary, but well deserved black eye.

Our First Amendment rights are treasures provided to every member of our American community, but those rights do not include the silencing of speakers or blocking of audiences from hearing speakers. When we prevent words from being delivered or heard, we are trampling on the First Amendment. Even when a speakers message is deeply offensive to certain groups, the right to convey the message and the right to hear it are protected.

Hexter has hit on a key, but unwritten part of free speech when he talks about the right to be heard. While the Constitution does not specifically say that anyone has a right to be heard, the whole reason behind free speech goes out the window if no one can hear you.

Of course, no one can be forced to hear what you have to say, but on the flip side, no one should be allowed to prevent others from hearing you.

Hexter also is right to point out that the campus oft-mentioned Principles of Community are aspirational in nature and not grounded in Constitutional law.

Concludes Hexter, In the coming weeks, I will be creating a work group of campus representatives students, faculty and staff and key campus constituents to develop recommended practices and policies to ensure invited speakers can deliver their messages unimpeded.

Hopefully, participants will take a serious stroll through the First Amendment and study the many volumes of case law on the subject before instituting any such practices and policies.

Reach Bob Dunning at [emailprotected]. Catch Bobs Tuesday and Thursday columns at http://www.davisenterprise.com, under web update

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Bob Dunning: Safeguarding free speech, and easy listening - Davis Enterprise

Georgias colleges and universities would be required to expand areas designated for free speech under legislation filed in the state House on Thursday.

House Bill 471, byRep. Buzz Brockway, R-Lawrenceville, says public colleges and universities may notlimit or restrict a students expression or discipline a student because others oppose the students speech.

Any member of the university community who wishes to engage in expressive activity shall be permitted to do so, the bill says, in anygenerally accessible outdoor areas of campuses.

But the bill also says schools may not deny agroup of students the right to form an organization ordiscriminate against a student organization based on the expression of the organization.

Brockway said the bill includes protections for schools to combat harassment or bullying and from organizations like the KKK from forming on campuses.

They have these tinyfree speech zones, that gives ahecklers veto to anyone who opposes what is being said, Brockway said.

Originally posted here:

Bill requires free speech on campus for all - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Last night in Charleston, South Carolina, police arrested local Black Lives Matter leader Muhiyidin dBaha for taking away a Confederate flag from a member of the SC Secessionist Party and damaging it. Authorities held dBaha overnight. Today they charged him with disorderly conduct and malicious injury to real property. He was released this afternoon.

W. Scott Poole

The incident occurred at an event sponsored by the College of Charleston featuring Bree Newsome, herself arrested in 2015 for tearing the flag of the dead slaveholders republic from the flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina State House. The College, of which I am a faculty member, created a free speech zone for those Confederate flag enthusiasts who sought to intimidate those attending the event even though the group has threatened to visit our campus every Sunday in retaliation for asking Newsome to speak.

Muhiyidin dBaha, however, was the one arrested for disorderly conduct.

About seven neo-Confederates appeared (four according to a colleague) and faced a counter-demonstration of perhaps two hundred students and community allies, including BLM and a white anti-racist ally organization called SURJ (Showing Up For Racial Justice). During the event, one man held the Confederate flag while others stood by facing the massive counter-protest.

At least one of the neo-Confederates yelled insults, including racial epithets at African American students. Police and campus security fully protected the S.C. Secessionist Party in their free speech zone, including the symbolic act of waving a symbol that reminds not only of slavery but the 150 years of racial violence that have followed, including the 2015 slaying of nine black parishioners of Charlestons Emanuel AME Church by Dylann Roof, himself a fan of the Confederate flag.

But the authorities have charged Muhiyidin dBaha with disorderly conduct.

SURJ began a fundraising campaign for dBaha last night and quickly met their goal for his bail. SURJ allies also went to court today and stood in solidarity with him. However, one member of SURJ told me they had been disturbed that some white liberals expressed anger at dBahas action, suggesting that he violated the tenets of peaceful demonstration. The SURJ activist confessed concern over this attitude since it reflects the tendency of even allies to be shaped by white privilege and expectations about proper Black behavior.

After all, Muhiyidin dBaha took a symbolic action just as did the whites who sought to intimidate with their use of the flag. They received a free speech zone. He went to jail for disorderly conduct and, in context, the ridiculous charge of malicious damage to real property.

The American South, even in the century after slavery, maintained a tradition enforced by violence of racial etiquette. dBaha rejected that whole tradition last night. In the spirit of Bree Newsomes talk that the SC Secessionists wanted to prevent, he sought to tear hatred from the sky.

I dont expect white conservatives to think Muhiyidin received any less than he deserved. So I dont write for them. But white allies owe him more.

At a public forum today on Frederick Douglass, one of my colleagues read a portion of his speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? It is not light that is needed, but fire, she read, it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and Man must be proclaimed and denounced.

Last night in Charleston, a city slavery built, Muhiyidin dBaha brought the storm, the whirlwind and the earthquake. Others brought their shameful efforts to frighten and intimidate with a symbol that festers with a sordid past.

So the police arrested dBaha for disorderly conduct and the damage he did to real property.

In South Carolina, there is free speech and then there is Black Speech.

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Free Speech and Black Speech in Charleston, South Carolina - Huffington Post

In the week that saw Milo Yiannopoulos lose a book deal, a speaking gig and his Breitbart platform, he left the burning building, still slow dancing with his core value of free speech. I want people to be able to be, do, and say anything, he asserted at his press conference. Thats the ideal. But Milo is proof that free speech obviously isnt free. It has limits. Even in the US, where the First Amendment is a revered cornerstone of the Constitution and a wrong word can cost you sorely.

