America’s latest episode of mass homicide has sparked renewed advocacy for restrictions on gun ownership. Once again, the accompanying debate has many gun control advocates claiming the Second Amendment’s reference to a “well regulated militia” narrows the amendment’s...
First Amendment
Election Denial Is Legally Protected Speech
by Walter Olson | Mar 13, 2023 | Featured Articles
Should the law do more to punish persons who falsely assert that an election was rigged or stolen? That’s a demand being heard from some academics and officials. But any general attempt to legislate against so‐called election denial soon runs into the First...
3/3/23 Richard Booth: Honest OKC Bombing Coverage Finally Goes Mainstream
by Scott Horton | Mar 8, 2023 | The Scott Horton Show
Download Episode. Richard Booth joins Scott to talk about the surprisingly good CNN article on Oklahoma City cop Terry Yeakey. Scott and Booth give an overview of Yeakey’s story and praise CNN for publishing such a fair piece about him. They then embark on a broader...
COI #355: Mainstream Outlets Make Pathetic Attempt to Defend First Amendment guest Misty Winston
by Kyle Anzalone | Nov 30, 2022 | Conflicts of Interest
On COI #355, Misty Winston returns to the show to discuss a letter calling for the US government to drop charges on the Wikileaks founder. Odysee Rumble Donate LBRY Credits bTTEiLoteVdMbLS7YqDVSZyjEY1eMgW7CP Donate Bitcoin 36PP4kT28jjUZcL44dXDonFwrVVDHntsrk Donate...
All-Black Militia Leader Speaks Ahead of Sentencing
by Ken Silva | Nov 8, 2022 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles
It was an incident in Louisville one night in September 2020 that lasted scarcely eight seconds: all-black militia leader John Johnson exited his vehicle, turned on a flashlight attached to his AR-15 rifle, and scanned a downtown rooftop before walking to a nearby...
TGIF: How the State Violated Free Speech during the Pandemic
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 7, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Is anyone shocked by this observation? Public statements, emails, and recent publicly released documents establish that the President of the United States and other senior officials in the Biden Administration violated the First Amendment by directing social-media...
ACLU Sues Arizona Over Law that Criminalizes Filming Cops
by Kyle Anzalone | Aug 24, 2022 | Blog
The ACLU and media groups have filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona. It aledges the state's law that prevents filming within eight feet of a police officer is Constitution's First Amendment right to record. The plaintiffs hope to prevent the law from taking...
TGIF: Why Can’t You Shout “Fire!” in the Virtual Public Square?
by Sheldon Richman | Jul 8, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Almost 10 years ago the free-speech champion Trevor Timm, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation at the time and now with the Free of the Press Foundation, implored readers "to stop using the ‘fire in a crowded theater’ quote" to justify limits on free expression....
TGIF: Parents Should Govern Their Kids’ Education
by Sheldon Richman | Jun 24, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
How clear are these opening words of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”? Judging by the U.S. Supreme Court's many ventures into this area, we'd have to say not very clear...
For One Day, Protestors Stopped the War Machine
by Jim Bovard | Dec 27, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
I’ve attended most of the major antiwar protests in Washington since 9/11. At a 2005 protest, a cop tried to whack me on the head with a wooden pole. At a 2007 protest, I snapped a picture showing George W. Bush hanging next to the U.S. Capitol. But my favorite...
Tommy Raskin’s Last Article, From Dec. 23: War Resisters, Take Back the First Amendment!
by Scott Horton | Jan 1, 2021 | Blog
Read it here.
Should We Ban Incitements to Violence?
by Tommy Raskin | Dec 20, 2020 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled in Brandenburg v. Ohio that incitements to “imminent lawless action” that are “likely to...produce such action” are constitutionally unprotected. States, therefore, can prohibit incitements without running afoul of the First Amendment....
Against Social Media Censorship – The Libertarian View
by Keith Knight | Oct 25, 2020 | Don't Tread on Anyone
https://youtu.be/BOgXZTuuzrg ... the intervention by the federal government was designed, not to curb big business monopoly for the sake of the public weal, but to create monopolies that big business (as well as trade associations of smaller business)...
10/1/20 Trevor Timm on His Assange Extradition Hearing Testimony
by Scott Horton | Oct 2, 2020 | The Scott Horton Show
Trevor Timm is back with an update on Julian Assange's extradition hearing. Timm was a witness for the defense, where he argued against the idea that what Assange and WikiLeaks do is categorically different than the activity of other journalists. The prosecution has...
Blog
The Non-Existent Difference Between National Socialism and Democratic Socialism
Summary: National Socialism and Democratic Socialism both advocate institutionalized violence by the state against peaceful people only differing in rhetoric. The most popular self described Democratic Socialists in America today are Senator Bernie Sanders and...
A Response to My Memorial Day Critics
My article against Memorial Day drew a lot of ire and attention. This should not have been surprising; I was making a controversial statement. What did surprise me, however, was that many critics were self-described libertarians or former libertarians. There were many...
Ignoring Political Gossip & Sticking to Principle
https://youtu.be/ZwWHjYVY4tg In the private sector, firms must attract voluntary customers or they fail; and if they fail, investors lose their money, and managers and employees lose their jobs. The possibility of failure, therefore, is a powerful incentive to find...
The Myth of “Hyper-Rugged-Isolationist-Individualism”
Myth #1: Libertarians believe that each individual is an isolated, hermetically sealed atom, acting in a vacuum without influencing each other. This is a common charge, but a highly puzzling one. In a lifetime of reading libertarian and classical-liberal...
The Lesson From Germany and Korea
Institutions are, of course, in some sense the products of culture. But, because they formalize a set of norms, institutions are often the things that keep a culture honest, determining how far it is conducive to good behaviour rather than bad. To illustrate the...
Occupational Licensing Increases Prices and Deprives People of Options
When you shop online, vendors usually give you a bunch of different ways to sort your options. Take Amazon: One popular sorting option – especially for customers with low income – is “Price: Low to High.” You’ve probably used it yourself many times. This...
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