We often discuss our age of rage and how many people seem addicted to rage. That concern was evident this week in two stories in which individuals are facing criminal charges for fueling rage by pretending to be KKK or BLM supporters. Continue reading “The Age of Rage: Police in Minnesota and Georgia Charge Individuals Pretending to be Members of the Far Right and Far Left to Fuel Race Tensions”
This week, the Supreme Court will again assemble for a new term and pundits and politicians are already handicapping the cases. This term however has more drama and tension as Democrats call for packing the Court with an instant liberal majority and others attack its members in anticipation of opinions that have yet to be written. The reality is summed up in one of my favorite stories about Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes when he was on a trip to Washington. Holmes forgot his ticket but the train conductor reassured him, “Do not worry about your ticket. We all know who you are. When you get to your destination, you can find it and just mail it to us.” Holmes responded, “My dear man, the problem is not my ticket. The problem is, where am I going?” Continue reading “Train Whistle Docket: The Supreme Court Returns With Blockbuster Cases On Guns, Abortions, and Free Speech”
Do grading systems need a “failure” option? That is the question being increasingly asked in schools across the country. The latest school to eliminate the F is Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake, Minnesota which posted a videotape on a new grading scale which does not allow for any grade below 50 percent. It also bans the use of a student’s behavior or class record to be considered in grading. Continue reading “Do We Need “F” Grades? More Schools Are Saying No.”
Modern justices have long chafed at the restraints of judicial ethical rules about public commentary. The late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was celebrated as “notorious” due in part to her controversial public speeches and discussions of pending or expected cases before the Court. Despite my long criticism of this trend, I was still taken aback by comments of Justice Sonia Sotomayor at an event organized by the American Bar Association. In her comments, Sotomayor appeared to call for political campaigns and discussed a matter just before the Court. Despite the discussion of the case and political opposition from a sitting justice, the ABA members were silent as were the many liberal activists who have been denouncing the Court as too “political.” Continue reading ““They Tell Me I Shouldn’t But . . .”: Sotomayor Calls on Law Students to Oppose the Texas Abortion Law” 
We have been discussing how student publications are firing writers and editors who write columns espousing dissenting views on police abuse or other subjects. This pattern has repeatedly itself at Wisconsin, Syracuse, and other schools. Student columnists have been formally condemned at schools like Georgetown and both faculty and students have sought to eliminate whole publications at schools like Dartmouth as “incubators of hate.” Now, the editor-in-chief at a student newspaper at Oklahoma State University, Maddison Farris, says that she was forced out due to her writing a column criticizing a mask mandate on campus. Continue reading “Oklahoma State Editor Reportedly Forced Out Due To Anti-Mask Mandate Editorial”
We just discussed a lawsuit by UCLA Professor Gordon Klein who alleges that the university threw him under the bus over a controversial email when it suspended him and posted statements strongly suggesting that he is racist. Now a second such case may be developing at Princeton with an even more direct university allegation of racism against Classics Professor Joshua Katz. The university recently featured Katz in a mandatory freshman orientation video that included a “Race and Free Speech” section in which he is condemned as a racist. According to the site College Fix, his lawyer has said that legal possible action is being explored. Continue reading “Princeton Facing Possible Legal Action After Labeling Professor Racist for Opposing Race-Based Faculty Perks”
YouTube continued the expansion of corporate censorship on the Internet with the encouragement of leading Democratic leaders. The company has banned channels associated with anti-vaccine activists like Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Once again, rather than rebutting or refuting claims made by others, many sought to silence those with opposing views. YouTube will not allow people to hear views that do not comport with an approved range of opinions. The move magnifies concerns that we are seeing the emergence of a new type of state media as private companies conduct censorship operations barred by the Constitution for the government to conduct directly. This move comes days after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) asked Amazon to steer customers to “true” books on subjects like climate change to avoid their exposure to “disinformation.” It also follows YouTube censoring videos of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny before Russia’s parliamentary elections. The move helped Putin and his authoritarian government crack down on pro-Democracy forces.
Continue reading “Free Speech Immunity: YouTube Bans Channels Airing Criticism of Vaccines”
Below is my column in USA Today on the recent call by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) for Amazon to steer readers to “true” books on climate change. It is the latest example of Democrat’s embracing a type of corporate governance model to carry out tasks barred to the government under the Constitution. Companies are now being asked to protect us from our own dangerous interests and inquiries. An array of enlightened algorithms will now watch over citizens to help them make good choices and read “true” things.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Enlightened Algorithms: Democrats Call For Increased Corporate Controls To Protect Citizens From Their Own Dangerous Curiosities”
Last year, we discussed the controversy surrounding UCLA accounting professor Gordon Klein after he refused to exempt black students from his final exam and sent a pointed rebuttal to students asking for the “no harm” exam. This response, which was mocking, led to a formal investigation and a major campaign to have him fired. Now he is suing. Continue reading “UCLA Professor Sues Over Suspension Following Controversy Over Race-Based Grading”
The Taliban seems to be adopting a bizarre version of “safe space” rhetoric from Western universities. Chancellor Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat tweeted this week that women would be barred from campus until a “safe Islamic environment” can be created for their education. Notably, as this picture shows, men and women once studied together in the 1940s and 1950s. However, the Taliban banned women from going to school in their prior government in the 1990s. Continue reading “Taliban Chancellor Bans Women From Kabul University To Create “Safe” Spaces For Education”
We have been discussing the rising support for corporate censorship among leading Democratic politicians, academics, and writers. Social media and Internet companies now actively respond to calls from government officials to silence those with opposing views. The latest such example is Google-owned YouTube removing videos of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny before Russia’s parliamentary elections. Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Apple Inc. also pulled a voting app from Navalny ahead of the election. Nevertheless, CEO Susan Wojcicki bizarrely claimed in a Bloomberg interview Bloomberg Television that free speech remains a “core value” for the company. Continue reading “YouTube Removes Videos of Putin Critic in Latest Act of Corporate Censorship”
We recently discussed the move by Point Park University to include “misgendering, pronoun misuse, and deadnaming” as forms of discrimination subject to discipline at the school. Now students are seeking the removal of Logan Dubil, an undergraduate student who appeared in media criticizing the policy. The Change.org petition has hundreds of signing students and is the latest example of a rising generation of censors emerging from our campuses. Many today focus more on silencing others than responding to their opposing viewpoints.
Below is my column in the Hill on growing conflicts over “misgendering” in the use of pronouns. Both governmental agencies and academic institutions are increasingly treating misgendering as a form of hate speech or discrimination. That is triggering major free speech fights in this county and abroad.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Policing Pronouns: How “Misgendering” is Becoming the New Battleground Over Discrimination”
We recently discussed a controversy over a teacher being told to remove an Antifa flag and Gay Pride flag. We now have the inverse case. A teacher in Washington was told to remove a “Blue Lives Matter” flag that she put up to support her brother who was a former police officer. The flag was surrounded by pictures of her brother. She was told to remove the flag as a “political statement” that would disturb some students. These controversies raise questions of content-based discrimination over speech, particularly after the Washington teacher was reportedly told that she could have Black Lives Matter or Gay Pride flags in her class but not a Blue Lives Matter flag. Continue reading “Washington School Triggers Free Speech Fight Over Order to Remove Blue Lives Matter Flag”