Free Speech

An Oil Industry Witch Hunt in Canada Threatens Us All

Frances Beinecke | Posted 06.01.2012

Read More: Northern Gateway Pipeline, Tar Sands, Stephen Harper, Alberta Tar Sands, Oil Industry, Black Out Speak Out, Keystone XL Pipeline, Free Speech, Alberta, Carbon Pollution, Climate Change, Canada, Global Warming, Green News

What is next in the United States, if the oil industry succeeds in silencing Canadian voices asking for basic public health and safety protections?

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On Social Media, State Department Stands Alone

Peter Van Buren | Posted 06.01.2012

Read More: Social Media, First Amendment, Army, Cia, Blog, Free Speech, Wikileaks, Aclu, State Department, Compliance, Politics News

If the hyper-classified CIA recognizes the need for an internal review of its pre-clearance process, why doesn't the State Department? If the military can co-exist without pre-clearance restraints on blogs, why can't State?

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How Citizens United Can Be Used to Curtail Super PAC Spending

Peter Scheer | Posted 06.01.2012

Read More: Mitt Romney, Super Pac, Citizens United, Free Speech, Campaign Finance, President Obama, Politics News

While Citizens United gave a green light to individual political expenditures, it also contains the rationale for enforceable limits on spending by super PACs.

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Corporate Personhood: How Far Does the Rabbit Hole Go?

Richard C. Leone | Posted 05.31.2012

Read More: Super Pac, Corporations, 2012 Election, Free Speech, Campaign Spending, Elections 2012, Corporate Personhood, Citizens United, Politics News

Will corporations get all the rights that personhood implies? It's hard to say; only one thing is certain, they won't have any trouble raising the money for campaigns to approve the corporate equality agenda, whatever it turns out to be.

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Laughable Online Censorship Attempt Won't Last a New York Minute

Chris Weigant | Posted 05.23.2012

Republicans in the New York state government are attempting to pass a law that would ban anonymous comments online. Even if they actually passed the act, once it arrived in a federal court it would be tossed out in a "New York minute" (as they say).

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ACLU: State Department Violates Constitutional Rights

Peter Van Buren | Posted 05.17.2012

Read More: We-Meant-Well, Aclu, Hillary Clinton, First Amendment, State Department, Free Speech, Politics News

(For those joining our story already in progress, here's the Twitter-length summary: I've worked for the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer...

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The Narrowing of Tarek Mehanna's Liberties Has Consequences for Us All

The Brennan Center for Justice | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: 39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad, Tarek-Mehanna-Al-Qaeda-Supporter, Brandenburg v. Ohio, Free Speech, Tarek Mehanna, Al Queda, Tarek-Mehanna-Convicted, Stanley v. Georgia, New York News

When it comes to matters involving national security, the government seems intent on shielding Americans' impressionable minds. When it is a crime to translate our enemies' propaganda, the government will have the last word on who is dangerous.

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Reflection on Free Speech: 60 Minutes May 6, 2012

Paul Ruth | Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: 60 Minutes, Freedom, Free Speech, Whitley County, US Air Force, F-22, Media News

The two pilots who spoke to 60 Minutes and the many more who unusually spoke out against higher ranking military officers were exercising the very right guaranteed in the constitution.

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Tufts Reverses Suspension Over 'Check Out Our Cox' T-Shirts

Posted 05.07.2012

Read More: Video, College News, Tufts University, Free Speech, Crew, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, T-Shirts, College News

After a brief suspension over an offending shirt, the Tufts crew team's punishment was overturned on Thursday by the president of the university. "...

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Tufts Crew Team Punished for 'Check Out Our Cox' T-Shirts

Adam Kissel | Posted 05.03.2012

Read More: Crew, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, College Humor, T-Shirts, Tufts University, Free Speech, College News

Parody, satire, humor, and puns are fully part of the marketplace of ideas, and it is unacceptable for a university like Tufts to violate its promises and abuse its "bias incident" policy to decide which jokes may or may not be told on campus.

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New Gangs in Politics

Ted Kaufman | Posted 04.26.2012

There are some new gangs in our political neighborhoods called "super PACS" and they distorted the outcome in a number of states during the Republican presidential nomination campaign.

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On Nugent, Saving a Liberty to Allude and Growl

The Daily Barometer | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Free Speech, First Amendment, Ted Nugent, Barack Obama, Secret Service, Politics News

Better safe than sorry, but investigating a public figure with a big mouth and political animosity only promotes a more restricted purview of speech, especially politically motivated forms.

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Middle School Girls Expelled Over Facebook Jokes 'To Kill' Peers

AP | CHARLES WILSON | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Griffith Middle School, Social Media, American Civil Liberties Union, Video, School Social Media, Free Speech, School Social Media Policies, Facebook in Schools, School Facebook, Facebook, Social Media in Schools, Indiana Schools, Students Expelled Over Facebook, Education News

INDIANAPOLIS -- Three eighth-graders from northwest Indiana who say they were expelled after joking on Facebook about which of their classmates they w...

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The Dumbest Show on Fox News Channel Ever

Bob Cesca | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Eric Bolling, Free Speech, Corporate Personhood, Dana Perino, U.S. Constitution, Citizens United, Greg Gutfeld, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Campaign Finance Reform, Bob Beckel, Corporations, Nancy Pelosi, The Five, Constitutional Amendment, Fox News Channel, Media News

If Fox News was trying to create a show that would amplify the intellectual stature of the usually moronic Fox & Friends, they have totally succeeded with The Five.

