In November, I was banned in Boston after speech-squelchers on the left and right forced the cancellation of my lecture at Bentley University, a small private institution. The grassroots activists who had invited me were rejected by every major event venue in the nation's purported Cradle of Liberty. The tail-tuckers cited security concerns or jacked up their rental fees to make it prohibitively expensive to gather peacefully to discuss—gasp!—ideas.
Lou Murray of Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities and Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies heroically persisted, pulling together a great event at a private home attended by 100 patriots who risked their privacy, friendships and even their jobs to listen to—gasp!—ideas.
Soon after, a group of conservative students at the University of Maine, a publicly funded school, invited me to bring my nationalist message about who's funding the destruction of America to their campus. This prompted the College Republicans' faculty adviser, political science professor Amy Fried, [Email her], to resign in protest. That led to the de-chartering of the CR group. Why? Because I refused to disavow other young students who have asked trenchant, pesky questions at Young America's Foundation and Turning Point USA lectures about the GOP elites' support of wage-suppressing, job-outsourcing, Democrat voter-importing policies that put American students, workers and families last.
Many of those students follow a 21-year-old nationalist named Nick Fuentes, [Tweet him], who hosts a program (for now) on YouTube and DLive in his basement called "America First." Because I refused to play the gatekeepers' game of condemning every last joke or chatroom comment or tweet of someone followed by students whose questions I support, Fried believes that no students at her campus under her watch should be allowed to hear what I have to say about, well, anything.
How strongly do University of Maine officials oppose the free association of college students who want to know more about my work? Yesterday, I learned from Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks general manager Ed Palmer and others that at least one University of Maine official—along with dozens of other cancel culture jihadists galvanized on social media by an anonymous Twitter account called "Support Maine's Future"—had called to complain about the students and me after they posted an event notice last Friday. I reached out to top administrators, who did not respond by my filing deadline.
I also wrote to Fried, who responded late Tuesday evening: "I never did that. Didn't happen. Whoever told you I did is incorrect. Thank you for checking, as you received a false report regarding me."
I responded: "Too bad you didn't pay me the same courtesy."
Adrienne Bennett, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress (Maine, District 2), challenged the school's bullying tactics: "Free speech is the cornerstone of a free democracy. We are hearing reports that administrators from the University of Maine pressured a private Maine hotel to cancel an appearance by conservative speaker Michelle Malkin. If true, this is a disturbing development from Maine's public, land-grant university," she blasted. "All universities—but especially those that receive public funds—have an obligation to foster free speech and free inquiry. I support President Trump's recent executive order on campus free speech. ... I am disturbed that academic elites would interfere to block this speech. For those who disagree with Malkin's views, the answer is debate and discourse, not censorship."
My upcoming speaking schedule (for now) includes the New York Young Republican Club (Jan. 16); somewhere, hopefully, in Maine (Jan. 17); Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley (Feb. 11); Michigan Conservative Coalition's Battle Cry 2020, Troy, Michigan (Feb. 14); Arizona State University (Feb. 26); and San Diego State University (April TBD).
A total of six organizations have now deemed me such a public menace that I've been barred from speaking at their venues or events: Mar-a-Lago (canceled by the Trump Organization after complaints by the Southern Poverty Law Center spread by left-wingers at the Miami Herald); Bentley University; the University of Minnesota (canceled at the behest of national leaders of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow); the New Jersey Right to Life Committee; an Indiana conservative group; and Young America's Foundation.
Why is this censorship campaign from both sides of the political spectrum happening? University of Maine College Republican Jeremiah Childs astutely observed: "They're doing this to delegitimize us because we're popular." Popular, peacefully expressed ideas that threaten establishment empires in both parties must be stopped. The pretense of free inquiry and association must be propped up by the tolerance hypocrites on the left and the culture warrior poseurs on the right. The illusion of "free speech" must be maintained by the keepers of the gate. Lying is lucrative. Telling the truth, controlled by no one, only gets you grief.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CREATORS.COM
Michelle Malkin [Email her] is the author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s review. Click here for Michelle Malkin's website. Michelle Malkin is also the author of Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies, ,Who Built That: Awe-Inspiring Stories of American Tinkerpreneurs, and Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers.
Malkin is author of the book, "Open Borders, Inc.: Who's Funding America's Destruction,"available directly from VDARE.com in hardcover. To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
In Defense of Michelle Malkin’s Right to Free Speech
In November, I was banned in Boston after speech-squelchers on the left and right forced the cancellation of my lecture at Bentley University, a small private institution. The grassroots activists who had invited me were rejected by every major event venue in the nation's purported Cradle of Liberty. The tail-tuckers cited security concerns or jacked up their rental fees to make it prohibitively expensive to gather peacefully to discuss—gasp!—ideas.
