(DCNF)—When James Madison was a member of Congress in 1791 and charged with drafting the Bill of Rights, he made two grammatical demands. One was that the word “the” precede “freedom of speech” in the First Amendment, and the other was a command in the Ninth Amendment that the “rights retained by the people,” rights too numerous to enumerate, “shall not be disparaged” by the government.
This principle–that our rights preexisted the government–would be played out over and over in litigation in the centuries following the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
The ratification itself was insisted upon by five of the new states who threatened to leave the new union unless restraints were added to the Constitution so as to protect the individual liberties that the Declaration of Independence–then only 15 years old–stated unambiguously were granted by the Creator.
Though the colonists deeply valued all the rights articulated in the Declaration, truly it was the freedom of speech that drove the revolution. Yes, the Americans had Kentucky long guns that enabled the colonial militias to shoot and kill British forces from distances that the British weaponry was unable to reach. Yes, the Americans were animated by defending their homeland.
But it was speech–sung in taverns, written in broadsides, delivered in sermons, distributed in pamphlets, adopted by the Continental Congress and colonial legislatures, and proclaimed in town squares from Boston to Charleston–that whipped the brushfires of freedom into a revolution and a new nation.
I offer this brief historical, philosophical and legal analysis of the freedom of speech as background for the discussion that follows.
Today, this most basic and utterly essential freedom–both a natural human right and a constitutionally protected right–is under assault by governments that hate or fear the content of the speech. I am addressing the demonstrations on college campuses today and the authoritarian responses to them by college presidents, governors and mayors.
Here is the dispute in a nutshell.
Students at various universities are repulsed by the gravity of the assault on Gaza by the IDF. They have chosen to address this assault and not the assault on Israeli civilians and military on Oct. 7. They are free to address whichever assault they choose.
They have also chosen to articulate their views by occupying public places on campuses; shouting, singing and haranguing college administrators. The administrators, fearing a loss of donations from those who disagree with the students or harm to other students who challenge the demonstrators, have engaged local and state police to suppress these demonstrations.
Can the government interfere with speech because of its content? In a word: No.
How about on private property where campuses are not owned by the government? That depends on the location of the campus, as most states–but not all–have public accommodation laws that make college campuses public places available for the articulation of ideas. Even the colleges in states without these laws that accept federal funds do so in contracts with the federal government, which require that they respect free-speech rights.
These public accommodation laws and these agreements with the feds are violative of the property rights of the owners of these colleges. Yet, like free speech, property rights, too, are under attack in America today.
Nevertheless, today it is clear beyond dispute that college campuses are places for the free exchange of ideas, whether these ideas are approved by the owners of the campuses or not.
Is speech that preaches hate and threatens violence protected on college campuses? In a word: Yes.
In Terminiello v. Chicago (1949), a Roman Catholic priest aimed hatred at President Harry Truman and the hate speech produced violence and property damage. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), a Ku Klux Klan leader aimed hatred at Blacks and Jews. In Terminiello, the violence was caused by the audience members who hated the speech they came to scorn. In Brandenburg, the KKK speaker demanded violence, but it never came about.
The Supreme Court sided with both speakers. The jurisprudence from both cases is now integral to American law. It teaches that all innocuous speech is absolutely protected and all speech is innocuous when there is time for more speech to challenge it.
Moreover, the court ruled, freedom of speech is so essential to human happiness and democratic values that it tolerates violence; meaning, those who cause violence can and should be addressed by the criminal justice system, but those who preach it are immune from prosecution, unless they cause an immediate, unthinking violent act–meaning there is no time for more speech to challenge the call for violence.
In the case of college campuses, the violence has been caused by the government. Whether the property on which the demonstrators stand is owned by the government–like the University of Texas, where the governor sent in police on horseback to rough up peaceful demonstrators–or is privately owned like Columbia University, where the mayor sent in police to arrest peaceful students, is of no moment.
No moment because the students have an absolute right to think as they wish, to say what they think, to read what they want, to publish what they believe; and they can do this alone or in groups, quietly or profoundly–and they can do this with impunity. Anything short of leaving them alone involves the governmental evaluation of the content of speech, the very acts that the First Amendment was written to prevent.
