Daily Archives: July 25, 2022

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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, revealed the Left's double standard on free speech Saturday on "Unfiltered with Dan Bongino."

REP. JIM JORDAN: They don't think that the First Amendment rights apply to you and [me]. Think about what they've said about your free speech rights. The Left today says if you don't agree with them, you're not even allowed to talk and if you try, we're going to call you racist, and we're going to try to cancel you.

ELON MUSK SCARES LIBERALS, TWITTER AS HE PURSUES FREE SPEECH

And now we have the Left giving a wink and a nod to people actually trying to use violence and intimidation tactics against people they disagree with. So that's what frightens me their attack on your First Amendment rights, your Second Amendment rights, your Fourth Amendment due process rights. And now [there's] this almost this double standard that they have when it comes to violence that they see from people [who] agree with their political position.

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The Left does not think the First Amendment applies to the Right: Rep Jim Jordan - Fox News

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Letter: Conversion therapy is not a free speech issue - ECM Publishers

It was while he was writing his latest Edinburgh show that Frank Skinner noticed a problem with his brain. He was hoping to perform a cleaner, cleverer kind of act, one that would let him look out at the crowd and perhaps for the first time in his life not see anybody squirming in their seat in discomfort.

It was a struggle, the 65-year-old says with a grin, because I realised that I seem to think in knob jokes. And I have done since I was about 13. In the West Midlands, that was how people communicated!

30 Years of Dirt is not, then, a compendium of Skinners best sex gags of which there have been plenty over the years. Rather, its a comedic journey through his attempt to de-smutify his brain for the modern audience, a kind of personal challenge: can he even be funny without talking about penises? Its only a loose, lighthearted theme, but it still feels refreshing in a world where many comics seem to think their sole purpose is to say the most offensive thing possible.

I do wonder what all the fuss is about, he says, dismissing the idea that modern comedians have their free speech stifled. I dont think theres ever been a time when you could just say anything. He recalls an early comedy show this must have been in the late 80s where the host apologised to the crowd after Skinner had performed some risque sexual material. He said Id never play at the venue again and then he launched into a load of racist material and brought the house down. Everyones got their own standards and restraints. But I think its been good for me to keep questioning what I say. Its made me think more.

Skinner meets me in a coffee shop near his north London home. On the way here he says he was spotted by a fan, who stopped to ask how he was doing. As the fan left, Skinner heard him say to his mate: He used to be in Doctor Who.

Im guessing he means Capaldi? Skinner ponders, looking at me for confirmation. Then his expression changes. I hope its not William Hartnell! The actor who played the First Doctor, after all, would be 114 by now.

Skinner has been funny for as long as he can remember. As a teenager he used to bring props to the pub, or to the factory where he worked, to make people laugh: clingfilm dipped in beer might look like dangling snot after a fake sneeze; a Vicks inhaler up one nostril might work for a gag about ivory hunters. That was my outlet then, doing a sort of improvised standup in the pub. I didnt know I was practising.

Growing up in Smethwick, an industrial town west of Birmingham, he had never thought of comedy as a viable career. Known to his friends and family as Christopher Collins (he stole his stage name from a member of his dads dominoes team), he drank away most of his 20s, wondering what he was good at and where his life was heading. It was only as he turned 30 and started telling jokes on stage that he realised all those wasted years were full of authentically grim material that was perfect for comedy.

His early shows were disastrous. But within a couple of years he had won Edinburghs prestigious Perrier prize. Soon he was hosting his own long-running TV chatshow, and becoming a key figure in 90s new lad culture thanks to Fantasy Football League, the television show in which he and comedy partner David Baddiel sat around in a living-room set taking the piss out of footballers. How does Skinner look back on that era?

I dont sit and watch my own things, but occasionally Ive seen bits, and most of it, I can honestly say, Id still do, he says. But some stuff, no. On the chatshow, I did a weekly song as Bob Dylan and there were some complaints that [one of the songs] was homophobic. It went to Ofcom and they found it not to be homophobic. And I watched that back recently and I thought, no, no, that was homophobic they got that wrong. But then other things we did get fined for I look at now and think it was unfair. So its endlessly debatable.

He readily admits that he has made some terrible mistakes in more than 30 years as a comic. Take Skinner and Baddiels treatment of Jason Lee, the black Nottingham Forest player whose lack of form on the pitch led to merciless mocking on Fantasy Football League and the popularising of a terrace chant about his haircut (Hes got a pineapple on his head). One day, Baddiel even blacked up as Lee for a sketch, complete with a pineapple to represent his hair.

It was bad, yeah, says Skinner. I spoke to Dave about it recently, from a how-the-fuck-did-that-ever-happen point of view. I still dont know how it happened. I know why we took the piss out of him, because Id watched him on Match of the Day missing several goals, so a sketch about him being unable to put a piece of paper into a bin worked. But when Dave walked out from makeup [in blackface] that night, I still dont know why one or both of us . or someone there didnt say what the fuck is happening?

This racial aspect isnt the entire story, either, he admits. I cant look back on it now without seeing it as bullying. There was a big response to it. People started to send in loads of pictures of pineapples, and so it ran and ran and ran. Looking back, it was a bullying campaign. And its awful. And yeah, Im ashamed of it. And weve said that to each other without any Guardian journalist to impress. It wouldnt be too much to say were both deeply ashamed.

In his 2001 autobiography, Skinner acknowledges the incident but glosses over it, even defends it from accusations of racism. Since then, he seems to have done some serious soul searching. This year, he told an audience at the Hay festival about growing up in Smethwick: I used racist language, I was sexist, I was homophobic. That, he says today, was just how it was back in the 1970s.

But when I talk about growing up in the West Midlands, there wasnt an alternative voice for me to either respond to or ignore. The Jason Lee incident, he accepts, was a different situation. By then wed come through the alternative comedy circuit, where non-racist, non-sexist was the banner handle. So its not like we didnt know. Because me and Dave knew.

Ive never heard either of them talk like this in public. Weve never done the big public apology, says Skinner, who is still best mates with Baddiel. Something doesnt sit well with me. They look a bit like union card apologies: I just need to keep working; Ill apologise for anything, just let me keep working. I didnt want to be part of that.

He adds: There is no excuse involved, though, because there is no excuse. Because Im blaming us. But something I never hear mentioned in any of this is that we had a representative from the BBC in the audience every week. The BBC watched the show before it went out and OKed it. They were supposed to be a guiding hand, not letting us fuck up. But thats a side issue. It was a vendetta. An unintentional vendetta but still a vendetta.

In reality, Skinner was never anything quite so simple as a new lad. Parts of his background he has a masters in English literature; he is a practising Roman catholic never fitted that description and so, he says, the press ignored it. These days, perhaps because of his age, he is allowed more space to talk about his cerebral passions. Poetry is one he has written a short book on the subject (How to Enjoy Poetry) that deep-dives into Stevie Smiths nine-line work Pad, Pad, and he also presents an engaging and accessible podcast on the subject, Frank Skinners Poetry Podcast. Was this part of a career plan to position himself as a more enlightened male?

He laughs at the idea. I probably should have those big career thoughts, shouldnt I? It actually came about by accident, but its ended up being the biggest labour of love job Ive done.

Skinner once had a chat with Eddie Izzard about what they could share about their lives on stage. The conclusion was that it was fine for Izzard to discuss wearing womens clothes, but as for Skinners own religious beliefs? God, no. Yet recently even that position has shifted a little. Last year he published A Comedians Prayer Book, which features him talking to the supreme being in his typically down-to-earth way (I always liked that Jesus hung out with sinners. It made me feel potentially understood). Does he feel more comfortable talking about God on stage now?

I think its more acceptable, he says, not entirely convincingly. I do still feel a slight tension sometimes when I bring it up. I can feel it in the air.

Still, he thinks its important that people get out there and talk about religion in the way they talk about other aspects of life. One of the things religion has suffered from is being spoken of in grave terms constantly. I take it seriously, obviously, but I dont take it seriously, if you know what I mean.

Another thing that always fitted awkwardly with Skinners new lad tag: hes been a teetoaller since the 90s. As a teenager, he had swiftly become a problem drinker, and during his 20s he would regularly wake up to a glass of sherry (or, later on, when things got really bad, a glass of Pernod). He says his life wasnt miserable, its just that he had nothing in it for which to stay sober. His health was in a sorry state. Then his comedy career started and he knew he couldnt risk messing it up. Still, the temptation to drink must have been everywhere, and Skinner has admitted that he has never found anything to recreate the buzz of getting drunk.

I used to dream about it probably three nights a week, he says today. But funnily enough, since Ive had a kid, those dreams have faded away.

Skinner spent his heyday sleeping around, often turning the encounters into gags in his act. But he has been with his current partner, Cath Mason, for about two decades now and they have a 10-year-old son, Buzz. I ask about the relationship, and he rather poetically describes falling in love as an out-of-body experience. David Foster Wallace once said OK, hes not the bloke youd necessarily go to for happiness [the writer killed himself in 2008], but he talked about rising above a given situation, until you realise youre not the main character there, but just an extra in a bigger scene. So with Cath, I met someone who I started to care about to the level where I felt them slightly foregrounded in my consciousness, and me slightly behind them. And if youve been through the celebrity process, its so unusual to not be the star of every scene in the film of your life. And of course then, when I had a child, I was twice removed from my ego.

Skinner became a father at 55, by which point he had assumed the opportunity had passed. Not just because of age but because he and Cath argued like mad. I thought: we cant bring a kid into this. Because apparently youre not supposed to argue in front of them. Although my argument, speaking of arguments, is that its quite good for a kid to see you screaming at each other and then afterwards saying: Weve talked this through and were hugging again.

Skinner adored his own parents, who died a year apart from each other just before he had found proper fame. But his father was a drinker, a gambler and a fighter. It was rare that he became the target of his fathers rage, but it did happen occasionally.

Hitting kids thats another of those things that have changed, he says. The idea of hitting my own child is as ridiculous to me as the idea of me flying home from here unaided. But I didnt think that when I was on the other end of it. It seemed normal. I dont remember anyone ever airing the view that we shouldnt hit our kids until I think the 1980s? It didnt reach the West Midlands, that bit.

I love my dad, he continues. But there would be a moment around 10.40pm where there was a tension about what mood he would bring back from the pub. I wouldnt want my kid to be remembering that.

Evolution is what Skinner is all about people can change and they can grow. When he made his comments about racism and homophobia at Hay, he says, there was a slight backlash from some on the left. Some people were apparently saying: Well, you never really grow out of that. But to pretend that I am still the person I was then would be ludicrous.

And his jokes have evolved with him. The week before we speak, Skinner has been road-testing some of his new material. Debuting new stuff can be tricky, even more so when youve banned knob jokes. But a night or two ago he says he hit one of those magic moments where it all came together. I couldnt get the material out quick enough, he says, before reaching for one last poetic metaphor. When that happens, you can feel like an aeolian harp. Its as if the comedy universe is playing you.

Frank Skinners 30 Years of Dirt is at the Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, from 4 to 28 August. For more information and tickets go to frankskinnerlive.com

See original here:
Theres never been a time when you could just say anything: Frank Skinner on free speech, his bullying shame and knob jokes - The Guardian

Using a social media soapbox to express partisan views won't make you a more attractive employee prospect. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION:

Apparently, more than two million New Zealanders use LinkedIn, the social media site which aims to "facilitate professional networking".

In my previous life as a business owner, I found it very useful for researching potential employees or clients in order to get an idea of their past career and accomplishments.