Lou Murray of Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities and Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies heroically persisted, pulling together a great event at a private home attended by 100 patriots who risked their privacy, friendships and even their jobs to listen to—gasp!—ideas.
Soon after, a group of conservative students at the University of Maine, a publicly funded school, invited me to bring my nationalist message about who's funding the destruction of America to their campus. This prompted the College Republicans' faculty adviser, political science professor Amy Fried, [Email her], to resign in protest. That led to the de-chartering of the CR group. Why? Because I refused to disavow other young students who have asked trenchant, pesky questions at Young America's Foundation and Turning Point USA lectures about the GOP elites' support of wage-suppressing, job-outsourcing, Democrat voter-importing policies that put American students, workers and families last.
Many of those students follow a 21-year-old nationalist named Nick Fuentes, [Tweet him], who hosts a program (for now) on YouTube and DLive in his basement called "America First." Because I refused to play the gatekeepers' game of condemning every last joke or chatroom comment or tweet of someone followed by students whose questions I support, Fried believes that no students at her campus under her watch should be allowed to hear what I have to say about, well, anything.
How strongly do University of Maine officials oppose the free association of college students who want to know more about my work? Yesterday, I learned from Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks general manager Ed Palmer and others that at least one University of Maine official—along with dozens of other cancel culture jihadists galvanized on social media by an anonymous Twitter account called "Support Maine's Future"—had called to complain about the students and me after they posted an event notice last Friday. I reached out to top administrators, who did not respond by my filing deadline.
I also wrote to Fried, who responded late Tuesday evening: "I never did that. Didn't happen. Whoever told you I did is incorrect. Thank you for checking, as you received a false report regarding me."
I responded: "Too bad you didn't pay me the same courtesy."
Adrienne Bennett, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress (Maine, District 2), challenged the school's bullying tactics: "Free speech is the cornerstone of a free democracy. We are hearing reports that administrators from the University of Maine pressured a private Maine hotel to cancel an appearance by conservative speaker Michelle Malkin. If true, this is a disturbing development from Maine's public, land-grant university," she blasted. "All universities—but especially those that receive public funds—have an obligation to foster free speech and free inquiry. I support President Trump's recent executive order on campus free speech. ... I am disturbed that academic elites would interfere to block this speech. For those who disagree with Malkin's views, the answer is debate and discourse, not censorship."
My upcoming speaking schedule (for now) includes the New York Young Republican Club (Jan. 16); somewhere, hopefully, in Maine (Jan. 17); Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley (Feb. 11); Michigan Conservative Coalition's Battle Cry 2020, Troy, Michigan (Feb. 14); Arizona State University (Feb. 26); and San Diego State University (April TBD).
A total of six organizations have now deemed me such a public menace that I've been barred from speaking at their venues or events: Mar-a-Lago (canceled by the Trump Organization after complaints by the Southern Poverty Law Center spread by left-wingers at the Miami Herald); Bentley University; the University of Minnesota (canceled at the behest of national leaders of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow); the New Jersey Right to Life Committee; an Indiana conservative group; and Young America's Foundation.
Why is this censorship campaign from both sides of the political spectrum happening? University of Maine College Republican Jeremiah Childs astutely observed: "They're doing this to delegitimize us because we're popular." Popular, peacefully expressed ideas that threaten establishment empires in both parties must be stopped. The pretense of free inquiry and association must be propped up by the tolerance hypocrites on the left and the culture warrior poseurs on the right. The illusion of "free speech" must be maintained by the keepers of the gate. Lying is lucrative. Telling the truth, controlled by no one, only gets you grief.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CREATORS.COM
Michelle Malkin [Email her] is the author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s review. Click here for Michelle Malkin's website. Michelle Malkin is also the author of Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies, ,Who Built That: Awe-Inspiring Stories of American Tinkerpreneurs, and Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers.
Malkin is author of the book, "Open Borders, Inc.: Who's Funding America's Destruction,"available directly from VDARE.com in hardcover. To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
In Defense of Michelle Malkin’s Right to Free Speech
Will we stay silent while a public university assaults the First Amendment?
Conservative commentator and author Michelle Malkin’s right to free speech has been under consistent vicious attack -- most recently at the publicly funded University of Maine. The College Republicans student group at the university, which had invited Ms. Malkin to speak, was forced to scurry around at the last minute to find a suitable forum outside the university campus for her talk. This was all set into motion when the University of Maine stripped the College Republicans of their status as an official student organization after their “faculty adviser”, political science professor Amy Fried, quit because she disapproved of Michelle Malkin’s conservative views. As a result, the College Republicans could no longer use the campus facilities to host the speech. No official recognition means no student government funding and no complimentary rooms or meeting spaces on campus, which the College Democrats continue to enjoy without interruption during this presidential election year.
