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Although your less-than-friendly neighborhood alt-righter might want to pervert it into a license to say any bigoted thing they want, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America simply ensures the peoples right to express themselves without fear of government reprisal. So while KekiBro69 or whomever might think that people telling him hes a piece of shit for parroting Nazi slogans have violated his free speech, the fact of the matter is that, as long as the government doesnt get involved, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. Twitter can kick him off its service, Google can deny his domain registration, a private university can decline to book him as a speaker, or a private company can fire him for violating their code of ethics, assuming said employer isnt violating contract law or the Civil Rights Act in the process.

So were clear on that? Yes? Okay, good. Because heres an example of the federal government actually attempting to interfere not only with the peoples right to free expression, but their right to peaceful assembly, as well as the Fourth Amendments ban on unlawful search and seizure. As reported by New York Magazine, this week web hosting service DreamHost revealed that it had received a search warrant from the Department of Justice requesting IP addresses and other potentially identifying metadata on visitors to DisruptJ20.org, which was used to organize protests against the inauguration of Donald Trump. The requested data includes information on dates and times the site was accessed, in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people, according to DreamHost. The request, which applies to anyone who visited the site this past Januaryright when planning for the protest was at its heightwould affect more than 1.3 million people. What the DOJ wants with this information is unclear, but whatever it is, it probably isnt to mail protesters $20 bills.

DreamHost refused the request, and is scheduled to appear in court in Washington, D.C. this coming Friday, August 18. Thats according to the pro-online privacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, which calls the DOJs search warrant an unconstitutional action of staggering overbreadth. In the face of such a shameless attempt to violate a bedrock American right, were sure all our free-speech loving friends with whom we spend so much quality time in Facebook comment threads and Twitter mentions will rally together to defend this value that they clearlyand loudlyhold so dear. Right?

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Today in actual First Amendment violations: DOJ issues warrant for info on protesters - A.V. Club

The ugly and tragic events in Charlottesville, Va., which resulted in the death of one 32-year-old woman who was hit by a car, have sparked rallies across the country and the firing of at least one white nationalist marcher.

Trending hashtags on Twitter #nazihunter and #goodnightaltright and accounts like @yesyoureracist are calling on the public to identify people who attended the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville so they can be brought to justice. At least one alt-right marcher has already been fired by his company for reportedly attending the march; he worked as a cook for the Berkeley, Calif., hot dog chain Top Dog. I think its really important as a statement to show thats not tolerated, one customer told NBC Bay Area.

Experts say employers like Top Dog, who dont agree with views their employees express, have every right to fire those employees without any notice. The white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville chanted anti-semitic and racist slogans such as Jew will not replace us and blood and soil, a phrase used by Nazis, as they carried tiki torches and weapons, as they made their way onto the University of Virginias campus. They were opposing the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Employees are legally protected from being fired based on discrimination, for their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from interfering in the free exercise of speech and religion, does not protect employees who make statements or donations in favor of causes their employers disagree with from being fired, said Mark Tushnet, a professor of law at Harvard Law School.

But perhaps more surprising: Companies also have the right to terminate those who clashed with the white supremacist marchers. Attending a rally no matter what side youre on can get you fired. Private-sector employees are generally employed at the will of the employer, Tushnet said, and their employers can fire them as they see fit. That includes disagreement with what they say in public, he said. (One big caveat: The employer could open itself up to lawsuits if it fires someone in what turns out to be a case of mistaken identity.)

Who is at risk of getting fired all depends on the company. Journalists were warned not to attend the womens march in Washington, D.C. following Trumps inauguration. The editor of The Atlantic, for example, told employees they couldnt do anything that might be perceived as political, except vote. In 2011, two NPR journalists were fired for participating in Occupy Wall Street protests. But if you work for the American Civil Liberties Union? Taking time out to march for a social cause may even burnish your credentials.

Talking about sensitive politics at work, posting on social media, or making donations to a political cause can also be grounds for firing, said Paula Brantner, senior adviser at Workplace Fairness, an employment law nonprofit. Employees sometimes mistakenly think giving a donation to a candidate is private, but its public record, and can cost you your job if an employer says I dont want someone who supports this candidate working with me, she said.

There are exceptions to this rule. Some states including New York, California and the district Washington, D.C., have specific laws that protect employees from being disciplined for their political activities outside of work, said Merrick Rossein, a professor of law and former acting dean of CUNY Law School in New York, but even in those states, employers could argue that employees views or actions make them unable to do their job well.

And many employees dont even have to attend a rally to be terminated. The author of the now infamous Google memo about diversity was dismissed from his job for saying women are inherently unsuited for jobs in tech, in part because theyre prone to being neurotic. The employer is also perfectly fine to say we dont want people who have those opinions working for our company, Brantner said. The employee in question, software engineer James Damore, is reportedly exploring legal action against Google.

Im not going to be the one to tell people not to participate in rallies or support a candidate, Brantner added, but I want people to be aware there are potential consequences.