This gives LinkedIn a fairly limited function and means it's not really the place to look for love, sell your car, or post pictures of your dog looking cute (not that I let that stop me).

I don't spend much time there these days but when I do, I'm bemused by the growing number of people who use it as a digital soapbox to share their political views. Although there's no law against this (yet) I really doubt that this is helpful to anyone's career. The issue is not the quality, or otherwise, of these opinions, but the appropriateness. You don't use LinkedIn to post about sport, holidays, or your grandmother's amazing lasagne recipe, so why post about politics?

Rarely in business did I ever witness a partisan political discussion, and I generally had little idea of the political views of those that I worked with. This is because it's not relevant to our day jobs.

You wouldn't put your political affiliations on your CV, and if a recruiter asks you how you vote, it's probably not somewhere you want to work. Employers don't react to a political take on LinkedIn by saying: "Great, Nigel has some bats*** crazy views, doesn't care who knows it, and picks an argument with everyone! Let's get him in! He'd be perfect on the executive team." Unless, of course, the job is to work in a troll farm, in which case Nigel's in his element.

I've seen others politely pointing out that perhaps LinkedIn isn't really the place to share political views, only for them to be told "you use social media how you want; I'll use it how I want". That's true, you can do whatever you like. You can go to a job interview dressed as a Backstreet Boy riding a camel if you want, but outside of a 90s-themed circus it's unlikely to help you get a job. You may think that's rather judgemental of me, but then judging people is the whole point of the hiring process.

LinkedIn is a professional social media website for people looking for jobs, for people looking to hire other people, or for those wishing to promote their business.

Yes, that means it's crammed full of people talking about how clever they are, how proud and humble they are to win Waikato Area Salesman of the Year, or trying to sell you outsourced printing at the "super best" price, but as dull as you may find this, that's the point of the bloody thing. You may think it needs livening up a bit, but there are plenty of other places to go to be livened up online, not all of which are regularly scrutinised by prospective employers.

"Why should I worry, everybody agrees with my political views?"

This is unlikely seeing as only around a third of the population supports any party in particular. A passing sycophant may well applaud, but the multitude who disagree will make a mental note to avoid and quietly move on. I mentioned to a couple of senior people that I was writing about this subject and the overwhelming reaction was "about bloody time". (Although there was one who thought political posting was useful as an easy way to identify people never to hire.)

Employers are looking for somebody who they can pay to do their job well, not spend their days online demonstrating their lack of political nuance and debating totalitarianism with someone who doesn't understand it either.

Of course, there are those who say whatever they like on social media without any filter, Elon Musk for example. But I doubt that when he was first scratching around for people to fund his projects Musk was in the habit of referring to opponents as "pedo guy [sic]". These days as the richest man in the world he believes he can pretty much say whatever he likes. Still, not even Musk is bulletproof as his tweets insulting the Twitter Board are contributing to his pending court appearance where he stands to lose US$20 billion.

So, before you write that angry post about whatever it was somebody on the radio told you to be upset about, just remember that the majority of employers look at LinkedIn activity when reviewing applicants for a position. If you wouldn't say it to your in-laws on a first meeting, then it's probably best not to post it on LinkedIn.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "better to remain silent and to be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt". It's your career, look after it.

Link:
Paul Catmur: Free speech? The cost of talking politics on LinkedIn - New Zealand Herald

AUSTIN, Texas -- Jury selection is set for Monday in a trial that will determine for the first time how much Infowars host Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook Elementary School parents for falsely telling his audience that the deadliest classroom shooting in U.S. history was a hoax.

The trial in Austin, Texas where the conspiracy theorist lives and broadcasts his show follows months of delays. Jones has racked up fines for ignoring court orders and he put Infowars into bankruptcy protection just before the trial was originally set to start in April.

At stake for Jones is another potentially major financial blow that could put his constellation of conspiracy peddling businesses into deeper jeopardy. He has already been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify over violating hate-speech policies.

The trial involving the parents of two Sandy Hook families is only the start for Jones; damages have yet to be awarded in separate defamation cases for other families of the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

The lawsuits do not ask jurors to award a specific dollar amount against Jones.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, judges have issued default judgements against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.

The 2012 shooting killed 20 first graders and six educators. Families of eight of the victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school are suing Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.

Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place. During a deposition in April, Jones insisted he wasnt responsible for the suffering that Sandy Hook parents say they have endured because of the hoax conspiracy, including death threats and harassment by Jones followers.

No, I dont (accept) responsibility because I wasnt trying to cause pain and suffering, Jones said, according to the transcripts made public this month. He continued: They are being used and their children who cant be brought back (are) being used to destroy the First Amendment.

Jones claimed in court records last year that he had a negative net worth of $20 million, but attorneys for Sandy Hook families have painted a different financial picture.

Court records show that Jones Infowars store, which sells nutritional supplements and survival gear, made more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Jones has also urged listeners on his Infowars program to donate money.

Associated Press reporter Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.

Continued here:
Alex Jones' defamation trial finally set to begin in Texas - ABC News

The organization is called Hands of Peace, but in its annual summer program it is young people's voices that do the work.

Dialogue is central to Hands of Peace founder Gretchen Grad's 20-year-old mission to unite Israeli and Palestinian high school participants and their American counterparts to become agents of change.

"What kind of surprised me was how little people knew about the other side," said Ilenia Willmert, a rising senior from Napa, California.

The friendly Jewish girl was among 36 student participants -- "Hands," they're called, ages 15 to 17 years old -- representing American, Israeli, Palestinian and Palestinian Citizens of Israel delegations gathered for Hands of Peace's three-week summer residency at Glenview Community Church before they return each night to host families throughout metropolitan Chicago.

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced a two-year break, the Hands of Peace summer program returned to Chicago and to its San Diego site. The award-winning, nonprofit, interfaith organization also has full-time staff in Israel and Palestine.

"I don't think there are many programs that exist like this in the world that bring together people from two sides of such opposing ideas to have healthy conversation about it, to really understand each other and listen to their stories and gain some sort of compassion that they wouldn't have had the opportunity to come across in normal life," Willmert said.

The event concluded Sunday. And throughout, participants enjoyed a variety of activities.

"Almost immediately, they made friends," said development officer Lisa Notter, who assists Chicago site director Emily Kenward. A 2015 and 2016 participant, Kenward initially wanted to be a biologist, but now specializes in feminist foreign policy, influenced by the program.

The students tackled a high ropes course in Olympia Fields and attended Muslim, Jewish and Christian religious services. On Tuesday they were preparing food and skits for "Culture Night" at Glenview Community Church, giving back to their host families.

They did arts workshops, leadership workshops, storytelling, and on Thursday visited downtown Chicago, followed by a rooftop luncheon.

But the crux of the summer program -- which Grad, her staff and more than 700 Hands of Peace alumni hope will one day help create peace in the Middle East -- is the dialogue led by professional facilitators who get the kids talking.

For the overseas visitors, this rarely happens at home.

"Sometimes you live across the street but you can't speak with each other. You need to cross the ocean to have the environment that allows such interactions to happen," said Hamze Awawde, the Palestinian delegation regional manager from Ramallah, the West Bank seat of Palestinian government.

That inability to communicate is a product of fear, trauma and regulation, he said.

In Glenview?

"It's eye-opening," Awawde said.

"The difference is here at Hands of Peace, you can say whatever you want in a respectful way, how do you feel about everything going on," said Palestinian delegate Adam Abu Sneineh, who lives in Jerusalem, but has a "travel document" -- not a passport -- that claims he is neither Israeli nor Palestinian, but Jordanian.

"You have the space and the room to express your feelings freely," Abu Sneineh said. "Back home it's really hard to express your feelings about what's going on, the situation. Even between Palestinians, there's not really much room that you can express yourself. But here you can express yourself however you want and be confident that people will accept you."

