Julian Assange And Personal Freedom
“I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) It wasn’t until 1969 that the Supreme Court’s modern First Amendment jurisprudence made it clear that whenever there is a clash between the government...
“There is not one of you a slave now”: Escaped Union Prisoners Announce Freedom in South Carolina
While Juneteenth started as a celebration of the announcement of emancipation in Galveston, Texas in 1865, other accounts of freedom announcements to enslaved communities also offer joyful moments during the Civil War years. In his published narrative Seven Months a...
The Second Amendment Allows New Gun Restrictions
When the Supreme Court vindicated the right of individuals to own firearms for self-defense, it might have opened a new era of calmer debate about regulation of guns. The National Rifle Association had always trumpeted the danger of complete bans and mass...
News From Around the South 6/13 to 6/20
PENNSYLVANIA: Did FBI Lie to Federal Judge About Finding Civil War Gold? The FBI either lied to a federal judge about having video of its secretive 2018 dig for Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania, or illegally destroyed the video to prevent a father-son team of...
Twitter and the Freedom of Speech
“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” —First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution When James Madison authored the language that would become the First Amendment, he and his colleagues feared that the new...Obiter Dicta
I’ve been playing in the public arenas of politics and commentary, of columns and television and campaigns, for long enough Read More
Recent Posts
SOUTH CAROLINA: ‘Just wonderful’: USC musicians perform at Congaree National Park for country’s 250th birthday In a celebration of American music, the student performers also hoped to introduce more people Read More