Free Speech Project
7/14/19 - Fighting Back
Dennis Prager, others to testify at Senate hearing on Google’s anticonservative bias
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/452286-cruz-to-hold-google-focused-hearing-on-alleged-anti-conservative-bias-next

Rep. Louie Gohmert posts whistleblower video exposing Google’s plans to rig the 2020 elections after Vimeo and Google’s YouTube take it down
https://gohmert.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399712&fbclid=IwAR0cW1XTHDc7ca1lRXjelWJLCDPHTUwV4Ux8bm2qtVArIE_IXLeIbUo32QM

Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell call for federal investigation into Antifa attack on a reporter in Portland, Oregon. Cruz also called for legal action against the mayor who reportedly told police officers to stand down. 
Gateway Pundit  Gateway Pundit

ACTION ITEM: Sign petition to White House to label Antifa a domestic terrorist group; petition follows cement attack on journalist Andy Ngo in Portland - petition expires July 30th
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/demand-president-trump-label-antifa-domestic-terrorist-organization

Attack on journalist Andy Ngo shows need for state anti-masking laws
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/antifa-violence-anti-masking-laws/

Laura Loomer sues Facebook for $3 billion for defamation for calling her a “dangerous individual” and domestic terrorist
https://lauraloomer.us/2019/07/09/laura-loomer-files-3-billion-lawsuit-against-facebook-for-defamation/?fbclid=IwAR2JmrJsWGypatVVPrWwCcMJycF8qfRG5Bi7EZc3zijvBkK_BUtdcy8nrBA#.XScsNJCJKpq

Proposed resolution to censure Pennsylvania state lawmaker for harassing anti-abortion protesters has 40 co-sponsors
https://www.lifenews.com/2019/07/03/mother-of-teens-brian-sims-harassed-wants-pennsylvania-legislature-to-censure-him/

English schoolgirl suspended for asking to be excused from LGBT Pride Month lesson - people are “saying that they’re bisexual and trans because they’re confused.” If 10-year-olds can fight back, so can you.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/10-year-old-girl-suspended-for-asking-to-be-exempted-from-lgbt-school-lesson?utm_content=buffera359b&fbclid=IwAR1fvHZnCUDUyy78PBr6Gn4duum0GdLOKBty7KAxb5IvDxr-tpIC1SZtqqk

ACTION ITEM: Sign the Open Letter Defending Free Inquiry at the U.S. Army War College (fight sharia in America)
http://www.liberato.us/sharia-in-america.html

Kentucky passes law allowing Bible courses to be taught in public schools
https://nypost.com/2017/06/28/kentucky-public-schools-are-now-allowed-to-teach-bible-courses/

Rep. Matt Gaetz to Press Charges Against Democrat Politician Who Assaulted Him with Milkshake (VIDEO)
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/rep-matt-gaetz-announces-he-will-press-charges-against-democrat-politician-who-assaulted-him-with-milkshake-video/

Employer sues county for First Amendment retaliation and harassment after going public with Christmas tree dispute
https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/13/brothers-first-amendment-christmas-trees/

“Christian Soccer Player Refuses To Wear Gay Pride Jersey, Withdraws From National Team”
https://believersportal.com/christian-soccer-player-refuses-wear-gay-pride-jersey-withdraws-national-team/?fbclid=IwAR1MhFbS06floIuN4jFCOWvYnByS529y809LhVrCZgOgaYG1QLN1tamWBB4


6/20/19 - Fighting Back
Texas lawmakers pass, Governor signs ‘Chick-fil-A’ bill prohibiting retaliation against anyone based on religious affiliation or support (follows San Antonio banning chain from its airport)
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/06/12/texas-governor-signs-bill-defending-chick-fil-a/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRabE5HWmtZMlV4TVdWbCIsInQiOiJETTlVOWEzV1g5cHhtbWVPR0t1WUhPUWozQXlMWjdycEFheXFGR3lDeExMMllmRk01RDNGOERzallVeFdnSEVjVFM0cWo4MmVBbnlFYkpQblFBdWZmZE5LV1M3T0dPWGdEMDVhSWJKQlpqZHZ1emE3cTFsTDhNeTBGejVhT1Z2eSJ9
 
Texas sues San Antonio for religious bigotry in refusing airport concession to Chick-fil-A
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/3/texas-files-suit-against-san-antonio-over-chick-fi/