Its a curious anomaly, and it could be the wording thats the problem. Free speech sounds like an absolute term. Say what you like and done.

But in reality, it more likely exists in gradations; refracted through a variety of subjective differentiators. Free-ish might be the better term.

Pew Research gauging support for freedom of expression confirms where the main fault lines lie: in the US, 95% agree that they should be able to publicly criticize government policies.

Support drops to 77% when it comes to offending religious beliefs. 67% thought people should be able to make statements offensive to minority groups.

Half (52%) say that sexually explicit statements are OK. And 44% are comfortable with calls for violent protests.

Compared to the global median, the research shows the US values freedom of expression more highly across a wider range of issues. But the pattern of depreciation is there. The more racial, explicit and likely to incite violence the more support drops.

There are even more variables you could factor in partisanship, class, gender and the range of what could tick people off becomes so wide that censoring yourself against every potential instance of offence isnt feasible.

Free speech becomes a mire; a tight-rope walk. But the one good guide among the blurred lines is reciprocity. If you can flip what youre saying, so that it applies to you and yours, and youre still cool with expression of the sentiment, then congratulations. Youre a free speech absolutist.

But if you cant take the same back; or dont want to weather the inquiry and criticism that are products of free speech then it has limits. And youve defined them.

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Un-blurring the lines of free speech - Huffington Post

The issue of free speech on college campuses will be the focus of this years Sidney Z. Vincent Memorial Lecture on March 15.

The lecture, Free Speech on Campus: Are There Limits? will be presented during the Jewish Federation of Clevelands community relations committees 70th annual meeting.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. at The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Beachwood.

Bradley Schlang, chair of the community relations committee, said the topic was chosen because of its relevance to the local Jewish community.

We chose the topic because with the political environment and the BDS movement, its become a real issue, especially for our young adults in the Jewish community, Schlang said. Were finding that a number of students are feeling uncomfortable expressing their Jewishness or love of Israel because of the backlash that they face.

Panelists will include Mark Yudof, president emeritus of the University of California and professor of law emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley; Blake Morant, dean and the Robert Kramer research professor of law at The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.; and Susan Kruth, program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit founded in 1999 that focuses on civil liberties in academia in the United States.

Kevin S. Adelstein, publisher and CEO of the Cleveland Jewish News and president of the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company, will serve as moderator.

Schlang said Kruth was selected as a panelist due to the work her organization does to protect free speech on campus, while Yudof and Morant were selected for their expertise.

They are experts in their fields, not only being directly on campus that they bring that direct relationship and they have seen first-hand what speech on campus is about today and the problems that were seeing, but also as specialists on free speech from the legal perspective on what free speech actually means, Schlang said.

In addition to learning more about the concerns surrounding free speech on college campuses, Schlang said he hopes attendees will walk away with some strategies for how to combat the issue.

The CRC annual meeting always provides thought-provoking topics but also always with action items, he said. How do you work with students on campus? How do we work with the Hillels in order to provide a comfortable environment for all viewpoints to be expressed in a safe environment?

We want to create an environment here where people can discuss these issues and hear whats happening on campuses so that they can work with the rest of the community and with their kids to understand what theyre facing on campus today.

Kristen Mott is a former staff reporter at the Cleveland Jewish News.

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Free speech on campuses topic of Federation CRC meeting - Cleveland Jewish News

HOLY CITY TRIES TO SHUT DOWN FUTURE CONFEDERATE FLAGGINGS

Days after supporters of the Confederate flag hoisted their banners from the rooftops of parking garages in downtown Charleston, S.C., the Holy City taking steps to block future free expression of

According to a notice issued from the office of liberal mayor John Tecklenburg, city of Charleston parking garages now expressly forbid Signs, Banners, Flags or other Displays that Protrude Through Openings Between Parking Levels, or Upon the Exterior Surfaces Between Parking Levels or that Extend Higher Than the Perimeter Wall on the Top of the Garage.

The misuse of city garages to fly various flags and banners was unexpected, a city spokesman said. This notice makes it clear that city garages are for parking, not for these types of public displays, and it applies to any and every one equally.

Leaders of the S.C. Secessionist Party which unfurled the controversial banners said the citys action was an attempt to silence protected speech. They also said the response to the new edict was yet another example of liberal intolerance.

You would think liberals would be screaming from the roof about infringement upon their rights but theyre cheering this on, said James Bessenger, leader of the party. Theyre too dumb to realize this effects them too.

According to Bessenger, the city never would have issued such an order had we raised an American flag or a rainbow flag or a state flag.

Bessengers group sent a letter to the city asking it to provide its legal basis for restricting free expression at city-owned parking garages.

Following consultation with multiple civil rights organizations and review of the library of city ordinances we have been unable to find anything which supports the ban of flags, banners, and signs that are affixed to privately owned vehicles parked in garages in any standing law or ordinance, he wrote.

According to Bessengers letter, Tecklenburgs administration was attempting to crush under its heel the rights of the People of Charleston to free speech simply because the Mayor was upset about an exercise of free speech he did not agree with.

Our view?

First of all, as weve stated repeatedly, government has no business whatsoeverbeing involved in the parking garage business. This issue shouldnt even be before us because parking garagesshould be private property with private owners determining the policies for patrons as they see fit.

Since government has chosen to intervene in this particular corner of the marketplace, though, it seems to us there is a presumption of permissiveness when it comes to various expressions. So long as that expression does not directly interfere with the exercise of another liberty.

