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A reporter in West Virginia was arrested Tuesday night for literally doing his job.

Dan Heyman, a veteran reporter with Public News Service, was covering a visit to the state capitol by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway. As they walked through the building, Heyman pressed the two on whether domestic violence would be considered a preexisting condition under the American Health Care Act passed by the House last week.

Suddenly, he was pulled aside by Capitol police, handcuffed, and hauled off to jail. He was charged with a misdemeanor for willful disruption of governmental processes and only released when his employer posted a $5,000 bond. He is still awaiting a preliminary hearing.

At some point I think they decided I was just too persistent in asking this question and trying to do my job, and they arrested me, Heyman said after he was released.

A criminal complaint alleges that Heyman was causing a disturbance by yelling questions. What it doesnt note was that Heyman was actually targeted for reporting on matters critical to the public interest not in a closed meeting or the inside of a working office, but in the hallways of a government building.

The law under which Heyman was charged can carry a fine of up to $100 and a jail sentence of up to six months.

At a time of eroding trust in our government institutions, an independent free press is more critical than ever to ensure that the people running our country are held to account. This makes Heymans arrest all the more distressing.

What happened in West Virginia didnt happen in a vacuum. The president has been attempting to undermine the press on a regular basis and resists transparency at every turn. He has smeared the media as the enemy of the people. On the campaign trail, he revoked the credentials of some of the most prestigious news outlets in the country because he didnt like their coverage. Reporters have been the victims of physical violence and the target of mockery. Others have been arrested and charged with felonies for covering protests.

Against this backdrop, it should come as no surprise that a reporter was arrested for trying to ask a question to a member of Trumps cabinet. But it can never be accepted as normal.

In the 1971 Supreme Court ruling on the famous Pentagon Papers case, Justice Hugo Black wrote, The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. Indeed, when our public representatives whether the Trump administration or the West Virginia Capitol police forget that they work for us, we need journalists to remind them. Without a free press, public officials have a much easier time evading accountability, shielding misconduct, and pushing through dangerous policies without public scrutiny. Even Thomas Jefferson, who had a quarrelsome relationship with the press, knew that our liberty depends on the freedom of the press.

We need journalists to be able to challenge and question public officials, loudly and persistently. For the government to stand in the way is a frontal assault on the First Amendment and the functioning of our democracy. Those who dont want transparency in the literal halls of government have no business putting themselves in the political spotlight.

If our elected officials insist on continuing to violate one of our countrys core values, we will see them in court in defense of Dan Heyman and of any other journalist serving the publics right to know.

Read more:
Arresting a Reporter for Asking Questions Is an Unacceptable Assault on the First Amendment - ACLU (blog)

Last year, some students at Carmel High School were allowed to put up an anti-abortion sign. This year, a different group of students were told they could not hang a pro-abortion rights sign.

That is discrimination based on viewpoint, and that is a clear violation of the First Amendment. Naturally it's time to bring in the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and take the school system to court, by God!

OF COURSE THE story is a tad more complicated than that, and the episode should serve as a warning for school districts inclined to stray from their mission under the false impression that they must accommodate every student demand for this or that "right."

A school is not a microcosm of the country, with students counted as citizens and school officials standing in for "the government." A school is a structured learning environment in which anything not aimed at imparting knowledge must be put aside. True, students don't leave their rights at the schoolhouse door, but the rights they have are not the same as a citizen's in dealing with government.

If schools choose to ignore that reality, they owe it to students to have very clear rules that are widely disseminated and understood. This is what Carmel failed to do.

The school at first took down the anti-abortion sign last year. But it put it back up for 10 days after the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel threatened legal action, arguing that the school had allowed other ideological messages on signs, including a donkey on a sign for a student club for Democrats and the use of a rainbow and the word pride on signs for a group supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. The anti-abortion sign said "3,000 Lives Are Ended Each Day" and featured the word "abortion" changed to say "adoption."

THE SCHOOL SAYS groups may post signs only if they advertise group meetings. Lawyers for the school district say the new sign did not include the group's name or meeting details, which the sign last year did. But the ACLU, like the Liberty Counsel before, is citing all the previous ideological signs allowed.

Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana says the controversy over the new sign "opens a can of worms, doesn't it?"

Indeed, it does. And it's not the students who are at fault.

The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel

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EDITORIAL: Another fine First Amendment mess - Goshen News

Hillary Clinton attended a private dinner at the home of Haim and Cheryl Saban on Thursday night at an event that sources described as a thank you to 2016 campaign donors and an introduction to her plans to launch a political group, Onward Together.

Sources said that the gathering was for about 40 to 50 people, including a number who were major donors during her 2016 presidential campaign. Haim Saban was one of Clintons most prolific donors in her 2008 and 2016 presidential runs, giving directly to her campaign and to a SuperPAC supporting her candidacy, Priorities USA Action.

Hillary and Bill Clinton are both in Los Angeles for the graduation of her nephew, Zach Rodham, from USC, sources said.

This was Clintons first visit with supporters in Los Angeles since the 2016 election.