U.S. Transportation Department opens investigations into discrimination against Chick-fil-A at San Antonio and Buffalo airports
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/28/federal-transportation-officials-launch-probe-of-chick-fil-a-bans/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWmpnM00ySmxaRFZoT0dFNSIsInQiOiJEaXlOdDVER2pCTFN0TE03ZDVMY29Mdjk3ZldMMkN4UVJvRURZYmdDYnBrbW9xYlJHMm9yRVBVQnBtMnphM2tFd2p3Z3JxTk9HZ1BlaTVRN1NPQldUNHI3ZFlVQ3BWdDFcL1NUQVwvRFlpbHBuZ1AwS1N4YTJYOExQN3RkcTBDSkZVIn0%3D

Jordan Peterson beta-testing new ‘Thinkspot’ online free speech platform
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/12/jordan-b-peterson-launching-anti-censorship-platfo/
 
Strzok/Page satire playwright finds alternative venue after being booted from theater and the show goes on
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/06/fbi-lovebirds-undercovers-theater-satire/
 
Jury awards bakery $11 million for Oberlin College ‘racist’ smear campaign
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/jury-awards-gibsons-bakery-11-million-from-oberlin-college-following-racist-smear-campaign/
 
#WalkAway founder Brandon Straka files discrimination suit against gay community center that cancelled his event
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/walk-away-founder-brandon-straka-sues-lgbt-the-center-in-manhattan-for-discrimination-after-cancelling-walkaway-gay-panel/
 
“Republican Google Engineer Writes Open Letter About Company’s ‘Outrage Mobs’ And ‘Witch Hunts’”
https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/21/conservative-google-engineer-wacker-medium-post-outrage-bias/

Shareholder activist calls out Google at annual meeting for shutting down conservatives
http://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/2peo-14voj7--lb93h-v6u8oz9
 
“Mass Protest Against Facebook Censorship Planned at Annual Shareholder Meeting”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/mass-protest-against-facebook-censorship-planned-at-annual-shareholder-meeting/

Consumer group delivers half a million petitions to Amazon to stop using far-Left SPLC hate group designations in charitable giving decisions
https://www.theepochtimes.com/amazons-use-of-southern-poverty-law-center-hate-list-challenged-by-consumer-group_2912718.html

Amazon rejects shareholder resolution seeking intellectual diversity on company’s left-leaning board of directors
https://nationalcenter.org/ncppr/2019/05/22/amazon-rejects-diversity-far-left-board-votes-to-remain-liberal-enclave/

Facebook, Apple, Twitter reject shareholder resolutions seeking ideological diversity on company boards
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/29/conservative-shareholders-push-facebook-to-achieve-true-diversity/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTVRJeU1UVTJPR00xWlRsaSIsInQiOiJiYVFWY2tPVnE1WTRpK3Y3TndETGdyZDRralo1UGFDVzdxS3hFT05YRUdtcFlYcGdNZGlhK1FsT3lyMERaVHdwVitWUUJQRG54cXhRN0FibW8xQVcwQ094MjRCZFwvOUxTczVwNEZFb3c0TzdLVnZjOCt4TVR6alJPOTIxT3RsXC8wIn0%3D

Shareholder activist confronts JPMorgan Chase on debanking conservatives
http://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/2peo-12w5ly--kvvt5-v6u8oz2

Student fighting her college’s refusal to allow invited speaker and shutting down her YAF chapter (Young Americas Foundation)
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/29/after-inviting-pro-life-speaker-this-student-is-fighting-her-christian-university/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWmpjNU5UY3pNVFkwTWpKayIsInQiOiJRck9DNENTYlRqQVYxcWFwZ1REOUVrd2xGaUNUUEpVOXBwRmVIUEdKVjQ2OTByRE9qMGpSMzVWNDNzQWxzc3hTXC9VaG92NDY3RnhoblpZTzN5OW9IWDNJaDBZeDMwek1GU1R4UVdiZUlra2Q0ejFlXC94cWNYNUphMk0zcVVNUDg4In0%3D

Incoming freshman tears up acceptance letter from NYU; her great-grandfather founded the music department there
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/05/24/i-will-not-stand-by-incoming-nyu-freshman-withdraws-her-acceptance-in-protest-of-universitys-embrace-of-anti-semitic-ideologies/

Scholars, writers issue statement promoting campus free speech (you can still sign; more than 500 have)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/scholars-writers-launch-battle-for-campus-free-speech
+
https://www.nas.org/articles/free_to_speak_reforming_the_higher_education_act?mid=39948&id=T15OuHulZKxtwhqSTA

