Free Speech sure is a bitch

As you can see from my curmedgeon
face (courtesy of Snapchat),
I am engaging in free speech that
should show quite clearly my
opinion of disruptors of
free speech.

by Angela K. Durden

In October of 2017, the University of Wisconsin took a bold stand. They decided that free speech was something that should be respected on their campus.

Anybody — including P-HWPCDLRSFC* — who messes with free speech can expect to feel the consequences. That's right. Twice engage in violence or other disruptive conduct that disallows free speech and you can plan on getting your little protesting butt suspended. Do it three times and, as they say in baseball, you're outta here!

Of course, that completely displeased state public school Superintendent Tony Evers who is a P-HWPCDLRSFC if I ever saw one. Seems he thinks such policies allowing everybody to have a voice by punishing those who use violence to keep everybody from having an opportunity to speak "will chill and suppress free speech on this campus and all campuses."

Of course Evers thinks that. He's a P-HWPCDLRSFC!

What's even more humorous — and made this curmudgeon chuckle let me tell you! — was that other P-HWPCDLRSFC weighed in with a beaut of a whine. Seems they want a policy that will clearly delineate what is considered disruptive. That's right, y'all. Spell. It. Out. 

Oh, you know they will want language in there that will define disruption solely from the P-HWPCDLRSFC POV. 

Maybe they want an official policy statement that goes something like this:

Anyone (especially Straight White Male suppressors and their colonist girlfriends who do yoga with the wrong attitude) who disagrees with, attempts to disagree with, even looks like they want to disagree with anybody that —

• wears a pussy-hat
• carry signs that say anything like the following: "What happened?", "Feel the Bern", and "F**K TRUMP!"
• shows pro P-HWPCDLRSFC messaging anywhere on their skin via paint or magic marker or permanent ink delivered via the tattooing method
• shows pro P-HWPCDLRSFC messaging anywhere on their body via clothing, including panties
• is or could be LGBTQ et al
• is Proudly Brown, African-American, or Native American
• claims to be Proudly Brown, African-American, or Native American whether their skin color, manner of dress, or birth certificate says anything to the contrary
• is a machinist (ex: married to a computer)
• screams and jumps around like a snake bit them while being in a naked state
• screams and jumps around like a snake bit them while being in a clothed state
• swings a club, baseball bat, or other heavy object
• throws a Molotov cocktail
• acts together in peaceful harmony with others of the above descriptions to turn over vehicles
• includes other actions or types of genders and persuasions that we, the P-HWPCDLRSFC, are free to and shall name at a later date when it suits our purposes and is expedient in getting rid of those who disagree with us

will be dismissed from the campus the very first time they speak against an innocent P-HWPCDLRSFC who only has the best interests at heart of those they want to see expelled and who, by their very actions, show they are a lover of free speech and do not want to see a chill on the campus that shuts down free speech. 

You think I jest?

I guarantee that's what it would look like. Look. Just like I know pornography when I see it and can tell the difference between it and art, I know free speech from free-speech disruption. I'm betting you do, too. 

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Protecting creator's copyrights. 

* P-HWPCDLRSFC is Pussy-Hat Wearing Politically Correct Democrat Liberal RINO Socialist Fascist Commies

You mean free speech doesn't end because somebody is uncomfortable?

At it again...all for you.

by Angela K. Durden
The Most Brilliant Woman in the World

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Protecting creator's copyrights. 

What does a t-shirt about the border wall on the bottom side of the U.S. have to do with black arm bands protesting the Vietnam War?

They are both protected free speech methods by students on school campuses.

In both instances, one from about 50 years ago and one from 2018, the courts ruled that free speech is a right granted students in school. Even after passing through the schoolhouse gates and with P-HWPCDLRSFCs* saying that speech caused them to be offended.

So, yay for those students who spoke up and yay for those judges who said the young man's lawsuit in Oregon had merit and that it would proceed which, of course, made the school district rethink its position on how much money they were willing to throw at the case. They covered his legal expenses to date and the principal wrote a letter of apology to the young fella who brought a political statement t-shirt to a political discussion class.

I remember my first brush with Socialism in the school [Tetherball: My First Brush with Socialism.] and how angry it made me at the time. Still, Miss Chapman didn't realize she was pushing a Socialist agenda because, more than likely, she had received the first round of Fairness Training as the Commies in power in the teacher schools began rolling out their long-term plan for dumbing down the U.S. population with the Socialist Caring Doctrine, and it all sounded so warm and fuzzy and how could that possibly be bad, right?

Socialism is so much more warmer sounding than communism which is why most Socialists in power are Communists, but both ideologies hurt equally bad. Tomato, toemahtoe, it's all the same bloody red mess when government bullets start flying against innocent citizenry after their guns have been outlawed and impounded.