Today, the government wants war, and the students want peace. In the bitter days of the 1960s, student demonstrators chased an incumbent president from reelection and chastised a newly elected one into a policy change over war. Today, the government seems determined to use force to prevent change and suppress freedom. If the British had done this successfully in the 1770s, we’d all be bowing to Charles III today.
To learn more about Judge Andrew Napolitano, visit https://JudgeNap.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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]]>As you will see below, these protests are being organized by paid professional agitators, and they are being funded by the same far left sources that have funded other radical protest movements in the past.
But don’t just take my word for it. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is a far left mayor in a far left city, and even he is admitting that there were “professionals” involved in the chaos that we just witnessed at Columbia University…
“There were individuals on the campus who should not have been there. They were people who are professionals and we saw evidence of training,” Adams said.
“I know that there are those who attempting to say, ‘Well, the majority of people may have been students.’ You don’t have to be the majority to influence and co-op an operation. That is what this about.
“This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children and I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the city of New York.”
Mayor Adams says that Lisa Fithian, who is considered to be “the nation’s best-known protest consultant”, was directly involved with what was going on at Columbia…
A video shown by the mayor shows Lisa Fithian, an infamous agitator at US protests for over half a century, showing protesters how to occupy a building.
Adams called Fithian ‘the nation’s best-known protest consultant’, noting she gets paid as much as $300 a day to run demonstrations and teach how to take over streets during protests.
In addition, it is being reported that three groups that are heavily funded by George Soros “set up the tent city on Columbia’s lawn”…
The cash from Soros and his acolytes has been critical to the Columbia protests that set off the national copycat demonstrations.
Three groups set up the tent city on Columbia’s lawn last Wednesday: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Within Our Lifetime.
At the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” students sleep in tents apparently ordered from Amazon and enjoy delivery pizza, coffee from Dunkin’, free sandwiches worth $12.50 from Pret a Manger, organic tortilla chips and $10 rotisserie chickens.
An analysis by The Post shows that all three got cash from groups linked to Soros. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund also gave cash to JVP.
This wasn’t just a group of college students that suddenly decided to get radical.
This was an operation that was well planned and well funded. And the SJP has had a hand in initiating similar operations at other colleges and universities all over the United States…
Copycat tent cities have been set up at colleges including Harvard, Yale, Berkeley in California, the Ohio State University and Emory in Georgia — all of them organized by branches of the Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — and at some, students have clashed with police.
The SJP parent organization has been funded by a network of nonprofits ultimately funded by, among others, Soros, the billionaire left-wing investor.
At three colleges, the protests are being encouraged by paid radicals who are “fellows” of a Soros-funded group called the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).
An organization known as “The People’s Forum” was also very heavily involved in the chaos that erupted at Columbia.
In fact, the Manhattan headquarters of the group appears to have been a primary base of operations for the protesters…
The People’s Forum, a tax-exempt advocacy group who often hosts propaganda events for the regimes of countries like Venezuela and Cuba, has been accused of being behind the Columbia protests.
The Washington Free Beacon reports the group, which has received $12 million from Goldman Sachs, may have provided materials for the so-called occupation of Hamilton Hall.
Over 100 masked activists met at the group’s Manhattan headquarters, a base for all kinds of leftist activism, to plan their moves on Monday, participating in breakout sessions that taught ‘resistance’ methods.
Last year, the New York Times reported that “The People’s Forum” has received funding from the Chinese Community Party.
Needless to say, that is a very alarming connection.
For now, the protest at Columbia has been crushed, but we continue to see chaos at colleges and universities all over the country. Here are some of the highlights…
- Violent clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters erupted Tuesday night at the University of California, Los Angeles, leading school officials to cancel classes on Wednesday.
- Protesters entered an undergraduate admissions building at Emory University on Wednesday.
- New York police arrested protesters who were occupying the lobby of a building at Fordham University Wednesday afternoon. They also cleared away a tent encampment.
- Students at Portland State University continued to barricade themselves inside the school’s library, escalating a two-day standoff with officials, who canceled classes Wednesday.
The violence at UCLA is particularly disturbing.
Last night, a number of individuals were seriously hurt, and one person actually had to be sent to the hospital…
The clashes at UCLA took place around a tent encampment built by pro-Palestinian protesters, who erected barricades and plywood for protection — while counter-protesters tried to pull them down. Video showed fireworks exploding over and in the encampment. People threw chairs and at one point a group piled on a person who lay on the ground, kicking and beating them with sticks until others pulled them out of the scrum.
