Source: Orange County Register
by Eric Preven

“Pam Bondi, the conservative U.S. attorney general, and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the liberal president of the Los Angeles City Council, share a dirty secret: they both want speech that’s easy to manage — and they’re willing to treat the Constitution like a dimmer switch to get there. Different jerseys, same play: manage the message.” (09/19/25)

https://archive.is/NNjZN

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Jacob Gaba

“Throughout American history, especially during times of civil unrest, the government used the power of the state to criminalize what it perceived as advocacy of violence. For example, in 1927, the Supreme Court upheld Charlotte Whitney’s conviction for joining a socialist convention that advocated the overthrow of the government (Whitney v. California). The Court reasoned that advocating violence could present ‘danger to the public peace and security,’ and that the exercise of the state’s police powers therefore carries ‘great weight’ in such instances. Similarly, Attorney General Pam Bondi recently suggested the federal government might bring ‘incitement’ prosecutions of people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination. As the potential for political violence increases, what prevents the government from taking us back to 1927?” (09/19/25)

https://www.thefire.org/news/defense-fiery-words

Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato

“I happen to agree with Trump that Jimmy Kimmel is neither funny nor talented. A performer this bad could only have a show in a culture like ours. That said, this firing or dismissal — or whatever it is we’re watching right now — clearly came at the behest of FCC chair Brendan Carr, is based purely on Kimmel’s Democratic Party politics, and is therefore about as clear a violation of the First Amendment as you could have. It is not the kind of tricky hypothetical law professors might use to test their students on the requirements of the Constitution. It is not hard. But I would submit that the law, even as found in the First Amendment, is the wrong object of focus and inquiry.” (09/19/25)

https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/the-first-amendment-freedom-of-speech

Source: Fox News
by William J Bennett

“‘The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’ William Butler Yeats wrote those words about Europe after the Great War, but they ring with terrible clarity this week as we bury Charlie Kirk, murdered at 31 for the crime of arguing in public. The young man who built an empire of discourse from a suburban garage has been silenced by someone who apparently found bullets more persuasive than words. But here is what strikes me as I reflect on this tragedy: Charlie Kirk may have been the last American who genuinely believed you could change someone’s mind with a good argument. Think about that. When was the last time you saw someone actually switch positions during a debate? When did you last witness someone say three of the most treasured words in the English language: ‘I was wrong?'” (09/21/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/william-bennett-what-charlie-kirks-murder-tells-us-about-american-mind

Source: Niskanen Center
by Shawn Bushway

“The U.S. now incarcerates 25 percent fewer people than it did at its peak level of incarceration in 2009. Although this decline exceeds most projections from even 10 years ago, Stanford professor Keith Humphreys recently predicted in the Atlantic that even this smaller number would soon ‘fall off a cliff,’ leaving us with a prison population that is 60 percent smaller than it used to be. This decline has alarmed some people on the right, who believe we are now incarcerating too few people, rather than too many. All but the most extreme reformers accept that some number of people need to be incarcerated. The question then becomes, what is the optimal level for our society?” (09/19/25)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/why-we-can-safely-let-incarceration-drop/