Free Speech

By Norman Rockwell

I would like to believe that part of the appeal of this blog is that it stands up for free speech ... and doesn’t squelch dissenters in the comments section. I would guess about 90% of the comments here disagree with my post’s arguments ... usually responded to by my counter-thoughts. This is what keeps things free and interesting ... and eventually can iterate to truth.

Much of the internet today does not permit such free-wheeling dialog. Twitter, reddit, Facebook, etc. are becoming increasingly restrictive in the degree of woke dissent they will permit. What good is that after all? These social media sites become echo chambers and not sounding boards. Worthless! And, in my opinion, sadly anti-American.


STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Quotable Quote

“The left says that your free speech is violence ... but their violence is just free speech.” — Glenn Reynolds

Free Speech

Kind reader: What’s the difference between the terms “colored people” (as in NAACP) and “people of color?” We are not just being silly with our un-free speech ... we are obviously going completely bonkers!

Must we now refer to it as NAAPC?

(If this blog goes silent, you will know the speech police have come for me.)

Free Speech

Donald J. Trump has been an over-the-top practitioner of free speech ... probably well beyond what our Founding Fathers had in mind ...

Headlines

Manafort's prosecution's frustration with judge leads to firey clashes

Beijing blasts 'double faces' U.S. and 'will not surrender' to 'trade blackmail'

FACEBOOKAPPLEGOOGle get out of the free-speech movement ...

Report: Illegal aliens self-deporting to Canada due to Trump's crackdown

Trump: 'U.S. seeking world peace, nothing less' with Iran sanctions

Ongoing California wildfire is  now now state's largest ever in recorded history

Senate Dems circulating plans for gov't takeover of Internet ...

Early Democrat polls favor Joe Biden for 2020, Ssenate colleagues sceptical

Democrats poised to pick transgender woman for Vermont governor

U.S. and India square off on trade. This spells trouble for Modi

China tests 4,563-mph hypersonic aircraft that fires 'unstoppable' nukes

Scientists spot massive rogue planer just outside solar system

Cause du Jour

Why is it that only liberals seem to have causes that they will stage emotive protests for: legalize marijuana, "women's reproductive rights," equal pay, transgender bathrooms, black lives matter, dump Trump Women's March, safe spaces, #MeToo, down with Civil War monuments, save the planet, bam guns, no tax cuts, open borders, same sex marriage, evil white privilege, eliminate ICE? The list goes on and on and on. As soon as the emotion drains out of one cause, another one steps in to take it's place. Do not these fulminaters have anything else to do with their empty lives? Must our media always have a weekend protest or boycott or diatribe to headline? It all seems very artificial and superficial to this observer.

Are these real grassroots protests or is this a lot of AstroTurf ... ginned-up crowds comprised mostly of many Soros-paid actors ... or  rent-a-mobs? (There are agencies which will actually rent you a spittle-flecked mob for any cause you want. How cynical can you get?)

The free-speech, save the whales and free-love activists of our youth seem so much more tame and naive than the cause du jour gauntlets we are forced to endure these days. What's next? "Green cards  for all the jihadists'  children?" Spare me!

Liberal Privilege

Who can continually invent virtue signals yet call for the death of their opponents, drone on about impeaching them, continually misquote them, cook up cockamamie conspiracy theories about them, tag them with every "ists" there is, stage demonstrations outside their homes without consequences, steal and reveal their financial records, use the power of the government to try to distroy them, decide which laws need to be obeyed, suppress free speech when they feel like it, fulminate violent protests in order to depress dissent, tax and regulate their opponents into submission, encourage illegal voting to stay in power, concoct "legal" ways to launder money, reward bad behavior by voting blocs, paper over sexual crimes by their supporters, broom egregious crimes within their tribe, lie with impunity, openly disparage their country, abet foreign enemies, revel in their own self-importance ... and feel they are forever "entitled?"

