First Amendment

Former FCC Commissioner: Net Neutrality Is A First Amendment Issue

June 22, 2017 Michael Winship, www.billmoyers.com Educate! FCC, First Amendment, Net Neutrality

By Michael Winship for Moyers & Company - In just a few short months, the Trump wrecking ball has pounded away at rules and regulations in virtually every government agency. The men and women the president has appointed to the Cabinet and to head those agencies are so far in sycophantic lockstep, engaged in dismantling years of protections in order to make real what White House strategist Steve Bannon infamously described as "the deconstruction of the administrative state." The Federal Communications Commission is not immune. Its new chair, Republican Ajit Pai, embraces the Trump doctrine of regulatory devastation. "It's basic economics," he declared in an April 26 speech at Washington's Newseum. "The more heavily you regulate something, the less of it you're likely to get." His goal is to stem the tide of media reform that in recent years has made significant progress for American citizens. Even as we rely more than ever on digital media for information, education and entertainment, Pai and his GOP colleagues at the FCC seek to turn back the clock and increase even more the corporate control of cyberspace.

Naked Protest Against TSA Not Protected By First Amendment

May 23, 2017 David Kravet, www.arstechnica.com Resist! First Amendment, Protests, TSA

By David Kravet for ARS Technica - An Oregon man who stripped naked at an airport security screening checkpoint must pay a $500 fine after a federal appeals court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect this method of protest. The nude protest at Portland International Airport (PDX) by a traveler named John Brennan prompted legal action by both the federal government and the state of Oregon. Portland prosecutors charged him with indecent exposure. A local judge acquitted him, saying that Oregon cannot "punish" him for his nudity, which amounted to protest speech protected by the First Amendment. Federal authorities also imposed a civil fine for violating a US law that prohibits "interference with screening personnel." The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, siding with the government, ruled last week that the First Amendment is no defense to getting naked in a TSA security line. As you might recall, Brennan made national headlines in 2012. A security screener's gloves used in his pat down tested positive for nitrates, a substance that can be used to build bombs.

Dissent Is Patriotic, And Powerful Antidote To Propaganda

January 15, 2017 Bethany Woolman, www.aclu.org Resist! Civil Resistance, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Dissent, First Amendment

By Bethany Woolman, ACLU of Northern California. Fifty-five years ago this January, the ACLU of Northern California was busy filling orders from across the country for copies of its recently produced film, “Operation Correction.” The film was a response to a piece of Red Scare propaganda, “Operation Abolition,” which was produced by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and depicted civil liberties activists in San Francisco as violent “communist agents” bent on destroying the fabric of America. In those days, the federal government was deeply concerned with the political affiliations of ordinary Americans — if those affiliations were left-leaning. My own grandfather, who was a World War II veteran and affiliated with the Communist Party in San Francisco, was under FBI surveillance.

Conviction Of Local Grape Grower Reveals Inconsistent Standards

November 22, 2016 We Are Seneca Lake, www.popularresistance.org Resist! First Amendment, Fracking, Oil and Gas, Seneca Lake

By Stephanie Redmond of We Are Seneca Lake. Reading, NY - Phil Davis received a guilty verdict on Friday, Nov. 18, and was sentenced to ten hours of community service and a $125 NYS surcharge. Davis was arrested during a peaceful protest outside the gates of the Crestwood gas storage facility in Reading with nine other individuals on December 21, 2014. They were part of the We Are Seneca Lake movement, which has been utilizing non-violent direct action since October 2014 to block the expansion of gas storage in the crumbling salt mines on the western shore of Seneca Lake. Defense counsel Sujata Gibson, an attorney with Schlather, Stumbar, Parks and Salk, stated after the trial that she planned to make an expedited appeal of Davis’ case, and that she believes the verdict was fundamentally wrong.

St. Louis To Train Police Officers On How First Amendment Works

November 2, 2016 Mariah Stewart, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! First Amendment, Police, St. Louis

By Mariah Stewart for The Huffington Post - ST. LOUIS ― Officers in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will undergo training on First Amendment rights under a mid-October settlement with four journalists who were arrested during the Ferguson, Missouri, protests two years ago. The settlement, which HuffPost obtained through a public records request, requires those officers on the SWAT team and in the Civil Disobedience Unit to be trained in particular on how to deal with individuals who are recording police activity.

#VeteransForKaepernick Stand Up For His Right To Sit Down

September 1, 2016 Lindsay Gibbs, www.thinkprogress.org Resist! Athletes, First Amendment, Veterans

By Lindsay Gibbs for Think Progress - In the days since San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem as a way to protest the oppression of people of color in the United States, journalists, fans, and NFL players both past and present have expressed their outrage. Most of their criticism focuses in on the disrespect that Kaepernick was supposedly showing the flag and the U.S. military members who have fought and died for our freedom.

National Tax Watchdog Aims To Protect Free Speech

August 10, 2016 Alejandro Vidal, www.taxrevolution.us Resist! First Amendment, Free Speech, Taxes

By Alejandro Vidal for Tax Revolution Institute - Washington, DC — The free-speech rights of nonprofit organizations, such as advocacy groups, educational institutions, labor unions, and business leagues, are under serious threat, and the clock is ticking. In response, the Tax Revolution Institute (TRI) — a Washington-based nonprofit group that promotes “justice and integrity in the tax system” — has launched the First Amendment Alliance: a non-partisan effort to protect the free-speech rights of nonprofits.

