Holding The Media Responsible

Yesterday Breitbart reported that a federal judge has reversed his previous ruling and allowed Covington Catholic pro-life student Nick Sandmann to proceed with his defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post.

The article reports:

Judge William O. Bertelsman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, a Jimmy Carter appointee, partially reversed his previous ruling in which he dismissed Sandmann’s $275 million lawsuit. The reversal will permit the Covington student’s lawsuit to proceed, reported LifeSiteNews.

Following the March for Life in Washington, DC, in January, many media outlets alleged a video depicted Sandmann, wearing a red “Make American Great Again” cap, and fellow students from Covington Catholic High School, as intimidating Native American activist Nathan Phillips near the Lincoln Memorial.

As Breitbart News reported, Sandmann “became the focus of the anti-Trump media” as an extended video and additional in-person reports of the confrontation showed it was Phillips who had intimidated Sandmann while the teen and his fellow classmates were simply performing school cheers as a group of Black Hebrew Israelites shouted racist insults.

The article concludes:

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said in a statement to Breitbart News that, each day, her organization “defends the free speech rights of students to stand for life in public in what is supposed to be a free society.”

She continued:

The mistreatment of students as they attended the March for Life should offend all Americans who believe that each of us is protected when we act on our own consciences. It’s a good thing when a judge decides to respect students’ rights to be heard and to be seen with respect.

“As someone who works every day to defend the rights and needs of mothers and their preborn children, I know that the media often ignores and mischaracterizes pro-life Americans,” Hawkins added. “But our system of justice should protect the rights and freedoms of Americans who stand for the weakest among us, those whose life exists in the womb and who don’t have a voice or a vote.”

Hopefully the courts will hold the media for their total mischaracterization of the Covington High School students.

The Culture War is As Relevant As The Political Debate

On Friday, David Limbaugh posted an article at Townhall.com regarding the current state of the culture war. One major aspect of the culture war is limiting the free speech of those people and organizations that do not agree with the current politically correct values. Put simply, that means that Christian values are okay in the church, but not in the marketplace.

A group of students from Students for Life of America (SLA) were evicted from the Town Lake branch of the YMCA of Austin, Texas. The assistant branch director of the YMCA had agreed to let the students use the showers at the facility for the week of the “Students #Stand4Life Bus Tour.” Pro-choice members of the Y pressured the assistant branch director to end the agreement.

The article reports:

That’s right; certain members of the club complained that it would be “too political” to allow pro-lifers in the showers, so they pressured management to exclude the group. Too political? What?

Note that it wasn’t that the pro-lifers were carrying placards into the showers or proselytizing recalcitrant pro-aborts while toweling off. It was the mere presence of pro-lifers, even if they were minding their own business, that the pro-abort bullies found intolerable.

The SLA didn’t even have to say anything–they just needed to be guilty of existing.

The article further reports:

Brendan O’Morchoe, national director of field operations for SFLA, said: “We had absolutely no problems on Monday night when we used their facilities. The YMCA management was respectful, but some angry pro-abortion activists were being very aggressive with YMCA staff members, and the staff said they felt threatened. Unfortunately, the anger and rage from the pro-abortion protesters has created a toxic environment, even outside the Capitol building. It’s really a shame that the YMCA was bullied by these people. It just goes to show how pro-aborts operate every day.”

Freedom of speech means that everyone’s rights are protected. When any one group of people is excluded from the marketplace of ideas, we all lose. This is a trend that needs to be stopped now–otherwise bullying in the field of ideas will become a way of life, and those who do not agree with the current political correctness will lose their right to speak.

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