News & Media

From Pages of Death 1962 And round and round the censorship wheel goes. Utah State Senator Todd Weiler is just the latest to try and shape the marketplace of ideas to his own superstitious views of morality. Weiler proposed S.C.R. 9, seeking to have pornography declared a public health hazard. The resolution is hilarious – or would be, if it did not take aim at our most important civil liberties, in the name of promoting a narrow view of morality. (A favorite target of mine) This resolution: ` recognizes that pornography is a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms; and ` recognizes the need for education, prevention, research, and

Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, visited Rome recently, and in order to avoid offending his delicate sensibilities, the Italians covered up all the dicks and tits on the statues for him. (fonte) (source) It probably comes as no surprise to any readers that this bothers me. It isn’t that I’m against thawing Iran’s relationship with the West. And, maybe that requires us to be a little sensitive — you know, like maybe don’t serve Carbonara at dinner, or don’t offer the guy a caffè corretto. But, to censor some of Italy’s most magnificent art, because this guy might be offended? But, for all I know, he might have thought “what do these fucks think, I can’t handle the sight of a

Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided In re Tam, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 22593 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 22, 2015). In it, the Federal Circuit made a sweeping pronouncement that the First Amendment applies to trademark registrations, and that a long-criticized prohibition on “disparaging” trademarks could no longer stand. The portion of the trademark act that fell was Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 1052(a). Of course, I was delighted. I have long railed against Section 2(a). My first (losing) fight against this provision was in 2007. See Billman, Jeffrey, The F Bomb, Orlando Weekly, Jun. 7, 2007. And, once CNN gave me some column space, I used a lot of it

Censorship often comes along with a side order of good intentions — or at least that is in the marketing materials for the proposed censorship. You want a world without racism? Lets ban racist speech! But, the problem is that censorship almost always turns into a tool to seize or maintain a grip on power. (What We Risk When We Ban Racist Speech) A Kentucky legislator recently proposed a narrow restriction on free expression — and it seems that it came from reasonable and logical intentions. Unfortunately, when you consider this idea while keeping the First Amendment in mind, the implications are no longer acceptable. They are intolerable. Representative John Carney introduced a bill to prohibit anyone who witnesses “an

South Carolina’s house bill 4702 seeks to create “The South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry.” The bill sounds like a pretty good idea. Lets face it, there are a lot of terrible journalists out there. A lot of hacks who don’t deserve the name. When Sabrina Erdely made up the Rolling Stone story about gang rapes at a frat house at UVA, I called it “journalistic malpractice.” But, I spoke merely hyperbolically. Wouldn’t it be great to have a “reporter’s license” that you could lose if you committed grave transgressions like that? If you’re nodding your head right now, slow down cowboy. This seems to be another example of good intentions, but something I can’t see working in practice. There was

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGKdle1bbvo Some people in our audience do not know the finer points of trolling… Wow… there I was, all proud of the article I just wrote about journalism licensing. And five minutes after posting it, I get word that I’ve been trolled. Yep. The proposed law was a Second Amendment protest. I would love to say “I knew that all along.” No, I did not. I failed to critically examine the story. Epically failed. I thought about updating the post. No. When I get trolled and epically owned, I need to go to the box for two minutes by myself, and I feel shame. I go free when you say I go free. I feel shame. This post originally appeared