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An Open Letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore

Thor Halvorssen | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Dissent, Human Rights, Dictatorship, Singapore, Oslo Freedom Forum, Oslo, Free Speech, Singapore Politics, Singapore Travel, World News

We request that your government reconsider its travel ban on Dr. Chee and, in the spirit of human rights, allow him to leave Singapore for four days to participate in the Oslo Freedom Forum.

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Online Spying, Brought to You by Facebook

Josh Levy | Posted 04.13.2012

Read More: Spying, Facebook, Privacy, Cispa, Free Speech, Sopa, National Security Agency, Cispa Bill, Cispa Legislation, Technology News

You'd think online services would oppose something like this -- but in fact Facebook, Microsoft and others support it. Under CISPA, they wouldn't be required to share any information about their users with authorities. But if they chose to do so, the bill would protect them from any legal blowback.

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State Dept., Florida Lawmakers Cited For Free Speech Violations

AP | ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Sam Houston State University, Norfolk Police Department, Catawba Valley Community College, First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, Free Speech, Muzzle Awards, Lake of the Ozarks Camdenton R-III School District, Thomas Jefferson, Shawn Goode, Wayne Garner, State Department, Salem Public Library, Video, Rick Scott, Joe Kirk, Owen North, Censorship, Virginia Department of Corrections, Dylan Thomas, Josh Wheeler, Politics News

RICHMOND, Va. — Enacting a law that bars doctors from discussing gun safety with their patients. Slicing the "f-word" from a designated free-spe...

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Suspensions At Sunset District High School Spark Fiery Free Speech Battle

| Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: George Washington High Sf, Online Free Speech, George Washington High, San Francisco Suspensions Aclu, George Washington High School Suspensions San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, George Washington High School, Free Speech, San Francisco High Schools, George Washington High San Francisco, George Washington High School Sf, George Washington High School San Francisco, George Washington High School Suspensions, San Francisco High School Suspensions Aclu, San Francisco News

This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch. By Corey G. Johnson Civil rights groups recently intervened in a free-speech controversy ...

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The Risk Management Industry Teaches Us to See a Hoodie As a Potential Threat

Adam Kissel | Posted 04.10.2012

Read More: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Free Speech, Liberty, Hoodies, Trayvon Martin, College News

I am dismayed that the risk management industry is training law enforcement and college officials to see a hoodie or "harmful debate" as a potential threat.

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Free Speech Battle Over Protests Looming at Seattle College

Mark Taylor-Canfield | Posted 04.06.2012

Read More: Seattle Community College District, Seattle, Occupy Seattle, Free Speech, offthebus2012, Offthebus, Politics News

A major battle over free speech is being waged at Seattle Community College District, where the Board of Trustees wants to revise the Washington Administrative Code to allow new rules that would regulate protests on all three of the city's state funded community college campuses.

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Board Recommends Dismissal For Marine Who Criticized Obama On Facebook

AP | By JULIE WATSON | Posted 04.08.2012

Read More: Aclu, US Military, Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa, Free Speech, James Baehr, Facebook, Gary Stein, Marine Corps, Barack Obama, John Torresala, American Civil Liberties Union, Marines, Video, Military, Leon Panetta, Politics News

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Marine Corps officials are seeking additional guidance from the Pentagon regarding service members' use of social media amid...

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Student Expelled For Profane Tweet Thrust Into Free-Speech Debate

AP | CHARLES WILSON | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: First Amendment, Twitter, Student Tweet, Austin Carroll Tweet, Indiana Student Tweet, Garrett High School, Free Speech, Student Expelled for Tweet, Student Expelled, Austin Carroll, Indiana Schools, Freedom of Speech, Indiana High School, Social Media, Video, Center for Democracy and Technology, Social Media in Schools, Student Twitter, Education News

INDIANAPOLIS -- Austin Carroll was fighting insomnia when the Indiana teenager turned to Twitter for relief and casually dropped the F-word multiple t...

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Chamber-Backed Anti-Protest Bill Draws Fury Of Unions AND Tea Party

HuffingtonPost.com | Dave Jamieson | Posted 03.29.2012

Read More: Picketing, Tea Party Movement, First Amendment, Free Speech, Protest, Waffle House, First Amendment Rights, Atlanta, Georgia, Chamber of Commerce, Tea Party, Unions, Labor Unions, Politics News

Labor unions and Tea Party activists came together at the Georgia statehouse Thursday morning to speak out against a controversial bill that they say ...

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The 12 Worst Colleges For Free Speech In 2012

Greg Lukianoff | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Video, Free Speech Zone, Worst Schools for Free Speech, Free Speech, Slidepollajax, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Fire, Campus Censorship, Home News

Free exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of any university, and for the second year in a row my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in E...

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The Right Has It Wrong on Media Matters' Campaign Against Limbaugh

Tom Mullen | Posted 05.26.2012

Read More: Sandra Fluke, First Amendment, Media Matters, Rush Limbaugh, Rush Limbaugh Sandra Fluke, Rush Limbaugh Slut, Rush Limbaugh Apology, Censorship, Free Speech, Media News

There is no question of rights here. Media Matters is fully within its rights to run ad campaigns against Limbaugh. They are exercising their right to free speech.

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