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Why the First Amendment won't protect Charlottesville white supremacists from being fired - MarketWatch

On Election Day in 2016, the American public saw Hillary Clinton vote at an elementary school in New York, saying she was thinking of her mother. They heard her voice on the radio, encouraging people to cast their ballots. They learned that she was at a Manhattan hotel, practicing the victory speech she expected to deliver and the concession speech she hoped not to need.

What they didnt know was that she was praying.

Almost every hour of the day, as Election Day wore on, Rev. Bill Shilladyemailed Clinton a prayer, and she paused to read it.

These hourly prayers, as well as the prayer that Clinton read the next day when she and the rest of the nation awoke to the shock that she was not going to be president, are now made public in a new book by Clintons spiritual adviser.

But the day before the booksTuesday release, the author admitted that portions of it inappropriately match the earlier writing of another pastor.

[Hillary Clintons history of faith is long and rich. So why didnt she talk about it?]

Indiana pastor Matt Deuel read a prominent piece of Shilladys book the email Shillady sent to Clinton the morning after the 2016 election when CNN published it last week. He recognized it as resembling his own March 2016 blog postand on Saturday he contacted a reporter for CNN, which first publishedthe news Monday.

Shillady apologized on Monday night. In a statement, he said, My entire approach to this book project has been to credit all of the many ministers and sources who contributed to the devotionals that were written for Hillary over the course of the campaign. In preparing the devotional on the morning of November 9, I was determined to provide comfort with the familiar adage that Its Friday But Sunday is Coming. I searched for passages that offered perspective of this theme. I am now stunned to realize the similarity between Matt Deuels blog sermon and my own. Clearly, portions of my devotional that day incorporate his exact words. Matt and I have spoken. He was extremely gracious and understanding. I have assured him he will receive full credit moving forward.

[Jesus feminists see Hillary Clinton as a role model. They just wont vote for her.]

Starting in 2015, when Clinton announced her candidacy for president, Shillady a United Methodist clergyman in New York and personal friend of the Clintons who highlights his Christmas and Easter dinners with them in the book decided to send Clinton a personal devotional text every morning of her run for office.

The morning emails were private at the time. Now, Shillady has compiled them in a book, just as Joshua DuBois did in 2013 with President Barack Obamas devotional readings.

The challenged text is the one that Shillady put first in the book, knowing it would garner the most attention: the email meant to uplift Clinton the morning after her election loss.

Itincludes sentences almost identical to Deuels: For the disciples and Christs followers in the first century, Good Friday represented the day that everything fell apart. All was lost. The momentum and hope of a man claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah who was supposed to change everything, had been executed. Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday.

The publisher, Abingdon Press, said it will cite Deuel in future printings of the book, Strong for a Moment Like This.

[Russell Moore: White supremacy angers Jesus, but does it anger his church?]

Shillady says that since the election, prayer has been key to Clintons outlook.

I had lunch with her a couple weeks ago, he said earlier this month. She is personally fine. She is coping fine. She was brokenhearted, of course, at the outcome of the election. She has told me that the love of her family, and her faith, and the concern of 66 million people who voted for her have helped her find hope in the midst of that darkness. And the devotionals following the election were some of the most significant and poignant for her.

The Election Day emails in the book, which have not been challenged, are also revealing. The messages started at 6 a.m., when Clinton read, God, bring order out of the chaos of these last few months. Set us free from the turmoil. Half an hour later, she read Isaiah 61: The Spiritof the SovereignLordis on me, because theLordhas anointedme to proclaim good newsto the poor. He has sent me to bind upthe brokenhearted, to proclaim freedomfor the captivesand release from darkness for the prisoners.

As the day wore on, Clinton read Revelation and Joshua, Philippians and Romans, Matthew and John. When the polls started to close, she read a new prayer, We thank you that your love for us does not end or begin with the outcome of these elections. Long after the importance of this day fades away, when our faith has been tested and our hope torn away, your deep and abiding love will remain. Amen.

[Jews will not replace us: Why white supremacists go after Jews]

The book demonstrates Clintons close connection to her faith and raises the implicit question of why she wasnt more public about the centrality of prayer to her life.

In a 2016 Pew poll, 43 percent of voters said they thought Clinton was not too religious or not at all religious, although the former secretary of state was raised Methodist, once taught Sunday school and has identified strongly with the churchs teachings throughout her career.

Shes a Midwestern Methodist, and a lot of Methodists just dont talk much about their faith, Shillady said. He heard criticism of Clinton from some liberal Christians, who felt a stronger message about religion and a more concerted outreach to churches by her campaign staff might have improved her electoral chances.

I think it would have been good for her to do that, he agreed, but said more talk about religion might not have made much difference. She is a sincere person of faith. And I know I wont convince her critics of that.

[He was 12. He had just moved to America. Then his Sikh father was murdered.]

Although the phrase Hillarys emails might conjure up nightmares for many a Democrat, Shilladys book is full of them. Shillady excerpts many of the emails he exchanged with the candidate, proving that she was engaged by his often-lengthy morning devotionals. Ive never seen that phrase the valley of vision or the prayer before. Another mind-opening gift from your daily message, she replied to a devotional musing on the story of Jonah one morning. It has been a stressful few days, so words of encouragement and reminders of the True Light from Scripture are most welcome, she emailed in July 2016.