Incidentally, thesuppression of free speech in Charleston comes as another taxpayer-fundedentity in the Palmetto State the University of South Carolina made a list of theten worst campuses for free speech in the entire country.

Clearly speech is only to be tolerated if it conforms with whatever the herd has defined at that particular moment as being politically correct.

Banner viaS.C. Secessionist Party

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Charleston SC Puts Kibosh On Free Speech - FITSNews

Students at Loyola University rally in solidarity with the Mizzou football team's strike against racism (The Loyola Phoenix)

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY students organizing for a variety of progressive goals, from women's rights and to justice for campus workers, are now at the center of their own struggle to overturn bureaucratic restrictions on their right to free speech and assembly.

In the aftermath of Donald Trump's election victory, students around the country recognized the urgency of organizing in solidarity with those who are the target of Trump's attacks. But in many places, they are facing increased barriers to protesting, as universities place further restrictions on the right to organize--even while administrators claim their campuses to be bastions of free speech.

At Loyola, several organizations--including Students for Reproductive Justice, Students for Worker Justice, Students Organizing for Syria and the Loyola Socialists--recently initiated a campaign in defense of students' right to organize. The groups' petition has already been signed by more than 250 students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Trump's election has transformed the political climate at Loyola. As the new administration targets immigrants and refugees, women, LGBTQ people, people of color, union members and low-wage workers, many students are looking for avenues to effectively organize and resist--and for spaces to discuss political alternatives to a system of racism, sexism, xenophobia, poverty and war.

On Inauguration Day, more than 200 students rallied, marched and briefly occupied the student center--to denounce Trump and to demand that Loyola's administration declare the school a sanctuary for its undocumented students and workers.

Groups of Loyola students participated in the Women's March and the protests at O'Hare International Airport against Trump's Muslim ban, and a number of meetings have been held on campus to discuss next steps in pushing to make Loyola a sanctuary campus for immigrants.

Unfortunately, Loyola's administration has thrown up significant barriers to students organizing to discuss, strategize and speak out. The administration's policies around reserving rooms, publicizing meetings and tabling on campus make it very difficult for any group of students which does not have recognized student organization (RSO) status to do any of these things.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE UNIVERSITY'S "solicitation policy" defines "promotion of an idea" as solicitation, which is subject to regulation and approval by the Dean of Students. In effect, any group of students whose political message isn't sanctioned by the university is prevented from communicating publicly or organizing freely.

The Loyola Socialists, a campus branch of the International Socialist Organization, recently applied for and were denied RSO status by the university. And the ISO isn't the only organization on campus that isn't officially recognized. Loyola's hostility to activist organizations fighting for progressive change has a well-documented recent history.

Students for Worker Justice and Students for Reproductive Justice, both of whom have ongoing campaigns targeting the university's hypocritical anti-worker and anti-woman policies, aren't recognized by the university and have faced bureaucratic obstacles.

In addition, the administration has treated recent successful unionization campaigns by graduate employees and non-tenured faculty with outright hostility.

Loyola Students for Justice in Palestine had their RSO status revoked for a whole year following a spontaneous demonstration in the student center against the anti-Palestinian Birthright organization. And in 2015, the administration threatened three students with suspension for organizing a 700-strong Black Lives Matter demonstration on campus.

The arbitrary application of Loyola University's bureaucratic standards around student organizations and the onerous rules applied to groups of students who wish to organize are a significant curtailment of free assembly, free association and free speech.

Those of us who organize on college campuses need to fight against bureaucratic restrictions on free speech and the right to assemble, which always have and always will be used against those who challenge the administration's right to run our universities like corporations.

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Tear down Loyola's walls against free speech - Socialist Worker Online

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an advocacy group, named Cal State Long Beach to its list of 10 worst of the worst U.S. campuses for free speech.

The Philadelphia-based group, which is also known as FIRE, also included Cal State Los Angeles on its list, alongside private institutions including Harvard and Georgetown universities.

Cal State Long Beach ended up on the list following last years events that led to Michele Roberge, the former Carpenter Performing Arts Center director, resigning in protest after school officials declined to support the performance of a potentially controversial theater performance

The performance, Speak Theater Arts N*igger Wetb*k Ch*nk, is a satire of racial stereotypes featuring performers of African, Latino and Asian descent. The Carpenter Center had booked the show for a September 2016 performance that never took place.

Peter Bonilla, FIREs vice president of programs, said in a telephone interview that its obvious from the shows title that the performers are seeking to be provocative, adding the campus did the right thing by letting Speak Theater Arts show go on in 2015.

But what he described as the campuss particular stubbornness and refusal to reverse itself on the shows cancellation last year warranted Cal State Long Beachs inclusion on FIREs list of the worst campuses for free speech.

Its a shame it didnt follow its own script this year, he said.

Campus spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh replied to FIREs list by accusing the organization of ignoring the day-to-day nature of political expression on the campus.

FIREs survey techniques are questionable at best, she said in an email. On any given day a visitor to campus will hear speech ranging from the far right to the far left and everywhere in between. Our campus not only embraces, but teaches the value of, free speech in all forms and is home to a renowned First Amendment rights center.

She also defended the campus environment for artists.

On any given day you could also see a broad array of art projects that meld inside and outside of the mainstream, from the outrageous to the mild mannered, Carbaugh added.

Last year, campus President Jane Close Conoley and Roberge gave different accounts to explain why last years performance was canceled.

