Is That A Mein Kampf In Your Pocket?

The coup is complete.

By and
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Have you been feeling too optimistic about the state of free speech recently? Don’t worry! For AO’s 300th episode (!), Sarah and David wade through some of the latest, most migraine-inducing attempts to stomp, quell, restrict, and penalize free inquiry and expression.

On the docket:

-SCOTUS update.

-In Texas, an influencer-slash-journalist brings together right and left in defending free speech against qualified immunity.

-California really, really wants to ban “misinformation…” Now, if only it could figure out how to define it…

-Hamline University’s getting sued… for religious discrimination?

-Reading Hitler’s memoir can get you in trouble at Stanford.

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Comments (149)
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  1. Brianstube

    Just finished watching Station Eleven thanks to your recommendations and wow was it good. As evidenced by me staying up til 4am to finish it 😂

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  2. Dagies

    Sarah, thank you for ripping to shreds the Hamline University president. I honestly don't think she's been criticized enough for how terribly she handled this whole situation. I was happy that you were clear and direct with your appropriate criticism.

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  3. Grandymitchell

    Imagine a "fundamentalist" Christian objecting to a review of human evolution or the Big Bang or the materialism that underlies most of modern science. Would the president of Hamline show the same solicitude for and deference to this offended student as she did to the Muslim student in the Art History class, and fire the offending professors? I doubt it.

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    Asolovay

    Regarding “Notre Dame vs. the Klan”, as I understand it, the issue was – the book cover had a photo of a Klan rally. Someone saw the employee reading the book, and they just saw the photo and didn’t notice the title.
    They jumped to the conclusion “that’s some kind of Klan book“, and filed a complaint. And the university’s attitude was “well, this person was offended, and we are certainly not going to tell them they were wrong to be offended, so we’ll punish the employee.”

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    Jordan Caruso

    Sarah, you were not saying lightly that episode 3 of The Last of Us may be the single best episode of a series. Holy wow! The acting, the directing, the script, the cinematography! The mastery of storytelling was outright phenomenal.

    Are you listening to the official audio companion podcast?

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  6. AMDalTX

    I just couldn't get past the fact that SI held up Chuy's as good Mexican food. If it makes you feel better, you can dismiss it as a Dallas bias on my part. We ate at one a few times and, to be fair, it was 20 years ago. I didn't even like their salsas.

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  7. Halerobert15

    I’m sorry, I want to apologize for the things I said when I heard your discussion on the Lorado case. I surprised myself at the shock I felt when I heard the clear as a sunny day violation of one of our bedrock rights. The 1st amendment is so important that the founders listed it first and the Texas law sound like some Jim Crow statue of old. Again I apologize for the emotion I showed when I screamed with a loud voice at your podcast. You didn’t deserve that. You simply report the law, not make it. I guess this is a common problem for your non lawyer listeners, like me, who love listening to this, the flagship podcast of the Dispatch.

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    Michael Berkowitz

    Sigh. Your listing of "acceptable" reasons for reading 𝘔𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘒𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘧 is somewhere between unnecessary and misleading. I think you yourselves mentioned at the end that even had the student read the book with approval he'd be within his rights, but that was practically an afterthought.

    Anyway, yes, the student who took -- and forwarded -- the photo is a villain here, along with Stanford administration, but let's not let the two rabbis off the hook. They should have, at most, shrugged it off; instead they chose to declare DEFCON 2.

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    Jonathan McMann

    Can you please add all your TV show recs to the show notes?!

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  10. Mbennett1944

    I cannot choose between IUPUI’s foolishness and Stanford’s foolishness. But as a former Indianapolis resident, I wanted to share a piece of local culture, which is that IUPUI is referred to verbally as oo’-ee poo’-ey. You’re welcome.
    P.S. 20 or so years ago a Chicago suburban school district (Indian Trail district) was building a brand new high school. Only at the 11th hour did the school board decide against naming the school Indian Trail, which would have caused it be forever known as IP High.

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