Recently, I wrote about the bizarre investigation of Hofstra University Professor Richard Himelfarb, who had referred to a colleague’s comments in a faculty meeting as “word salad.” The investigation was launched after a formal complaint from his colleague, Professor Santiago Slabodsky, chair of the Jewish studies program. While some of us called for the “word salad” complaint to be tossed, Slabodsky has now filed another complaint stemming from Himelfarb’s public campaign to clear his name, according to a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Continue reading “Hofstra Professor Files Complaint Against Colleague for Calling His Comments “Word Salad” . . . Then Files Second Complaint When That Colleague Defends Himself”
There is an important lawsuit being litigated in the Southern District of New York over the limits of free speech and academic freedom for faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Professor Tim Bakken, West Point’s longest-serving civilian law professor, is challenging new Trump Administration regulations that allegedly constitute unconstitutional prior restraints on academic publications and limit academic freedom and free speech. Continue reading “West Point Professor Challenges Ban on “Un-American, Divisive…Radical, Extremist, and Irrational Theories.””
As I wrote yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci was not the only one taking the Fifth yesterday on his record during the pandemic. The media effectively invoked the same privilege to avoid self-incrimination for their years of deifying the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Across the cable networks, hosts and guests were going into vapors as Republican senators pummelled Fauci over his COVID policies and the glaring contradictions found in his diary entries. Some, like Dr. Scott Ratzan, echoed Fauci’s own prior claim that any questioning of his judgment was an attack on science. Continue reading “The Media Takes the Fifth and Denounces Those Questioning Fauci as an “Assault on Science””
I recently debated Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), over the loss of institutional neutrality in higher education. In the debate, I raised AAUP’s own abandonment of neutrality principles, which Wolfson acknowledged. While the viewers overwhelmingly supported a return to neutrality principles, Wolfson was undeterred. Indeed, this week Inside Higher Ed reported that the AAUP had moved forward with its first political endorsement in its history and would make more endorsements going forward. The first endorsement captured the radical agenda of the AAUP: Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Below is my column on Fox.com on yesterday’s “testimony” from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Americans deserve answers to the questions raised by his diary and other remarks. The most likely course to gain such answers would be through an immunity grant. The impact of a pardon on invocations is a bit murky but, as I stated yesterday, the odds favor Fauci in a court finding that he can still invoke the privilege. In any challenge, a court would likely find that there remains a risk of self-incrimination. What is clear is that many in Washington would prefer Fauci to remain silent on the questions raised by his diary.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Sound of Silence: Fauci Takes the Fifth and the Heat Over his Diary Disclosures”
Below is an expanded version of my column in the New York Post on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s press conference this week on his planned state-run grocery stores. The plan is a multimillion-dollar version of the $5 gold watch grift. The chumps are New York taxpayers who believe that Mamdani can sell them produce at a discount of 30 percent below the market rate and not lose money. Indeed, this could end up the most expensive produce in the Big Apple.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Mamdani Grocery Grift: The New York Mayor Sells Taxpayers a Bill of Goods on City-Run Stores”
Nothing says commitment to reform like heads on pikes. Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has attracted national attention with his violent rhetoric about “choking out” opponents and his campaigning with virulent anti-Semites like Hasan Piker. However, his comment about hoisting opponents’ heads like an “ogre on a pike” was raised during last night’s debate with Rep. Haley Stevens (D., MI.). He assured voters that he was really referring to the head of Sen. John Fetterman (D., PA.) in defending his remark. Somehow, alluding to the beheading of a staunch defender of Israel was presented as far more reasonable than mass beheadings. That is what passes for a moderate in this age of rage. Continue reading “Abdul El-Sayed: Fear Not … I Was Only Talking About Putting Fetterman’s Head on a Pike”
We have followed the evisceration of free speech values in the United Kingdom and other Western nations. Australia has been one of the most chilling examples of how a population can be conditioned over time to view free speech as a threat. The country now criminalizes and regulates an ever-expanding range of speech, including political and religious viewpoints. The most recent example is the Supreme Court of New South Wales upholding a conviction for ‘vilification’ after women’s rights campaigner Kirralie Smith and the publication Binary Australia referred to two transgender individuals as men due to their biological sex. That led not only to $95,000 in fines but also to a sentence of compelled speech. Continue reading “Criminal “Villification”: Australia Court Upholds Fine and Compelled Speech in Transgender Case”
Below is my column in the Hill on New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “Fair Share Myth” and other fables being spread on the left to sell the public on the “warmth of collectivism.” It is storytime for socialists. These fictitious claims make Aesop look like Adam Smith.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “The Fair Share Myth and Other Socialist Fables”
An over-30-point primary loss would ordinarily produce a degree of introspection and self-reflection in a politician. Indeed, even such a humiliating defeat can produce a sense of liberation in some members who finish their terms free of pandering to extreme groups or blindly touting the party lines. Those people, however, are not Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.). Continue reading “Goldman Demands Proof of “One Case” of Immigration Obstruction…DHS Offers 7,000 in New York Alone”
Maine state Rep. James White (R-Guilford) has filed an objection to the selection of Troy Jackson by party delegates to replace Graham Platner on the ballot. The basis of the challenge is that Jackson previously lost in the primary and, under Maine law, cannot appear twice in the same election. It will be a tough case to make, but he would seemingly be making it to the perfect Secretary of State: Shenna Bellows.
Bellows, who was herself a candidate for the spot, previously adopted a wildly unfounded interpretation to try to block President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot. In comparison, this demand is modest. Yet, the expectation is that Bellows will go from an unrestrained impressionist to a narrow textualist in this ballot controversy.
This week, the book tour for “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution” took me back to the historic Union League Club in New York City. For a history nut, the Union League is an unparalleled delight with a building and a club steeped in American history going back to its founding in 1863. I wanted to share a few photos from my stay at the private club. Continue reading “A Trip Back Through History at the Union League of New York”
There is an interesting free-speech case filed in South Carolina brought by a tattoo parlor challenging a state law that not only bars tattoo facilities from 1000 feet of churches, schools, or playgrounds, but also bans tattoos on the face, neck, or head. The case presents a common challenge for free speech advocates like myself. I have a visceral dislike for tattoos (particularly on the face), but I believe that they are a form of free expression. I, therefore, view the South Carolina law, S.C. Code Ann. § 44-34- 100, as unconstitutional under the First Amendment. (The litigants include claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the 14th Amendment). Continue reading “Oh Lydia! The South Carolina Supreme Court Again Rules Against Tattoo Speech”
Below is my column on Fox.com on the most recent controversial decision from Chief Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C. While accusing President Trump of a sweeping view of his power, the court seems to have an equally expansive view of its own power.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Boasberg’s Law: Chief District Court Judge Under Renewed Scrutiny Over Pattern of Unilateral Actions”
It was my great honor to speak this week at the Nixon Presidential Library on “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.” It was the library’s anniversary, and the event was held in the library’s beautiful version of the East Room. Below is the videotape of the remarks.
Continue reading “Turley Speaks at Nixon Presidential Library on “Rage and the Republic””