Mary Catherine Dean, the editor in chief of Abingdon Press, said in a statement on Monday night that these emails remain an important historical insight into the Clinton campaign, despite the late-breaking plagiarism allegation.

Abingdon Press is committed to ensuring scrupulous accuracy from its authors.Strong For A Moment Like This is a heavily annotated work, in which Reverend Shillady has credited more than 200 sources. We worked with Reverend Shillady to faithfully cite all of the many contributors to the devotionals. We fully accept his explanation that he did not intentionally leave Matt Deuels passages unattributed, and we appreciate that he apologized to Matt immediately upon realizing his mistake, her statement said. His failure to attribute portions of the November 9 devotional does not change the fact that the 365 passages in the book were sent to Hillary Clinton, are part of the historical record of her campaign, and gave her the inspiration to stay strong.

For his part, the pastor whose words Shillady inappropriately used told CNN that he harbors no hard feelings. The last thing the world needs right now is two pastors having a public dispute over a blog, Deuel told the network. He also said, If my blog then, in turn, inspired Rev. Shillady and it was used to encourage Hillary Clinton, then praise God for that! Could it have been done differently? Probably. But for me to fire back publicly would be inappropriate and out of line on my part. I have attempted to contact Rev. Shillady to process this with him. I trust that the grace and forgiveness we find through our faith in Jesus will lead us to grace and reconciliation with each other.

This article has been updated.

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Hillary Clinton's pastor plagiarized another minister in his new book of messages for her - Washington Post

Patrick Semansky, Associated Press file

Democrats, reveling in President Donald Trumps plummeting popularity and the Republican Partys civil wars, are looking forward to September. Except for one thing: the rollout of Hillary Clintons next book right after Labor Day.

Clinton has promised to let my guard down in the book, What Happened, explaining her shocking loss to Trump in November. She has already offered up several explanations, blaming Russian interference, former FBI Director James Comey, and misogyny, while also acknowledging tactical errors by her campaign.

Many Washington Democrats, though unwilling to criticize her in public, wish shed move on, as Minnesota Sen. Al Franken has put it. They fear that her complaints help Trump make his case that the controversies surrounding him flow from the Democrats bitterness about their 2016 loss.

They prefer the approach taken by Al Gore after his equally controversial loss in 2000. Gore didnt really criticize the administration of President George W. Bush for almost two years even though he, like Clinton, won the popular vote while losing in the Electoral College. (Gore lost when the Supreme Court stopped a vote recount in Florida.) Gore went on to start a new career, winning a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award for his work on climate change.

Associates hoped Clinton would also find a way to make a different contribution, perhaps as a university president or foundation head. There have even been suggestions that she move overseas for a couple of years.

Clinton could make a contribution speaking out selectively on important issues, drawing on her wealth of experience.

But she remains haunted by her defeat. The gist of her message next month, based on her public statements and accounts of private conversations from people whove talked to her, will be: I accept the blame for what happened, but the bigger problems were Russian meddling, Comeys on-again, off-again handling of the FBIs probe of her private email server, the Democratic Party, and maybe even some of her own campaign staffers.

The Clintons, associates say, are convinced that the election was stolen. They may be right; well find out soon enough whether theres proof that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. If investigations by congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller turn up new facts, thatll provide a better basis for analyzing the impact.

But Clinton is the wrong messenger. She just comes across as a sore loser.

Or as Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer told The Washington Post last month: When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you dont blame other things Comey, Russia you blame yourself.

She could take a lesson from another prominent Democrat, one who has kept a relatively low profile since January. Thats former President Barack Obama, who has mostly resisted the temptation to strike back at repeated Trump cheap shots. Today, surveys of voters have found, hes the most popular American politician. Some Democrats want him to take on Trump a bit more, and are pleased hell be out campaigning for a few Democrats this fall.

By contrast, Clinton has moved from being an admired former New York senator and secretary of state to becoming a divisive and unpopular figure. In last months Bloomberg national poll, 58 percent of respondents rated her unfavorably compared to 39 percent who gave her favorable marks. More than one in five people who voted for her in November now regard her unfavorably. That was even worse than Trumps standing in the same poll.

Indeed, the only figure with higher negatives in the survey, which was conducted by the Iowa polling firm Selzer & Co., was her old nemesis, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

E-mail Albert R. Hunt at ahunt1@bloomberg.net. Follow him on Twitter: @AlHuntDC

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Democrats fret as Hillary Clinton book rollout looms - The Denver Post

BY: David Rutz August 15, 2017 12:00 pm

The longtime game show "Jeopardy!" trolled Hillary Clinton on Monday night with its category entitled "Baskets of Adorables."

The category depicted answers with pictures of cute animals like cats and sloths in baskets.

Host Alex Trebek drew laughter when he read out the category name. He added "uh-oh" after stating the title.

The category was a reference to Clinton's infamous remarklast September that half of Donald Trump's supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorables."

"To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," she said. "Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it But that other basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down. Nobody cares about them."

Clinton later said she was "wrong" to make those remarks.

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Jeopardy Trolls Hillary Clinton With 'Baskets of Adorables' Category - Washington Free Beacon