This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. THERE ARE THREE flagpoles outside Boston City Hall. One flies the United States flag. Another flies the Massachusetts state flag. What can – and can’t – fly from the third is an issue that the Supreme Court considered during oral arguments on January […]
First Amendment
Posted inPolitics
Trump leaves, but the chaos sown remains
DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his reelection defeat. The Washington Post documented more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his four years in office. One of them, of course, overshadows […]
Posted inUncategorized
When muskets defended the editorial page
MUCH HAS CHANGED in the national discourse since a pro-war rabble two centuries ago tore down a Baltimore newspaper building, besieged the paper’s editor, and later broke into the city jail to attack him yet again. But while legal and conventional structures have been erected to protect a robust free press, the baying mob hasn’t […]
Posted inThe Download
When muskets defended the editorial page
Much has changed in the national discourse since a pro-war rabble two centuries ago tore down a Baltimore newspaper building, besieged the paper’s editor, and later broke into the city jail to attack him yet again. But while legal and conventional structures have been erected to protect a robust free press, the baying mob hasn’t […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Funny, not funny
Comedy is in the eye of the beholder. This wasn’t funny. ABC canceled the wildly popular reboot of the “Roseanne” show after its namesake, Roseanne Barr, tweeted out a stunningly tasteless and racist comment about Valerie Jarrett, the former advisor and close friend of former president Barack Obama. Barr is an unabashed supporter of President Trump and […]
Posted inThe Download
Funny, not funny
Comedy is in the eye of the beholder. This wasn’t funny. ABC canceled the wildly popular reboot of the “Roseanne” show after its namesake, Roseanne Barr, tweeted out a stunningly tasteless and racist comment about Valerie Jarrett, the former advisor and close friend of former president Barack Obama. Barr is an unabashed supporter of President Trump and […]
Posted inOpinion
Some things are worth protecting
FREEDOM OF SPEECH and association, our most fundamental American rights, are perpetually under attack from powerful politicians, bureaucrats, unions, and far-left interest groups. They use campaign finance law as a weapon. Silencing the opposition is easier than debating important policy publicly. Here in Massachusetts, these groups are working to silence and stomp out groups such […]
Posted inThe Download
Free speech free-for-all
Yesterday, Globe columnist Shirley Leung ripped radio station WEEI over racist comments made by suspended host Christian Fauria and called on the station to also suspend his two co-hosts who laughed at his remarks and urged advertisers to pull their dollars from the station. Today Leung writes a follow-up news story reporting that some advertisers […]