Conoley said in September the performance could have gone forward, but she declined to ask faculty and other campus employees to develop educational content related to the social issues involved with the performance, as was the case about the time of the shows 2015 performance.

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Roberge, however, said Conoley ordered the shows cancellation. She resigned in protest shortly thereafter and continues to say the decision to cancel the show came from the presidents office.

It was a complete alternative fact, Roberge said Wednesday of Conoleys past description of events.

Roberge said she has not landed at a new job since leaving Carpenter Center, but said her stance led to the Association of Performing Arts Presenters honoring her with its North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents Award for Excellence in Presenting.

I stood up for the artists, and I stood up for the voice of the artists, Roberge said.

FIREs Chief Executive Greg Lukianoff revealed the groups reasons for including 10 schools on its worst of the worst list in a Huffington Post op-ed piece published Wednesday. The list calls out institutions for reported suppressions of conservative, liberal and apolitical expression.

Cal State Los Angeles made the list for events surrounding conservative commentator Ben Shapiros appearance on campus in February 2015. That campuss president allowed Shapiro to appear after a previous decision to cancel his appearance in the interest of safety and security. Protesters blocked people from listening to Shapiros on-campus remarks.

Other instances, as described by FIRE:

Harvard University made the list for administrators reported attempt to blacklist students enrolled in single-gender organizations like fraternities and sororities from certain scholarships and student leadership posts.

Georgetown University received criticism after its law school stopped students from campaigning on behalf of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders while he was seeking the Democratic Partys presidential nomination in 2015. Georgetown altered its policy, but Lukianoffs post asserted pro-Sanders students continued to experience difficulties afterward.

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CSULB makes 'worst of the worst' list for free speech - Long Beach Press Telegram

Self-described troll and conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart News on Feb. 21, but his far-right speeches and provocative comments aren't going anywhere. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Update: Milo Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart News Tuesday. In a statement, he said the decision was "mine alone," though The Washington Post's David Weigel and Robert Costa previously reported that "by late Monday afternoon, there were ongoing discussions at Breitbart about Yiannopouloss future at the company."

Here is Yiannopouloss full statement:

The original post follows.

Milo Yiannopoulos claims to hate political correctness. He is about to feel the pain of livingwithout its benefits.

Despite all of Yiannopoulos'stalk, the reality is that the Breitbart News editor has thrived on political correctness. He built his brand not by saying substantive things but by demanding that he be allowed to say whatever he wants whileexploiting the fear that nothing couldbe seen asmore politically incorrect than appearing to deny his right to free speech.

That fear the worry that shutting up Yiannopoulos will make you look like an enemy of the First Amendment faded over the weekend when the Conservative Political Action Conference canceled a scheduled speech by the professional provocateur after remarks he made last year about sex involving adults and underage teens resurfaced online.

[CPAC rescinds Yiannopoulos invitation amid social media uproar]

In one interview from January 2016, Yiannopoulos shared his viewthat pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old, who is sexually mature.

The controversyalso prompted Threshold Editions, a Simon & Schuster imprint that publishes conservative authors, to pull the plug on a book by Yiannopoulos that was scheduled for release in June.

Yiannopoulos has never been a sophisticated voice in conservative politics. He has made a career out of being the gay immigrant who tellshis Breitbart audience that it is okay to use gay slurs and discriminate against immigrants. Yet he is remarkably skilled at convincing others that shutting out his kind of intolerance is a kind of intolerance all its own.

[Milo Yiannopouloss Trumpian rise shows how the GOP is stuck in opposition mode]

AsYiannopoulos has promoted the idea that PC police are trying to silence him, college after college has agreed to lethim speak on campus.Even the University of California at Berkeley, a beacon of liberalism, granted a student group's request to host Yiannopoulos earlier this month. A protest that turned violent forced the event's cancellation at the last minute, but the university said in a statement that it felt bound by the Constitution, the law, our values, and the campus's Principles of Community to enable free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective.

Bound is the key word there. Yiannopoulos knows that people and institutions feel bound to let him talk because of their commitment to free speech and, yes, because of political correctness. Free speech and political correctness have long been Yiannopoulos's best weapons in his relentless PR push.

Now, however, no one will feel bound to givea microphone to someone who thinks sex between a grown man and an underage boy can be consensual. No one will feel bound to amplify a voice that even CPAC deemed unworthy of inclusion.

Until this weekend, the politically correct thing to do was to just let Yiannopoulos talk. Not anymore.

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Milo Yiannopoulos resigns from Breitbart, proving his free ride on free speech is over - Washington Post

Virginia Delegate Dave LaRock (R-Clarke, Frederick, and Loudoun Counties) has just filed House Resolution 431, The Campus Free Speech Resolution. HR 431 is based on the model legislation I co-authored with Jim Manley and Jonathan Butcher of Arizonas Goldwater Institute.

Since the Virginia House of Delegates is nearingthe end of its current session, Delegate LaRock is offering a resolution conveying the sense of the legislature, to be followed up next session by detailed legislation based on the Goldwater model. As Delegate LaRock put it in a press release, This resolution will put down a marker as a precursor for next session when I will follow up with legislation to assure that universities take this seriously.

Explaining his reason for taking up the Goldwater proposal on campus free speech, Del. LaRock said, Virginia is the cradle of democracy and it is a disgrace that many universities have lost track of the idea that it is their responsibility to uphold free-speech principles By passing this measure we are communicating to universities and the public that students are in school to learn how to think; they are not going to college to be protected from differing opinions.

