Cartoonist Khalil Bendib, an American Muslim and native of Algeria who’s known his share of censorship and death threats, writes of grief and human solidarity in the wake of the attack.
First Amendment
Standing With Charlie Hebdo:
The Right and Duty to Offend
We should celebrate differences of opinion. We have no duty to embrace differences of principles, and in many cases—and this is one of them—we must oppose them, angrily and militantly if need be.
Woman In “Catholic Warrior” Shirt Vandalizes Satanic Temple Display at Florida Capitol
Susan Hemeryck, 54, of Tallahassee, entered the Capitol at 11:23 a.m. and told an on-duty police officer that “she was sorry and had to take the Satanic display,” according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement charging affidavit.
Satanic Temple Display Approved for State Capitol, With Festivus Beer Pole and Nativity
The Florida Department of Management Services this week approved the proposed holiday display from the Satanic Temple, which a year ago was rejected because the agency said its proposal was “grossly offensive.”
500,000!
FlaglerLive Crosses Half-Million
Reader Mark in October
FlaglerLive ended October with close to 550,000 readers for the month, a new record and further indication that as print struggles to maintain its mass-market appeal, the media landscape is changing too rapidly to accommodate old models.
U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Florida Lawyer’s Appeal of Ban on Judicial Candidates’ Campaign Solicitations
Lanell Williams-Yulee was disciplined by the Florida Bar for violating a rule barring judicial candidates from soliciting money when running for judgeships. The U.S. Supreme Court may reverse that rule, affecting 30 states where similar bans are in place.
Lillian Gobitas Klose, Who Defied Mandatory Pledge of Allegiance, Is Dead at 90
Lillian Gobitas Klose was 12 when she was expelled from school for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Eight years later, in the midst of World War II, the U.S. Supreme Court vindicated her decision.
The Phony War Over Campaign Signs
The problem isn’t the county’s ban on campaign signs at the public library, it’s the dismal slate of candidates on this year’s primary ballots, but Flagler’s Ronald Reagan Assembly candidates and Supervisor of Elections Weeks have teamed up to play up a bogus controversy.
County Forcefully Rejects Elections Supervisor’s Claims That Campaign Sign Restrictions Hurt Turnout
Aided by a political candidate, Flagler Supervisor of Elections criticized county rules barring election signs on public property, claiming it lowers turnout and interferes with elections, promoting forceful rebuttals from the county administration.
Hobby Lobby and Religion’s
Assassination of Common Sense
The Supreme Court’s decision granting some companies authority to deny contraception to employees is a reminder that women-hating, science-bashing and religiously-based bigotry veiled as “faith” are alive and well in America.
Birth Control Coverage: Hobby Lobby Decision May Not Be The Last Word
The Supreme Court’s decision Monday saying that “closely held corporations” do not have to abide by the contraceptive coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act may not give those firms the ability to stop providing that coverage after all.
Corporate Religious Liberty: The Supreme Court’s Misguided Decision
When companies have clear policies on religious discrimination, their employees are less likely to be looking for a new job. The Hobby Lobby decision may undercut such successes when companies opt to follow its dictates, writes Joyce S. Dubensky.
Florida Prisons Want To Slash Kosher Offerings; Justice Department Says It Would Be Illegal
In a brief filed Monday, lawyers for the Department of Corrections argued that the law allows Florida to scrap the kosher meals because of the financial burden placed on the “cash-strapped agency.” The state has spent more than $200,000 on the lawsuit so far.
Satanic Temple, Come On Down: Florida Eases Holiday Display Bids at State Capitol
Rather than institute a new policy that would limit displays as some expected, the state Department of Management Services is trying to make the application process easier for groups seeking to put up temporary displays in the Capitol complex. The Satanic Temple will give Florida another chance after being blocked from putting up a holiday display last year.
Supreme Court’s Decision Allowing Prayers at Government Meetings Reverberates Locally
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision today allowing explicitly religious prayers at local government meetings had two direct connections to Palm Coast and Bunnell. So the ruling had particular resonance locally—happily for some, not so happily for others.
Denying Service to Gays and Lesbians: Right of Conscience Vigilantism Meets Stand Your Ground
Bills in four states that would let businesses deny service to gays and lesbians on religious-freedom grounds are based on the same faulty justification of Stand Your Ground laws on self-defense grounds. In both cases, the 1st and 2nd Amendments are perverted into defenses of vigilantism rather than protection of rights.
As State Mulls Review, Christians and Atheists Agree: Keep Florida Capitol a Free Speech Zone
The threat of a lawsuit is hovering over the state’s rejection of a satanic display, and the rotunda exhibit policy is set to undergo a staff review. But the prevailing view among those who have recently jumped at the chance to use the public floor space to express their beliefs is to simply let everyone have their say.
