donal brown

March 14, 2019 by donal brown A Madera County, California school superintendent is allowing two members of a gay rights group to publish quotes in the school yearbook after the American Civil Liberties Union sued on their behalf. The yearbook adviser said the quotes were “politically divisive.” The ACLU said they would continue the lawsuit until the district adopted policies protecting student advocacy of gay rights. (San Francisco Chronicle, March 10, 2019, by Bob Egelko) Even though

Conservative Fox TV host Tucker Carlson is chaffing over the reports of a 24-year-old researcher for the liberal group Media Matters for America. Madeline Peltz noticed in watching Carlson’s TV show that Carlson was introducing white supremacy ideas to his listeners. She researched his past appearances, uncovering a number of racist, misogynistic and homophobic remarks. (The Independent, March 14, 2019, by Eli Rosenberg of The Washington Post with contributions from Shivani Vora, Michael Brice-Saddler and

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio could cut its funding of Planned Parenthood because it conducts abortions. The court ruled that the Ohio law defunding abortion services “does not violate the Constitution because the affiliates do not have a due process right to perform abortions.” (Politico, March 12, 2019, by Alice Miranda Ollstein) The court majority did not consider the First Amendment argument, that the withdrawal of funding violated the free

Federal border authorities have been keeping dossiers on journalists covering the migrant caravan in Mexico. Journalists crossing back into the U.S. have been stopped and searched, and some have been detained and questioned extensively about their sources, funding, personal lives and observations of Tijuana shelters for migrants. (Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2019, by Kristina Davis of the San Diego Union-Tribune) The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, March 7, 2019, plans to challenge the

March 7, 2019 by donal brown President Donald Trump announced he would soon issue an executive order requiring universities and colleges receiving federal research funds to support free speech. Trump was reacting to the incident at UC Berkeley where a non-student  was punched by another outsider while recruiting students for a conservative cause. The university condemned the attack and arrested the assailant. Ironies abound given Trump’s sorry history in opposing free speech in blocking critics from his