Virginias HR 431, and Del. LaRocks promise to follow it next session with fuller legislation based on the Goldwater model, means that Virginia is now the third state to move forward with initiatives based on the Goldwater proposal. North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest has announced that a bill will soon be filed in that state, and Illinois Representative Peter Breen has introduced HB 2939. And although no bill has yet been filed, I will be testifying at the request of Education Committee Chair Michael Bileca before the Post-Secondary Education Subcommittee of the Florida State House this Thursday on the Goldwater proposal.

Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He can be reached at [emailprotected]

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Dave LaRock's Virginia Campus Free Speech Resolution - National Review

To understand the core of the free-speech challenge in this country, consider the case of a hypothetical young woman named Sarah. In college, Sarah is a conservative activist. Shes pro-life, supports traditional marriage, and belongs to a Christian student club. Her free speech infuriates professors and other students, so the administration cracks down. It defunds her student club, forces her political activism into narrow, so-called free-speech zones, and reminds her to comply with the universitys tolerance policies.

What does Sarah do? She sues the school, she wins, and the school pays her attorneys fees. The judge expands the free-speech zone to cover the whole campus and strikes down the tolerance policy. The First Amendment wins.

Sarah graduates. A brilliant student, she gets a job at a Silicon Valley start-up and moves to California to start her new life. Just as they did in college, politics dominate her conversations, and within a week she gets into an argument with a colleague over whether Bruce Jenner is really a woman. The next morning, Sarahs called into the HR department, given a stern warning for violating company policy, and told that if she cant comply shell need to find another place to work.

What does Sarah do? She shuts her mouth or she loses her job. Her employer isnt the government; its a private company with its own free-speech rights, and it expects its employees to respect its corporate values.

In a nutshell, this is Americas free-speech problem. The law is largely solid. Government entities that censor or silence citizens on the basis of their political, cultural, or religious viewpoint almost always lose in court. With some exceptions, the First Amendment remains robust. Yet the culture of free speech is eroding away, rapidly.

The politicization of everything has combined with increasing levels of polarization and cocooning to create an atmosphere in which private citizens are increasingly weaponizing their expression using their social and economic power not to engage in debate but to silence dissent. Corporate bullying, social-media shaming, and relentless peer pressure combine to place a high cost on any departure from the mandated norms. Even here in Middle Tennessee, I have friends who are afraid to post about their religious views online or express disagreements during mandatory corporate-diversity seminars, lest they lose their jobs. One side speaks freely. The other side speaks not at all.

EDITORIAL: CPACsMilo Disgrace

There is no government solution to this problem. The First Amendment prohibits the state from mandating openness to debate and dissent, and corporations arent designed to be debating societies. Nor can the government prevent (or even try to prevent) the kinds of social-media shaming campaigns and peer pressures that cause men and women to stay silent for fear of social exclusion. The solution is to persuade the powerful that free speech has value, that ideological monocultures are harmful, and that the great questions of life cant and shouldnt be settled through shaming, hectoring, or silencing.

It is thus singularly unfortunate that the conservative poster boy for free speech is Milo Yiannopoulos.

Milo, for those who dont know, is a flamboyantly gay senior editor at Breitbart News, a provocateur who relishes leftist outrage and deliberately courts as much fury as he can. How? Please allow my friend Ben Shapiro to explain:

Jews run the media; earlier this month he characterized a Jewish BuzzFeed writer as a a typical example of a sort of thick-as-pig shit media Jew; he justifies anti-Semitic memes as playful trollery and pats racist sites like American Renaissance on the head; he describes himself as a chronicler of, and occasional fellow traveler with the alt-right while simultaneously recognizing that their dangerously bright intellectuals believe that culture is inseparable from race; back in his days going under the name Milo Wagner, he reportedly posed with his hand atop a Hitler biography, posted a Hitler meme about killing 6 million Jews, and wore an Iron Cross; last week he berated a Muslim woman in the audience of one of his speeches for wearing a hijab in the United States; his alt-right followers routinely spammed my Twitter account with anti-Semitic propaganda he tut-tutted before his banning (the amount of anti-Semitism in my feed dropped by at least 70 percent after his ban, which I opposed); he personally Tweeted a picture of a black baby at me on the day of my sons birth, because according to the alt-right Im a cuck who wants to see the races mixed; he sees the Constitution as a hackneyed remnant of the past, to be replaced by a new right he leads.

Oh, and this week recordings rocketed across Twitter that showed Milo apparently excusing pedophilia and expressing gratitude to a Catholic priest for teaching him how to perform oral sex. (Later, on Facebook, he vigorously denied that he supports pedophilia, saying he is completely disgusted by the abuse of children.)

Milo is currently on what he calls his Dangerous Faggot tour of college campuses, which has followed a now-familiar pattern: A conservative group invites him to speak, leftists on campus freak out, and he thrives on the resulting controversy, casting himself as a hero of free expression. Lately, the leftist freakouts have grown violent, culminating in a scary riot at the University of California, Berkeley.

Operating under the principle that the enemy of my enemy must be my friend, too many on the right have leapt to Milos defense, ensuring that his star just keeps rising. Every liberal conniption brings him new conservative credibility and fresh appearances on Fox News. Last week Bill Maher featured him as a defender of free speech, and for a brief time he had been expected to speak at the nations largest and arguably most important conservative gathering, CPAC. (CPAC rescinded its invitation today.)

Lets put this plainly: If Milos the poster boy for free speech, then free speech will lose. Hes the perfect foil for social-justice warriors, a living symbol of everything they fight against. His very existence and prominence feed the deception that modern political correctness is the firewall against the worst forms of bigotry.