I've always pushed back against Socialism and Communism, I don't care which brand of clothes they claim to wear. Anybody try to force me to show I'm in support of or against a thing or else they will punish me, then I'm all over their asses with a lesson of my own. 

So, to the Addison Barnes in other high schools who have been told they have no right to free speech while they are in schools Elementary, High, or Higher, I say, "Kudos to you. Isn't it nice to get your spine back?"

Please understand, though, that a court's protection of free speech rights does not make the opinion of the speaker valid, and that is where a lot of people get confused. They think if they have the right to say it, then they are right.

That is not true. Getting or giving pushback. Starting or joining a discussion. Finding what works and identifying what does not. That's what free speech is all about and that is why the Middle East and the former Soviet block and some cities and states in the U.S. are having such a difficult time: They believe in free speech only for themselves and they will shut up any dissenting voices.

Just ask bakers of cakes about being shut up and shut down for standing up for their rights to free speech.

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* P-HWPCDLRSFC is Pussy-Hat Wearing Politically Correct Democrat Liberal RINO Socialist Fascist Commies.

Slippery slope to the Big Isms.

by Angela K. Durden
Technology inventor protecting creator's copyrights. Business writer, novelist, songwriter, and Citizen Journalist.

Yeah. This is humorous.
But the subject is much more serious than this. 

When Colin Kaepernick started his public thing last year I wrote an article in defense of his right not to be forced into public displays of patriotism. You will want to read my totally brilliant but also spot-on serious article here.

Unbeknownst to himself, Colin was making a stand for what the United States is all about, the reason it was formed in the first place, and the reason we have such a strong Constitution. Which reason was formed and defended, I might add, at great sacrifice by thousands, nay millions.

Google Search screensnip.

And while I do not have a problem with Colin or anybody else not saluting the flag, come to find out the NFL has been taking money each year from government entities to put in flag ceremonies. Government-funded fan marketing. Hmmm...

So the short-sighted owners have brought this war to their own doorsteps. Idiots? Maybe.

Like many gubment programs that seem good to start with, this one has gotten out of control.

"The Hammer" should know better
than to diss the right to protest.
Hello? Donald? 

Now many players are taking a knee in protest of this and that. The whole subject even has Donald Trump spouting his opinion using cuss words and slinging Yo mama insults.

"The Hammer" should know better than that, but he might very well be using this debacle as an opportunity to deflect attention elsewhere. Everybody has their limits when under fire.

As a business decision, all this is not good, as I wrote.

But isn't that when one should stand up even more? Private companies might have a right to demand their employees do certain things that go against their religion, politics, or personal belief system. They might even have it written into their employment contracts.

But such things like that do not a free country make.

Business requiring such acquiescence backed up by threat of economic sanctions sure does sound a lot like how Hitler started getting his power.

Many folks — soldiers and civilians alike — who fought for and defended the Constitution on the battlefield and through the Court, may not truly understand that their righteously patriotic indignation against football players is misplaced.

NFL players who are taking a knee themselves do not know they are defending the Constitution of the United States.

But they are defending it.

When government entities by law or hook-or-crook, private enterprise via economic sanctions, or your preacher or your daddy or your good buddy via public humiliation, attempts to force you to prove your patriotic or religious quality, then we are on the slippery slope heading fast toward the big isms: Communism. Socialism. Fascism. And oligarchyism. (I made that last word up, but it will be a thing. You read it here first.)

Hump Day Quickie: Idiots have rights, too.

by Angela K. Durden 

It ain't easy being a Citizen Journalist. Just ask Georgia's own Nydia Tisdale.

by Angela K. Durden 

You've heard me mention Citizen Journalists in the context of this blog and others. Some may think it's easy being that. Hey, they say, all you have to do is write a few words or show some video; how hard can it be?

The rise of Citizen Journalists has happened because the Mainstream media has failed to do their job. They've failed by not researching properly. Giving opinion where pure reporting of the events would suffice. And in a lot of instances, totally fabricating stories.

So, yeah, being a Citizen Journalist is difficult. I spend hours researching and confirming stories before I write them. Even when I'm writing about them in a humorous fashion. In fact, when humor comes in is when the facts must be absolutely tight. I don't get paid for this. I do it because I must.

Just like Nydia Tisdale, a Georgia woman who has found herself to be a Citizen Video Journalist. But it seems too many politicians on both sides of the aisle don't like her filming open-to-the-public government events, meetings, and rallies. Now why is that, you think?

Here are some reading you might like to dive into.

This 2016 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution does a great job of telling the whole story about Nydia Tisdale.

This 2014 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows Tisdale has been fighting for freedom of speech for quite some time.

This 2015 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows how Tisdale got started being a Citizen Journalist in her neck of the woods.

And no, Tisdale has a YouTube channel where she simply posts the videos. In other words, she's no commentator, offers no opinion; she's just the video scribe. Here is one example of what she does: