Archive for the ‘First Amendment’ Category

University professor with sexist and racist views cannot be fired due to first amendment – The Independent

A conservative Indiana University professor drew scathing condemnation from school officials after sharing an article that states women are too emotional for academia. Now faced with mounting calls for his resignation, the universitys leadership says hes protected by the first amendment despite peddling racist, sexist and homophobic views on social media.

The university was forced to respond to concerns about Eric Rasmusen,a tenured professor of business and economics at Indianas Kelley School of Business, after he tweeted an article earlier this month titled: Are Women Destroying Academia? Probably. The 1,500-word essay was published 2 November in The Unz Review, a website that claims to spotlight interesting, important and controversial perspectives rarely published in conventional media outlets.

In his post, Mr Rasmusen pulled a line from the article that said: Geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine outlier high IQ with moderately low agreeableness and moderately low conscientiousness.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The tweet drew hundreds of replies by Wednesday night, including a viral Monday afternoon response from Hoosier alumna Maggie Hopkins.

This article suggests there should be far fewer women at universities. I am deeply offended by this tweet, and my ability to feel that offence does not diminish my intellect, Ms Hopkins, who said she had with Mr Rasmusen on the Indiana University Bloomington Faculty Council, wrote.

Indian paramilitary soldiers detain a Congress party supporter during a protest against the withdrawal of Special Protection Group (SPG) cover to party president Sonia Gandhi, her children and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delh. The move to lift off the SPG security, an elite force that protects prime ministers and their immediate families, led to sharp reactions from the Congress, which accused the government of personal vendetta

AP

An image taken from a plane window shows Sydney shrouded in smoke from nearby bush fires

AAP Imagevia Reuters

Protesters run for cover after riot police fired tear gas towards the bridge they were climbing down to the road below, to escape from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dozens escaped the besieged campus by lowering themselves on a rope from a footbridge to a highway. Once on the road they were seen being picked up by waiting motorcyclists

AFP via Getty

Anti-government protesters draped in Iraqi national flags walk into clouds of smoke from burning tires during a demonstration in the southern city of Basra, Iraq

AFP via Getty

A protester wearing a yellow jacket waves a French flag in a fountain during a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the "yellow vests" movement in Nice, France

Reuters

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces amid clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum

AFP via Getty

A patient suffering from dengue fever receives medical treatment at an isolation ward at a hospital in Larkana, Pakistan. According to local reports, 26 deaths have been reported out of a total of 10,013 confirmed cases of dengue infection. Dengue fever is reportedly caused by a specific type of mosquito, the Aedes mosquito, that bites only during daytime, especially during sunrise and sunset.

EPA

An anti-government protester flashes the V-sign for victory in front of burning tyres used to block a main road at the entrance of Tripoli. The previous night, street protests erupted across Lebanon after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government, cutting off several major roads. In his televised address, Aoun proposed a government that includes both technocrats and politicians

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An Israeli missile launching from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells. They were sent up to intercept rockets launched from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip. Israel's military killed a commander for Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a strike on his home, prompting retaliatory rocket fire and fears of a severe escalation in violence

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A species of deer thought to be extinct, the chevrotain, has been spotted for the first time in 30 years in the wilds of Vietnam. The deer is around the size of a domestic cat

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The royal motorcade of Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, under tight security, passes through a street in Tokyo. Thousands of people gathered for the rare open-top car parade featuring the newly enthroned Emperor

Kyodo News via AP

People knock over a mock-up of the former Berlin Wall during a performance prior to the German first division Bundesliga football match Hertha BSC Berlin v RB Leipzig on the 30 anniversary of the fall off the wall

AFP/Getty

Flames from an out of control bushfire from a nearby residential area in Harrington, northeast of Sydney. Australian firefighters warned they were in "uncharted territory" as they struggled to contain dozens of out-of-control bushfires across the east of the country

Kelly-ann Oosterbeek/AFP/Getty

Demonstrators shine lasers during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, the capital

Reuters

Activists from India's main opposition Congress party shout slogans as they are stopped by police during a protest against what the activists say is economic slowdown in the country, in Guwahati, India

Reuters

Smoke rises from a fire in downtown Lagos, Nigeria. Firefighters worked hard to try and extinguish a fire at the Balogun market. Thick black smoke and flames shot from the five-story buildings as fire trucks attempted to get access

AP

Women run down a sand dune as they take part in the desert trek "Rose Trip Maroc" in the erg Chebbi near Merzouga. It is a female-oriented trek where teams of three must travel through the southern Moroccan Sahara desert with a compass, a map and a topographical reporter

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Riot police descend an escalator inside the City Plaza mall in Hong Kong after a bloody knife fight wounded six people there. A local pro-democracy politician had his ear bitten off during another chaotic day of political unrest in the city

AFP via Getty

People participate in the celebration of the 'muerteadas de Jalapa del Valle', as part of the Day of the Dead in Mexico

EPA

Firefighters work to control flames from a backfire during the Maria fire in Santa Paula, California

AFP via Getty

Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, over the Vestrahorn mountain in the east of Iceland

PA

A model presents a creation at the show Heaven Gaia by Xiong Ying during the China Fashion Week in Beijing. The fashion event runs from 25 October to 2 November

EPA

Hindu devotees collect rice as offerings on 'Annakut' or 'Govardhan Puja' festival at the Madan Mohan temple in Kolkata. People in large numbers gather at the temple to collect the rice offerings in the belief that it will keep them in good health and they'll never face poverty or scarcity of food

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Authorities investigate after a Port Authority bus was caught in a sinkhole in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

AP

South Africa players celebrate after beating Wales in their Rugby World Cup semi-final match. The Springboks will face England in next Saturday's final following fly-half Handre Pollard's match-winning penalty four minutes from time. The match ended 19-16

Reuters

Participants from Thailand pose in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall as they take part in the annual gay pride parade in Taipei. Some two hundred thousand revellers marched through Taipei in a riot of rainbow colours and celebration as Taiwan held its first pride parade since making history in Asia by legalising gay marriage

AFP/Getty

A girl enjoys a ball bath as she is being photographed at the made-for-Instagram museum 'Cali Dreams' in Dusseldorf, Germany. No artworks are shown in this museum, rather each visitor himself becomes an artwork by staging himself in front of one of the 25 sceneries. Cali Dreams is initially open for three months. After this test phase, however, the museum is planned as a long-term project

EPA

A fire lorry speeds towards a rampant wildfire near Geyserville, California

AFP/Getty

Protesters facing Lebanese army soldiers wave national flags in the area of Jal al-Dib in the northern outskirts of Beirut. A week of unprecedented street protests against the political class showed no signs of abating, despite the army moving to reopen key roads. Protests were sparked on October 17 by a proposed tax on WhatsApp and other messaging apps

AFP/Getty

Liberal leader and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves to supporters beside his wife Sophie after the federal election at the Palais des Congres in Montreal. He managed to hold on to power, albeit of a minority government, in one of the most divisive elections in the countrys history

Reuters

A convoy of US vehicles is seen after withdrawing from northern Syria, on the outskirts of Dohuk, Iraq

Reuters

Japan players go over to thank their fans after South Africa beat them in the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup. Makazole Mapimpi double ended the hosts dreams in Tokyo 3-26. The Springboks will now face Wales in the semi-finals for a place in the final

Reuters

Archaeologists remove the cover of an ancient painted coffin discovered at Al-Asasif Necropolis in the Vally of Kings in Luxor, Egypt

Reuters

A protester throws a tire on a fire to block the highway north of Beirut, Lebanon. Protesters, mainly civil activists, started demonstrating in the downtown area on 17 October, condemning proposed taxes in the 2020 budget. An unexpected addition to impose a daily fee for using WhatsApp calls caused outrage. However, according to the Telecommunications Minister Mohamed Choucair, the charge will not make it through the government palace after the impact it has made on the streets

EPA

Children watch as army tanks are transported on trucks in the outskirts of the town of Akcakale, in Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, at the border of Syria

AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un riding a white horse amongst the first snow at Mouth Paektu

KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty

Protesters create a burning barricade after the Supreme Court in Madrid handed lengthy prison sentences to nine of the detained Catalonian leaders for up to 13 years each

EPA

Protestors light their torches during a peaceful rally in central Hong Kong's business district. The protests that started in June over a now-shelved extradition bill have since snowballed into an anti-China campaign amid anger over what many view as Beijing's interference in Hong Kong's autonomy that was granted when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997

AP

Japan players celebrate victory after beating Scotland 28-21 to reach the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup for the first ever time. The hosts head coach Jamie Joseph paid tribute to those who lost their lives in Typhoon Hagibis

Getty Images

Surging waves generated by typhoon Hagibis hit the seashore in Mihama, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Hagibis is the strongest storm to hit in six decades and battered the countrys main island with torrential rain and violent winds

EPA

Firefighters battle the Saddleridge fire in Sylmar, California

AP

People run to take cover after mortars fired from Syria, in Akcakale, Turkey. An Associated Press journalist said at least two government buildings were hit by the mortars in Sanliurfa province's border town of Akcakale and at least two people were wounded

AP

Policemen climb over a wall close to the site of a shooting where at least two people were killed at multiple locations in Germany, including near a synagogue in the city of Halle

dpa/AFP/Getty

This multi-exposure picture shows USA's Simone Biles performing on the beam during the women's team final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart

AFP/Getty

Extinction Rebellion activists block an intersection in Melbourne, Australia

Reuters

Protesters hold smoke grenades as they gather in central Kiev to demand broader autonomy for separatist territories, part of a plan to end a war with Russian-backed fighters

Getty

Anti-government protesters rush to an injured man during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq

AP

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University professor with sexist and racist views cannot be fired due to first amendment - The Independent

Nobel laureate Smith to speak on boycotts and First Amendment – Boonville Daily News

Columbia Daily Tribune

MondayNov18,2019at3:03PMNov18,2019at4:12PM

Nobel Prize winner and retired University of Missouri professor George Smith will discuss boycotts and the First Amendment in a talk at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Daniel Boone Regional Library Friends Room.

The event sponsored by the Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association is free and open to the public.

Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress and in the Missouri General Assembly to outlaw the use of boycotts against Israel. A boycott, divest and sanction movement against Israel for its treatment of Palestinians has gained traction among some groups and people.

The Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association doesn't take a position on the BDS movement, but resists any effort to limit the First Amendment rights of Americans to take part in the activities, according to a news release.

George Smith shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2018.

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Nobel laureate Smith to speak on boycotts and First Amendment - Boonville Daily News

First Amendment rights are not a one-way street – The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

An article in the Nov. 13 Chronicle reports that four students at Bozeman High School objected to the status of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) club as an authorized club at BHS.

The students assert that national FCA policies discriminate against gay and lesbian students and that the status of the local FCA club at BHS should be revoked. Those policies support the position that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. The article notes that there is no claim that any of the local members have engaged in any discriminatory practices.

The article reports that the School Board has agreed with the students and has given the local FCA club the choice of disaffiliating with national FCA or losing its club status at BHS. Also, as the article notes, the consequences of losing that status are significant.

Supporters or promoters of gay rights have a protected right to express their views. Those who do not agree with that position are entitled to similar protection. The Supreme Court has said, Discussions regarding matters of political interest are at the core of constitutionally protected rights and that such discussions should be robust. Discussion of gay rights is such a matter.

There are at least three First Amendment rights at issue: free speech, religious freedom and the right to assemble. These rights do not provide support for a position I may take but not for an opposing position.

The action by the School Board discriminates against the FCA students, is not reasonable and should be reversed.

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First Amendment rights are not a one-way street - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Late VA whistleblower Kois to be honored at 17th annual First Amendment Awards – The Union Leader

As public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump once again put whistleblowers in the national spotlight, a local whistleblower will be posthumously honored this week for his efforts exposing substandard care at the Manchester VA Medical Center.

Dr. William Ed Kois, the late VA Medical Center doctor who prompted a nationwide review after exposing poor conditions at the Manchester VA hospital, is the recipient of the 2019 Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award. Kois, who died in July in a car crash in Hampton, will be posthumously honored at the 17th annual First Amendment Awards event this Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre.

Kois used his medical training as a spinal cord specialist to help ease pain and improve the lives of his patients. He used his sense of what is right and his First Amendment rights of free speech, free press and petitioning the government to touch the lives of countless other VA patients.

He led a group of 11 physicians and employees who contacted a federal whistleblower agency and the Boston Globe Spotlight Team to say the Manchester VA was endangering patients.

Bipartisan support for protection of federal whistleblowers was on display last Thursday during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing about a Department of Veterans Affairs internal watchdog report. The inspector general found that an office meant to protect whistleblowers instead inflicted injury.

Employee confidence in the departments willingness and ability to deal appropriately with whistleblowers has been damaged and it could take a long time to heal.

Departing from her prepared opening statement, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., chairwoman of the veterans affairs subcommittee, said the findings by the VAs inspector general were incredibly disturbing ... The fact that this office seemed to be used as a political weapon, rather than a tool to be able to help veterans get the service they need, that they deserve, that they earned, was a travesty.

After Texas Rep. John Carter, the top Republican on the panel, read the report about the VAs Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, he concluded that pretty much the whole thing is a wreck ... that everything is broken.

One wrecked part of the office was its responsibility to keep secret whistleblowers identity when they requested anonymity. Inspector General Michael Missal told the hearing the office failed to fully protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Former officials in the office, he added, took the position that allegations of whistleblower retaliation could not be investigated unless the whistleblower was willing to disclose his or her identity.

Missals statement came one day after House Intelligence Committee Democrats rejected a Republican move to subpoena the CIA whistleblower in the Ukraine scandal. Those revelations in the whistleblowers complaint led to the impeachment inquiry examining President Donald Trumps alleged effort to use foreign policy for his personal political benefit.

Anonymity is important because many whistleblowers, fearing management reprisals, would not report government wrongdoing without it. VA has a shameful history of retaliation against whistleblowers, particularly after the scandal over the coverup of long patient wait times erupted in 2014.

A Trump executive order established the office, supposedly for whistleblowers protection, in April 2017. Congress codified it with legislation two months later.

We are sending a strong message, Trump said then about whistleblowers. We will make sure that theyre protected.

Instead, the office failed to establish safeguards sufficient to protect whistleblowers from becoming the subject of retaliatory investigations, Missal testified in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Former leaders of the office didnt know what they were doing, according to the reports findings. They made avoidable mistakes early in its development that created an office culture that was sometimes alienating to the very individuals it was meant to protect, Missal said.

He said those leadership failures have had a chilling effect on complainants still being felt today, though he acknowledged the offices improvement under the current leadership of Assistant Secretary Tamara Bonzanto.

Also scheduled to be honored at the 17th annual First Amendment Award event this Tuesday are David Tirrell-Wysocki, the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications long-time director and former newsman, who will be recognized with the Nackey S. Loeb Quill and Ink Award.

Tirrell-Wysocki has been at the Loeb School since it was founded in 1999, serving as executive director since 2007. He grew the schools offerings and partnered with other organizations. He is retiring at the end of the year.

Fox Business Network host Trish Reagan is the events featured speaker.

The First Amendment Award event is the main fundraiser for the nonprofit school, which was founded by Nackey S. Loeb, the late President and Publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. It offers free and low-cost classes to children and adults. Instructors from media outlets and businesses around the state teach courses on the First Amendment, journalism, photography, broadcasting, audio and video production, social media and public speaking.

Tickets for the First Amendment Award event are available at http://www.palacetheatre.org or by calling the theater box office at 668-5588.

The presenting sponsor is Peoples United Bank. Other sponsors and supporters are Eversource Energy, The Brodsky Prize, AutoFair, Bryant Corky Messner, AT&T, Brady Sullivan Properties, McLane Middleton and The Common Man Family of Restaurants.

Media partners are the New Hampshire Union Leader, WMUR-TV and WGIR.

Information from The Washington Post was used in this report.

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Late VA whistleblower Kois to be honored at 17th annual First Amendment Awards - The Union Leader

William Marvel: Wars of the First Amendment – Conway Daily Sun

A visitor to the peaceful village of Hiram, Maine, might well wonder why a Spanish American War monument overlooks the principal intersection. Only a handful of local residents served in any military capacity during that conflict, while 110 men and boys went from Hiram to fight in the Union army between 1861 and 1865, and 42 of them never returned. Another 27 served during World War I, from that town of something over 1,000 citizens. Yet Hiram has no specific monument to veterans of the Civil War, which is our most memorialized war, or to those of the First World War.

The generation that donned uniforms in 1898 had grown up in the shadow of the Union veterans, who were regarded with an admiration approaching awe during the late 19th century. Through the Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans relentlessly propagated the example of their own selfless and heroic service to their country, and young men inevitably envied the reverence those old soldiers attracted. Not since 1861 had the United States faced a crisis that demanded an effusive patriotic response, and as the century came to a close the population seemed primed for an opportunity to show that the national spirit still flourished.

As in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the policy decisions that led to the Spanish American War were guided by the political ambitions of expansionist factions within the U.S. government. The popular reaction, meanwhile, was manipulated by exaggerated or perfectly false stories circulated in the American press. In 2003 it was rumored weapons of mass destruction; in 1898 there was the bogus claim that Spanish agents had sunk the USS Maine in Havana harbor. In both cases, that combination led to an unnecessary war that brought disastrous consequences. We can't yet say which of them produced the worse results.

Because of the attenuated condition of the Spanish empire, it was a quick war. Land and naval actions in Cuba and Puerto Rico gave us complete control of those islands within a few weeks. After a short sea battle at Manila, American forces seized the Philippines, and an expedition to Guam took that island without a fight. That led almost immediately to the annexation of Hawaii, because Pearl Harbor suddenly became an important coaling station for U.S. ships on their way to those new possessions in the far Pacific.

This was all very satisfactory to the expansionists, including Teddy Roosevelt, who had been so "bully" on thrashing those belligerent Spaniards. As assistant secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt ought to have known about the notorious design flaw in battleships like the Maine, in which coal bunkers prone to fire lay tight against the powder magazines. He did not mention that defect as a potential explanation for the explosion in Havana.

What we gained from the war with Spain were the islands that made us a threat to the rising power in Asia. On Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was the target of the Japanese attack that crippled our Pacific fleet and finally lured us into World War II. Guam fell four days later. The last American troops in the Philippines surrendered five months later.

The attack on Pearl Harbor alone killed more Americans than died from all causes during the Spanish American War, most of whom fell victim to disease. Maine and New Hampshire each raised one volunteer infantry regiment in May of 1898, and both of them idled the summer away in camp on the Chickamauga battlefield, in Georgia. A few dozen in each regiment died there, mainly from poor sanitation, and the rest came home in September, bored stiff.

The most notable casualty among the soldiers from Oxford County was 2nd Lt. Lucian Stacy, from Porter, who had graduated from West Point in 1896. He went to Cuba with the 20th U.S. Infantry, taking part in the campaign for Santiago, but he came down with malaria after the fighting ended. He had just arrived at home on convalescent furlough when he died on Sept. 4, the day before his 29th birthday. His parents buried him in Kezar Falls.

A second crop of recruits went off to suppress the Philippine "insurrection," after the natives of those islands objected to the Americans simply imposing another imperial regime in place of the Spanish. Alvin Lord, a teenager from Cornish and a former employee of North Conway's Kearsarge House, enlisted for that service on Jan. 29, 1899. The following August he died at his post, defending his country's spanking-new territory against its defiant denizens from a fortified island in Manila Bay called Corregidor. A generation later, thousands of other Americans would find that bastion rather worthlessand more difficult to defend against a better-armed enemy.

William Marvel is a resident of South Conway.

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William Marvel: Wars of the First Amendment - Conway Daily Sun