Why it's Liberals ... that's who! (You knew it all along')

Headlines

Trump hires Russian probe critic Joseph de Genova to his legal team

Dem. Rep. Suggests using Second Amendment to take up arms against Trump

Mueller has been botching investigations since the anthrax attack ...

Police: Austin, TX 'serial bomber' is changing tactics

Dems under pressure to block Pompeo, Haspel [confirmations]

American youth love free speech -- until it hurts their feelings

Ex-Obama campaign drops FACEBOOK bombshell: 'They were on our side' ...

Saudi crown prince slams Islamic 'extremists' ahead of Trump meeting

Supreme Court won't block new Pennsylvania congressional map

College tells black comedian not to tell jokes about race

Police order GOOGLE to turn over location data for all users near crime scenes

Dems reject WH bid for wall funds

Headlines

All from Internet news sites. Guess which ones from Politico.

Trump: Rich people won't benefit 'at all' from tax plan

Michael Flynn has reportedly refused to meet with Senate Intelligence Committee

Paul Ryan: 'Not in nation's interest' to kick out dreamers ...

Poll: 53% of California Dems oppose free speech

Senate scuttles Rand Paul's war power's repeal

Hillary: Comey should have asked her permission to look at emails

Top exec [VP, Business Development] leaving Tesla ...

Hillary: Bernie didn't give me the respect I deserve

White House says Bernie Sanders' single-payer plan is a 'horrible idea'

DHS bans Russian-made antivirus software from all federal agencies

Man shouting Allahu Akbar attacks seven people, 3 cops in Toulouse, France

Bundled cable death watch, 22M to cut cord in 2017

Newest Newspeak

Hate is love ... peace through violence ... suppressing free speech is Constitutional ... being attacked is incitement ... denouncing the KKK is racist ... rioting is peace-loving ... castigating neo-Nazi is anti-Semitic ... killing cops is justified payback ... enforcing immigration law is xenophobic ... embracing Afro-American leaders is racism ... refuting fake media news is anti-American ... black-masked fascism is patriotic ... fighting terrorism is Islamophobic ... telling it like it is, is lying -- some of the newest Newspeak

Headlines

All from Internet news sites. Guess which from Politico?

Spanish police kill 5 attackers wearing fake suicide belts

Rahm Emanuel rehabs his national profile

Bannon says he hopes Democrats talk about racism every day

Feds refuse to remove memorials ..

Trump stress has business booming for shrinks

Trump dumps CEOs before more could abandon him

College cancels free speech event, cites campus safety concerns

Philippine police kill 32 in 'shock and awe' drug raids ...

Ann Coulter: 'When liberals club people, it's with love in their hearts'

U.S. sets tough tone with Canada, Mexico as NAFTA talks begin

Bannon dismisses white supremacists as a 'collection of clowns'

Brooklyn army base urged to rename streets honoring generals

Defector: Christianity thrives in N Korea, citizens 'no longer respect' Kim

Headlines

All the following headlines have come from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

The weakest defense in Washington? Saying 'I don't recall'

Supreme Court limits rights of property owners

Dems behind 'Russian' dossier?

More winning: Black unemployment at lowest level in 17 years

UK Parliment hit by cyberattack

North Carolina colleges rated most free speech friendly

Koch chief says healthcare bill insufficiently conservative ...

Harvard poll: Two-thirds say Russian investigation 'hurting America'

'Trump is what happens when a political party abandons ideas'

With ominous tweet, Comey pal suggests major bombshell story is soon to drop

NASA about to announce 'evidence of alien life' ...

SCOTUS: Immigrants who lie to Feds to become citizens may lose citizenship

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Scientist who predicted Trump, Brexit: Math adds up to Le Pen victory

Krauthammer: 'Fascist gangs' shutting down free speech

Trump spurns Taiwan president's suggestion of another phone call ...

Warren: I was 'troubled' by Obama's Wall Street speaking fee

Israel strikes Iran supplied arms depot near Damascus airport ...

