Last week, Governor Gary R. Herbert signed a resolution which declared porn a public health crisis in the state of Utah. This latest authoritarian move by anti-porn moralists has been defended by Utah state Senator Todd Weiler who said, “This isn’t just a religious moral issue. Some people want to make this about sex education; no boy…

Secondo un recente sondaggio del Pew Research, il 40% degli americani tra i diciotto e i 34 anni ritiene che lo stato debba limitare la libertà di parola quando questa offende le minoranze. I più anziani sono meno favorevoli all’idea, mentre i democratici favorevoli sono il doppio dei repubblicani. Da membro dell’ala libertaria della sinistra…

Controversy and the Australian second‑wave feminist Germaine Greer have unfailingly gone hand-in-hand over these last few decades, with much of this attributable to her vocal, yet divisive, opinions about transgender people (mainly trans women in particular). The latest chapter in Greer’s fraught dealings with the transgender community concerned a recent invitation by Cardiff University for…

A recent Pew Research Survey found 40% of Americans from ages 18 to 34 support the notion that the government should limit speech that is offensive to minorities. Older Americans were less favorable to the idea, while Democratic voters were twice as likely to support the idea than Republicans. As a member of the American Left’s libertarian…

On June 30th, New Zealand’s parliament passed a bill that attempts to outlaw cyber-bullying and other forms of inappropriate online behavior. The Harmful Digital Communications Bill’s maximum penalties include two years in jail or fines of up to $33,900 in American dollars. The law establishes a new agency to investigate damage caused by digital communications. Digital bullying is…

Journalist Barrett Brown, a woman who wanted to become a member of ISIS and a rapper named Tiny Doo. Not a list of people that seem to fit together in many ways ordinarily but here’s the rub: Each will be spending portions of his or her life in prison. Brown is guilty of, as he puts…

Recently, the all-woman’s college Mount Holyoke in South Hadley Massachusetts decided to cancel the play production The Vagina Monologues. This, in turn stopped a tradition of having the play performed on Valentine’s day to raise awareness of violence against women. They cited the play as, among other things, transphobic and having an overly narrow and reductionist view…

Hi, everyone! I’m back from vacation about two weeks later than I expected, but I’m ready to start writing again. Juliana’s at a FEE seminar this week, but she’s still going to be writing regularly here at Missing Comma. This week, we’re taking a break from our 24/7 coverage of Anthony Cumia (kidding) to ask…

Last week, I talked about Sirius XM’s decision to fire shock jock Anthony Cumia. Along with the other Sirius XM listeners who hadn’t cancelled their subscription over this, I anxiously waited for Monday’s O&A show, which featured a dejected-sounding Opie and Jim not only lamenting their co-host’s firing, but the predictable fan and media reaction. According…

Sirius XM celebrated Independence Day this year by giving Anthony Cumia, one half of shock jock team Opie and Anthony, the boot. Anthony had tweeted one of his racist rants about a black woman who punched him in the face in Times Square when she thought he was taking a picture of her. Social media is pretty…

About a week ago, a friend and fellow classical music aficionado posted the following on Facebook: I’ve waited my whole life to come to realize, through some dawning revelation, why precisely I’m supposed to like the Symphonie Fantastique. Today, right now where I sit, I’m fully prepared to say what I’ve put off saying for…

Financial commerce, the exchange of money and currency, is indistinguishable from speech. Therefore, it deserves the exact same respect and “freedom of speech” protections afforded to the utterances of the street-corner preacher, the independent journalist, the newspaper publisher, the internet blogger and so on. Financial commerce is speech, and should be free. Despite all of the “freedom…

Lately, feminist activists are organizing against a litany of misogynist Facebook pages that glorify violence against women or treat it as a joke, pages with names like “Raping Your Girlfriend” and “Fly Kicking Sluts in the Uterus.”  The activists’ primary tactics include making specific demands for changes to Facebook’s moderation policy and “calling on Facebook users…

One major event to watch for today is the release of the Leveson Inquiry Report.

Carson: Liberdade, não oriunda do estado, e sim da disposição das pessoas para desafiar a autoridade.

“Free trade” is Newspeak for protectionist tyranny.

наша свобода есть не результат действий государства, но результат желания людей сражаться с властью, которая посягает на их свободу.

Carson: Freedom, not from the state, but from the people’s willingness to defy authority.

The Turkish state is now considering banning Facebook after “offensive” political content was discovered. Limiting free speech can only help rulers and hurt the ability of everyone else to point out that their emperors are … inappropriately dressed for the privilege of rulership.

If the Pulpit Freedom Summit succeeds, it will be a victory for free speech, but encouraging churchgoers to vote in elections only further entrenches the system of false choices in American politics.