Magazine publishes student guide to colleges and universities committed to free speech and open inquiry
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/06/05/a-guide-to-colleges-committed-to-ideological-diversity/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWm1JeE56UTVOV0ZsWWpCbCIsInQiOiJ5SHVKTSt6RVBNUlwvaG5sVW9iTjQ4TUs1QU1PS0xGc0VCWExSSEljNGRuRnJ1aUU3V0xINjRPY2ZsMEdGRkJkeFBtQnBUMWk0UitcL3AxTWpnNUhhRDFXV0ZyR3dvM3VPclIzcW9Majhnb1psSUVXMjlBRWZ5UWN0WjJvemhvbGhkIn0%3D

“Cruz: Defund colleges that don't support free speech”
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=12256

Alabama bans free speech zones on public college campuses, stops use of ruinous fees for disfavored speakers
https://www.thecollegefix.com/alabama-governor-signs-bill-banishing-free-speech-zones-from-public-colleges/

28 states now have campus free speech bills
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=12186
6/11/19 - Michigan Civil Rights Head Offers Glib Assurances Hate Speech Database Won’t Harm Free Speech

Related Post -
5/5/19 - Michigan Hate Speech Database

Agustin Arbulu, Director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, said all the right things about his Department’s new hate speech database not being a threat to free speech in his testimony to state legislators on May 21, 2019.  He said the ‘hate-bias incidents’ log will merely collect hate speech statements, but not track groups or individuals.  The statements will be used to identify trends (‘create a heat map’) the Department will use to target its community engagement resources to schools and others to get out ahead of developing problems.  (Full-blown complaint investigations and criminal cases are completely separate, the Department testified.) A temporary database in use in 2016-2017 described incidents not rising to the level of hate crimes, but did not identify the people involved, according to the Detroit News.

All of this may sound reassuring, but steps are needed to verify that the entries in the new database do not contain names or other identifying information.

Also, there are several reasons not to take the Department’s testimony at face value.  First, Arbulu testified that the policies and protocols for ensuring the database complies with the First Amendment have not been developed yet.  This situation cannot be set on ‘snooze’ until the policies and protocols are made public.  The policies and protocols, plus the old database entries, are supposed to be shared with the legislature (testimony at 1:12).

Second, there is the whole question of who gets to define hate speech.  The Department’s testimony recounted one incident in which it considered ‘build the wall’ to be hate speech.  Do we really want bureaucrats deciding what is acceptable and what is not under the First Amendment?

Third, state civil rights commissions have a track record of messing with free speech.  In Orange County, California, the commission was prepared to condemn a university instructor for hate speech without ever watching the videotape of the event in question.  In Anchorage, Alaska, the head of the commission swore out a complaint against an attorney who was representing someone before the commission for remarks the attorney had made to the media. In another instance, the defendants had a gag order placed on them – they could not defend themselves or discuss their beliefs in the media while the case was pending. 

Fourth, the Michigan Civil Rights Department has a track record of being interested in who said what, not just in what was said.  It declares on its website, “The Michigan Civil Rights Commission is committed to closely monitoring Michigan-based hate groups....”   (The Commission is within the Department.) Moreover, the Department publicly named names in discussing a hate incident the very same day it announced the hate speech database. 

Fifth, Arbulu is on record saying he will work with outside advocacy groups, such as Equality Michigan, who will be reporting information to the database.  Outside advocacy groups are not constrained by the First Amendment.  There is the possibility that only part of the database will reside in the Department of Civil Rights while the real database will be distributed among outside advocacy groups like Equality Michigan and CAIR.  In any event, the name of the individual or group submitting the report is likely to be a descriptor in the Department’s database, making a match between what was said and who said it just a simple phone call away.

Last, Arbulu presents a smooth and polished veneer, but he is a radical.  His Department subscribes to  the outlandish and poisonous theories that have taken over civil rights thinking in recent years - implicit bias (debunked as relying on junk science), systemic bias, and structural racism (testimony at 1:02).  Forget proving discriminatory intent with real evidence in individual cases.  Just indict the entire society because it’s no darn good.   These are not healthy theories; they’re poisonous and set race relations in this country back, not forward.  Radicals also want to sacrifice First Amendment protections for hate speech on the altar of inclusiveness and diversity, regardless of the Constitution and the important values underpinning free speech.  Moreover, Arbulu’s smooth and polished veneer dropped away when he started testifying about why his department puffed up the word ‘sex’ in the state’s anti-discrimination statute to include sexual orientation and gender identity protections (testimony at 1:20).  His whole demeanor changed.  He proclaimed his ‘inherent authority’ and administrative ‘Rule 37.23’ to justify his department usurping the powers of the legislature to decide such important questions.  Adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in an anti-discrimination statute are important questions properly and solely within the province of the state legislature.  His is not the only overly-aggressive state civil rights department to do so (the Pennsylvania civil rights commission did it, too), but it is further evidence the man is a radical to his fingertips and not to be trusted.  Don’t scratch the surface with this one, if you like smooth and polished.

