E-Newsletter No. 101 May 2022
Our Liberties are in danger of being toppled.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Religious Liberty
Does the First Amendment call for a wall of separation between church and state? Does the First Amendment call for the establishment of a secular society? Or are these simply the perceptions and / or goals of the Progressive Left? The First Amendment simply states that the government will not establish (mandate) a specific religion. Our citizens continue to have the freedom to exercise their own personal religious beliefs as they see fit.
The intent of the First Amendment is to ensure that the government has no role to play in an individual’s religious beliefs. In 2012, a lawsuit was filed against Jack Philips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado for his refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. In 2018 in a 7-2 decision in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the US Supreme Court upheld Jack Philips’ right to decline participation in that wedding. In 2021, he was again fined $500 for refusing to bake a cake for a gender transition celebration. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is appealing this fine.
Free Speech
Twitter and Facebook have a long history of banning and suspending accounts of individuals and organizations on their platforms for alleged violations of their community standards. The most prominent example is Twitter’s permanent ban on President Trump. Similar instances include YouTube removing an interview between podcaster Joe Rogan and vaccine scientist Dr. Robert Malone. In October 2020, Twitter and Facebook blocked the reporting of the Hunter Biden laptop story by The New York Post. In February 2021 Amazon deleted a documentary on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas without explanation. Other individuals who have been suspended or have had their content suppressed include Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul, Representative Jim Banks, Governor Ron DeSantis, etc. PragerU videos are being censored. The Babylon Bee has also been locked out of its Twitter account.
In October 2020, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his intent to move forward with rulemaking to interpret Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. Under current interpretations, social media websites have immunity from lawsuits over user-generated content. The social media websites are also private enterprises that own and manage their business operations. One of the key issues being discussed is whether the companies are merely hosting services that have immunity from lawsuits over user-generated content, or, if based on their actions, have become involved in the publishing of the content on their sites. Section 230 contains ambiguous terms: What constitutes an action “voluntarily taken in good faith” to restrict access to material? Previous floor debates in Congress indicated that “We do not wish to have a Federal Computer Commission with an army of bureaucrats regulating the Internet.” However, can appropriate lawsuits be brought against Big Tech companies, similar to actions that apply to newspapers, broadcasters and other publishers?
The Right to Peaceably Assemble to Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances
Rioting, arson, and looting are crimes that occurred during the summer of 2020. The media oftentimes reported that these were “mostly” peaceful protests. In a number of cases, subsequent fundraisers were held to provide funds for some of the individuals who were arrested during the riots.
On January 6, 2021, there was a “mostly” peaceful protest in Washington DC. It should also be noted that the small number of people who trespassed into the US Capitol that day were violating the law. Members of both political parties have condemned the actions of those individuals.
US Debt Clock – – April 1st – $91,225 per citizen / May 1st – $91,375