'The Free Market Is Handling It Just Fine': How Left and Right Responded to Charlie Kirk's Murder
On the latest episode of Free Media, Amber Duke and I discuss the assassination of Charlie Kirk, cancel culture, and political violence.
Free Speech
TikTok Isolationism
Plus: New Yorkers favor decriminalizing prostitution. An academic inquiry into "body counts." AI chatbots everywhere. And more...
AG Pam Bondi Says "We Can Prosecute You" for Refusing to Print Posters for Charlie Kirk Vigil
But there doesn't seem to be any federal law actually authorizing such prosecutions (or civil lawsuits).
Brendan Carr and Ted Cruz Don't Think Charlie Kirk's Murder Justifies Speech Restrictions
Rand Paul, who called for "a crackdown on people" who celebrated the assassination, was less careful in distinguishing between private and government action.
The Perverse Incentives for Snitch-Tagging Teachers Who Criticized Charlie Kirk
Under current First Amendment jurisprudence, more targeted harassment means it's more constitutional to fire a government worker.
Doctor Can't Be Disciplined by Washington Medical Commission for Blog Posts About COVID
The posts were "downplaying the severity of the COVID pandemic, promoting the use of ivermectin over a vaccine, and criticizing the government's response to the pandemic."
Pam Bondi Is Really Wrong About Hate Speech
The attorney general is now getting called out by fellow conservatives.
J.D. Vance Says 26 Percent of Young Liberals Justify Political Violence. Here's What the Data Really Say.
Majorities on the left and on the right denounce political violence and its celebration.
To Honor Charlie Kirk, Reject Cancel Culture
Plus: Trump and governors threaten social media regulations, activists push blacklists and firings, and how to resist apocalyptic politics.
Charlie Kirk Would Not Have Wanted This
A vast cancel culture campaign is a poor way to honor his legacy.
Plaintiff Must "Reconcile Herself to the Fact That Litigation Is Often Accompanied by Public Attention and Scrutiny"
"Outside of certain narrow and presently inapplicable circumstances, federal lawsuits are public proceedings and members of the public are free to comment on them."
Social Media Didn't Kill Charlie Kirk
Plus: Trump says he "may let [TikTok] die," the SoHo Forum debates paying for sex, the administration calls birth control "abortifacients," and more...
The Standard for 'Vicious' Speech Trump Laid Out After Kirk's Murder Would Implicate Trump Himself
Freedom of speech cannot reliably protect conservatives unless it also protects people they despise.
"The Danger of Social Media": "It Allows People to Publish Their Internal Monologues"
"Can civilization survive now that we have been made witness to the interior lives of others?"
Charlie Kirk and America's History With Political Violence
Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch discuss the murder of Charlie Kirk and how political violence is reshaping the national climate.
California Public Charter Schools' Independent Study Programs Can Insist on Secular Curricular Materials
"The Supreme Court has recently confirmed that the Free Exercise Clause does not prohibit a state from providing 'a strictly secular education in its public schools'"—and, the court held, that extends to California charter schools and their parental "home-based direct instruction approved by the school and coordinated, evaluated, and supervised by state-certified teachers."
GOP Rep Proposes Canceling People Over Mean Posts About Charlie Kirk
Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins, who once opposed government jawboning, now says people should be banned from both social media and public life over their posts.
The Killing of Charlie Kirk: 5 Idiotic Responses on Social Media
We should welcome renunciations of violence from those who disagree with Kirk, and dispute nonsense across the political spectrum.
Teacher Disciplined for Saying "Privilege" Training Involved "White-Bashing BS" Can Go Forward with First Amendment Claim
"[T]he only evidence of disruption pointed to by Defendants is the fact that a teacher felt uncomfortable at a session designed with the expectation that participants would feel uncomfortable."
Oklahoma AG on the First Amendment and Drag Shows
Such drag shows are protected unless they fit within the (fairly narrow) category of obscenity, which is limited to certain material that depicts sexual conduct (not just cross-dressing).
Free Speech Unmuted: A Conversation with FIRE's Greg Lukianoff
FIRE is one of the leading free speech advocacy and litigation groups in the country, and Greg is not only its long-time head but also coauthor of several books, including Coddling of the American Mind (with psychologist Jonathan Haidt) and War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail (with law professor and former ACLU President Nadine Strossen).
Woman Repeatedly Badmouthed Ex-Lover, Ordered Not to Say Anything Online About Him, Lost Gun Rights
She had admitted that some (though not all) of the speech was false, but the injunction (entered in a restraining order case, not following a full defamation trial) extends to all speech, not just falsehoods: "Even speech otherwise protected by the First Amendment may be enjoined if it disturbs the petitioning party's peace."
"Authoritarians in the Academy": The Free Speech Recession
When universities are global institutions, the global speech environment matters.
College Students Across the Political Spectrum Support Shouting Down Opponents
Once a left-wing fetish, the heckler’s veto has gained conservative adherents.
California County's Restriction on Being a Spectator at a Car "Sideshow" Violates First Amendment as Applied to Reporter
The ruling would apply, I think, to anyone gathering information about the sideshow for publication, whether or not he's a professional journalist.
Graham Linehan's Speech Must Be Defended
The Irish comedian's arrest by British authorities is an outrage.
Documenting Denial: A Record of Rejection Faced by Gay Couples
Over the past two decades, scores of business owners across the nation have sought to refuse services for same-sex weddings, an SMU Law School study finds