Ive spent a career defending free speech in court, and Ive never defended a conservative like Milo. His isnt the true face of the battle for American free-speech rights. That face belongs to Barronelle Stutzman, the florist in Washington whom the Left is trying to financially ruin because she refused to use her artistic talents to celebrate a gay marriage. It belongs to Kelvin Cochran, the Atlanta fire chief who was fired for publishing and sharing with a few colleagues a book he wrote that expressed orthodox Christian views of sex and marriage.

Stutzman and Cochran demonstrate that intolerance and censorship strike not just at people on the fringe people like Milo but rather at the best and most reasonable citizens of these United States. Theyre proof that social-justice warriors seek not equality and inclusion but control and domination.

Milo has the same free-speech rights as any other American. He can and should be able to troll to his hearts content without fear of government censorship or private riot. But by elevating him even higher, CPAC would have made a serious mistake. CPACs invitation told the world that supporting conservative free speech means supporting Milo. If theres a more effective way to vindicate the social-justice Left, I cant imagine it.

David French is a staff writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and an attorney.

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Free Speech Has a Milo Problem - National Review

A bill for students rights and freedom of expression passed its first hurdle last week unopposed in the Senate. NICOLE HIGGINS DeSMET/Free Press

Burlington fans, with less controversial signs, cheer for the team during the high school football game between the Rice Green Knights and the Burlington Seahorses at Burlington high school on Friday night September 9, 2016 in Burlington.(Photo: BRIAN JENKINS/for the FREE PRESS)

A bill for students rights and freedom of expression passed its first hurdle last week unopposed in the Senate.

The legislation,Senate Bill 18was sponsored by Sen. JeanetteWhite of Putney, is timelyfor students at theBurlington High SchoolRegister, a school sponsored publication.Censorship hit the Register in Septemberwhen an editor, Alexandre Silberman, 18, wrote an articleabouta sign held by a Rice Memorial High School fan at a football game against Burlington.

The signclaimed that BHS football players were, among other things,gang members and convicts.

"They got really concerned about that story," Alexandre Silberman, said in a January interview.Silberman is also afreelance writer for the Burlington Free Press.

"They had us pull the image. They edited part of the article. We werent allowed to say what the sign said or print the image of the sign, sowe had to be really vague in describing it," Silberman said.

Inspired by whathappenedat the Register and what he heard about how a similar law benefited other student journalism programs,Silberman andco-editorJake Bucci testified before the Vermont Legislature in January, after the bill had been introduced.

Citing the First Amendment's guarantee offreedom of speech, the bill seeksto liberate students from school-sponsored censorship andprotect advisers from administrative backlash.

Burlington High School in May 2016.(Photo: FREE PRESS FILE)

David Lamberti,the adviser for the Register and a business teacher at the high school,supports the bill.

"Knowing I cannot be held legally responsible or fired for supporting my students is comforting," Lamberti wrote back after first submitting questions from the Burlington Free Pressto Principal Tracy Racicot.

"Another reason I support the Bill is because we need to teach kids at a younger age how to ask difficult questions and have conversations aboutdivisivetopics," Lamberti wrote, explaining the difficulty of starting such conversations when the studentslack skills to process them.

"The administration at BHS has always supported a student's right to voice their opinions.Indeed, in my experience, they have always respected the student voice," Lamberti said.

But Silberman says the school has taken actionsthat could createself-censorship, curbingstudents fromtrying to push for more controversial stories.

Student journalists from the Burlington High School Register stand in the Burlington Free Press news room with their editor Alexandre Silberman, who is third from the left.(Photo: Free Press File)

"Now we are required to send the entire paper in advance. They can decideto pull any articles they want," Silberman said of the school's administrative policy. Previously,according to Silberman, Lamberti would flagindividual articlesfor Principal Racicot's review.

Lamberti did not respond to an emailed question regarding how this policyequates with supportingstudents rights to voice their opinions.

The bill, nicknamed New Voices, has just made it to theHouse Committee on Education. Committee Chairman, Rep. David Sharpe, wasn'tfamiliar with the bill on Monday. His first response to the legislation was mixed.

"I can't see why we wouldn't want to protect student journalists," Sharpe said,"but at the same time administration should have some right to control hate speech on t-shirts and promoting risky behavior."

The bill, as introduced, would not givestudents the right to breakstate or federal laws regardinglibel, slander, privacy and the orderly operation of a school.

Rep. KathrynWebb of Shelburne reports that the committee will probably look atthe bill in mid-March.

ContactNicoleHigginsDeSmet, ndesmet@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1845. Follow her on Twitter@NicoleHDeSmet.

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Burlington students press for free speech - BurlingtonFreePress.com

WASHINGTON The Virginia Senate has passed a bill that supporters say promotes campus free speech. But some lawmakers wonder why the law is needed when the U.S. Constitution already provides the First Amendment guarantee.

By a 364 vote, the Senate has followed the lead of the House of Delegates and passed the bill which reads, Except as otherwise permitted by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, no public institution of higher education shall abridge the freedom of any individual, including enrolled students, faculty and other employees, and invited guests, to speak on campus.

I wish this wasnt necessary, said Sen. Mark Obenshain, a Republican representing Virginias 26th District, the chairman of theCourts of Justice Committee.

Weve got examples that abound across the country of colleges and universities that have been unilaterally making decisions as to whats appropriate political speech on campus, he said.

