first amendment – Moe Lane

Senator Chuck Schumer has no idea at ALL about what Thomas Jefferson said, wrote, or thought.

“I think if Thomas Jefferson were looking down, the author of the Bill of Rights, on what’s being proposed here, he’d agree with it. He would agree that the First Amendment cannot be absolute,” Mr. Schumer said.

Funny: I think that Thomas Jefferson is even at this moment being gently but firmly dissuaded from manifesting on Earth with a large stick and an eye towards beating United States Senators who are too ignorant of their own country’s history to be able to tell the difference between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison*. Continue reading Senator Chuck Schumer has no idea at ALL about what Thomas Jefferson said, wrote, or thought.

Quote of the Day, Dude, That’s Kind Of What The First Amendment* MEANS edition.

Somebody at a network, still kind of upset over that entire Duck Dynasty thing:

“Does this now mean stars can say whatever offensive things they want under the guise of freedom of speech, without repercussion?”

Continue reading Quote of the Day, Dude, That’s Kind Of What The First Amendment* MEANS edition.

#rsrh Dancing Bear Watch: New York Times on Citizens United.

There’s something fascinating about this article from the New York Times on the Citizens United case. The author (Adam Liptak) noticed that the decision removed certain onerous restrictions on political speech, yet left current mandates on disclosure of funding largely intact. ‘Resolving’ the two led Liptak to this:

The two parts of Citizens United are not hard to harmonize. Citizens United takes the libertarian view that people may be trusted to evaluate the messages they hear and need not be sheltered from the responsibility of critical thinking. The theory is as applicable to the marketing of soda and cigarettes as it is to that of political candidates.

[snip]

The five-justice majority in Citizens United said that speech about politics is at the core of what the First Amendment protects, that more speech is better than less and that the government has no business deciding who can speak or how much.

It is a small step from that reasoning to saying, as eight justices did, that it helps to know who is advancing the ideas you are evaluating.

Continue reading #rsrh Dancing Bear Watch: New York Times on Citizens United.