The jury is still out on whether Michigan’s hate speech database poses a threat to the First Amendment.  However, the legislative hearings did serve the purpose of letting the state Attorney General and the head of the Michigan Civil Rights Department know they are being watched.  They are now on record and boxed in.  If free speech problems do arise from their new hate speech initiatives, they are subject to being held in contempt for making false assurances and defrauding the legislature.
5/20/19 - Nothing Like the Threat of Litigation to Focus the Mind

From a Champions of the Constitution Grassroots Network member -

Ken Ham from the Creation Museum in Kentucky was under contract to speak at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond in 2018, sponsored by a Baptist Student group. They went through all the channels at UCO and it was approved. LGTBQ activists decided they did not want to hear what Mr. Ham had to say. The office at the University that approved Mr. Ham speaking, under admitted pressure from the LGTB community, withdrew their permission for him to speak just days prior to his arrival. Mr. Ham, local ministers, and others stood up and said either he gets to speak or UCO et al. would be sued in court for damages, interference with a legal contract, Constitutional grounds, etc. The University surrendered, and Mr. Ham spoke on campus in March 2018.  Time will tell if the lesson has been learned by this University. A simple rule for all Universities: don't talk out of both sides of your mouth, claiming that you embrace diversity while you shut down other points of view and expression. Maybe this will be helpful in CCGN’s campaign to protect the 1st Amendment.
5/15/19 - Campus Free Speech Petition

The National Association of Scholars has circulated a petition promoting free speech on campus citing, among other things, the disinviting of speakers, unconstitutional speech codes, and discrimination against certain student groups.  More than 500 scholars, groups, and individuals have signed the petition.  The Champions of the Constitution Grassroots Network supports the petition and a number of our members are signatories (e.g., from Virginia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina).  We urge you to sign the petition, too!
5/14/19 - News Round-Up

Tommy Robinson will be retried for contempt for live-streaming about Muslim child grooming gangs
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/breaking-tommy-robinson-to-face-new-contempt-trial-for-livestreaming/

Middlebury College and Yale Law School among campuses disinviting speakers this year (searchable FIRE database)
https://www.thefire.org/resources/disinvitation-database/#home/?view_2_sort=field_6|desc&view_2_page=1&view_2_per_page=50

Far-Left Antifa protester attacks and pepper sprays conservative reporter
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/shock-video-portland-conservative-reporter-andy-ngo-assaulted-at-24-hour-fitness-phone-stolen-by-antifa-goon/
5/5/19 - Michigan Hate Speech Database

Related Post -
6/11/19 - Michigan Civil Rights Head Offers Glib Assurances Hate Speech Database Won’t Harm Free Speech

In April, Germany ratcheted up enforcement against so-called ‘hate speech’ online and new hate speech initiatives from the Attorneys General in Michigan and Minnesota moved in the same direction.  The Michigan initiative includes a hate speech database to be maintained by the state civil rights agency that will collect remarks from individuals and groups for later use.  This is a direct threat to free speech because hate speech, whether you like it or not, is protected under the First Amendment.  Just think of the chilling effect on free expression in Michigan because now you have to worry about whether state bureaucrats will decide what you say is offensive and put you in the database. 

The Michigan Attorney General’s office testified before a state legislative committee that they would not access the database in criminal cases.  But sharp legislators pointed out that enhanced hate crime penalties are a matter of proving intent and the database of prior remarks would most surely be accessed to provide evidence of intent in criminal cases.  The database will affect hate crimes cases from the charging decision all the way through to the sentencing, the legislators pointed out.  The fact that the Attorney General’s office would be so coy about this does not inspire confidence about the whole exercise, especially when you consider the Attorney General herself led off her testimony with the correct but misleading statement her office did not have such a database.  This was misleading because the database is at the civil rights agency, which she knows darn well.  She also tried to square the circle that hate crime penalties do not punish people for what they think.  Sure, and I’m the tooth fairy.