Monthly Archives: March 2015

Phil Robertson talks free speech, religion and STDs at CPAC
#39;Duck Dynasty #39; star addresses addresses the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference Watch video covering topics about Tv.

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Phil Robertson talks free speech, religion and STDs at CPAC - Video

Silence! Political correctness hampering free speech in UK universities
Free speech in British university campuses is in danger of being silenced. A survey shows UK educational institutions are pulling the plug on debates and soc...

By: Range Kann

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Silence! Political correctness hampering free speech in UK universities - Video

Mark Steyn - Defending Free Speech
Defending free speech requires defending unpopular speech. http://www.LibertyPen.com.

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Mark Steyn - Defending Free Speech - Video

There #39;s no such thing as free speech | Johan Snel | TEDxEde
Historian and journalist Johan Snel is Research fellow in Media, Religion Public Sphere and Senior Lecturer of Journalism at Ede #39;s Christian University of ...

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There's no such thing as free speech | Johan Snel | TEDxEde - Video

VOTE FOR BIG BUSINESS WAR (Free Speech)
Filmed March 2015 in Witney, Oxfordshire (where David Cameron is the local MP) Even though everything I say in this video is ironic, satirical, and obviously politically charged; try and think...

By: Charles Veitch

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VOTE FOR BIG BUSINESS & WAR (Free Speech) - Video

Is this logo free speech? Mark Tenally/AP hide caption

Is this logo free speech?

You're on the Internet, which means you're never more five seconds away from someone claiming you squashed their First Amendment rights by, say, blocking them on Twitter.

Repeat after me: the First Amendment prohibits citizens' speech from being infringed upon by the government.* But because the universe delights in dark humor, it turns out that one recent, obnoxious claim about free speech violations might have some real legs.

The latest skirmish in the Washington Redskins' team name controversy involves the legal status of the team's trademark. As my colleague Kenya Downs wrote last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) can deny or rescind a trademark if it is "disparaging of persons, institutions or national symbols." Citing that rationale, the office canceled six of the Redskins' trademarks last summer.

Last week, the Redskins filed a lawsuit saying the office violated their right to free speech. The team's lawyers argue it was singled out "for disfavored treatment based solely on the content of its protected speech, interfering with the ongoing public discourse over the Redskins' name by choosing sides and cutting off the debate. This the U.S. Constitution does not tolerate."

Mark Joseph Stern, who covers legal issues at Slate, called this "a desperate move by a cynical man to maintain a monopoly on an offensive ethnic slur," before adding, "It is also probably correct."

Stern said the the USPTO's rules on offensive trademarks are can appear arbitrary and ideologically driven for instance, when the office rejected the lesbian motorcycle club Dykes on Bikes application for a trademark.

He explains why this is a problem:

"A company whose trademark is revoked is almost certain to change its namemeaning trademark revocation is, at bottom, government coercion of speech...

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Does The Redskins' 'Free Speech' Claim Hold Water?

Unfazed by the controversy, the British filmmaker behind the BBC documentary on the Delhi gangrape incident on Thursday accused the Indian government of trying to "muzzle free speech" by banning its telecast in India.

Leslee Udwin's 'Storyville: India's Daughter' was due to be aired in the UK on Sunday to coincide with International Women's Day but the telecast was brought forward in the wake of attempts by the Indian government to block its release worldwide.

It has led to threats of legal action from the Indian home ministry but Udwin remains defiant.

She has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "deal with the unceremonious silencing of the film".

"This is the greatest fight of our times and I wanted to applaud the reaction of the Indian people to the crime with this film. But that has been turned around by this ban, which is an attempt to muzzle free speech," Udwin said in London.

"I have constantly stressed this is not an Indian problem, it is a global problem. I remain confident that this film will be a powerful tool for change," she said.

At the heart of the worldwide uproar is an interview with one of the four men facing the death penalty over the 2012 brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student.

The documentary included an interview conducted by Udwin and BBC, of Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus in which the student was brutally gangraped by six men on December 16, 2012. Mukesh has made derogatory statements against women, Delhi police has said.

The BBC has defended the broadcast of the documentary in the UK late last night, saying it is a "revealing insight into a horrific crime that sent shock waves around the world and led to protests across India demanding changes in attitudes towards women."

The BBC said it brought forward the broadcast "given the intense level of interest in the 'Storyville' film, enabling viewers to see this incredibly powerful documentary at the earliest opportunity."

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India trying to muzzle free speech: Gangrape filmmaker