A UCLA spokesperson on Wednesday said there were “a reported 15 injuries, including one hospitalization.”
It appears that the person that was hospitalized was a Jewish girl that was “surrounded by five people wearing keffiyehs and bludgeoned in the head while they stomped on her Israeli flag”…
According to That Korean Jew on Instagram the girl was surrounded by five people wearing keffiyehs and bludgeoned in the head while they stomped on her Israeli flag.
The girl reportedly lost consciousness and her body went limp. She was carried away and sent to the Emergency Room.
This actually happened at UCLA in 2024.
What in the world is happening to our country?
You can view some footage of the violence at UCLA right here…
At UCLA, the protesters are not just “occupying” one particular area.
Zero Hedge is reporting that radicals have actually put up barriers all around the campus and are keeping out any students that do not agree with the protests…
It’s like the Seattle CHAZ encampment all over again. Far-left activists have declared the UCLA campus a “liberated zone” and are refusing entry for many students not affiliated with the pro-Gaza protests. They have erected barriers and placed guards, creating makeshift checkpoints which require a special wrist band in order to gain passage.
In other words, if you aren’t an “ally” then you don’t get to attend classes, or, if you’re lucky you are allowed to take a longer route around the barricades. Keep in mind, this is not a protected form of protest or free speech, which explains why many college campuses have chosen to have protesters removed by police. UCLA so far appears to be supporting the activists and has allowed them to take control.
This is complete and utter lawlessness.
And if they get away with it there, paid agitators will try the same thing at other colleges and universities.
Of course these far left radicals at UCLA need to eat just like the rest of us, and they are specifically asking people to bring them “vegan and gluten-free food”…
The pro-Palestine encampment at UCLA sent out demands for vegan and gluten-free food as they rebuild their barricades after a night of violent clashes with counter-protesters and authorities.
The list of requested items, first reported by Fox News, included ‘urgent’ demands for ‘wood for barrier’, ‘knee and elbow pads’ and ‘gas masks.’
Under a list of food requirements to be delivered to the camp the protesters requested ‘vegan food’, ‘gluten free food’ and ‘hot food for lunch’.
A list of banned foods include anything packaged, coffee, bagels, bananas and nuts.
Colleges and universities are perfect locations for far left protests, because there are lots of wide open public spaces and there are lots of deeply confused young people that are sympathetic to leftist causes.
So I fully expect that colleges and universities will continue to be targeted by professional agitators and the organizations that fund them during this election season and the chaos that will extend into 2025 and beyond.
One of the primary goals of these protests is to get attention, and the mainstream media has been giving them plenty of it.
Unfortunately, I believe that this is just the beginning.
I am entirely convinced that global events will soon spiral completely out of control, and that will provide plenty of fuel for more nationwide protests.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
]]>(Daily Caller)—Harvard University is holding a “Sex Week” that includes lessons like “Anal 101,” according to their event page.
The week is hosted by Sexual Education by Harvard College Students (SEHCS), which was founded in 2012, and is taking place between Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, according to their website. Other events during the week include “Caring for Your Coochie: Healthy Vulvovaginal Practices,” “I Can See Queerly Now: Demystifying LGBTQIA+ Intimacy” and “A Different Toy Story: Sex Toys 101.”
“Every year, we’re lucky to host workshops and presentations with educators from around the country. The Sex Week ‘sex’perts do a fabulous job teaching our community about topics that range from ‘getting cliterate,’ to the philosophy of porn, to body positivity during intimacy, and so much more,” their website reads.
Experts from the Boston’s Children’s Hospital will be headlining the “Caring for Your Coochie: Healthy Vulvovaginal Practices,” according to Harvard Sex Week’s Instagram. The SEHCS also held a “Anal 101” event on “all things anal, from safety to pleasure” on Tuesday.
“Our workshops are lead by experts in the fields of sexual health and intimacy, who ensure that each individual in attendance leaves feeling knowledgeable and empowered. We firmly believe that it’s just as important to get an education inside the bedroom as it is inside the classroom,” the website reads.
Multiple sexual product companies including Astroglide, Boy Butter, Condomania, EmojiBator Vibrators and BananaPants, are sponsoring the events, according to the event’s website.
Harvard and SEHCS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
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