Below is my column in the New York Post on the ruling against Nina Jankowicz in her defamation case. It turns out that calling opposing views defamation is no better than calling them disinformation.
We have been following the controversies surrounding professors commenting on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Some of those responses have ranged from celebrations to spreading bizarre conspiracy theories. The latest controversy concerns Rutgers University Writing Program Assistant Teaching Professor Tracy Budd, who posted a Facebook message saying ”Let’s hope today’s events inspire others.” These postings raise difficult questions for universities in balancing free speech rights against statements viewed as endorsing violence. Continue reading ““Let’s Hope Today’s Events Inspire Others”: Rutgers Professor Under Fire for Posting on Trump Assassination Attempt” 
I have long been critical of the erosion of free speech in Italy and other Western European countries, including the use of criminal libel laws against critics of the police or government. This week a Milan court has ordered a journalist to pay Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni damages of 5,000 euros ($5,465) for making fun of her in a social media post. Giulia Cortese was also given a suspended fine of 1,200 euros for a joke on X. It is the latest absurd example of the expanding crackdown on free speech.
McKenna Geer, who is a competitive rifle shooter on Team USA for the Paralympics, is the latest person to be censored on social media. In her case, the offense was merely posting pictures with the guns that she uses in competitions. While possessing a gun is a protected individual right, Instagram will flag your posts and bar you from some sites if you post a picture with a gun . . . even if it is part of your sport at the Olympics or Paralympics. Continue reading “Instagram Censors Paralympian Because of Photo with Competition Gun”
Today C-Span is airing a long interview on my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, at 8 p.m. tonight on C-Span Book TV. It will then air at later times and be available on the C-Span website. Continue reading “C-Span to Air Full Interview on The Indispensable Right Tonight”
Below is my column in the Hill on the recent report of the House Judiciary Committee and the disclosure of yet another effort to silence opposing viewpoints by squeezing the revenue of individuals or groups, including Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Elon Musk is Right: End the Online Censorship Racket”
Below is my column in Fox.com on renewed attacks on free speech and the apologists for this anti-free speech movement, including most recently comedian Jon Stewart. From moves to amend the First Amendment to mocking those being targeted, the left is pushing back at polls and efforts to restore free speech values.
Here is the column:
I have previously written how President Joe Biden is the most anti-free speech president since John Adams. For his part, Biden has continued to double down on his anti-free speech policies with the appointment of figures who have long supported bans and other speech controls. The latest such appointment is Andy Volosky, who was made deputy director of platforms for the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy. Volosky has been outspoken in support of banning former president Donald Trump from social media platforms. Continue reading “The War on Free Speech: Biden Adds Another Advocate for Censorship to the White House”
For many years, I have testified and written about Antifa and its growing anti-free speech philosophy. Some Democratic leaders have embraced this violent movement, which continues to gain strength on campuses and its cities across the nation. It is also a global movement. That is reflected in the alarming election of Antifa candidates to the French National Assembly as well as the European Parliament. That is quite an accomplishment for a movement that President Joe Biden dismissed as “just an idea.”
Continue reading “Antifa Radicals Elected to the French and European Parliaments”
President Joe Biden delivered an address from the White House last night on the presidential immunity decision by the Supreme Court. While pledging that he will defend the rule of law, President Biden misrepresented what that law is in the aftermath of Trump v. United States. While we have often discussed false constitutional claims by the President as well as other false statements, an address of this kind is particularly concerning in misleading citizens on the meaning of one of the most important decisions in history.
The debate last night was chilling for many citizens as President Joe Biden clearly struggled to stay focused and responsive. It appeared to put on display what Special Counsel Robert Hur saw in his interview before concluding that Biden’s loss of mental capacity would make a prosecution difficult. What may be equally troubling for Democrats and the media is a poll that came out just before the debate that shows more swing-state voters see former President Donald Trump rather than President Joe Biden as protecting democracy.Continue reading “Post Poll: More Citizens Trust Trump Over Biden to Protect Democracy”
Below is my column in USA Today on why the opponents of President Joe Biden should make free speech the focus of this election. With the Supreme Court taking an off ramp in Murthy v. Missouri on Internet censorship, the free speech community is left, for now, with the political process to protect free speech. It is a potentially unifying issue for many Americans who are alarmed by the current anti-free speech movement. I have previously written that the Biden Administration has chilling analogies to the Adams Administration in the weaponization of the legal system and the crackdown on free speech. What should most concern Biden is the possibility of another aspect of history repeating itself: a defeat like the one in 1800.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Want to Defeat Joe Biden? Look to the 1800 Election and Make Free Speech the Key Issue in 2024”
Below is my column on Fox.com on my book and how our current “age of rage” may be the most dangerous for free speech, but it is not our first such period in history. Indeed, the current debate is returning this nation to the very debate that erupted at the start of our Republic.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Age of Rage: America’s Anti-Free Speech Movement Forces Us Again To Choose Between Our Rights and Our Rage”
Will Rogers once said that “if you ever injected truth into politics, you’d have no politics.” In Wales, it appears that the government is challenging that assessment. However, if the new legislation criminalizing political lies is successful, the Welsh are likely to find themselves with the same abundance of lies but little free speech.
Continue reading “Wales Moves Forward With Plan to Punish Politicians for Telling Lies”
In my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, and a recent academic work, I discuss a new rationale being used by administrators to punish free speech: threatening academic collegiality or campus tranquility. I was discussing the Fourth Circuit case of Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University, which was unfortunately not reviewed by the Supreme Court. Now, as feared, it is being replicated by the Sixth Circuit in Gruber v. Tenn. Tech. Bd. of Trustees. The result is a new and serious threat to free speech in higher education to curtail speech where it would be “likely to cause disruption” or undermine the “fostering [of] a collegial educational environment.”