Some good news: In two different court decisions yesterday the courts ruled in favor of professors who had been punished by their university because of their opinions.
Free speech according to Democrats: The Democrat mayor of Philadelphia has demanded an investigation against a local magazine because he doesn’t like what they published.
I ask the Commission consider specifically where Philadelphia Magazine and the writer, Bob Huber, are appropriate for rebuke by the Commission in light of the potentially inflammatory effect and reckless endangerment to Philadelphia’s race relations probably caused by the essay’s unsubstantiated charges. While I fully recognize that constitutional protections afforded the press are intended to protect the media from censorship by the government, the First Amendment, like other constitutional rights, is not an unfettered right, and notwithstanding the First Amendment, a publisher has a duty to the public to exercise its role in a responsible way. I ask the Commission to evaluate whether the “speech” employed in this essay is not the reckless equivalent of “shouting ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater,” its prejudiced, fact-challenged generalizations an incitement to extreme reaction. [emphasis mine]
Under this Democratic mayor’s standards, anything that offended anyone could be banned. In fact, it would destroy all free speech. All any bully would need to do to silence his critics would be to complain about the inflammatory nature of their statements.
You can read his entire letter here. [pdf]
Worse than Pop-tarts! A Philadelphia girl was searched and ridiculed for having a gun made of paper at school.
Stating the obvious to the press: “Investigate them.”
Another liberal reporter describes getting obscene and threatening emails from the White House.
Note that this was not said by a conservative, but by a very liberal commentator with whom I generally disagree. He should know, however, as he was fired by a leftwing “big media institution” for not toeing the line.
The microfilmed miniature bibles that flew to the moon during Apollo have become the center of a custody dispute between the state of Texas and the author who wrote their history.
Push back: The boycott against the organizer of an outdoor trade show that tried to ban rifles has forced them to postpone the show.
Modern free speech: A nine-year-old in Scotland who forced changes in her school lunches with her blog has been silenced.
Read the entire post. The uproar has caused the local council to back off its ban, and the kid is posting again.
The sad state of modern journalism: “2012 was the worst year for fabrication and plagiarism since I began collecting data in 2005.”
Silverman runs the website Regret the Error, cataloging journalistic errors and misconduct. This is his summary of this past year, and it ain’t pretty. The worst part is that there were a number of journalists on this list — CNN host and Time magazine editor Fareed Zakaria being the most prominent — who were caught either faking their stories or plagiarizing the work of others who were let off with a mere slap on the wrist. Consider that the next time you listen to Zakaria on CNN.
Modern American tolerance: An atheist billboard opposing religion was ripped to shreds on Sunday in New Jersey.
The Philadelphia high school student who was ridiculed by a teacher for wearing a Romney t-shirt is suing the teacher and the school district.