[US] will not spray [Afghan] opium fields because crops 'might be too close to a mosque'

Tillerson: Kim Jong Un is not crazy

Yale students have symbolic hunger strike, eat when hungry

'Overly obese' body sets crematorium on fire ...

Trump: I'll withdraw from NAFTA if We don't get a 'fair deal for all'

College speaker tortured and killed a man, now complains how bad prison is

The House delays Obamacare bill, denies Trump 100-day win

Free Speech

As has been repeatedly said, it's a sad day for democracy in America when a Conservative, in this case Ann Coulter, is intimidated by lefty brown-shirted Fascists into canceling a speaking engagement at the University at Berkeley in California ... see:  NY Times Article. After a series of obscene threats by the Jack-booted liberal storm troopers, the university's total lack of accommodation for her, and the moonbat mayor of Berkeley's refusal to guarantee her safety and the safety of attendees, Coulter and the Berkeley Right relented and canceled even minimal oratory.

When you have the ACLU, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, at least in form, suggesting that the show should go on, you know that our Constitution is now just "a piece of paper" (an Obama quote) according to those once proponents of  the "Free Speech Movement" ... those erstwhile ragtag radical students at Berkeley.

Obviously, the Chancellor of this University and  the head of the California University System are also culpable for turning their backs on this shameful situation. But the person who should be blamed most is California's Governor, Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, for his lack of gonads for averting his eyes to this matter. He should have called out the National Guard to insure civil peace before, during and after Coulter's speech. This almost octogenarian fruit bat deserves to be assailed by the national media for his pathetic guttersnipe performance in this matter.

Watch all the major networks tonight to see more on this story?

Distinctions

Much of our world's problems arise due to our inability or unwillingness to make distinctions ... often due to lazy thinking combined with purposeful misdirection. For instance note the following items that are often conflated ... quite often on purpose:

Illegal vs. legal immigration

What people say vs. do

Religious fervor vs. zealotry

Hyperbole vs. lying

Rap vs. music

Free speech vs. sedition

Satire vs. mockery

Economic self interest vs. greed

Refinement vs. preciousness

Mental illness vs. mental retardation

Compassion vs. grandstanding

Just war vs. aggression

Pro choice vs. pro abortion

Colonialism vs. outreach

News reporting vs. advocacy


Can you see where we go wrong with just these few?

First Amendment Debate

Pamela Geller, of the Atlas Shrugs blog (which I often read and sometimes cite), engaged in a very lively and edifying debate with a CNN news anchor, Alisyn Camerota, today about the attack that took place in Garland, Texas yesterday at a free-speech event Geller sponsored in which cartoons of Mohammad were displayed ... and where two attacking gunmen were killed ... see: CNN Video. The back and forth in this video I think is well worth watching through to the end since it draws a sharp contrast between the current liberal notion of free speech and that which was expressed by our founding fathers in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In her comments, Ms. Geller repeatedly makes the clear point that she is not anti-Muslim, but she is very much anti-jihadist ... and to assume that all Muslims are jihadists is the true anti-Muslim stance. Not only did Ms. Camerota find this distinction difficult to adsorb, but following this interview, CNN then had on a spokeswoman from the uber-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center who, without blinking, said that Pamela Geller was an "extremist" and does NOT make the distinction between ordinary Muslims and radical Muslims. Apparently she either was not privy to the debate that took place immediately preceding hers. Or, if she did, her ears were so full of "progressive" wax, that she would not acknowledge Ms. Geller's claim.

As a side note, one second-amendment wag has pointed out the difference between the Jihadist attack in Paris were guns are taboo and a similar attack in Texas ... which arms its constabulary.

Afterward: Here is a video of the SPLC spox attacking Ms. Geller ... see: Breitbart Video.

After Afterward: Here is Greg Gutfeld's always-insightful take on this controversy ... see: Breitbart Piece.