The RNC Will Be A First Amendment Disaster

July 16, 2016 Tabatha Abu El-Haj, www.slate.com Educate! First Amendment, Republican Party, RNC

By Tabatha Abu El-Haj for Slate - In lead-up to the Republican National Convention, Cleveland has been getting hit from every side. Civil rights activists have spotlighted the fact that the original security zone around the RNC—the area in which First Amendment activities would be restricted—was the largest ever proposed, covering a 3½-square-mile perimeter. Permit applicants have also dealt with ugly delays, while rightful attention has been drawn to the fact that the Cleveland police department is currently operating under federal monitoring because it was found to have engaged in an unconstitutional pattern of excessive force.

Secret Service To Undermine First Amendment At Political Conventions

May 10, 2016 Staff, www.wemeantwell.com Educate! 2016 Elections, First Amendment

By Staff of We Meant Well - Thomas Jefferson said that an informed citizenry is critical to a democracy, and with that as a cornerstone the Founders wrote freedom of the press into the First Amendment to the Constitution. The most basic of ideas at play is that the government should in no way be allowed to control what information the press can report to the people, and cannot place restrictions on journalists. One of the principal characteristics of any fascist state is the control of information...

First Amendment Hasn’t Stopped Police From Harassing Copwatchers

April 26, 2016 Kit O'Connell, www.truth-out.org Resist! First Amendment, Police abuse

By Kit O'Connell for Truthout - At a protest in downtown Denver, on April 29, 2015, a police officer stole Jessica Benn's smartphone. Benn had been filming her husband, Jesse, from the safety of the sidewalk as police arrested him. That was enough for her to be targeted and to have her property illegally seized. "An officer just stepped up to me and grabbed it right out of my hand," she told Truthout. "Right behind him was an officer in SWAT gear who then took me and pushed me up against a bus with a baton across my neck and held me there."

US News Editors Find It Increasingly Difficult To Defend First Amendment

April 25, 2016 Kevin Gosztola, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! First Amendment, Media, United States

By Kevin Gosztola for Mint Press News and Shadow Proof - A survey of editors from print and online publications found most news organizations are weaker in their ability to defend the right to freedom of the press than they were ten years ago. The Knight Foundation conducted the survey [PDF], along with the American Society of News Editors (ASNE), Associated Press Media Editors (APME), and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Sixty-six editors were surveyed.

Federal Court Rules You Can Be Arrested Simply For Filming Police

March 1, 2016 Staff, www.countercurrentnews.com Resist! Body Cameras, Court, First Amendment, Police

By Staff of Counter Current News - Philadelphia, PA — A federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled that filming the police without a specific challenge or criticism is not constitutionally protected. The cases of Fields v. City of Philadelphia, and Geraci v. City of Philadelphia involve two different incidents where individuals were arrested for filming the police. Richard Fields, a Temple University student, was arrested after stopping to take a picture of a large group of police outside a house party.

Police Target Farm Over ‘Black Lives Matter’ Sign

October 16, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), First Amendment, Police, Racism

By Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. Centreville, VA - As a child, my mother used to take me to Cox Farms in Virginia to pick strawberries. My older siblings went to school with members of the Cox Family. I always thought of the Cox Family as hard-working salt-of-the-earth people. I was surprised to see them in the news recently. One member of the family put a "Black Lives Matter" sign in the window of their private home which is on property adjacent to the farm. This sparked an intense backlash from the president of the Fairfax County Fraternal Order of Police, Brad Carruthers, who called for a boycott of the farm. See the news report here.

63 Months For Barrett Brown: Speech Read At Sentencing

January 22, 2015 Barrett Brown, www.freebarrettbrown.org Resist! Barrett Brown, First Amendment, Media

The allocution I give today is going to be a bit different from the sort that usually concludes a sentencing hearing, because this is an unusual case touching upon unusual issues. It is also a very public case, not only in the sense that it has been followed closely by the public, but also in the sense that it has implications for the public, and even in the sense that the public has played a major role, because, of course, the great majority of the funds for my legal defense was donated by the public. And so now I have three duties that I must carry out. I must express my regret, but I must also express my gratitude. And I also have to take this opportunity to ensure that the public understands what has been at stake in this case, and why it has proceeded in the way that it has. Because, of course, the public didn’t simply pay for my defense through its donations, they also paid for my prosecution through its tax dollars. And the public has a right to know what it is paying for. And Your Honor has a need to know what he is ruling on.

Kicked Out After Refusing To Stand For Pledge

September 9, 2014 Justin King, www.theantimedia.org Resist! Civil Rights, First Amendment, Free Speech, Nationalism, Police the Police

Winter Garden, FL – Mayor John Rees ordered a man to stand first for a prayer, then for the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of a City Commission meeting last Thursday. When the man refused, the Mayor ordered the Chief of Police to use force and “escort” him from the room. Chief of Police George A. Brennan just followed orders and violated the man’s civil rights. The whole incident was captured on the victim’s cellular phone. Joseph Richardson is reported to have repeatedly asked the city to change its invocation and documents the prayer. Mayor John Rees does not seem to fully grasp the severity of his actions. After the incident he said “Life will go on.” Constitutional watchdog group, the American Civil Liberties Union, has a page dedicated to the question of the Pledge of Allegiance. It states: The Pledge being recited in the early years. “Can I be made to recite the Pledge of Allegiance? No. The Supreme Court has ruled that just as the First Amendment protects an individual’s right to say what he or she wants, it also protects his or her right not to say something. Almost 60 years ago the court determined that compulsory flag salutes are a violation of an individual’s right to free speech. So, students in public schools may refuse to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance and choose to remain quietly seated instead. Note, however, that if you decline to say the pledge that you do not have the right to disrupt the proceedings.”

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