On the ropes course, Adam said he felt confident, but also "a little bit scared." That feeling vanished when surrounded by his international peers.

"I felt the confidence from the people around me," he said. "I felt strong doing it."

Wearing a "Scooby-Doo" T-shirt, Layan Jubran, a fresh high school graduate from Haifa, Israel, and one of the program's Palestinian Citizens of Israel, resembled any young woman anticipating a gap-year adventure.

If Willmert didn't know how "the other side" felt about Israeli-Palestinian relations, Jubran went beyond that.

"During the dialogues I heard both sides. I go to an Arab school, so I've been living with Arabs and Jews my whole life. But I think now, hearing what they actually believe and their actual point of view, going back now to live in Israel I think I will be more open-minded and understanding of their points of view," Jubran said.

"I think this program is very important for us Palestinians, because I think the media doesn't share our stories enough. So I think we have a really big role coming here to share our stories and actually be heard."

Awawde would say the media shares what will "sell." Peace, he's seen, does not sell.

"Just to say an Israeli and Palestinian met and had a nice day doesn't sell in the region," he said. "But if you say they killed each other, it will get a lot of attention."

That brings the counterpoint of Eliya Kfir Schurr, a Jewish high school senior from Jerusalem. When she was younger she thought peace was imminent. Now she has doubt.

"I hope so, but I don't know," she said.

"Now it seems to be much more difficult, because there's two sides and each side wants to achieve its goals and to tell its narrative. It's a different narrative, and so different goals. Before I came I was so positive and so hopeful, and I hope that when we finish here I can feel it again."

Eliya also wondered: "maybe if their story is so different from your story, maybe your story isn't right."

That's a concept familiar to the American delegation. Lisa Notter said much dialogue in this year's program focused on American divisiveness and its similarities to the Middle East.

Despite the freedom of thought at Glenview Community Church and around host family dinner tables, Hands for Peace does not seek results in 19 days. It is a movement for the long haul.

"The real effect of this program happens once they go back (home)," Notter said.

"You ... just keep doing the work, and the hope is that no matter what they do it'll change the world through the circles of all the people that they know. We have 700 alumni who've been through this program now, so that's the hope. And then at some point the conflict in the Middle East will change, just like everything eventually does."

See more here:
Hands of Peace participants in Glenview find free speech enables understanding of other views - Daily Herald

Lucy Flawless reads storybooks to a packed audience at the Jones public library in Toronto in 2017.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail

Gillian OReilly is a writer and editor.

Libraries across Canada have recently come under attack for offering family-friendly story hours featuring drag queens or kings reading childrens books about inclusion (a practice many had been doing for years). They have been targets of abuse from right-wing groups who falsely claim that such events encourage pedophilia.

The challenged libraries have refused to cancel any events. The chief executive officer of the Orillia Public Library, Bessie Sullivan, told the CBC last month that the callers who threatened to get her fired pissed me off, and that as the situation escalated, the library doubled down adding a second story time.

Backlash toward public-library events is not new. In 2019, the Toronto Public Library came under attack for renting a room to Radical Feminists Unite, a group self-described as explicitly anti-capitalist and anti-racist, because RFUs panel discussion included Meghan Murphy who is controversial for opposing transgender rights that she claims undermine womens rights.

The city librarian of the Toronto Public Library, Vickery Bowles, steadfastly maintained the librarys position in the face of people who wanted her fired. She told the CBC that the most important time to stand up for free speech is when one is in a very uncomfortable position where youre defending perspectives and ideas and viewpoints that many in the community, or a few in the community, whatever, find offensive.

While different in their targets, these attacks both came from people who disliked or feared the proposed events. The protesters challenged the role of public libraries and their staff in allowing these events to occur. The events ultimately took place anyway because of the libraries commitment to the principle of freedom of expression. (One of these protests included a tweet that libraries should represent the will of the majority. It is slightly creepy that it would be hard to guess which protest.)