During the brief debate in the Senate chamber, no one could offer an example of any such conflict pitting free speech against political correctness occurring on any Virginia campus, leading some members to wonder whether the bill was needed.

It seems to me that its akin to saying the sky is blue except on cloudy days, even on college campuses, but Im not sure why we need to put that language in the Code of Virginia, said Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Democrat representing Virginias 25th District.

But Senate supporters of the measure insisted that the bill was necessary to encourage healthy debate on the commonwealths campuses.

Free speech is uncomfortable at times, and it has to be a two-way street in order for it to be able to work, Obenshain said.

Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.

2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.

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Va. Senate upholds campus free speech | WTOP - WTOP

Two controversies concerning so-called free speech are currently circulating in right-of-center circles.

On Saturday, white nationalist Richard Spencer was removedfrom the Washington, D.C., hotel where the International Students For Liberty Conference (ISFLC) was taking place, after a number of attendees, most notably Jeffrey Tucker, publicly reprimanded him for his racist beliefs. Today, infamous Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos was disinvitedfrom speaking atthe Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after a video made the roundsin which the provocateur defended pederasty.

The reaction to both events have generated predictably lazy outcries that thecontroversial speakers free speech rights have been violated. Had they been disinvited or removed from a public university, perhaps the outrage mob would have a point. But its important for libertarians and conservatives to also recognizeprivate property rights when discussing such flare-ups.

In the case of Spencer, he was not an invited speaker or even a registered guest at ISFLC. Instead, he held an impromptu discussion in the hotel bar where the event was taking place. Certainly Spencer had the legal right to be there; its a private business that accepts customers off the street. However, given that Spencer was surrounded by dozens of other conference-goers, it was to be expected that tensions would flare.

RELATED:Milo Yiannopoulos day just got a whole lot worse after the latest announcement from his publisher

Just as Spencer has the right to discuss his despicable views at a bar, so did the ISFLC conference-goers have the right to confront him about them. In matters of private property, its up to the business owners to decidewho gets to stay or leave. In this instance, they decided to disperse the crowd and eject Spencer.

Nobodys rights were violated. Indeed, givenSpencers history as the victim of a physical attack, the ISFLC crowd should be commended for respecting the non-aggression principle.

TheYiannopoulos case is even more clear-cut. CPAC is a private conference with the right to invite and disinvite anyone they wish. Its admittedly a sloppy move on their part to announce a speaker and then disinvite him within a few days.Nonetheless,a PR crisis is not the equivalent of denying First Amendment rights.

Adeeper lesson can be drawn from theYiannopoulos kerfuffle:in the dirty game of politics, libertarians and conservatives should be more conscious of whom they invite onstage in the first place.

RELATED:No, Milo Yiannopoulos is not a white nationalist, but he has spent a lot of time promoting them

ISFLCs reputation would have beentarnished in the public eye had they activelybrought inSpencer. The fact that they quickly denounced the neo-Nazistands as a moral victory for the libertarian camp.

CPAC, on the other hand, made the mistake of inviting Milo without doing their research or consulting their board of directors. As a result, the conferencesalready mixed reputation was dragged throughthe mud yet again.

CPACs slapdash organizing will doubtlessly empower Milo to paint himself as a victim and his supporters to scream, Free speech! The right should not be so careless in allowing trolls todisrespect the cherished institutions of private property and freedom of association. The best way to avoid controversy is to not invite it in the first place.

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Milo Yiannopoulos and Richard Spencer remind us what free ... - Rare - Rare.us

Recently, death threats and violent protests prevented British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking at UC Berkeley.

Yiannopoulos is known for his cyber bullying of Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones,.

He encouraged his fans on Twitter to bully her until she deleted her account. He was said to have done this because he thinks shes ugly and fat.

His actions lead to him being permanently banned from Twitter.

Yiannopoulos spoke at UC Irvine last year.

UC Irvine student Catherine Gonzales, a second-year transfer psychology student, said he spent his time telling everyone to vote for Trump.

He aims to spread his message against political correctness and for free speech on college campuses.

But, if he wanted to silence Jones, then isnt he only for freedom of speech for himself and not for other people?

The question remains, should free speech be permitted if it is hateful and/or degrading?

The answer is yes, because even if hateful disgusting speech was blocked, the idea behind the words lives on.

When something is ugly, people dont want to see it. So they silence it without trying to understand it.

We try to ignore it, and like a virus, it kills us before we were ever able to treat it.

People threw fireworks and rocks at police during the UC Berkley protests. Clearly, silencing people leads to radicalism.

Preventing free speech also makes people feel they are being persecuted for their beliefs, which in turn leads to feelings of martyrdom and righteousness.

When you shut people up, they will do desperate and ugly things to be heard. In reality, by taking away any type of free speech, society could create a much worse beast.

Critics may say that words started the holocaust. In actuality, it was the silencing of everyone elses words that did; after all, murder is the ultimate deterrent to speech.

To paraphrase from Holocaust survivor Martin Niemoller, the Nazis came for the socialists, the Jews and the unionists, and he didnt say anything to stop them, but then they came for him and there was no one left to speak up.

If we let them get rid of the speech we dont like at the moment; whos to say they wont come for our speech next?

People have forgotten the difference between actions and beliefs.

No one has the right to force their beliefs on other people and interfere with their lives.

People have their right to voice their opposition to gay marriage, but they dont have the right to harass them, keep them from getting married or living their lives how they want to live them.

You have the right to say and believe whatever you want, but you dont have the right to do whatever you want.