Politico reported last week that Clinton was building a political group to help finance organizations working on the resistance to President Donald Trumps agenda. The name of the group, Onward Together, was a nod to her campaign slogan Stronger Together.

The Sabans gave more than $12 million to Priorities USA Action to support Clintons campaign, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.

The Clintons wrote a congratulatory letter to Haim Saban in March, when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

See more here:
Hillary Clinton Returns to L.A. for Dinner Event at Home of Haim Saban (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety

Robert Aderholt Published 6:39 p.m. ET May 11, 2017 | Updated 14 hours ago

FBI Director James Comey(Photo: Susan Walsh, AP)

Democrats seem to have a love-hate-love-hate-love relationship with former FBI director James Comey.

When Comey opened the investigation into Hillary Clintons basement email server, he become persona non grata in the Clinton camp.

Then fast-forward to July 2016, when Director Comey announced that he would not prosecute Clinton. Suddenly, Comey was like the prodigal son who had come home. Democrats heaped praise on him for his courage to do the right thing.

But like most summer romances, this one was headed toward a hard breakup come fall. On Oct. 28, Comey announced that he had reopened the investigation into the Clinton email scandal and, again, Clinton supporters were crying foul. As recently as May 2, USA TODAY reported that Mrs. Clinton was publicly blaming Comey for her loss to now-President Trump.

Now just a week later, Democrats and the press can find nothing but glowing superlatives to heap on the former director. Does anyone think that if Hillary Clinton had been elected last fall that she would not have dismissed Comey from his post? And she likely would have fired him much sooner.

OUR VIEW:Comey is now a GOP problem

Meanwhile, the premise that the Russian government cast votes for millions of Americans is preposterous.

Did the Russians advise the Clinton campaign to ignore Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin? Did the Russians advise the Clinton campaign to spend resources in red states they had no real chance of winning, such as Texas and Arizona? Did the Russians advise the Clinton campaign to ignore the advice of former president Bill Clinton, who urged his wifes team to focus more on the everyday challenges of blue-collar Americans?

I believe if a psychologist were examining most Democrats and many in the news media, he or she might come to the conclusion they are going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Its clear, we are still a long way from the last step on that list.

Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican, represents Alabamas 4th congressional district.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2q72dhK

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Hillary Clinton would've fired Comey, too - USA TODAY

Another Clinton Foundation pay-to-play scheme has been revealed by a foreign government.On May 11, Circareported, The Office of Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina confirmed to Circa that Mrs.Clintoncalled her office in March 2011 to demand that Dr. Muhammed Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace prize winner, be restored to his role as chairman of the countrys most famous microcredit bank, Grameen Bank. Yunus nonprofit through the bank Grameen America donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to theClinton Foundationand Grameen Research donated an additional $25,000 to $50,000. The exposure is one of the most overt examples of pay to play bythe Clinton Foundation. The deputy press secretary of the Bangladesh prime ministers office told Circa that Hillary Clinton, while serving as U.S. secretary of state, phoned Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March 2011 insisting she not remove ClintonFoundation donor Dr. Muhammad Yunus from his position as managing director of Grameen Bank.

The Associated PressreportedYunus met withClintonthree times and talked with her by phone during a period when Bangladeshi government authorities investigated his oversight of a nonprofit bank and ultimately pressured him to resign from the banks board. Throughout the process, he pleaded for help in messages routed toClinton, and she ordered aides to find ways to assist him. This new disclosure reveals that HillaryClintonintervened on Yunus behalf herself. Hewas eventually removed from his position in 2013.

In May 2012, the Bangladesh government was investigating the bank and Yunus for financial mismanagement and allegations that Yunus diverted bank funds to his private enterprises. The Daily Callerreportedin April 2017 that Clinton State Department aides threatened the Bangladesh prime minister with an IRS audit of her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is a United States resident. They threatened me with the possibility of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service. I have been here legally for 17 years and never had a problem. But they said, Well, you know, you might get audited, Wazed Joy told the Daily Caller in aninterview.They would say over and over again, Yunus has powerful friends, and we all knew they were talking of Secretary Clinton. Everybody knew it was Mrs.Clinton. Former Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told Daily Caller there was likely a correlation between the World Bank denying a $1.2 billion loan to Bangladesh and pressure fromClintonsState Department.

Thisisnt the first timea Clinton Foundation pay-to-play scheme has cometo light. Emails exposed by Wikileaksrevealed that Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk directlyleveragedhis donations of $10 to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation for access to theClintons, and the Moroccan government made adealfor a meeting with Hillary Clinton in exchange for their donations to the nonprofit. While Clinton served as secretary of state, sheplacedClinton Foundation donor Rajiv Fernando on an intelligence board he held no qualifications to serve on until reporters asking questions forced his resignation days later. Since the Clintons have lost much of their political power after the election, foreign governments have begun reducing or rescinding their annual donations to the foundation, and more revelations from foreign leaders are likely to be exposed now that the political risks for speaking out have diminished.

Read more from the original source:
Hillary Clinton Lobbied Bangladesh PM on Behalf of Clinton Foundation Donor - Observer