Thinking about freedom of expression, especially in public libraries, is uncomfortable. It always has been. Libraries have worked hard to develop policies that allow the maximum freedom of expression within the bounds of Canadian law (hate speech as defined by the Criminal Code is not allowed) to allow their patrons access to the broadest possible range of materials and the freest possible discussion of ideas. And that commitment can make many of us uneasy, myself included.

In the late 1980s, as part of my job, I represented booksellers on the Freedom of Expression Committee of the industry-wide Book and Periodical Council. The FOE Committee maintains: As writers, editors, publishers, book manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and librarians, we abhor arbitrary interpretations of the law and other attempts to limit freedom of expression. Censorship does not protect society; it smothers creativity and precludes open debate of controversial issues.

As it continues to do today, that committee spoke out for the rights of those whom others wanted to silence: schools that offered Margaret Laurences The Diviners to their students; Vancouvers Little Sister and Torontos Glad Day Bookshop, harassed constantly by Canada Customs for importing gay- and lesbian-themed books and magazines; and the distributors who handled Penthouse magazine, to name a few.

A wishy-washy moderate, I privately had a hard time with some of the materials. As a woman and feminist, I prayed that I would never have to publicly defend an issue of Penthouse held up by Customs. (Our committee did get some amusement trying to figure out which of the two centrefold pages was the single one that Customs deemed obscene the naked top half of the model wearing a parachute harness or the naked bottom half surrounded by folds of parachute material.)

Against my ambivalence stood the adamant defenders of freedom of expression our stalwart executive director Nancy Fleming, writer June Callwood and civil-rights lawyer Alan Borovoy, among others. Without it, they said, the majority could override the rights of minorities and the marginalized. Political motivations could lead to violations of human rights. Unpopular speech could be silenced by those who felt threatened by it. And I came to realize that, uncomfortable as this made me feel, they were correct.

Some Canadians may have felt it is horrific to silence Ms. Murphy, but fine to stop drag storytellers. Others may feel that drag events are delightful and Ms. Murphys views are repugnant. The hard truth is that freedom of expression in public libraries must apply to both, because otherwise, they will apply to neither.

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Opinion: Freedom of expression in public libraries must apply to all - The Globe and Mail

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Jury selection is set for Monday in a trial that will determine for the first time how much Infowars host Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook Elementary School parents for falsely telling his audience that the deadliest classroom shooting in U.S. history was a hoax.

The trial in Austin, Texas where the conspiracy theorist lives and broadcasts his show follows months of delays. Jones has racked up fines for ignoring court orders and he put Infowars into bankruptcy protection just before the trial was originally set to start in April.

At stake for Jones is another potentially major financial blow that could put his constellation of conspiracy peddling businesses into deeper jeopardy. He has already been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify over violating hate-speech policies.

The trial involving the parents of two Sandy Hook families is only the start for Jones; damages have yet to be awarded in separate defamation cases for other families of the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

The lawsuits do not ask jurors to award a specific dollar amount against Jones.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, judges have issued default judgements against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.

The 2012 shooting killed 20 first graders and six educators. Families of eight of the victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school are suing Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.

Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place. During a deposition in April, Jones insisted he wasnt responsible for the suffering that Sandy Hook parents say they have endured because of the hoax conspiracy, including death threats and harassment by Jones followers.

No, I dont (accept) responsibility because I wasnt trying to cause pain and suffering, Jones said, according to the transcripts made public this month. He continued: They are being used and their children who cant be brought back (are) being used to destroy the First Amendment.

Jones claimed in court records last year that he had a negative net worth of $20 million, but attorneys for Sandy Hook families have painted a different financial picture.

Court records show that Jones Infowars store, which sells nutritional supplements and survival gear, made more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Jones has also urged listeners on his Infowars program to donate money.

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Associated Press reporter Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.

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Alex Jones' defamation trial finally set to begin in Texas - Middletown Press