No one, no matter their ranking in society, is a moral authority on who has the right to speak and who doesnt because the meanings of words are not absolute.

The meanings of words are a subjective discussion within society at the current time, but you cannot discuss whats important or whats moral if youre not allowed to speak.

College students may feel that the only speech that they want in a learning environment is the one they agree with, but the real world doesnt care if were offended.

Sexism, racism, rape, xenophobia, suicide, poverty, mental illness, slavery, cancer, death, etc. are all real issues and they cannot be ignored like a homeless person you walk past on the street. Look at the homeless person.

Look at the issue. It exists. Its real and its not going anywhere just because it makes you feel bad.

We are defending the right to free expression at an historic moment for our nation, when this right is once again of paramount importance. In this context, we cannot afford to undermine those rights, and feel a need to make a spirited defense of the principle of tolerance, even when it means we tolerate that which may appear to us as intolerant, stated chancellor Nicholas Dirks in his message to UC Berkeley.

Thankfully, Dirks took a stand against what can only be called fascism.

So yes, Yiannopoulos stands for disgusting things, but he still has the right to speak. If you want the right to speak, then you must give it to others as well.

Angela Stevens is pasionate about free speech.

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We shouldn't mute free speech - The Poly Post

The issue has been called Docs vs. Glocks, a term that understates the gravity of this controversy.

When two rights contained in the Bill of Rights fall into conflict, it creates a crisis that the courts must resolve.

The current case involves a Florida law that restricts the free speech of physicians to advise their patients about the dangers of guns. Supporters of the law say doctors have no business talking about guns; just stick to medical care. Opponents of the law say discussions of gun safety are within the purview of physicians.

Doctors have every right and duty to talk to their patients about swimming pool safety, child-proofing electrical outlets, using seat belts, texting while driving, keeping chemicals out of the way of children and making sure guns are safely stored.

So lets say the doctor repeats a warning from the Jacksonville sheriff that 1,000 guns have been stolen from cars in the past two years and that this is a serious threat to public safety. Under the Florida law that could be seen as stepping beyond the bounds of health care.

Because the physician-patient relationship is special, perhaps the patient listens this time and takes action to keep gun away from possible thieves.

But gun rights advocates see that speech as overstepping the bounds for physicians and a potential threat to the right to own arms.

So the First Amendment and the Second Amendment are at odds in this case.

The battle has raged in the courts with three-judge appeal panels affirming the Florida law.

The latest ruling by a wider panel of judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta struck down key provisions of the Florida law.

Any restriction of speech must receive a higher level of review, the appeals court stated.

In fact, there was no evidence that physicians took away any firearms.

No amendment is absolute. There are limits on free speech, for instance. And no single amendment trumps all others.

As one judge said on the panel, this speech prohibition could go both ways.

A state legislature motivated by anti-gun sentiment might have passed a similar law to prevent doctors from encouraging their patients to own firearms. Such a law would be equally unconstitutional.

As a reminder, the Heller decision by the U.S. Supreme Court underlined the right for individuals to own firearms but it also listed several examples of the sort of restrictions that would be constitutional.

JUSTICE SPEEDED UP

Crime is so serious in Jacksonville that any move to speed up the wheels of justice deserves support.

Therefore, Mayor Lenny Currys request for $250,000 to obtain ballistic results faster deserves City Council approval.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson said this special system can obtain results on gun and ammunition used in crimes in a day or two rather than the 12 to 18 months currently.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is swamped with requests.

Now there is a better chance of solving crimes shortly after they happen, Nelson said at a press conference.

This is what the public expects.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

EXAMPLE OF POTOMAC SWAMP

Several news organizations are boycotting the annual White House Correspondents Dinner due to the war taking place between the mainstream press and the Trump administration.

Where were they during the Obama years when that administration was waging an unrivaled attack on the press? Obama talked a good game but his administration played extraordinarily tough with journalists.

At least The New York Times had ignored the dinner previously.

The event, broadcast on cable, broke down what ought to be a professional barrier between journalists and the people they cover. Washington already has too much movement from media to government to lobbyists.

Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post ombudsman, suggests cancelling the event. In contrast, Major Garrett, the CBS reporter, notes that the event highlights excellent reporting and awards scholarships.

Fine, have the event without the politicians.

MORE FAKE VOTER FRAUD

White House aide Stephen Miller protested recently on Sunday morning talk shows that there was massive voter fraud with liberal Democrats from Massachusetts voting in New Hampshire. In fact, President Donald Trump claimed that thousands voted illegally there.

Miller provided no evidence, just his firm belief. Look at the facts:

New Hampshire is a Republican-dominated state. Its state officials found no evidence of massive voter fraud.

New Hampshire has a voter ID law.

These bogus urban legends need to be debunked, which is why a thorough study of voter fraud is justified.

LIBERALS AND CONSPIRACIES

Well, look at the people concocting new conspiracy theories. Theyre liberals.

Apparently when your party is out of power, people tend to gravitate to wild speculations.

Losing the presidential election made Democrats more likely to blame secret conspiracies for the state of the world while making Republicans less willing to indulge these sort of claims, The New York Times reported.

One rumor claims the bumbled refugee ban was part of an elaborate plan for a coup. The Snopes urban legend site is seeing more fake news and wishful thinking from liberal corners.

And guess who is discovering states rights? California Democrats in the state legislature hired former Attorney Gen. Eric Holder to represent them in battles with the federal government. And a secession movement is growing there.

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Tuesday's editorial: Physicians win back free speech rights - Florida Times-Union