Before Florida Made an Ass of Christmas, Philadelphia Gave Us a Founding Nativity Scene
The Rick Scott administration’s illiterate interpretation of the Bible and the first amendment turned the Florida Capitol rotunda into a comedy of absurd Christmas displays and discrimination, all of which could have been avoided with a reason and respect–for the holidays and the Constitution.
In Defense of Net Neutrality: How To Keep Biggest Internet Providers From Running Amok
Without net neutrality, the Web would look a lot like cable, with the most popular content available only on certain tiers or with certain providers: Imagine AT&T as the exclusive home of Netflix and Comcast as the sole source of YouTube.
Satanists Now Want to Join Beer Pole and Nativity Scene at Florida Capitol
The state Department of Management Services has received three more applications, including two from atheist groups and one from satanists, to put up displays after approving a banner for the Freedom From Religion Foundation and an aluminum pole — made of empty beer cans– – to mark the parody festival Festivus.
Nativity Scene in Florida Capitol Will Share Space With Beer-Can Pole Celebrating Festivus
A nearly 6-foot-tall pole made from emptied Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans, marking the Festivus holiday once parodied on Seinfeld, will be put up in the Florida Capitol this week as a not-so-subtle protest to the recent placement of a Christian nativity scene by the Florida Prayer Network.
Obama’s Free Press Problem: Why Reporters in the U.S. Now Need Protection
The Obama administration has made the most concerted effort since the Nixon years to intimidate officials from talking to a reporter. Paul Steiger, Paul Steiger recipient of this year’s the Burton Benjamin Memorial award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, argues for a response.
Should Jacksonville’s Nathan Bedford Forrest High Be Named for KKK’s Grand Wizard?
Never apologize for what? Secession? Slavery? How about white supremacy and the KKK? The fight to rename Jacksonville’s Nathan Bedford Forrest High School raises the question, argues Julie Delegal.
FDLE Lays Down Florida Capitol Garrison Rule to Avoid Repeat of Summer Protests
Under the proposal by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, members of the public would be expected to leave the Capitol building by 5 p.m. each weekday or within 30 minutes of the end of public meetings. Capitol police could arrest for trespassing anyone who didn’t leave when they were told.
Not So Fast Missy: How a Protester Exposed an Undercover Cop
When the author first met her four years ago, she couldn’t have known that the small-framed woman with spiky brown hair and intense eyes was anything but a fellow activist showing up for a protest in Washington, D.C. She turned out to be an undercover cop ordered to secretly spy on peaceful protesters, violate their freedom of speech and assembly, and disregard their right to privacy.
The Painting You Will Not See in Hollingsworth Gallery’s ‘Monster of Bigotry’ Show, and Why
Constance Payne’s “Will You Take Me Seriously Now” was top be part of the new “Monster of Bigotry” show at Palm Coast’s Hollingsworth Gallery, but only if Payne agreed to have it draped, because of its explicit content. She refused, calling it censorship. Gallery owner JJ Graham defends the decision on several grounds.
Gun Rights Advocates and Church Join in Suit Against NSA as Companies Petition White House
Sixty-three companies are asking the federal government to allow companies that receive foreign-intelligence surveillance requests to publicly discuss those requests in basic terms, while gun rights advocates have joined the Unitarian Church and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a lawsuit against NSA spying on First Amendment grounds.
U.S. Supreme Court Will Decide Legality of Bunnell’s Government Prayers, Via Greece
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case from Greece, N.Y., where government meetings are started with distinctly Christian prayers, as they are at Bunnell City Commission meetings. The case is being taken to the court by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
Florida Government’s DCF Looks to Religious Organizations to Recruit Foster Parents
Looking for foster parents, DCF Director of Faith Based Development Erik Braun told child welfare professionals at a conference that Florida has 12 million residents affiliated with a Catholic or Protestant church, 1 million Jews and 400,000 to 600,000 Muslims.
Church-State Separation Be Damned: Bunnell Sponsors 3rd Prayer Day, Invoking “God’s City”
Bunnell marked the national Day of Prayer for the third year with its own sponsored religious event, a distinctly Christian, evangelical-like service that features commissioners and the mayor offering prayers and pastors invoking Jesus’s name and god’s law above all others.
Revenge Porn: Florida Lawmakers Take National Lead in Battling Bullying’s New Virus
In a more lurid consequence of sexting, Florida women and girls have been targeted by revenge porn–the online posting of nude images without the victim’s consent–in several documented instances, leading the Legislature to seek to criminalize the practice as a second or third-degree felony.
Florida Voter Group Argues for a Free Speech Right to Secrecy and Unregulated PACs
The state says it is justified in requiring disclosures of information about political action committee contributions and expenditures. Plaintiffs, arguing their case before a federal appeals court Tuesday, say they should be free to express themselves on political issues without registering as a committee and filling out campaign documents.
Facebook Effect: For Workers On or Off the Job, Individual Rights Are Dead
Employers’ presumptions on workers’ behavior on and off the job have more in common with the inquisition or police states than with the bill of rights. Transgressors are routinely humiliated, silenced, censured or fired over speech or behavior companies should have no right to police.
FAU Stomps on Academic Freedom Over Jesus Controversy as Scott Fans Fanaticism
Florida Atlantic University Professor Deandre Poole’s assignment involving the word “Jesus” on the floor drew in a politically motivated protest from Gov. Rick Scott while the university gave in to his demand that the lesson not be taught anymore.
In a Decision With Local Sway, Federal Court Upholds Prayers Before Government Meetings
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over all of Florida, ruled that the Lakeland City Commission’s custom of opening meetings with a prayer was constitutional, though the court sidestepped the city’s focus on Christian prayers, and its closed door to atheists, agnostics, humanists or other non-clergy representatives.
Responding to ACLU, Manfre Restores His Own More Permissive Jail Mail Policy
Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre has rescinded a policy that for the last two years, under Sheriff Don Fleming, prohibited inmates at the county jail from receiving letters at all, or writing letters longer than two pages.
ACLU Sues Sheriff Manfre Over Jail Policy Restricting Incoming Mail to Postcards
Beginning in January 2011 under Sheriff Don Fleming, inmates at the Flagler County jail have been forbidden from receiving mail other than small postcards, or from writing letters longer than two pages. Judges have generally not endorsed the restrictions, which also apply to inmates awaiting trial, who are presumed innocent.
John Fischer’s Hate Speech
In twice calling for a return of school prayer in the last three weeks, Flagler County School Board member John Fischer did so not from good will but out of angry resentment for “special interests” and “political correctness” that he claims are standing in the way of “our rights.” He is offensively wrong, and the school board should resist his call to prayer.
Public Schools Are No Place for Bible-Thumping–Or Any Other Thumping
The World Changers of Florida, Inc. is giving Bibles to students at several dozen high Florida schools. It’s wrong. Students of all faiths and traditions attend public schools and they deserve to be respected. We interfere with an already stressful time by making some of them feel like outsiders.
Showing Cops the Middle Finger
When John Swartz was arrested for flipping off a cop, he sued, and appears headed for a win–as he should: rude expression is not a crime, and the obscenity is far surpassed by that of cops exercising arbitrary authority over bruised egos.
Put God Back in Public Schools?
If we’re going to put God back in schools, which God are we talking about? Adam Hamilton, founding pastor of a United Methodist Church, calmly argues against the notion that God has ever left the public schools, and need not be forced back in.
What’s In Your Gun Closet? In Florida, a Doctor’s Right to Ask Is Under Threat
Should doctors be able to ask patients or patients’ parents whether they own a gun? What about health insurers, employers or health-care officials implementing the federal health law? Can they ask about gun ownership? The issue is playing out in Florida, where lawmakers want to ban doctors from asking the questions.
Crossing Out Amendment 8: Public Money Does Not Belong in Religious Schools
Religious groups have no rights to public money when it comes to funding private schools, precisely because religious indoctrination is part and parcel of the mission of those schools, and taxpayers should not have to pay for that, argues Cary McMullen.
For Opponents of Amendment 8, “Religious Freedom” Has Never Been Under Threat
The so-called “religious freedom” proposal to amend the Florida constitution would create a government bureaucracy to channel tax dollars to religious organizations, its opponents say, jeopardizing the very religious freedoms it claims to be protecting.
When Riots In Defense of Islam Are More Vile Than Any Parody of the Prophet
“Innocence of Muslims” is a vile movie about Islam, but its movie maker had every right to make it, and it is far less vile than the murderous riots Muslim fundamentalists have launched as a result–or Mitt Romney’s political opportunism over the crisis.
At the University of Florida, a War Over the Alligator’s Newspaper Racks
The University of Florida wants the independent Florida Alligator newspaper—which it does not own–to remove its orange racks from campus, and replace them with non-descript plastic bins. Bill Cotterell argues it’s not a First Amendment issue.
Why I’d Eat at Chick-fil-A
I’d eat again at Chick-fil-A, just to send a message to the sanctimonious, self-congratulatory organizers of a boycott campaign that is targeting the business, writes columnist Bill Cotterell.
Editor’s Note: When Comments Are Swift Boats’ Docking Hooks
I’ve been asked why certain comments in the John Pollinger-Anne-Marie Shaffer case were approved, considering their lavish innuendoes and borderline slanders. The decision bears explaining in light of this year’s distinctly foul election season.
Florida Law Barring Doctors From Asking Patients About Guns at Home Ruled Invalid
The law restricts doctors’ ability to provide truthful, non-misleading information to a patient, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled. The “docs-vs-glocks” law was backed by the NRA and signed by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011.
Student-Led School Prayers Are Now Legal, But Fear of Litigation Could Trump God
The new Florida school prayer law lets local school districts approve policies allowing students to deliver prayers at school events, but districts aren’t likely to approve such measures for fear of costly litigation.