free speech – The News Desk

24Dec

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Business

Harvard Should Pay Its Fair Share

What can we do about the corruption of American higher education? Milton Friedman had an idea 20 years ago: Tax the schools rather than subsidize them. That reflected a change of heart. In “Capitalism and Freedom” (1960), he argued that college education had enough “positive externalities” to justify subsidies. But when I was researching a book in 2003, I emailed him (then 91) and asked if he still believed that.He replied: “I have not changed my view that higher education has some positive externality, but I have become much more aware that it also has negative externalities. I am much more dubious than I was . . . that there is any justification at all for government subsidy of higher education. The spread of PC”—political correctness—“would seem to be a very strong negative externality...

Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media mogul and free speech advocate who challenged China, goes on trial

18Dec

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Money

Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media mogul and free speech advocate who challenged China, goes on trial

Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon and champion of free speech and democracy, went on trial in Hong Kong Monday after a year-long delay in the proceedings. He's been charged with several crimes, including colluding with foreign forces, but supporters around the world say his real offense has been criticizing China's ruling Communist Party and its crackdown on freedom in Hong Kong.Lai has been in prison for the past three years on charges filed under China's sweeping new national security law. If convicted on the charges, Lai could face life in prison.Reporters clustered around the van transporting Lai as it arrived at the courthouse on Monday. His backers, along with foreign diplomats, were there, too, hoping to get a seat at the historic trial. In the early 200...

11Dec

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Health

The Ivy League Mask Falls

The furor over antisemitism on campus is a rare and welcome example of accountability at American universities. But it won’t amount to much if the only result is the resignation of a couple of university presidents. The great benefit of last week’s performance by three elite-school presidents before Congress is that it tore the mask off the intellectual and political corruption of much of the American academy. The world was appalled by the equivocation of the academic leaders when asked if advocating genocide against Jews violated their codes of conduct. But the episode merely revealed the value system that has become endemic at too many prestigious schools. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Jimmy Lai and the Assault on Press Freedom

8Dec

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Business

Jimmy Lai and the Assault on Press Freedom

Jimmy Lai, one of the most vocal advocates for democracy and rule of law in China’s history, was sentenced to 69 months in prison on Dec. 10, 2022. His crime? It depends who you ask. Officially, his sentencing was for lease violations in connection with his newspaper, Apple Daily. He still awaits trial on charges of national-security law violations and conspiracy to print seditious publications. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Erdogan’s Turkey Doesn’t Belong in the EU

20Nov

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Business

Erdogan’s Turkey Doesn’t Belong in the EU

The European Commission on Nov. 8 issued its annual report on states wanting to join the European Union. The report criticizes the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for disregarding human rights, increasing ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia and restricting freedom of expression. The commission takes particular aim at Turkey’s stance on Israel: “Its rhetoric” in support of Hamas “is in complete disagreement with the EU approach.”The EU, like the U.S., has long held delusions about Mr. Erdogan’s views and intentions. Yet for anyone paying attention, his latest inflammatory comments—that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a liberation group”—are no surprise. Throughout his 20-year tenure as leader of Turkey, he has spread radical Islam, crushed political opposition and...

Hamas’s Barbarity Heightens the Crisis in Higher Education

19Nov

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Health

Hamas’s Barbarity Heightens the Crisis in Higher Education

The barbaric attack by Hamas against Israel—the intentional slaughter of defenseless civilians, including children and babies, and the taking of hostages—should have been a unifying moment for America. Shamefully, it has become something else: a wake-up call about a crisis in higher education.It has been painful to watch students at elite colleges implicitly or explicitly endorse Hamas’s attack. They aren’t old enough to remember 9/11, and it’s clear they never learned its lesson: Intentionally targeting civilians for slaughter is inexcusable no matter the political circumstances. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

12Nov

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Health

Hawley Aims at Wokeness and Misses

Nov. 12, 2023 12:51 pm ETConservatives celebrated when the Supreme Court ruled, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), that corporations have a right to free speech. Now Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) has joined Bernie Sanders to propose legislation that defies Citizens United. Mr. Hawley is up front about wanting to silence publicly traded corporations because he doesn’t like what some have to say. “Corporate America has funneled billions of dollars into elections in favor of politicians who favor their woke, social agendas,” he says in a press release. He wants to “hold mega-corporations’ feet to the fire and stop their dollars from buying our elections.” He exhorts: “To my conservative friends, listen, there is no reason we should want to empower these mega-corporations....

Why Stanford’s Leaders Tolerate Anti-Semitism

6Nov

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Business

Why Stanford’s Leaders Tolerate Anti-Semitism

After Hamas massacred some 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7, many Stanford students marched in support of the terrorist group, chanting “2, 4, 6, 8, smash the Zionist settler state.” University leaders responded with a statement supporting “academic freedom,” including the “expression of controversial and even offensive views.”This is the same university where administrators last year undertook an Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative, which published a catalog of words and phrases to be removed from the school’s websites. Among the proscribed terms: “American,” “immigrant” and “blind study.”Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Vivek Ramaswamy: Cancel Culture Won't Defeat Hamas

2Nov

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Business

Vivek Ramaswamy: Cancel Culture Won't Defeat Hamas

DeSantis and Haley target campus speech in an attempt to seem tough on terror.

The First Amendment Threat in the Trump Civil Case

1Nov

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World

The First Amendment Threat in the Trump Civil Case

Can the government penalize someone for an inaccurate statement that wasn’t made with bad intent, recklessness or negligence, and that didn’t cause concrete harm to an identifiable third party? That’s the First Amendment question underlying the civil-fraud suit against Donald Trump. The stakes are high for the former president—and for the rest of us.New York’s Attorney Gen. Letitia James has charged Mr. Trump under the state’s Executive Law for allegedly overstating his business’s real-estate assets. The statute, however, has long been constitutionally suspect. Although historically only courts or their grand juries could issue subpoenas, the law grants the state’s attorney general a subpoena power to fish through private documents. Worse, the statute authorizes Ms. James to bring a civil...