Three off campus venues then proceeded to reverse their agreements to let the University of Maine College Republicans use their facilities for Michelle Malkin’s delivery of her speech. First, Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks in South Portland cancelled, after being informed by the university that the University of Maine College Republicans were not an official student group on campus. Then the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston and Martindale Country Club in Auburn followed suit, succumbing to pressure from self-appointed censors of free speech. Ms. Malkin was finally able to speak last Friday night to a standing-room-only crowd at Sabattus Town Hall. “It’s flabbergasting,” Ms. Malkin said, “that it took four different venues to find a place for peace-loving patriots to gather.”
Jeremiah Childs, vice president of the University of Maine College Republicans, pointed out what was at stake in standing up to the Left and exercising the right of free speech in the face of their bullying. “The Left intended to shut down the State of Maine,” he said. “I think we all proved that they can’t do that. We will not be silenced.”
Michelle Malkin provided Breitbart News a statement prior to her Friday night appearance, which included the following: “It is especially important to support young people defying university bullies and political mafia bosses. They have the most at stake.”
It would do well to note that even the leftist ACLU has declared on its website that,
Restrictions on speech by public colleges and universities amount to government censorship, in violation of the Constitution. Such restrictions deprive students of their right to invite speech they wish to hear, debate speech with which they disagree, and protest speech they find bigoted or offensive.
These are nice words, but one can’t help from wondering: Where was the ACLU when the University of Maine took away the College Republicans’ official student club status at the university after their faculty adviser resigned her position because she did not like the views of the speaker the College Republicans group chose to invite?
Amy Fried, the faculty adviser-turned censor, is a leftist columnist as well as a professor. She tweeted recently that the indicted Lev Parnas’s interview with Rachel Maddow supplied a “smoking gun” against President Trump. Ms. Fried was not exactly objective when serving as the College Republicans’ faculty adviser. Her pretext for resigning was apparently Michelle Malkin’s refusal to explicitly disavow a group of America First nationalists led by the controversial far-right activist Nick Fuentes. Professor Fried tweeted: “Reality: I didn't want to be associated with a group that invited a speaker who a conservative group took off their speakers bureau due to her praise of Holocaust denier.”
Nick Fuentes and his American First nationalist group have indeed engaged in despicable anti-Semitic tropes and Holocaust “revisionism” that deserve nothing but condemnation. Ms. Malkin has tried to walk a fine line, neither wholeheartedly embracing their views nor denouncing them in unambiguous terms as other conservative thinkers have done.
“I do not agree with every last thing they’ve said or written or published or tweeted or thought with their inside or outside voices,” Michelle Malkin told an audience at UCLA last November, referring to the America First nationalists. “But I will not disavow any of them and I will not join the de-platforming witch hunters who hypocritically call themselves free speech and culture warriors.”
Malkin’s ambiguous stance towards Nick Fuentes and his America First group has drawn criticism not only from the Left, but also from some of her admirers. For example, in “A Letter to Michelle Malkin,” published in the pages of this magazine last December, one such admirer, Vanessa Jones, urged Ms. Malkin to “stand up to Nick Fuentes” as much as she has stood up against Fuentes’ critics in mainstream conservative circles for being too soft on immigration.
Jones’ article was full of praise for Malkin and for all her great work. It simply asked her to distance herself from Fuentes, for whom it appears she has a serious blind spot. But the answer to such a blind spot must not be censorship.
Writing an open letter to Michelle Malkin for the purpose of trying to persuade her with well-reasoned arguments is one thing. Shutting down her right to free speech is quite another. And this Stalinist act affects not only Malkin, but all of us.
The University of Maine, a public university, violated Ms. Malkin’s First Amendment right of free speech and the students’ First Amendment right to hear her speak on campus. The university administration should have immediately appointed a replacement faculty adviser, which would have permitted the College Republicans to host Ms. Malkin on campus. If that was not possible to accomplish in time, the administration should have made up for the disruption that the politically biased faculty adviser’s sudden resignation caused by at least working with the College Republicans to find a suitable off-campus site for the event. Instead, it informed one facility that had originally agreed to host the event, the Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks, that the University of Maine College Republicans were not an officially recognized student group at the university, causing the hotel to cancel.
“As a Nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a decision involving the protection of speech of an extremely offensive and hateful nature (Snyder V. Phelps, 131 S. Ct. 1207 (2011)). The Supreme Court has also made it clear that the First Amendment precludes adoption of content-based regulations or viewpoint-based restrictions.
The publicly-funded University of Maine blatantly violated the Supreme Court’s most fundamental edicts protecting First Amendment rights. There should be consequences so that this does not happen again. And all Americans who care about the right to free speech must stand up for Michelle Malkin in this narrative, confront the totalitarians who are shutting her down, and call out the weak-kneed conservatives who are cowardly standing on the sidelines in silence.
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